This invention pertains to a system for automatically enabling selected ones of a number of dispensers to be operated in a predetermined sequence. While the invention broadly encompasses the dispensing of any goods much as soap, confectionery, linen or paper towels or the like, it is intended to be used with linen towel dispensers of the kind commonly found in washrooms, factories and other commercial locations.
It is relatively common for a commercial establishment to have more than one dispenser and since these dispensers are serviced only periodically, uneven usage results in certain of the dispensers being empty and others of the dispensers being partially used and still others being hardly used at all. In order to alleviate this uneven usage, it is proposed to provide a system wherein at least one and maybe more than one dispensers are made available for use while the other dispensers are.unavailable for use. Upon the occurrence of an event, which may be the absence or near , absence of the material in the dispenser, a triggering mechanism causes other dispensers to become available for use. By this system, it is proposed that.the material to be dispensed, whether it is linen towels, soap or confectionery will be used in a more orderly and efficient manner. For soap and towels, this results in easier maintenance and a more complete use of the material to be dispensed while for confectionery and the like it results in fresher goods being available since none of the goods will be retained for prolonged periods of tine, thus becoming stale.
GB-A-2 162 151 discloses a system for automatically enabling selected ones of a plurality of dispensers to be operated in a predetermined sequence comprising: a plurality of dispensers each having storage for a quantity of goods to be dispensed and a mechanism for dispensing stored goods in repeated dispensing operations, each dispenser having a storage condition wherein the stored goods are unavailable for use (see flap 3) and a dispensing condition wherein the stored goods can be dispensed by a user, control means associated with at least one dispenser, means associated with each dispenser having a control means for sensing an event and for activating said control means in response thereto, and actuating means operatively connected to said control means for changing the dispenser from the storage condition thereof to the dispensing condition thereof in response to said control means, whereby the stored goods in said dispenser become available to be dispensed by said dispensing mechanism to a user. The present invention improves on this arrangement by the features of the characterising clause of claim 1.
An example of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:
Referring now to the drawings there is disclosed in Figures 1-5, a representative dispenser 10 which in the illustration is for clean linen toweling; however, the invention is not limited to toweling and is applicable to the various items hereinbefore discussed and to others those skilled in the art will appreciate. The towel dispenser 10 includes a cabinet 11 having a pair of opposed side panels 12 interconnected by a pivoted cover 13. The cover 13 is shown in the closed position in the drawings but is pivoted to open to have soiled towelling removed and clean towelling replaced. It is common in the towel dispensing art to sense an event, such as the absence of towelling or the lack of tension, and to actuate a device such as a spring in response to the event to cause something to happen, such as the tail end of a towel roll being taken into a cabinet, for instance see U.S. patent application filed by Hartman et al., serial no. 164,456, March 4, 1988 (U.S. patent no.4826262), Steiner et al., U.S. patent no. 3,502,383 issued March 20, 1970, P.W. Jespersen, U.S. patent no. 3,437,388 issued April 8, 1969 and to E.B. Bahnsen, U.S. patent no. 3,323,848 issued June 6, 1967, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. At the bottom of the present towel cabinet is a flexible shield 15 having a pair of spaced apart apertures 16 at the free end thereof. The flexible shield 15 is fixedly connected to the rear of the towel cabinet and is flexibly wrapped around the bottom of the towel cabinet and releasably connected inside the cover 13, as will be explained.
The towel dispenser 10 further includes a towel take-up mechanism 20 which is well known in the art having a shaft 21 which is motorized either by electrical means or by a spring. Around the shaft 21 is stored the used toweling 22, as is well known. A roll of clean toweling 25 is housed within the cabinet 11 and has a loop 26 which in use extends downwardly and below the cabinet for ready access by an intended user.
The towel dispenser 10 has a transmitter 30 connected to the towel take-up mechanism 20 by leads 31 and an antenna 32. A receiver 35 is connected by suitable means 36 to a pair of solenoids 40 each having a retractable pin or piston 41 which is dimensioned to fit through the adjacent or aligned aperture 16 at the end of the shield 15
Figure 1 of the drawings shows a towel dispenser 10 in the condition wherein the fresh toweling 25 is unavailable for use and in that condition the cover 13 is closed, the shield 15 is snugly wrapped around the exterior loop 26 and traps the loop against the bottom of the cabinet 11, and the pins or pistons 41 of the solenoids 40 extend through the associated aperture 16 in the shield 15 to maintain the shield in position. In addition, in the condition shown in Fig. 1 with the cover 13 in place, the pistons 41 of the solenoids 40 are secure against tampering due to the fact that the pistons are protected by the cover 13. This is an important feature to prevent unauthorized dispensing of the toweling 25 from a towel dispenser 10 prior to the sequence hereinafter described so as to ensure that the users of the toweling use the toweling in the preferred manner, that is to exhaust the toweling in one cabinet before another cabinet is made available for use. Representative sequences which may be employed by dispensers of the present invention, whether towel dispensers, soap dispensers, confectionery dispensers or the like, are illustrated in Fig. 6 and include an eight dispenser sequence which is labeled the daisy chain dispenser or two pairs of four dispensers in a grouping labeled the daisy chain pair. It will occur to those skilled in the art that various other configurations may be used but these are representative examples of the types of sequencing which may be advantageous.
In the daisy chain configuration, when towel dispenser number one has the clean toweling roll 25 exhausted, a mechanism well known in the art cited hereinbefore but not shown herein causes activation of the transmitter 30. The transmitter 30 is set to emit a signal through the antenna 32 when an event such as the absence of clean toweling 25 occurs. This signal from the transmitter 30 is then received by the antenna 37 of the receiver 35 in the cabinet number 2. Such coding is well known in the garage door opening art as taught by a variety of patents in that field such as the patents to Collins et al., U.S. Patent 4,377,006, the patent to Willmott U.S. patent no. 4,037,201 and the patent to Goldstein U.S. patent no. 3,445,848, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. These patents show that it is well known in the art to provide digital codes to transmitter- receiver pairs arid that these transmitter-receivers may utilize signals which are ultrasonic, infrared or RF in nature but in any event each transmitter provides a coded signal which is capable of being received by only those receivers which have been set to receive the signal. In this manner the event which causes the transmitter 30 to emit a signal through antenna 32 can activate only one or more specific receivers 35 which then in turn, as described, activate the associated solenoids 40, retracting the pins or pistons 41 thereby permitting the flexible shields 15 to move from the position shown in Fig. 1 to the position shown in Fig. 5 wherein the toweling loop 26 is available for use. A shield 15 may be made of any synthetic organic resin or any other pliable material which will not crack or fail with repeated use. A simple polyethylene shield is entirely satisfactory for the operation of the present invention but other plastics or other materials may be more desirable either because of cost or availability. It is intended that alternatives to the simple shield such as a segmented shield or even a plastic solid non-flexible shield fall within the purview of the invention.