Carousel Tissue Dispenser

This invention relates generally to a type of tissue dispenser.

A tissue dispenser is a device placed in cubicles of public toilets to dispense tissue therefrom. These dispensers commonly have a vandal proof design wherein toilet roll therein is securely held within a locked housing.

One type of tissue dispenser comprises a carousel having a plurality of spindles. As each toilet roll is used, the carousel is rotated to bring the next toilet roll into alignment with an outlet thereof.

The present invention seeks to provide a tissue dispenser, which will overcome or substantially ameliorate at least some of the deficiencies of the prior art, or to at least provide an alternative.

It is to be understood that, if any prior art information is referred to herein, such reference does not constitute an admission that the information forms part of the common general knowledge in the art, in Australia or any other country.

There is provided herein a tissue dispenser comprising a housing and a carousel comprising a plurality of parallel spindles.

The spindles are configured to retain respective coreless tissue rolls. The carousel is rotatably retained within the housing for positioning each of the rolls at an outlet of the housing in turn for dispensing tissue therefrom from the outlet.

Each spindle comprises a locking spoke pivotable with respect to the spindle between locking and nonlocking positions.

In the locking position, the spoke is held in alignment with the spindle by a surrounding roll and wherein a distal end thereof aligns to interfere with the housing to prevent rotation of the carousel.

In the nonlocking position the spoke moves out of alignment with the spindle once the roll is depleted and wherein the distal end thereof moves out of alignment so as to not interfere with the housing to allow rotation of the carousel.

Preferably the outlet is at the bottom of the housing and the spoke is freely pivotable to the spindle so as to fall under gravity when the spindle is that the bottom of the housing.

As such, the present arrangement provides a purely mechanical and robust design which prevents rotation of the carousel until a toilet roll at the outlet is fully depleted.

The housing may further comprise a bracket at the outlet of the housing defining a stop plate segmenting a cross-section of the carousel to prevent a roll from being pulled off a respective spindle when at the outlet of the housing. As such, a maintenance person cannot discard roles which are not fully used when replenishing a dispenser, thereby reducing wastage.

Other aspects of the invention are also disclosed.

shows a tissue dispenser. The dispensercomprises a housing. The housingmay be formed by a front shellA which connects to a rear shellB, thereby defining an interior. A locking mechanismmay lock the shellsA andB together for access only by authorised maintenance personnel.

The interior of the housingcontains a carousel. The carouselcomprises a plurality of spindles. The embodiment shown in the illustration comprises five spindlesalthough this number may vary.

The spindlesare configured to retain respective coreless tissue rollsthereon. “Coreless” means that the tissue rollsdo not have a cardboard core and comprise a roll of a length of tissue paper only. As such, once the rollis fully depleted, the length of tissue paper is completely pulled from the respective spindle, thereby leaving the spindlefree.

The carouselis rotatably retained within the housingfor positioning each of the rollsat an outletof the housingin turn for dispensing tissue therefrom from the outlet. In the preferred embodiment shown, the outletis located at the bottom of the housing.

The dispensermay comprise a coaxial handle plateconnected to the carouselvia an outletthrough the front shellto allow a user to turn the carouselby turning the handle plate.

As is evident from, the carouselmay stop at a plurality of rotary positions so that a one of the rollsis positioned at the outletfor dispensing.

With reference to, each spindlecomprises a locking spokepivotable with respect to the spindlebetween a locking position shown inand a nonlocking position shown in.

In the locking position shown in, the spokeis held in alignment with the spindleby a surrounding roll. In this position, a distal endaligns to interfere with the housingto prevent rotation of the carousel. As such, the user would not be able to turn the carouselusing the handle plate.

However, in the nonlocking position shown in, the rollis depleted so that the tissue thereof is fully pulled from the spindle. As such, the spokemoves out of alignment with the spindlethereby causing to the distal endto move out of alignment so as to not interfere with the housing, to allow rotation of the carousel. As such, once a rollis depleted, the user can rotate the carouselvia the handle plateto move the next full rollto the outletfor dispensing.

In a preferred embodiment where the outletis at a bottom of the housing, the spokeis freely pivotable with respect to the spindleat a pivot pointso that the spokefalls by gravity to the nonlocking position shown inwhen the spindleis at the bottom outlet.

The spindlemay have a distal free endand the proximal fixed endconnected to a backing plateof the carousel. The spokemay be pivotally coupled to the spindletowards the free endthereof. As such, as is illustrated in, the spokeis angled so that when a new rollis pushed onto the free endthe spindle, the cylindrical centre of the rolleasily deflects the spoketo the locking position.

The distal endof the spokemay protrude beyond the backplateof the carousel to interfere with the housing. The housingmay define a stopping faceperpendicular to a rotational planeof the carousel. The stopping facemay be directly beneath a rotational axisof the carousel.

The dispensermay comprise a one-way rotation mechanism interfacing the carouseland the housing. With reference to, the one-way rotation mechanism may comprise the carouselcomprising circularly orientated deflecting tabswhich interfere with notchesof a circular trackof the rear shellB there behind. Each notchhas an angled face and an orthogonal face to thereby allow the deflecting tabsto only travel in one direction around the track. The notchesmay be located so that the carouselstops at the afore described rotary stop positions.

The stopping facemay be operably orientated orientation to the operation of the one-way rotation mechanism so that the spokeprevents the carousel from being rotated in one direction whilst a non-depleted rollremains at the outlet of the housingwhilst the one-way mechanism prevents the carouselbeing rotated in an opposite direction.

The dispensermay comprise a bracketat the bottom of the housingdefining a platesegmenting a bottom cross-section of the carouselto thereby prevent a rollbeing pulled off a respective spindlewhen at the bottom of the housing. To replenish the dispenser, new rollswould be inserted over spindlesaway from the bracketand rotated behind the stopper plate.

The bracketmay segment only a portion of the carouselat the openingso that a maintenance person can replenish the dispenserby opening the front shellA and inserting new rollsover the spindlesexposed above the stopping plate. As such, the maintenance person need not rotate the carouselto replenish the carousel.

The foregoing description, for purposes of explanation, used specific nomenclature to provide a thorough understanding of the invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that specific details are not required in order to practise the invention. Thus, the foregoing descriptions of specific embodiments of the invention are presented for purposes of illustration and description. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise forms disclosed as obviously many modifications and variations are possible in view of the above teachings. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical applications, thereby enabling others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. It is intended that the following claims and their equivalents define the scope of the invention.