[0001] The present invention concerns a dispenser, to which hand towels as sheets, especially
as folded sheets, are stacked, having the sheets in the horizontal direction, and
the towel sheets are taken from a slot in the lower part of the dispenser by catching
the lowest sheet of the stack through the slot. The towel sheets are manufactured
traditionally of a suitable paper, porous and absorbent. The sheet stack is accommodatead
in a vertical housing forming a basic part of the dispenser, the horizontal cross
section corresponding essentially to the size of the sheets or the folded size of
the sheets in the stack. The horizontal cross-section is slightly bigger than the
size of the sheets, whereby the sheet stack can lower when the sheets are taken into
use. The dispenser is refilled with towel sheets either through an openable front
wall or an openable lid portion.
[0002] A problem with this kind of a towel sheet dispenser of prior art is the amount of
the sheets that can be loaded to the dispenser. The weight of a full-height stack
in the dispenser causes a compression load to the lower part of the stack, that impedes
the removal of the lowest sheet under the stack through the opening.
[0003] Said packing problem of the stack can be significantly improved by means of a dispenser
in accordance with the present invention, the essential characteristics thereof being
stated in the enclosed claim 1. Characteristics of different embodiments of the invention
are included in the dependent claims.
[0004] The invention will be described in more detail by means of the enclosed drawings,
where
Figure 1 shows a dispenser in accordance with the invention, having the front wall
removed, and
Figure 2 shows a dispenser loaded with sheet towels.
[0005] The basic part of the dispenser is formed in a traditional way by a frame housing
1 designed to be fixed to the place of use of the dispenser, for example on the wall
of a room. The frame housing defines a vertical space having a width corresponding
to one dimension of the sheets, and a depth in turn corresponding to the opposite
dimension of the sheets, or the corresponding dimension of the sheet having the sheet
folded in an appropriate way. This space is loaded with the sheets to be used, for
example the paper hand towels in a way shown by Figure 2, into a stack 2 formed by
the horizontal sheets. The loading can be performed through an openable front wall
or alternatively through an openable lid part. For the use of the dispenser it is
advantageous, if the biggest possible amount of sheets can be loaded at a time.
[0006] For decreasing or avoiding the packing problem caused by the sheet stack, there are
fins 3 mounted onto both opposite side walls of the housing. The projection of these
fins from the inner wall of the housing is dimensioned so that they support the side
edges of the sheet stack, whereby the high sheet stack does not create too strong
compression load to the lower part of the sheet, whereby the lowest sheet to be taken
through the opening 4 at the lower part of the dispenser can be removed without problems.
[0007] In the embodiments of the invention shown in the figures, the fins 3 on the inner
side walls of the housing are placed with an even distribution substantially over
the total length of the side walls. Alternatively, the fins can be located with alternating
distribution, whereby the distribution in the upper part of the dispenser is denser
than that in the lower part. Correspondingly, the scope of protection of the invention
also covers an embodiment, wherein only the upper part of the dispenser is provided
with the fins, the stack of the lower part lowering as usual with a distance to the
side walls of the dispenser, and the lower part of the stack remains more uniform
by construction.
[0008] The fins are preferably mounted deviating from the horizontal direction, parallel
with each other, for example inclined towards the back wall 5 of the housing. With
this inclination it is possible to have influence on the positioning of the sheets
in the stack, in other words in the shown embodiment the stack is carried through
touching against the back wall of the housing. This arrangement provides a certain
degree of freedom for the dimensions of the sheet in the direction of depth of the
housing, so that the stack stays uniform, even though the dimension of the sheets
in that direction were somewhat smaller than the depth of the housing. On the other
hand, the sheets are made to set in an advantageous position to be drawn out in the
vicinity of the opening 4.
[0009] A dispenser in accordance with the invention provides in the above mentioned way
the use of a higher housing 1 having a bigger batch refilling capacity. Alternatively
or in addition to this property, sheet material can be used having a lower self-supporting
strength (stiffness), in other words, the material can be softer and correspondingly
more absorbent.
1. A dispenser for towel products in form of sheets, said dispenser comprising an essentially
horizontal housing (1) for receiving a towel stack (2) formed by sheets to be dispensed,
stacked to lay horizontally, the sheet towels in said housing lowering by gravity
in sliding contact with the side walls of the housing, corresponding to the amount
of the sheets removed from the lower part of the housing, characterized in that the side walls are provided with fins (3) projecting inwards for partially supporting
the side edges of the towel stack.
2. A dispenser in accordance with Claim 1, characterized in that the fins (3) are inclined with respect to the horizontal level, essentially parallel
with each other.
3. A dispenser in accordance with Claim 2, characterized in that the fins (3) are inclined towards the back wall (5) of the housing.
4. A dispenser in accordance with any of the preceding Claims from 1 to 3, characterized in that the fins (3) are arranged with equal distribution over the total height of the housing
(1).
5. A dispenser in accordance with any of the preceding Claims from 1 to 3, characterized in that the fins (3) are arranged with a denser distribution in the upper part of the dispenser
than its lower part.
6. A dispenser in accordance with any of the preceding Claims from 1 to 3, characterized in that there are fins (3) only in the upper part of the dispenser.