Patent Application
20080135668
This invention relates to roll towel apparatus and more particularly to continuous roll towel dispensing devices in which the toweling is formed from extended lengths of microfiber material. This application claims benefit of Provisional Application No. 60/738,957 incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Continuous roll towel dispensers in which a loop of towel material is fed out of a slot adjacent the front bottom edge of the dispenser and returned into the dispenser through a rear slot have been known for many years. See for instance U. S. Pat. No. 6,578,936 B1 which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety Typically the towel material has been formed from cotton or linen and made into rolls having a length of twenty-five to fifty yards or so and a width of six to fifteen inches or so. Toweling of this sort has been expensive enough that most rolls of used toweling are removed from the dispenser, laundered and then reused. Typical life cycles for the rolls range from twenty to fifty or sixty reuses before the material is no longer useful.
In an attempt to overcome the laundering cost various dispensers have been introduced which dispense individual sheets from continuos rolls of paper. The individual sheets of paper towel are then discarded after use creating a refuse problem. Continuous paper roll toweling has presented serious obstacles to dispensing from a conventional dispensing apparatus such as shown in the above referenced patents. Recently there has been disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,466 B1 a device for dispensing a loop of paper toweling from a continuous roll thereof for use and then rerolling up the used toweling which then may be disposed of in a more convenient and less volume consuming manner. The economic effect of paper in its various forms versus cloth has been and continues to be debated in the industry.
In addition to the problems, discussed in the '466 patent above, in handling and adapting synthetic toweling materials to continuous roll towel dispensers the industry has been plagued with the strength of the fiber necessary for the manual pulling operation of the traditional device without increasing the thickness of the fiber and thus making the rolls so large that very few uses could be supplied by the standard dispenser. The drying capability of the towel material and the number of washing cycles the material could withstand have also been significant problems.
We have now discovered that with the proper choice of a microfiber toweling material and the use of the improved roll towel dispensing apparatus disclosed herein we can overcome the above problems and provide an economically practical roll towel material and dispenser which allows a number of uses per roll comparable to conventional cloth and dispenses a superior roll towel material compared to traditional cloth and paper dispensers
For purposes of this disclosure “microfiber” material is defined to include material made from synthetic filament yarns of less than two denier and frequently fibers of less than one denier or 10 microns. These yarns are typically 100% polyester but can be made from a wide variety of synthetic polymers.
“Split microfiber” generally is made from a compound filament consisting of two different synthetic polymers (most often polyesters and polyamides) extruded together. The extruded compound filament (which usually is greater than one denier but less than two denier), is subjected to a splitting operation to separate the two polymers thereby creating a series of individual pie shaped sections disposed about a “star” shaped center. The pie sections are less than one denier and often as small as 0.01 to 0.2 denier or from 0.1 microns to 1 or 2 microns. It is this small fiber size and the small interstices between the fibers that give microfiber its superior wiping and drying characteristics. They also allow a web of material to be made that is thin enough to be rolled into a roll of less than eight inches diameter and still have sufficient strength and a length of at least thirty five yards (Typically with cloth toweling some fifty yards of material can be wound into a roll of suitable size to be housed in a conventional dispenser). These dimensions have been found necessary to use microfiber economically in a roll toweling conventional dispenser. Preferably the “split microfiber” consists of some twenty to thirty percent polyamide and seventy to eighty percent polyester.
For roll towel dispensers while the above fiber dimensions are important the “bulk” of the weave of the material is also a problem. It has been found that weaves such as used for clothing, thin dish towels, glass cleaner cloths (the so called flat weaves) function well for roll towel dispensers. High loft weaves such as “terry” weaves will become tangled in the rolls and jam the roll towel dispenser as well as increase roll size.
Various other configurations of synthetic fiber yarns are being developed almost daily and as long as they provide the small interstices and can meet the strength and bulk or flat weave requirements for roll toweling dispensers may be used with or in place of the foregoing fibers according to this invention.
According to the present invention we have found continuous roll toweling made from split microfiber, as defined herein, may be laundered and reused from two hundred to five hundred times before it must be discarded. Microfiber and especially split microfiber are initially more expensive than paper or cloth but its ability to withstand repeated cleaning and its superior absorbency ultimately results in a more economical product. In addition the ability of the microfiber to trap and hold soil material is far superior to currently available cloth or paper material.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a roll towel material that is more economical to use than paper or cloth towels.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a roll towel material that is more efficient in trapping and holding soil than cloth or paper toweling.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a microfiber material that may be dispensed in a conventional roll towel dispenser.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a microfiber roll towel material and apparatus for dispensing same, that is more efficient and economical to use than conventional paper or cloth roll towel dispensing devices.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide roll towel dispensing apparatus capable of dispensing cloth, paper, microfiber, and split microfiber toweling interchangeably.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a roll towel dispensing apparatus that feeds a loop of clean toweling upon sensing the presence of an object to be wiped/dried and upon completion of the wiping/drying operation retracts the used towel and stretches a length of dean towel from the input to the output slots of the apparatus to prevent contact with soiled toweling and unwanted access to the external portion of the toweling material.
These and other and further objects of the invention are achieved in an embodiment of the invention in which a split microfiber roll toweling material is fed from a roll towel dispenser by a first powered means when the presence of an object to be wiped/dried is sensed and the used toweling material is retracted by a second powered means when the completion of the wiping/drying operation is sensed by the dispenser apparatus.
Referring now to
Referring now to
A tunnel member 31 extends from side to side of bin 14 below the bottom thereof and has a depth of about one half the front to back dimension of the dispenser housing 12. This ensures that only a small amount of used or dean toweling will remain exposed when the dispenser is in the rest position. In one option this small amount of dean towel is automatically fed out at the start off the used towel retrieval cycle. Alternatively the used towel is merely pulled into the tunnel and housing until stretched taught across the bottom.
The toweling is then fed up to roll 32. Roll 32 acts as the take up roll for the used toweling and is preferably constructed as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 6,745,974 incorporated herein by reference. Roll 32 is connected to a motor 36 by gear train 34. Motor 36 is powered by the power supply in bin 14. At rest toweling 20 is stretched tight across the bottom of the bin 14 through tunnel 31. While at rest rolls 28 and 32 are locked in place to prevent undesired access to the toweling and/or the bottom of the cabinet.
The rolls 22 and 24 usually have a frictionally enhanced surface in order to smoothly and positively grip and feed the cloth, paper or microfiber towel material. In the past “sandpaper” type surfaces have been used but we prefer a softer Neoprene or rubber like material. This is particularly important to prevent fibers of the microfiber material from catching and jamming the feeder mechanism. In other applications strips or bands of friction material are placed about the rolls. Suitable static remediation elements (not shown) are typically used to minimize user shock and control circuit interference.
Positioned adjacent the bottom front edge of the bin 14 are infra red windows 38 behind which are located emitter and receiver sensors 41 and 42 directed so as to sense the presence of an object to be wiped/dried such as a users hands.
Referring now to
With completed towel use, the hand 39 or object is drawn away from the toweling and the infrared sensor receiver 42 not longer receives a signal from the emitter 41. An adjustable dwell time is then effected by the micro controller 44. At the end of the dwell time a command is sent by the micro controller 44 to the dispensing motor 26 to dispense a short length of toweling 20 sufficient to extend from slot 28 to tunnel 31. When the short length dispensing is completed, a signal is sent from the micro controller 44 to the take up motor 36 and the used toweling is wound around the take up roller 32 linked thereto.
Roll motor 36 is energized long enough to take up the loop 46 of soiled toweling and also the small length of dean toweling just fed out by motor 26 until a stall condition is noted by a rise in motor current at which time the motor 36 is shut off. If a small length of dean toweling was fed out by motor 26 before soiled toweling take up is initiated it will cause the dean toweling to be drawn taught across the bottom of the bin 14 into tunnel 31. As indicated above this feeding of a small segment of dean toweling may be locked out and the micro controller will then go directly to the retrieval mode. Finally a locking pin or other means is energized to prevent further withdrawal of toweling by manual pulling or otherwise.
In the event the end of the toweling 20 is reached during the activation of motor 36 the toweling will be completely retracted and wound up about take up roll 32 eliminating the possibility of any used toweling dangling out of the bottom of dispenser 10. A time delay function is incorporated in micro controller 44 to turn off motor 36 if the stall condition noted above is not detected.
The control circuitry and motors 26 and 36 are powered by a power supply(not shown) which may take the form of throw away or rechargeable batteries or if desired a suitable rectified commercial power connection which could be hard wired in upon installation of the dispenser.
While there are given above certain specific examples of this invention and its application in practical use, it should be understood tat they are not intended to be exhaustive or to be limiting of the invention. On the contrary, these illustrations and explanations herein are given in order to acquaint others skilled in the art with this invention and the principles thereof and a suitable manner of its application in practical use.
