JPH0357768B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a towel dispensing device installed in a washroom or the like for wiping hands and faces. The present invention relates to a semi-electric towel dispensing device that automatically winds up the entire length of a towel.

Three basic types of towel dispensing devices of this type have been known in the past.

The first is a manual towel dispensing device in which the looped towel is exposed downward at all times. That is, the towel is wound around a used towel roll from an unused towel roller via a supply roller, and a take-up roller that slides on the outer periphery of the used towel roll is connected to the supply roller by a chain. With this kind of structure, the used towel is rolled up to the same length as the unused towel being supplied.
The towel loop must be exposed downward at all times, and airborne germs, dust, etc. adhere to the towel surface, and the towel must be used to wipe hands and face, making it extremely unsanitary. It was hot. In addition, since the exposed loop towel was visible to the naked eye, the appearance was extremely unsightly.

The second type is an improved version of the manual towel dispensing device described above, and has a structure in which the looped towel is mechanically stored within the device when the towel is not in use. That is, a spring motor is attached to the end of the take-up roller, and when an unused towel is manually fed, a spring inside the spring motor is compressed to store energy. When the suction cup is separated after a certain period of time has elapsed after the towel loop is formed, the energy stored in the spring motor is released all at once, and the looped towel is instantly stored inside by the take-up roller. With this kind of structure, if the suction cup comes off while you are wiping your hands, there is a risk that your hands will get caught up in it as well.In addition, because it is rolled up instantly, it may make unpleasant noises, and the used towel roll may not be clean. It had various drawbacks such as not being able to be wound up.

The third towel dispensing device is a fully motorized version of the second structure described above. That is, the supply motor is connected to the supply roller, the take-up motor is arranged to the take-up roller, and both rollers are driven independently. More specifically, when a person turns on the switch, a supply motor supplies unused towels to the front, and a take-up motor is reversed to feed out used towels to the rear, forming a towel loop with both towels. After a predetermined period of time after wiping the hands and face, only the winding motor is rotated in the normal direction to wind up the entire length of the loop-shaped towel onto the used towel roll and return to the initial state. Although this structure is extremely ideal, the following points have recently begun to be reconsidered. Firstly, since commonly used towel dispensing devices have the above-mentioned first structure, ordinary users have a habit of pulling down the front surface of the towel. Therefore, even in the case of the above-mentioned all-electric towel dispensing device, the user has not gotten used to this habit and frequently unloads the towel, which places a load on the supply motor and causes a series of failures. Secondly, because AC power outlets are not widely available in washrooms, research is being conducted to construct the power source of the all-electric towel dispensing device from batteries. However, the biggest problem when configuring the power source with batteries is battery life. In other words, since batteries have a finite lifespan, in order to extend their useful life, they must be designed to minimize power consumption as much as possible. In the case of the above-mentioned fully electric towel dispensing device, both the supply roller and take-up roller must be driven by batteries, which has the disadvantage that battery consumption is accelerated and the towels cannot be driven in a short period of time. have. It is also predicted that the widespread use of batteries will be difficult due to the high cost of replacing batteries.

The first object of the present invention is to form a towel loop without forming a towel loop in an unused state, and when using the towel, the user pulls out the towel to form a towel loop, and after a predetermined time, the entire length of the looped towel is rolled out into a used towel roll. To provide a semi-electric towel dispensing device that can be rolled up.

A second object of the present invention is to provide a semi-electric towel dispensing device that is hygienic, has fewer failures, and can minimize power consumption by adopting the above-described towel operation method. There is a particular thing.

A third object of the present invention is to allow the user to draw out an unused towel by hand and simultaneously draw out the used towel for a predetermined length so that the rear surface of the towel loop is made up of the used towel. To provide a semi-electric towel dispensing device capable of suppressing consumption of unused towels as much as possible by adapting to the habit of using the front side of a towel loop.

In order to achieve the above object, the semi-electric towel dispensing device according to the present invention includes a towel supply mechanism that manually pulls a towel and supplies unused towels from an unused towel roll; A towel supply stop mechanism that stops the towel supply when a predetermined length of unused towel is supplied from the supply mechanism, and a towel supply stop mechanism that stops the towel supply when a predetermined length of unused towel is supplied from the supply mechanism, and when the towel is pulled under tension, the take-up motor is separated from the take-up roller to release the tension. A take-up motor attachment/detachment mechanism is connected to the take-up motor, and when the towel is pulled, the used towel is connected to the take-up roller and the used towel is fed out a predetermined length from the used towel roll, and when the tension is released, the used towel is detached from the take-up roller. a timer device that exposes a towel loop formed from unused towels supplied and used towels fed out in conjunction with the supply downward for a predetermined time; It is characterized by comprising a drive control circuit that drives a take-up roller by a take-up motor after a predetermined period of time, winds up the entire length of the loop-shaped towel onto a used towel roll, and then stops the take-up roller.

Embodiments of the semi-electric towel dispensing device according to the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a semi-electric towel dispensing device. As shown in the figure, an unused towel roll 2 is placed on a towel tray 4 so as to be able to roll freely, and the unused towel 6 pulled out from the roll passes through a supply roller 8, a pinch roller 10, and a take-up roller 12. It is wound around the used towel roll 13 through the towel. Arc-shaped elongated holes 16a, 16b are bored at the upper ends of the left and right side walls 14a, 14b of this device, and both ends of the supply roller 8 are rotatably supported through these elongated holes 16a, 16b. A supply gear 18 is fixed to one end of the supply roller 8 on the outside of the side wall 14, and a rotating plate 20 is rotatably disposed on the side wall 14 in mesh with the supply gear 18. The rotary plate 20 is formed in the shape of a gear, and an L-shaped locking piece 22 having a claw is rotatably mounted on the rotary plate 20 by a pin 22a. A locking piece 22 is provided at one end of the locking piece 22.
b is bored, and one end of the spring 24 is fixed to the stopper piece 22b. The other end of the spring 24 is connected to a fixing pin 20a of the rotating plate 20, and applies a clockwise elastic force to the locking piece 22. In addition, in order to prevent the locking piece 22 from rotating counterclockwise, the rotating plate 2
0, a restriction pin 20b is provided on the top.

At the other end of the supply roller 8, a supply sprocket 26 is provided on the outside of the side wall 14, and is connected to a payout sprocket 30 via a chain 28. An auxiliary gear 32 is fixed to this sprocket 30, and a feeding gear 3 to be described later.
4 and the coupling piece 36 so that they always mesh with each other. One end of the pinch roller 10 has a long hole 16
b to the tip of a second swinging rod 38 provided on the outside of the side wall 14, and this second swinging rod 38 is swingably connected to the side wall 14 by a pivot pin 38a.
It is pivoted to b. Further, one end of a second return spring 40 is fixed to the other end of the second swinging rod 38, and the spring 4
The other end of the second swinging rod 38 is connected to a protrusion 15b protruding from the side wall 14b, and the tip 38b of the second swinging rod 38 is connected to the elongated hole 1.
It is biased so that it always comes into contact with the upper edge of 6b.
The upper end of a second connecting rod 42 is connected to the center of the second swing rod 38 by a connecting pin 42a, and the feeding gear is rotatably provided at the lower end of the second connecting rod 42. .

Therefore, when the tip 38b of the second swinging rod 38 is pulled downward by the towel tension, the swinging rod 3
8 rotates clockwise around the pivot pin 38a as a fulcrum in the state indicated by the dotted line in FIG. A feeding gear 34 attached to the tip of the rod 42 meshes with a feeding reverse gear 12b, which will be described later. When the towel tension is released, the second
The swinging rod 38 is rotated counterclockwise by the return force of the return spring 40, and the feeding gear 34 is disengaged from the feeding reversing gear 12b, returning to the initial state.

The other end of the pinch roller 10 is fixed via an elongated hole 16a to a tip 44b of a first swinging rod 44 disposed on the outside of the side wall 14a. The first swinging rod 44 is swingably provided outside the side wall 14a using the pivot pin 44a as a fulcrum. In addition, the first swinging rod 4
A protruding piece 44c is fixed on the tip side of the rotating plate 20 at a position almost directly above the rotary plate 20, and this protruding piece 44c is formed in an approximately inverted L shape, and its edge portion 44d is connected to the locking piece 22 as will be described later. The rotary plate 20 comes into contact with
is configured to prevent rotation of the The rear end of the first swinging rod 44 is connected to the upper end of the first connecting rod 46, and the rear end of the first swinging rod 44 is connected to the upper end of the first return spring 48. The lower end of the first return spring 48 is connected to a protrusion 15a protruding from the side wall 14a, and is configured to always urge the tip 44b of the first swinging rod 44 to the upper end position of the elongated hole 16a. There is.

The lower end of the first connecting rod 46 is pivoted to a corner of the gear housing 50 by a connecting pin 50a, and the other diagonally opposite corner of the gear housing 50 is connected to the side wall 14a by a swing pin 50b. It is rotatably supported on. A gear mechanism, which will be described later, is installed inside the gear housing 50, and a shaft 50 protrudes from the gear housing 50.
d, the drive gear 50c is connected to the housing 50 and the side wall 14a.
It protrudes between. An electric motor M is fixed to the end of the casing 50, and rotates the drive gear 50c via a gear mechanism inside the casing. The drive gear 50c is configured to normally mesh with a take-up gear 12a fixed to the outside of the side wall 14a at the end of the take-up roller 12. Moreover, the above-mentioned reversing gear 12b for feeding is fixed to the other end of the take-up roller 12 outside the side wall 14b. Therefore, the winding gear 12a and the reversing gear 12b for feeding are connected to the winding roller 1.
2 and rotates in the same direction.

Because of the above configuration, when a person pulls out an unused towel downward, the first swinging rod 44 rotates clockwise about the pivot pin 44a,
The first connecting rod 46 moves upward to move the housing 50 to the swing pin 5.
Lift clockwise using 0b as a fulcrum and set drive gear 5.
0c leaves the take-up gear 12a. When the towel tension is released, the first swinging rod 44 rotates counterclockwise due to the return force of the first return spring, returning to the initial state as shown in FIG. 1, and driving gear 50c and take-up gear 1
2a mesh again.

A support shaft 52 is pivotally supported by both side walls 14a and 14b at the lower end of the front side of the device, and an operating arm 54 is fixed to one end of this support shaft 52 at a position outside the side wall 14a. The base ends of support arms 52a and 52b are fixed to the center of the support shaft 52, and an actuating roller 56 is rotatably supported at the distal ends of both support arms 52a and 52b. side wall 14
A first limit switch 58 is disposed at the bottom of the towel, and its actuator 58a is open when the towel is not in use. The actuating roller 56 is always urged to rotate outward toward the front side due to its own weight, but when the towel loop is not formed in an unused state as shown in the figure,
Due to the tension of the towel, the actuating roller 56 rotates in the opposite direction to its biasing direction, and the tip of the actuating arm 54 is in contact with the protruding shaft 50d of the drive gear 50c, and the first limit switch 58 is open. When the unused towel is pulled downward, the actuating roller 56
rotates in the biasing direction due to its own weight, and the actuating arm 54
is the actuator 5 of the first limit switch 58
8a to close this switch and stop the rotation of the actuating roller 56.

A second limit switch 6 is installed on the upper part of the side wall 14a.
In the illustrated state, the actuator 60a is pushed up by the first swinging rod 44 and the switch 60 is closed. When the user pulls out the towel downward, the first swinging rod 44 rotates clockwise to close the second limit switch 60.
will be released. Further, guide grooves 17a, 17b are formed in the intermediate portions of both side walls 14a, 14b, and both ends of the central axis (not shown) of the used towel roll 13 are formed in the guide grooves 17a, 17b.
As a result, the towel roll 1
3 are placed circumferentially on the take-up roller 12.
Therefore, as the take-up roller 12 rotates, the used towel roll 13 is configured to move along the guide grooves 17a and 17b along with the rotating groove due to frictional force as the take-up diameter increases.

FIG. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the gear housing 50, in which a worm W is provided at the tip of the motor M.
A drive gear 50 is provided at the tip of the protruding shaft 50d via a gear mechanism 50e composed of a plurality of gears.
c is rotationally driven, and the rotational force is transmitted to the take-up gear 12a meshed with the drive gear 50c, thereby winding the loop-shaped towel onto the used towel roll 13 as described later.

3A and 3B are a left side view and a right side view of the apparatus in the state shown in FIG. 1, and the same parts are given the same numbers. The traveling state of the unused towel 6 from the unused towel roll 2 to the used towel roll 13 is shown by a dashed line, and the rest of the explanation will be omitted.

Next, the operation of the above configuration will be explained with reference to the drawings.

First, the device is in the state shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B in an unused state. When a person wipes their hands, they grasp the lower front end 6a of the unused towel 6 with both hands and forcefully pull it down. FIGS. 4A and 4B are a left side view and a right side view showing a state in which the towel is being lowered. By pulling down the unused towel 6, the pinch roller 10 moves down to a position where it comes into circumferential contact with the supply roller 8. At this time, the actuator 60a is separated and the second limit switch 60 is opened.
When the limit switch 60 is opened, a timer 64, which will be described later, begins to operate. At the same time, the actuating roller 56 rotates outward from the front due to its own weight.
The actuating arm 54 separates from the protruding shaft 50d and presses the actuator 58a, causing the first limit switch 58
is closed, and the rotation of the operating roller 56 is stopped. Further, as the drive gear 50c separates from the take-up gear 12a, the feeding gear 34 meshes with the feeding reverse gear 12b. 6 more unused towels
When the pinch roller 10 and the supply roller 8 are pulled down, the outer peripheral surfaces of the pinch roller 10 and the supply roller 8 are formed with rough surfaces, so the unused towel 6 is moved from the unused towel roll 2 while being moderately braked by the frictional force. Supplied. At the same time, the rotational force of the supply roller 8 is transmitted to the feeding reversing gear 12b via the chain 28 and feeding gear 34, causing the take-up roller 12 to be reversed and feeding the used towel 13a downward from the used towel roll 13. be. As the towel 6 is pulled down, the rotating plate 20 rotates, and after about one rotation, the tip of the locking piece 22 touches the edge portion 44d of the protruding piece 44c.
The locking piece 22 rotates counterclockwise against the elastic force of the spring 24, and its back surface touches the limit pin 20.
When the rotating plate 20 comes into contact with b, further rotation is prevented. Therefore, the unused towel 6 can no longer be pulled down, and the towel loop 62 is completed and reaches the state shown in FIG. When the user releases the unused towel 6, the return springs 40 and 48 move the pinch roller 10 upward, returning it to the initial state shown in FIG. As described above, the front surface of the towel loop 62 is formed by the unused towel 6, and the rear surface is formed by the used towel 13a.
The user can wipe his face, hands, etc. with the loop-shaped towel for a time set by the timer 64.

When the predetermined time set by the timer 64 ends, the electric motor M starts rotating, and the drive gear 5
0c and the take-up roll 1 via the take-up gear 12a.
Rotate 2 forward. Since the outer circumferential surface of the take-up roller 12 is formed into a rough surface, the used towel roll 13 begins to rotate normally due to the frictional force and starts to wind up the loop-shaped towel on its circumferential surface. As the loop-shaped towel is wound up, the actuating roller 56 is lifted by the bottom of the loop and rotated toward the inside of the device, and the actuating arm 54 separates from the actuator 58a, opening the first limit switch 58 and stopping the rotation of the motor M. Stop and finish winding the looped towel. As a result, the initial state shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B is restored.

FIG. 6 is a drive control circuit diagram for achieving the operation of this device. In the figure, E ₁ is a circuit power supply, E ₂ is a motor drive power supply, R _y1 , R _y2 , and R _y3 are relays, and R and D are resistors and light emitting diodes for the pilot lamp. The part surrounded by the dashed line is a timer 64, which is composed of a variable resistor R ₅ , a fixed resistor R ₆ and an electrolytic capacitor C. The waiting time determined by the timer 64 is determined by a time constant (R ₅ +R ₆ )C, and can be adjusted to be longer or shorter as desired by adjusting the variable resistor R ₅ .
_R4 is a discharge resistor, and the time constant _CR4 determines the discharge time of the capacitor C. SCR is a thyristor, and when the upper end potential of capacitor C exceeds a certain potential, the thyristor SCR is turned on SW ₁ , SW ₂ , SW ₂ ′,
_SW3 is a switch that is switched and adjusted by the relays _Ry1 , _Ry2 , and _Ry3 as shown by the dotted lines. Reference numerals 58 and 60 are the aforementioned first limit switch and second limit switch.

The switch state shown corresponds to the initial state shown in FIGS. 3A and 3B. When a person pulls down the towel, limit switches 58 and 60 are both turned on, relay _Ry1 is activated and switch _SW1 is turned on, and even after second limit switch 60 is turned off, switch _SW1 maintains the on state. Therefore, as charging of capacitor C starts,
Light emitting diode D emits light. When the waiting time has elapsed due to the timer 64, the capacitor C triggers the thyristor SCR, and the relays R _y2 , R _y3
is excited. Therefore, the switch SW ₃ is turned on, the motor M rotates, and the loop-shaped towel begins to be wound onto the used towel roll. On the other hand, switch SW ₂ ' is turned off by relay R _y2 , charging of capacitor C is stopped, and the electric charge is momentarily discharged through resistor R ₄ . At the same time, the light emitting diode D turns off to signal the start of winding. When the winding is completed and the first limit switch 58 is turned off, the relay _Ry3 is demagnetized and the switch _SW3 is turned off.
Rotation of motor M stops. In this way, the initial state is restored and the device enters a standby state for next use.

As described in detail above, the present invention has a towel loop that is not formed downward when it is not in use.
It can prevent airborne germs, dirt, dust, etc. from adhering to the towel surface. In addition, when using the towel, the user pulls the towel downward by hand to form a towel loop, and then wipes his/her hands, etc., so this is not a habit of ordinary users who are used to conventional fully manual towel dispensing devices. This prevents malfunctions caused by forced withdrawal of towels, which is often seen in all-electric towel dispensing devices. Furthermore, since the entire length of the looped towel is wound around the used towel roll by a motor drive after use, no towel loops are formed when the towel is not in use, resulting in an aesthetically pleasing design.In addition, only the winding process is driven by the motor. This makes it possible to suppress power consumption as much as possible, and is the most suitable configuration when a battery power source is used.

It should be noted that the present invention is not limited to the above embodiments, but includes various design changes and modifications without departing from the technical idea of the present invention.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Fig. 1 is an external perspective view of the semi-electric towel dispensing device according to the present invention, Fig. 2 is an internal configuration diagram of the gear housing, and Fig. 3 A and B are left and right side views of the device in Fig. 1. 4A and 4B are left and right side views showing the state in the process of forming a towel loop, FIG. 5 is a left side view showing the completed state of the towel loop, and FIG. 6 is the device. FIG. 2 is a drive control circuit diagram for achieving the operation of FIG. 2... Unused towel roll, 6... Unused towel, 8... Supply roller, 10... Pinch roller,
12... Winding roller, 12b... Reverse gear for feeding, 13... Used towel roll, 13a... Used towel, 20... Rotating plate, 22... Locking piece,
34... Feeding gear, 38... Second swinging rod, 42...
...Second connecting rod, 44...First swinging rod, 44c...
Projection piece, 46...first connecting rod, 50...gear housing,
50c... Drive gear, 62... Towel loop, 6
4...Timer, M...Take-up motor.

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A towel supply mechanism that manually pulls a towel and supplies an unused towel 6 from an unused towel roll 2, and a towel supply mechanism that supplies a predetermined length of unused towel from this towel supply mechanism. a towel supply stop mechanism that stops the supply of the towel, a take-up motor attachment/detachment mechanism that detaches the take-up motor M from the take-up roller when the towel is pulled, and connects the take-up motor M when the tension is released; Take-up roller 1
2 and a used towel feeding mechanism that detaches the used towel 13a from the take-up roller 12 when the force for feeding the used towel 13a to a predetermined length is released from the used towel roll 13; A timer device 64 exposes a towel loop 62 formed from the used towel 13a fed out downward for a predetermined time period, and after the predetermined time period set by the timer device 64 ends, the towel loop 62 is wound up by a take-up motor M. A semi-electric towel dispensing device characterized by comprising a drive control circuit that drives a roller 12 to wind up the entire length of a looped towel onto a used towel roll 13 and then stops a winding motor M. 2. The semi-electric towel dispensing device according to claim 1, wherein the towel supply mechanism comprises a supply roller 8 and a pinch roller 10 detachably attached to the supply roller 8. 3. The semi-electric towel dispenser according to claim 1, wherein the towel supply stop mechanism comprises a rotary plate 20 provided with a locking piece 22 and a protrusion 44c disposed in a detachable manner on the locking piece. Device. 4. The take-up motor attachment/detachment mechanism externally includes a first swinging rod 44, a first connecting rod 46 that moves up and down with the first swinging rod 44, and a drive gear 50c that swings with the first connecting rod 46. A semi-electric towel dispensing device according to claim 1, comprising a gear housing 50. 5. A second swinging rod 38 on which the used towel dispensing mechanism swings due to towel tension;
The second connecting rod 42 and this connecting rod 4 move up and down by
2. The semi-electric towel dispensing device according to claim 1, comprising a feed-out gear 34 provided at the tip of the winding roller 12 and attached to and detached from the feed-out reversing gear 12b of the take-up roller 12.