Restaurants, especially "fast-food" restaurants and cafeterias, commonly provide a container of napkins from which customers remove one or more napkins for their personal use. The containers typically house a stack of individually folded napkins which are pushed toward a dispensing end of the self-serve container by an internal spring-loaded plate.

The dispensing end has an opening through which is exposed an edge of the napkin at one end of the stack. Thus a customer is able to grasp the napkin edge through the container opening and pull the napkin from the container. Often the opening in the container is large enough so that a customer can insert several fingers and pinch together a plurality of napkins which then are pulled from the container as a group.

However, in doing so, the customer often obtains more napkins than he or she requires and the additional napkins are thrown away, unused at the end of the meal.

As a consequence, such self-serve dispensing containers result in diners consuming a greater quantity of napkins than is required. Therefore, it is desirable to provide an alternative dispensing system which reduces the quantity of napkins taken by a customer.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a self-service supply of napkins in a manner which reduces the quantity of napkins obtained by each restaurant customer.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a supply of napkins that are both folded and wound on a roll.

It has been found that when the napkins are dispensed from a roll, customers extract fewer napkins than from dispensers of stacked napkins. By folding the napkins before rolling, the width of the roll is reduced.

These and other objectives are satisfied by a plurality of napkins formed as an elongated strip of tissue paper which has first and second sections contiguous to each other at a juncture that extends longitudinally along the strip. The first section is folded over onto the second section at the juncture to produce a folded strip which then is wound into a roll. This basic version of the present invention may be enhanced by defining a third longitudinal section of the elongated strip of tissue paper which is contiguous with the second section. The third longitudinal section is folded to overlap one of both of the first and second longitudinal sections. In the preferred embodiment, a Z-shape fold pattern is produced.

To aid in separating the folded strip into individual napkin portions, lines of perforations may be formed transversely across the folded strip at substantially regular longitudinal spacings.

Another aspect of the present invention is to provide a dispenser for the roll of folded napkins. The dispenser has a cover attached, preferably pivotally, to a base with the roll being rotatably mounted in the base. The dispenser has an opening through which extends an end of the roll of folded napkins. A customer is able to grasp the end and pull a desired quantity of napkins from the dispenser. The extracted quantity than can be pulled against an edge of the dispenser opening to tear the folded strip.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIGURE 1 is a schematic representation of a process for forming napkins according to the present invention; FIGURE 2 illustrates a roll of folded napkins produced by this process, wherein a length of napkins have been pulled from the roll; FIGURE 3 is a cross section view along line 3-3 across the strip of napkins that have been wound on the roll in Figure 2; FIGURE 4 is a similar cross section view across the strip of napkins showing an alternative folding technique; FIGURE 5 is an isometric view of a closed dispenser for the roll of napkins in Figure 2; FIGURE 6 is an isometric view of the napkin dispenser in the open state with the roll of napkins removed; FIGURE 7 is a detailed view of a napkin roll feeder mechanism in the dispenser; FIGURE 8 is a cross section view along line 8-8 of Figure 7; and FIGURE 9 is an isometric view of an end of a napkin roll mandrel used in the dispenser.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With initial reference to Figure 1, napkins according to the present invention are formed in an apparatus 10 which includes a typical unwind stand that holds a large roll 12 of tissue paper of a type commonly used in napkins. For example, the roll 12 may be 230 centimeters (cm) in diameter and 264 cm wide. The tissue paper is unwound from the roll and fed between one or more pairs of rollers 14 which form an embossing station of the apparatus 10. As the strip of tissue paper 16 passes between the rollers, a pattern

is embossed thereon. The embossed pattern is not only decorative, but also enhances the resistance of the final napkin to sliding off the lap of a user. In addition or as an alternative to embossing, the tissue paper sheet 16 passes through a printer 18 which prints a decorative pattern or indicia of the restaurant in which the napkins will be used.

The tissue paper 16 then travels to a slitting and trim station 20 which divides the strip of tissue paper 16 into lengthwise segments 21 from each of which a separate roll of finished napkins will be produced. For example, a 264 cm wide roll 12 may be slit into six segments each 43.5 cm wide.

Any excess material is trimmed from the tissue paper strip and discarded. The segments then feed in parallel through the remaining processing stations of the present napkin forming method. Alternatively, the slitting may be done at a separate machine before embossing and then each slit segment is wound into a separate roll. Thereafter, the embossing and other process steps are performed separately on each segment.

However, greater product through-put is achieved by the parallel processing technique described herein.

Each of the six tissue paper segments 21 then passes through a first folding station 22 which takes a section comprising one-third of the segment width along one side and folds that section lengthwise over onto the remainder of the segment. In the exemplary process, a 14.5 cm wide section along one longitudinal edge of the tissue paper segment 21 is folded lengthwise onto the 29 cm wide remaining section of the segment. The tissue paper segments 21 then travel through a second folding station 24 in which a portion comprising one-third of the original segment width along the opposite edge of the segment is folded lengthwise along the segments.

Figure 3 illustrates the result of the preferred folding technique and shows one tissue paper segment 21 having a lengthwise center section 31 contiguous at juncture 34 with one of the edge sections 32 folded lengthwise against one side of the center section 31, and the opposite lengthwise edge section 33 folded at juncture 35 against the other side of the center section 31 to form a Z-shaped lengthwise folded tissue paper strip 30. Figure 4 illustrates an alternative folding pattern for a tissue paper strip 36 in which both of the edge sections 37 and 38 are folded across the same side of the center lengthwise section 39. The result of the folding operations shown in Figures 3 and 4 reduce the width of each tissue paper segment 21 to one-third the width of the original segment upon exiting the slitting station 20 (e.g. from 43.5 cm to 14.5 cm). Other folding patterns, such as a half fold or a "C" fold, also may be performed at the folding stations 22 and 24. More than two folding stations may be provided for more intricate patterns.

With reference again to Figure 1, the individual folded tissue paper strips 25 do not necessarily abut one another upon exiting the second folding station 24, but may be spaced from one another because of the folding operation. As a consequence, the individual tissue paper strips 25 then may pass through a combining station 26 which utilizes conventional turning bars (not shown) to bring the six strips 25 closer together thereby reducing the width of the napkin forming apparatus 10 at that point.

The folded tissue paper strips 25 then pass on to a typical continuous winder 28 and are spiral wound into separate rolls 42 of the desired diameter for the napkin dispensing equipment. The rolls may or may not have a core.

The continuous winder 28 may employ center wind or surface

wind principles and alternatively a start/stop winder could be used with the attendant decrease on production rate. The continuous winder 28 optionally may perforate the folded tissue paper strips periodically along the length of the strips thereby defining individual folded napkins 44 and 45, as shown in Figure 2. The transverse lines of perforations across the width of each tissue paper strip 25 as it is wound onto a roll 42 by the winder 28 facilitates the subsequent tearing of single napkin portions 44 and 45 from the roll 42 at a dispenser in the restaurant. Alternatively, the need to perforate the folded napkin strip 25 may be eliminated through the use of a restaurant dispenser that has a mechanism which cuts off a napkin portion as the customer pulls the strip from the dispenser.

Referring again to Figure 1, the individually wound rolls 42 may be approximately 30 cm in diameter and 14.5 cm wide. Each fully wound roll 42 is packaged into containers 29 for distribution to restaurants.

A major advantage of the present napkin making process is that the forming apparatus 10 produces a given quantity of napkins more rapidly and at significantly less cost than the best individual napkin folding equipment currently available.

Figures 5 and 6 illustrate a dispenser 50 for a roll 42 of folded napkins as one would find in a restaurant. The dispenser 50 includes a base 52 and a cover 54 pivotally connected at their rear edges by hinge 55 that enables the cover to be tilted backward to open the dispenser 50, as shown in Figure 6. The base may have rubber feet on the bottom surface (not visible) to support the dispenser on a counter or a table. A roll 42 of folded napkins is mounted on a mandrel 58 that extends across the base 52.

The mandrel 58 has a hub 59 at one end that rests on a shelf 60 along the inside edge of a first wall 57 on one side of the base 52. As will be described the hub 59 is able to roll along the shelf 60 in directions indicated by arrows 61, or rotate in place on the shelf. The other end of the mandrel 58 has a keystone shaped bracket 62 rotatably connected thereto as shown on Figure 9. Specifically the mandrel 58 has a circular flange 64 at that other end with a shaft 66 projecting outwardly from the flange. The shaft 66 extends through an aperture in the keystone shaped bracket 62 with a nut 68 threaded onto the end of the shaft thereby fixedly attaching the bracket to the shaft. The shaft 66 engages a clutch mechanism 70 inside the mandrel 58 which allows the mandrel to turn in only one direction with respect to the keystone shaped bracket 62 as indicated by the arrow 72. This allows the roll of napkins to rotate in only that direction and prevents the exposed end of the roll from being pulled back into the dispenser 50 out of a user's reach.

The tapered sides of the keystone shaped bracket 62 have rims 74 there along which engage and receptacle 76 mounted on the second side of the dispenser base 52 as shown in Figures 7 and 8. The receptacle 76 has a slot 75 which is shaped to receive the keystone shaped bracket 62 that is slid downward into the receptacle through an open top. The rims 74 of the bracket 62 are received in receptacle grooves 77, thereby coupling the mandrel 58 in the receptacle 76.

The receptacle 76 is connected to a slider 78 which rides along a track 80 that is attached to the inside surface of the second wall 82 of the base 52. The slider 78 has a coil spring 84 which is wound around a fixed pin 85 and which has a remote end 86 that is attached by a rivet 88 to the second wall 82 near the front of the base 52. Thus when the

slider 78 is moved along the track 80 toward the rear of the base 52, the spring 84 extends along the second wall 82 with the remainder of the spring being wrapped tighter around the pin 85. This stores energy in the coiled spring 84 which tends to uncoil the spring thereby exerting a force on the slider 78 which tends to move the slider toward the front of the base 52.

To load the dispenser 50, the mandrel 58 is removed and inserted through the center hole in a roll 42 of folded napkins. That assembly then is dropped into the base 52 of the dispenser 50 so that the keystone shaped bracket 62 slides downward into the receptacle 76 and the hub 59 at the opposite end of the mandrel 58 rests on the shelf 60 as shown in Figure 6. Next the user pushed the roll toward the rear of the dispenser sliding the mandrel along the track 80 and shelf 60. This allows the cover 54 to pivot down over the roll 42 and onto the top of the base 52. A roller 89 is rotatably mounted inside the front 90 edge of the cover 54 and the roll of napkins rides against that roller. Thus, while the coil spring 84 pushes the slider 78 and the mandrel 58 toward the front of the dispenser base 52, the napkin roll 42 does not touch the inside of the cover 54, riding instead on the roller 89.

The front 92 of the base is open creating an opening 94 beneath the cover at the front of the dispenser 50 through which exposed end 96 of the napkin roll 42 projects. As seen in Figure 5, the front 90 edge of the cover 54 is recessed and curves upward to allow the fingers of a customer to grip the exposed end 96 of the napkin roll. As napkins are removed from the dispenser 50 and the napkin roll 42 decreases in diameter, the coil spring 84 maintains the roll

in a forwardmost position within the dispenser so that the napkin end 96 always is exposed in the opening 94.

When a customer desires a napkin, the person's fingers grasp the exposed end 96 and pull the end away and upward from the dispenser 50. When a perforation 40 along the roll 42 becomes aligned with the front edge 90 of the dispenser cover 54, the force of the napkins against the front edge causes tearing along that perforation and the separation of one napkin 45 from the roll 62. Upon separation an edge of the next napkin on the roll 42 drops downward forming a new exposed end 96 of the napkin roll for grasping by a customer. The clutch mechanism 70 inside the mandrel 58 which allows the mandrel to turn in only one direction which prevents the exposed end 96 from being pulled back into the dispenser 50 out of a user's reach.

By pulling the exposed end 96 of napkins horizontally, avoiding an upward motion, a continuous strip of several napkins 45 can be withdrawn together from the dispenser 50.

When strip has the desired number of napkins, the customer can pull the strip upward thereby tearing the strip from the roll 42 at one of the perforations 40. This allows the customer to obtain a napkin that is sized to that person's lap. For example, a larger person may extract two or three napkins sections 45 as a single unit from the dispenser 50 and, without separating the multiple sections, unfold and use them as a single large napkin.

Although several napkins can be removed together in this manner, it has been found that customers tend to remove fewer napkins 45 from this roll dispenser 50 than from self-serve dispensers of stacked napkins well known in the prior art. Thus the present invention has the

further advantage of reducing the number of napkins used by restaurant customers.

The present rolled/folded napkin product enables a greater quantity of napkins to be held in a similar sized dispenser than with conventional folded stacked napkins.

The present dispenser also is easier and faster to load that stacked napkin dispensers.