The present invention relates to a container-dispenser of single lengths of paper by manual tearing from a continuous paper web wound up to form a roll, suitable to include two rolls at a time, one of which in reserve.

Paper dispensers are known, in particular of toilet paper but also for the use as towels, which are wall-mounted in public places such as the rest rooms of motorway snack-bars, railway stations, airports, restaurants, etc., where the paper consumption is very high and the rolls are so frequently replaced that a very careful control is required whenever the paper rolls in reserve are not to be left directly available to the users for the replacement, with the consequence of unavoidable waste of material.

In order to reduce the interventions of the personnel charged with the replacement, sometimes dispensers of toilet paper or towels have been adopted which are suitable to contain a pair of paper rolls, one of which in reserve, in such a way that a better store is available between one replacement and another. Usually in these known devices the two rolls are in turn accessible from the outside and it is the same user that displaces a slidable shutter, when a roll is finished, to make it possible to have access to the other. Of course there is no hindrance, however, that the user may take paper, no matter whether from one of the other roll by simply moving the shutter, until a possible suitable situation takes place in which both the rolls are partially exhausted and the person who has to carry out the replacement must choose between leaving the things as they are, with the risk that before a subsequent intervention all the paper is taken away from both the rolls, or carrying out an early replacement with unavoidable waste of material.

In order to avoid doubtful situations of this type, in which both the solutions would be disadvantageous, it has now been conceived, being the object of the present invention, a device for dispensing paper lengths from a roll, which is adapted to contain two paper rolls at a time, wherein the withdrawal is automatically ensured from the same preferential side.

Thereafter the other side becomes accessible and the withdrawal can then

be performed from the second roll in reserve, preferably until a fresh roll is inserted in the preferential exhausted side.

This main object of the present invention is obtained by means of a container-dispensing device being provided with the features of claim 1. According to other particular aspects of the present invention, the inside of the device is inaccessible by the user during its normal operation and the relevant cover is fixed to the rear wall of the device itself by means of a central stiffening member having also the function of ashtray.

These and other objects, advantages and features of the device according to the present invention will appear clearer from the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment thereof, given by way of non-limiting example with reference to the annexed drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows a schematic, front view of the device according to the invention with cover removed and in a situation preceding its functioning, wherein two fresh rolls have been just placed or at least only one in the seat of normal dispensing (on the left-hand);

FIGURE 2 shows a sectional view along the line ll-ll of Fig. 1 , wherein the cover has been considered closed and an upper stiffening and blocking member is near its lowered position; FIGURE 3 shows a view similar to that of Fig. 1 , in which the preliminary step of loading the device is over and its normal working can start;

FIGURE 4 shows again a view similar to those of Figs. 1 and 3, in a situation of complete exhaustion of the roll of normal dispensing; FIGURE 5 shows again a similar view in a situation immediately subsequent to that of Fig. 4, wherein the roll in reserve (on the right side) is accessible to the users;

FIGURE 6 shows, again in the same view, a situation in which the paper withdrawal newly occurs on the left-hand side where the roll originally on the right has been displaced, while a fresh roll in reserve has been placed on the right-hand side; and

FIGURE 7 shows a situation in preparation to the one of Fig. 1 or however preliminary to the replacement of a roll in the left seat.

With reference to the drawings, the device has an external housing formed of a stationary portion 1 comprising a rear wall 1a, integral with a peripheral lip 1b and provided with wall fastening means, as well as a front

covering lid 2 pivotedly mounted at 12 in its lower side to the stationary portion 1. A member 3 is pivotedly mounted on the upper side of the cover 2, and adapted to fit in a hollow seat formed in the cover itself and in the upper portion of the wall 1, thus mutually coupling these two portions and stiffening the assembly. Preferably member 3 is shaped with such a hollow to make it have the shape and the functions of an ashtray.

Two cylindrical pins 4, 4', substantially parallel to each other, protrude outwards from the rear wall, possibly formed integrally with the wall itself by moulding, which are adapted to provide the unwinding support for two paper rolls, A and B respectively, being housed within the container formed of said stationary wall 1 and cover 2, when closed. The lower portion of the lip 1 b has two openings or elongated through holes 20 which extend parallel to the two pins 4, 4' in a substantially underlying zone, corresponding to the same pins. Through said openings the free end of paper 10 coming from the respective roll A or B is caused to be accessible from the outside to be withdrawn and torn off by the user in the desired length. Furthermore, still in the lower zone of the container, centrally between the two passages 20 there is preferably provided a chamber 11 substantially shaped as a rounded triangle for dividing the inner space of the container in two seats, right- and left-hand, associated to the two rolls A, B. This chamber 11 is hollow and accessible at its inside, with cover 2 open, with the possibility of housing a deodorizing pill, preferably supplied in a net-type container (not shown) of triangular shape, homologous to that of the chamber 11, in which it can be placed by means of guides 11a and 11b for releasing deodorizing vapours in the environment.

More in particular, according to the present invention, on one of the two pins 4, 4', namely the left one as shown in the drawings, there is mounted freely rotatable as a ring a member 5 having a shape of sector of a circle, whose peripheral edge is shaped as an arc of circle and extends frontly for a length sufficient to obstruct, except than in the position of Fig. 5, the corresponding underlying hole 20 communicating to the outside. This sector 5 is prevented from moving along the pin 4' by a positioning and blocking cap or plug 14 being fitted from the outside onto the pin itself and adapted to keep the sector 5 in a position nearer the rear or back wall

1a. Of course the thickness of sector 5 and of the cap 14 are such as to

allow in any case the insertion of roll B with its core, while the vertical wall of sector 5 is sufficiently near to the back wall 1a not to cause any hindrance in the axial direction, whereby the paper roll is entirely comprised within the container with cover 2 closed and the distance of the protruding peripheral flange 5a from the axis of pin 4' cannot cause obstacles in the radial direction, thus allowing the roll to be housed without problems. A spring 15 is fixed under tension at an end to the sector 5 and at the other end to the back 1a of the device to normally bias the sector 5 to the position of Fig. 5 in which the lower opening 20 communicates the outside with the roll B.

In the other working situations, the sector 5 is instead always kept in the position at which the opening 20 is obstructed through the engagement of the lever 6 with a cam-shaped side portion 5b thereof. The active profile of the latter corresponds, when the sector 5 is in the intercepting vertical position, to an arc of circle having the center at a point 16 which is coincident with the fulcrum of lever 6. At the end of a shaped dependent portion 7 with a lower profile corresponding to that of cam portion 5b, the lever 6 is provided with a member for engagement with said cam, preferably a roller 7a, to hold the sector 5 in the intercepting vertical position against the bias of spring 15 as long as sector 5 and lever 6 are in contact, in other words there is contact between cam 5b and roller 7a.

It will be appreciated that fulcrum 16 is placed near the lower end of lever 6 and this latter extends in a plane behind sector 5, as is shown in the embodiment of Fig. 2, being provided at the opposite end with a contact member 8, preferably of rounded thumb-shape, capable of resting by gravity onto the roll A which is mounted on the left pin 4, where there is no intercepting sector 5. Such a thumb 8 is preferably formed, not integrally with lever 6, of two members of different thickness being fixed side by side, and can be fitted at the end opposite to the fulcrum 16 in two alternative orientations, thus being directed towards the contact surface with two different thicknesses according to the core size of the roll in use. Therefore, when adopting rolls with a core of greater diameter, the contacting end 8 of lever 6 will be fixed in such a way to come into contact with the core in correspondence with the same angle formed by lever 6 about fulcrum 16 (Fig. 4) as with a core of smaller diameter, whereby it will be the portion of thumb 8 with lower thickness to come into contact with

roll A, while the orientation will be opposite when rolls are used with a lesser diameter size of the core, in order to have contact with the thicker portion of a thumb.

According to a preferred embodiment of the device of the invention, the upper end of lever 6, formed downwards with the follower thumb member 8, bifurcates upwardly with a flexible tang member 9 provided with a tooth 9a protruding upwards and adapted to fit in a corresponding slot 19 formed in the upper portion of the frontally projecting lip 1b, thus being able to fit in such a slot and hold the lever in the raised position as represented in Fig. 1. Such a slot 19 is preferably formed in the hollow area provided as seat of the blocking and stiffening member 3 with possible functions of ashtray. This latter in turn has a pin 13 (Fig. 2) directed downwards, adapted to fit in said slot 19 to close and kept blocked in position the cover 2 on which the member 3 is pivotedly mounted. On the other hand, if in the slot 19 the tooth 9a of lever 6 has been already inserted from underneath, the entry of pin 13 from above would cause its ejection, thus consequently releasing the lever which, rotating around the pivot 16 by gravity, would stop at the position in which, according to the active thickness chosen at the moment of fitting the thumb on the lever, such a thumb touches the surface of the left roll A.

The lever 6 is also formed, at a nearly middle length, with a pawl 17 directed to the outside and adapted to engage the flange 5a of sector 5 when this is positioned as in Fig. 5, while there is preferably provided a guide 18 for the lever 6, as required by the flexibility of the latter due to its relative length, thus avoiding possible oscillations during the movement of the lever itself.

It will be finally appreciated that lever 6, at the end at which it is pivoted in 16, preferably is formed with a tail portion 6a facing upwards and adapted to come into engagement, when the left roll A is completely empty, with a pawl 5c integral with the rear portion of sector 5.

It clearly appears from the foregoing that the device according to the invention has one side for housing a roll in reserve and another side for housing the roll from which the paper is normally withdrawn. The "reserve" side is that on which the intercepting sector 5 is mounted, which in the illustrated case has been considered on the right side, but of course the relative positions could be inverted.

The device operation will now be better explained in the following description. Upon initially charging the device with the two rolls A, B, as represented in Fig. 1 , lever 6 must be brought to the position indicated, with the tooth 9a in the upper slot 19 in order not to interfere with the loading of the rolls, in particular the roll A. In order to bring the lever 6 to this position, action is previously made onto the sector 5 by causing it to rotate in anticlockwise direction against the tension of spring 5, thus engaging with its pawl 5c the tail 6a of lever 6 which, by rotating in clockwise direction about fulcrum 16, reaches the position as indicated, then keeping such a position during the paper rolls charging.

Subsequently the cover 2 is closed and blocked onto the stationary portion 1 by lowering member 3, having also an ashtray function, which with its pin 13 fits into the slot 19 and at the same time pushes away therefrom the tooth 9a, whereby the lever 6 is disengaged and drops by gravity with its follower thumb 8 onto the surface of roll A. As previously stated, the thumb

8 will have been preliminarly mounted onto the lever 6 in such a way to present to the contact the portion of greater or lesser thickness depending on whether the core of the used rolls is respectively of smaller or greater diameter, since usually two standard sizes are foreseen for such a diameter. Through the opening 20 on the left side an end portion of paper

10 from the roll A is accessible from the outside and its supply to the users can start while, on reduction of the diameter in consequence of the roll unwinding, the follower thumb 8 drops and lever 6 rotates in a counterclockwise direction about its fulcrum 16, while the roller 7a at the end of its appendix 7 moves with slightest friction, along the profile of cam

5b of sector 5, thus keeping the latter in the vertical position of Fig. 3 against the tension bias exerted by spring 15. Since the cam 5b profile has a substantially arc of circle shape, with center in 16, during the lever 6 rotation there is no movement of sector 5 by virtue of lack of any eccentricity.

Upon complete exhaustion of the roll A (Fig. 4) and the follower thumb 8 being in contact with the roll core, the roller 7a and cam 5b are no longer in contact; thereby the spring 15 can exert its tension bias onto the sector 5 making the same to rotate in clockwise direction until a neutral position of rest or possibly against a stop (not shown), substantially as represented in Fig. 5. In this situation the opening 20 on the right side is

no longer obstructed by the lower flange 5a of the rotatory sector, and thereby a paper length is made accessible to the outside, being dispensed from the roll B in reserve from which the users can then take paper until the subsequent intervention of the personnel in charge. This intervention is preferably performed by bringing to the left side the roll B in reserve, already partially utilized, and inserting on the store side, the right one, a fresh roll C (or introducing two fresh rolls if the roll B is already almost exhausted). It will be appreciated that in order to mount the roll B (or a fresh one) on the left side of normal distribution, the lever 6 must be brought again to the initial position of Figs. 1 and 7, whereby the sector 5 will have to be previously brought to the vertical interception position and, to avoid that this may happen due to a mere inadvertence, the pawl 17 has been provided, which would abut against the peripheral lip of the sector itself thus preventing lever 6 from lifting. In this way any possibility is excluded that both openings 20 may be accessible at the same time and that the user can choose at which side to take the paper: the withdrawal should be normally carried out always from the same preferential side except for the situation in which the roll on this side is completely empty and therefore the roll in reserve on the other side has become available, but as soon as the normal situation has been re¬ established, the stored roll is excluded from possible withdrawals of paper. As already stated above, auxiliary elements of the device according to the invention are the ashtray 3 mainly having functions of blocking and stiffening of the structure, as well as the deodorizing cavity 11 whose content is accessible from the outside only with open cover.

Possible additions and/or modifications can be brought by those skilled in the art to the above-described and illustrated embodiment of the device according to the invention without exceeding from the scope of the invention itself. In particular different shapes could be adopted for the sector 5 and lever 6 and possibly provided additional auxiliary elements.