NZ244181A - Toilet paper dispenser controlled by a plc allowing dispensing of a set number of sheets prior to a deactivating time delay - Google Patents

Description

24418 1 NEW ZEALAND PATENTS ACT, 1953 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION No.: 244181 Date: 2 September 1992 "Improvements in or Relating to a Paper Web Dispensing Apparatus" We, EXELOO LIMITED, a company duly incorporated under the laws of New Zealand of CI- 10 Russell Street, Devonport, Auckland, New Zealand hereby declare the invention for which we pray that a patent may be granted to us, and the method by which it is to be performed, to be particularly described in and by the following statement:- The present invention consists in a toilet paper of paper web dispensing apparatus.

The present invention is directed to methods and appropriate apparatus and techniques useable in, for example, the dispensing of a feed of a web of paper such as for example in a public toilet situation.

In a first aspect the present invention consists in a method of supplying paper into a toilet which comprises: from a secure zone, under the control of a programmable logic controller, feeding upon user actuation a series of lengths of paper and thereafter interrupting the further on feeding thereof, even upon user attempted actuation, until after a programmable logic controller (PLC) programmed time delay.

Preferably the feed is by an electrically driven roller.

Preferably said electrically driven roller acts on the web of toilet paper in conjunction with a sprung or otherwise biased (e.g. gravity) idle pinch roller.

Preferably the supply of toilet paper is from a jumbo type roll.

Preferably said paper is supplied from a roll with an initial outside diameter of greater than 10cm.

Preferably said paper is non-perforated.

Preferably within said secure zone there is provided means to activate said feeding of lengths of paper.

Preferably said means to activate overrides the interruption of further on feeding by said programmable logic controller.

In a further aspect the present invention consists in toilet paper supplying apparatus comprising: means to locate a supply of a web of said toilet paper, a motor driveable roller and a co-acting roller between which the web of said toilet paper can be fed to be driven by the motor driveable roller on demand to issue where it is accessible by a user; actuation means accessible by a user; and a programmable logic controller (PLC) which on a signal from said actuation means will issue on demand a predetermined number of sequential feeds of lengths of said web to be torn from said web by a user prior to a time delay deactivating the - 14 • • i <3 1 actuation means from an immediate re-energising via the PLC of the electrical supply to the motor to drive the roll In a further aspect the present invention consists in a public toilet, the provision in a service area or a secure side of a wall of a cubicle (or proximate to a toilet bowl or basin) of an opening through which toilet paper can issue, there being an actuation means accessible from the cubicle and/or adjacent the bowl and/or basin, there being on the secure side; means to locate a supply of a web of toilet paper; a motor driveable roller and a co-acting roller between which the web of material can be fed to be driven by the motor driven roller on demand to issue where it is accessible by a user; and a programmable logic controller (PLC) which on a signal from the actuation means will issue on demand a predetermined number of sequential feeds of lengths of the web to be torn from the web by a user prior to a time delay deactivating the actuation means from an immediate re-energising via the PLC of the electrical supply to the motor to drive the roll.

Preferably said supply of toilet paper is from a jumbo roll.

Preferably said apparatus carrying the motor driven roller is engageable on a wall and/or brackets in a wall from a side thereof accessible normally only by a service person and preferably the web of material issues through a shrouded hole in the wall.

Preferably components, namely the supply of a web of toilet paper and a removable roller carrying structure are modular.

Preferably said programmable logic controller (PLC) is modular.

Preferably said supply of a web of toilet paper is from a roll which has an initial diameter of greater than 10cm.

Preferably said web is non-perforated.

Preferably said secure zone there is provided means to activate feeding of said web of toilet paper.

Preferably said actuation means overrides the interruption of further on-feeding by said programmable logic controller (PLC).

The invention consists in the foregoing and also envisages constructions of which the following gives examples. -4- L 4 ^ i o I Preferred forms of the present invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which; Figure 1 is a cross-sectional view of a wall having a shroud through which toilet paper can issue on the user side thereof e.g. within a toilet cubicle, there being one of a pair of brackets on the other side onto which a unit can be supported by a service person; Figure 2 is a similar view to Figure 1 but showing in a dotted line the jumbo cartridge such as for example supplied in New Zealand as BOWSCOT™, there being a removable unit supported by the roller carrying member with its driveable roller preferably having a sprocket which engages a sprocket of the driven or idle pinch roller, the pinch roller being biased into engagement for mutual rotation and showing how optionally if desired there can be energising wires for connection into preferably reduced voltage outlet (the PLC either being carried - not shown) in the units or being mounted to provide a feed into the wires shown; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic view showing the nature of the co-acting rollers and how they feed down a ramp from the co-acting driven rollers; and Figure 4 is a cross-section view of the most preferred form of the invention.

The invention consists of a user accessible section 20 and a service person accessible section 21 which is not accessible by the user. The service person accessible section consists of a dispensing unit 7 which has a means for accessing and supporting the paper web cartridge 10. The cartridge contains a continuous web of paper 9. The outer web of the paper is drawn into the unit 7 and is passed between the driven 2 and the idle roller 4. The idle roller 4 is mounted on a rocker mechanism 3. The rocker mechanism has a biasing means 5. Said biasing means brings the idle roller into contact with the driven roller.

The driven roller 2 is preferably driven by a small electrical motor by any suitable linking means which are well known in the art for example belt drives or intermeshing gears. In other forms of the invention the driven roller 2 is attached directly to the shaft of a small electrical motor.

In one form of the invention the idle roller is engaged in mutual rotation with the driven roller by means of sprockets on both the idle and driven roller or alternatively, by friction between the outer edges of the idle and driven roller. 244 1 8 In another form, the idle roller is not engaged by the driven roller and is free to rotate.

The web of paper passes between the idle and driven roller and is drawn downwards through the hole in the wall 8 over the downwards sloping ramp which is labelled 12. The web is drawn downwards through the protective shroud 11 into the user accessible section. The friction between the idle roller 4 and driven roller 2 caused by the biasing means 5 causes the paper web to be held in position when the driven roller is idle.

The protective shroud 11 is preferably manufactured from painted steel or strong plastic or fibre reinforced plastic.

In use, rotation is applied to the driven preferably by an electric motor. In the diagram, the driven roller rotates in the anticlockwise direction which causes its mutually engaged idle roller to rotate in a the clockwise direction. This causes the paper web trapped between these two rollers to be drawn out of its cartridge dispenser 10 and fed by gravity down the ramp 12 into the user accessible section 20. After a pre-determined time, the rotation of the driven roller is stopped, after which a fixed length of paper web has been dispensed through the shroud 11. The user can then remove the length of paper web from the dispenser. In forms of the invention a serrated edge is provided to facilitate removal. The PLC then prevents the rotation of the driven roller 2 by means of interrupting the electrical supply to the electrical motor until a pre-programmed time delay has passed, after which the motor can be re-energised via the PLC and another length of paper dispensed.

The most preferred embodiment is as illustrated in Figure 4.

In the most preferred form of the invention the idle roller 4 and driven roller 2 are mounted side by side so that a line through their axes of rotation is substantially horizontal. The paper web 9 is fed out directly from said rollers through a slot 30 to a point where it is accessible by a user. Also included in the most preferred form of the invention is a switch 31 which the user can activate in order to dispense the paper web. The switch 31 is connected via the PLC to the motor of the driven roller 2. The activation of the switch 31 dispenses the fixed length or lengths of the paper web. The PLC then prevents the dispensing of additional lengths of paper web even if the switch 31 is continually activated until the pre-programmed length of time has passed. • ^ 2 4 415 1 In preferred forms of the invention the PLC is programmed so as to allow the dispensing of four substantially equal lengths of paper after which a pre-programmed time delay must pass before a further series of four lengths of paper is dispensed In a preferred form of the invention there is present a switch 33 in the service person accessible section 21. The switch 33 causes the driven roller to drive forward and enables the service person to cause the paper web to be drawn through into the user accessible section 20. The service person makes use of this switch when replenishing exhausted stocks of paper web 9 or when rethreading the paper web should the paper web tear or otherwise be removed from between the idle roller 4 and the driven roller 2. In forms of this invention the switch 33 overrides the PLC and causes the driven roller 2 to rotate continuously when the switch 33 is activated.

When replenishing the exhausted supply of the paper web 9 or otherwise re-establishing the supply of paper web the service person in the service person accessible section 21 causes the idle roller 4 to move away from contact with the driven roller 2 by means of using the rocker mechanism 3. In use the rocker mechanism 3 holds the idle roller 4 against the driven roller 2 via the biasing means 5.

It can be seen that the present invention is preferably associated with a large supply of toilet paper such as from a jumbo roll, that is rolls that are preferably greater than 10cm in diameter. When supplied with a large supply of paper web 9 the present invention enables toilet paper to be supplied to, for example a public toilet cubicle, in such a way that the amount of toilet paper a user can use is limited and therefore a supply of toilet paper is available for a long time and service personnel visits may be substantially infrequent The apparatus is supported on the user accessible section 20 and/or the service person accessible section 21 by brackets attached to the wall 8.

In preferred forms of the invention the paper web 9 is of the non-perforated type so that the paper web 9 is of relatively high strength and less likely to rip or tear when passing through the idle and driven rollers 4 and 2 respectively. It can be seen by those skilled in the art to which the invention relates that the present invention may be used to dispense such things as paper towels for hand drying or other similar paper web products. -7- ^ |

Claims (21)

WHAT WE CLAIM IS:

1. A method of supplying paper into a toilet which comprises: from a secure zone, under the control of a programmable logic controller, feeding upon user actuation a series of lengths of paper and thereafter interrupting the further on feeding thereof, even upon user attempted actuation, until after a programmable logic controller (PLC) programmed time delay.

2. A method of supplying paper into a toilet as claimed in Claim 1 wherein the feed is by an electrically driven roller.

3. A method of supplying paper into a toilet as claimed in claim 2 wherein said electrically driver roller acts on the web of toilet paper in conjunction with a sprung or otherwise biased (e.g. gravity) idle pinch roller.

4. A method of supplying paper into a toilet as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein the supply of toilet paper is from a jumbo type roll.

5. A method of supplying paper into a toilet as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said paper is supplied from a roll with an initial outside diameter of greater than 10cm.

6. A method of supplying paper into a toilet as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein said paper is non-perforated.

7. A method of supplying paper into a toilet as claimed in any one of the preceding claims wherein within said secure zone there is provided means to activate said feeding of lengths of paper.

8. A method of supplying paper as claimed in claim 7 wherein said means to activate overrides the interruption of further on feeding by said programmable logic controller.

9. Toilet paper supplying apparatus comprising: means to locate a supply of a web of said toilet paper; a motor driveable roller and a co-acting roller between which the web of said toilet paper can be fed to be driven by the motor driveable roller on demand to issue where it is accessible by a user; actuation means accessible by a user; and a programmable logic controller (PLC) which on a signal from said actuation means will issue on demand a predetermined number of sequential feeds of lengths of said web to be torn from said web by a user prior to a time delay deactivating the actuation means from an immediate re-energising via the PLC of the electrical supply to the motor to drive the roll.

10. In a public toilet, the provision in a service area or a secure side of a wall of a cubicle (or proximate to a toilet bowl or basin) of an opening through which toilet paper can issue, there being an actuation means accessible from the cubicle and/or adjacent the bowl and/or basin, there being on the secure side; means to locate a supply of a web of toilet paper; a motor driveable roller and a co-acting roller between which the web of material can be fed to be driven by the motor driven roller on demand to issue where it is accessible by a user; and a programmable logic controller (PLC) which on a signal from the actuation means will issue on demand a predetermined number of sequential feeds of lengths of the web to be torn from the web by a user prior to a time delay deactivating the actuation means from an immediate re-energising via the PLC of the electrical supply to the motor to drive the roll.

11. In a public toilet as claimed in Claim 10 wherein said supply of toilet paper is from a jumbo roll.

12. In a public toilet as claimed in Claim 10 or 11 wherein said apparatus carrying the motor driven roller is engageable on a wall and/or brackets in a wall from a side thereof accessible normally only by a service person and preferably the web of material issues through a shrouded hole in the wall.

13. In a public toilet as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 12 wherein components, namely the supply of a web of toilet paper and a removable roller carrying structure are modular.

14. In a public toilet as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 13 wherein said programmable logic controller (PLC) is modular.

15. In a public toilet as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 14 wherein said supply of a web of toilet paper is from a roll which has an initial diameter of greater than 10cm.

16. In a public toilet as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 15 wherein said web is non-perforated.

17. In a public toilet as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 16 wherein within said secure zone there is provided means to activate feeding of said web of toilet paper.

18. In a public toilet as claimed in any one of Claims 10 to 17 wherein said actuation means overrides the interruption of further on-feeding by said programmable logic controller (PLC).

19. A method of supplying paper substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to one or more of the accompanying drawings.

20. Apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to one or more of the accompanying drawings.

21. In a public toilet provision of apparatus substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to one or more of the accompanying drawings. DATED THIS V DAY OF IV W,