Claims
- 1. A hands-free towel dispenser comprising:
(a) a housing for containing at least one roll of towels; (b) a sensor for detecting an object; (c) a dispensing mechanism for dispensing a towel when said sensor detects the object; (d) an electric power source powering said dispensing mechanism; and (e) control circuitry for controlling the dispensing mechanism, said control circuitry including a microprocessor.
- 2. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said control circuitry further includes an oscillator circuit that turns power to the microprocessor on and off at a predetermined frequency.
- 3. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 2, wherein the predetermined frequency is 7 Hz.
- 4. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the control circuitry further includes an options control circuit that permits adjustment in the operation of the dispenser.
- 5. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 4, wherein said options control circuit includes means for adjusting the length of towel dispensed.
- 6. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 4, wherein said options control circuit includes means for adjusting a delay between cycles of the dispensing mechanism.
- 7. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 4, wherein said options control circuit includes means for adjusting sensitivity of said sensor.
- 8. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said electric power source comprises a battery pack.
- 9. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 8, wherein said electric power source further comprises an array of one or more photovoltaic cells.
- 10. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said sensor comprises an active infra-red sensing circuit.
- 11. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 10, wherein said active infra-red sensing circuit comprises a light emitting diode and an infra-red sensor.
- 12. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 1, wherein said housing includes a dispensing slot through which towel is dispensed, and a door mounted on the housing and moveable relative to the housing between a first position at which the door covers the dispensing slot and a second position at which the dispensing slot is not covered by the door.
- 13. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 12, wherein said control circuitry includes a switch that detects the position of said door, and wherein said control circuitry prevents operation of said dispensing mechanism when said door is at the first position.
- 14. A hands-free towel dispenser comprising:
(a) a housing for containing at least one roll of towels; (b) a sensor for detecting an object; (c) a dispensing mechanism for dispensing a towel when said sensor detects the object; (d) an electric power source powering said dispensing mechanism; and (e) control circuitry for controlling the dispensing mechanism; wherein said sensor comprises a source of infra-red light and a sensor for sensing infra-red light reflected by the object.
- 15. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 14, wherein said control circuitry includes means for adjusting the amount of infra-red light emitted by the source.
- 16. The hands-free towel dispenser according to claim 14, wherein said control circuitry includes means for cycling the source of infra-red light at a predetermined frequency.
Parent Case Info
[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/085,289, filed on May 27, 1998, currently pending; which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/603,051, filed on Feb. 16, 1996, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,772,291.
Divisions (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09538453 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
10745714 |
Dec 2003 |
US |
Continuations (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
08603051 |
Feb 1996 |
US |
Child |
09085289 |
May 1998 |
US |
Continuation in Parts (1)
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Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09085289 |
May 1998 |
US |
Child |
09538453 |
Mar 2000 |
US |