Dispenser assembly for selectively dispensing sheet material

Abstract

A dispenser assembly facilitating selective dispensing of sheet material from a plurality of supplies of sheet material can be provided. The dispenser assembly can include a drive system to facilitate dispensing of the sheet material from the dispenser. The dispensing system can include a plurality of driven rollers each configured to move sheet material from a respective supply of sheet material, and a drive mechanism selectively driving driven rollers of the plurality of driven rollers and positioned between the driven rollers. The dispenser assembly includes an auto-assist paper dispensing system configured to allow a user to electronically activate a minimum quantity of paper to be supplied and allow for the user to supplement the quantity of paper being supplied.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A sheet material dispenser, comprising:
 a dispenser housing;   a plurality of roller assemblies mounted within an enclosure of the dispenser housing, each roller assembly having a driven roller configured to drive sheet material from a respective supply of rolled sheet material;   a drive mechanism operably coupled to a select one of the driven rollers to selectively drive rotation of the select one driven roller; and   a plurality of support assemblies rotatably supporting a plurality of supplies of rolled sheet material within the at least one chamber of the dispenser housing, wherein each support assembly comprises:
 a pair of opposing support members that are spaced apart such that a roll of sheet material can be mounted therebetween on a paper mandrel, wherein each of the support members has a first arm that has a proximal end that is configured to be rotatably mounted to an upper surface of the enclosure and a second arm that has a distal end that defines a slot for operative receipt of a respective end of a paper mandrel, 
 wherein the pair of opposing support members are configured to move between a first position, in which the roll of sheet material mounted on the paper mandrel is at full size and the angled relationship of the respective first and second arms allows for the center of gravity of the full roll of paper material and paper mandrel to be positioned at a maximal distance from the driven roller to offset the weight of the full roll of sheet material and paper mandrel and wherein, as the operative diameter of roll of sheet material is reduced, the spacing of the center of gravity of the roll of paper material and paper mandrel relative to the driven roller is complementarily reduced to ensure that paper material is fed consistently to the driven roller. 
   
     
     
         2 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , wherein the first and second arms are integral to each other and are positioned in a common plane at an acute angle with respect to each other. 
     
     
         3 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , wherein the drive mechanism is operably coupled to a select one of the first or second driven roller to selectively drive rotation of the select one of the first or the second driven roller. 
     
     
         4 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , wherein, as the sheet material roll of paper mat is used up and the operable radius of the roll of sheet material is reduced, the paper drum mandrel is maintained at a desired distance from the upper surface of the enclosure of the dispensing system. 
     
     
         5 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 4 , wherein the desired distance is about 7 mm. 
     
     
         6 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 4 , wherein the desired distance is between about 1 mm to 20 mm. 
     
     
         7 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a control circuitry in communication with the drive mechanism that is programmed to selectively actuate the motor in the first or second rotative direction to feed the sheet material from the selected supply of sheet material through the discharge defined in the dispenser housing. 
     
     
         8 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , wherein the paper drum mandrel is configured for a frictional fit to a roll of sheet material mounted thereto. 
     
     
         9 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , wherein each driven roller further includes a plurality of raised circumferentially extending surfaces that are configured to be in contact with the sheet material on the roll of sheet material throughout operation. 
     
     
         10 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 9 , wherein each of the plurality of raised circumferentially extending surfaces has a cam shape profile to maintain tension between respective tissue layers of the sheet material and to allow for intermittent roll suspension during roll rotation, which allows for paper tension to be maintained through operation as the roll of sheet material is used up. 
     
     
         11 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 9 , wherein respective profiles of the raised circumferentially extending surfaces can be positioned such that the adjacent raised circumferentially extending surfaces are positioned in a mirrored relationship. 
     
     
         12 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a dispensing system configured to allow the user to manually retrieve additional sheet material by pulling manually after the initial sheet material is dispensed automatically. 
     
     
         13 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 12 , wherein the dispensing system comprises a brake assembly for each roller assembly, each brake assembly having an elongate brake member being configured to pivot from an at rest position with respect to the housing for select braking contact with an upper guide roller of the roller assembly to cause the sheet material to cease feeding between a main roller and the upper guide roller such that the user can tear off the feed length of sheet material after which the brake assembly is configured to operatively bias back toward the at rest position. 
     
     
         14 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 13 , wherein, in the rest position, a proximal end of the brake member is spaced from the surface of the upper guide roller. 
     
     
         15 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 12 , wherein the brake assembly is rotatably mounted relative to the enclosure of the dispenser housing. 
     
     
         16 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 12 , wherein a portion of a lower edge of the elongate brake member of the brake assembly can have a serrated profile extending at least partially between the opposed distal and proximal ends and can be shaped to tear the supplied sheet upon the manual application of sheet material the serrated profile of the lower edge. 
     
     
         17 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 12 , wherein the brake assembly further comprise a bias member configured to urge the elongate brake member of the brake assembly toward the at rest position. 
     
     
         18 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising one or more material detection modules mounted within the dispenser housing adjacent a respective intake opening of each of the roller assemblies; each material detection modules being configured to determine whether sheet material from the respective supply of rolled sheet material is being fed through the respective intake opening in a respective sensor area along a sheet path the sheet material follows between the respective intake opening and the respective roller assembly. 
     
     
         19 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 18 , wherein each material detection module comprises an infrared (IR) launch tube and an infrared receiver tube; each material detection module being oriented so that IR rays emitted from the IR launch tube are directed toward the sensor area between the respective intake opening and the respective roller assembly. 
     
     
         20 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 18 , wherein, when the sheet material is not present in the sensor area, the IR rays emitted by the IR launch tube are not reflected back to the IR receiver tube. 
     
     
         21 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising an activation system configured for sensing proximity of a user and sensing activation gestures for initiating a dispensing operation of the sheet material. 
     
     
         22 . A sheet material dispenser, comprising:
 a dispenser housing;   a plurality of roller assemblies mounted within an enclosure of the dispenser housing, each roller assembly having a driven roller configured to drive sheet material from a respective supply of rolled sheet material;   a drive mechanism operably coupled to a select one of the driven rollers to selectively drive rotation of the select one driven roller; and   a dispensing system configured to allow the user to manually retrieve additional sheet material by pulling manually after the initial sheet material is dispensed automatically.   
     
     
         23 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , wherein the dispensing system comprises a brake assembly for each roller assembly, each brake assembly having an elongate brake member being configured to pivot from an at rest position with respect to the housing for select braking contact with an upper guide roller of the roller assembly to cause the sheet material to cease feeding between a main roller and the upper guide roller such that the user can tear off the feed length of sheet material after which the brake assembly is configured to operatively bias back toward the at rest position. 
     
     
         24 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 23 , wherein, in the rest position, a proximal end of the brake member is spaced from the surface of the upper guide roller. 
     
     
         25 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , wherein the brake assembly is rotatably mounted relative to the enclosure of the dispenser housing. 
     
     
         26 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , wherein a portion of a lower edge of the elongate brake member of the brake assembly can have a serrated profile extending at least partially between the opposed distal and proximal ends and can be shaped to tear the supplied sheet upon the manual application of sheet material the serrated profile of the lower edge. 
     
     
         27 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , wherein the brake assembly further comprise a bias member configured to urge the elongate brake member of the brake assembly toward the at rest position. 
     
     
         28 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , further comprising a plurality of support assemblies rotatably supporting a plurality of supplies of rolled sheet material within the at least one chamber of the dispenser housing, wherein each support assembly comprises:
 a pair of opposing support members that are spaced apart such that a roll of sheet material can be mounted therebetween on a paper mandrel, wherein each of the support members has a first arm that has a proximal end that is configured to be rotatably mounted to an upper surface of the enclosure and a second arm that has a distal end that defines a slot for operative receipt of a respective end of a paper mandrel,   wherein the pair of opposing support members are configured to move between a first position, in which the roll of sheet material mounted on the paper mandrel is at full size and the angled relationship of the respective first and second arms allows for the center of gravity of the full roll of paper material and paper mandrel to be positioned at a maximal distance from the driven roller to offset the weight of the full roll of sheet material and paper mandrel and wherein, as the operative diameter of roll of sheet material is reduced, the spacing of the center of gravity of the roll of paper material and paper mandrel relative to the driven roller is complementarily.   
     
     
         29 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 28 , wherein the first and second arms are integral to each other and are positioned in a common plane at an acute angle with respect to each other. 
     
     
         30 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 28 , wherein the drive mechanism is operably coupled to a select one of the first or second driven roller to selectively drive rotation of the select one of the first or the second driven roller. 
     
     
         31 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 28 , wherein, as the sheet material roll of paper mat is used up and the operable radius of the roll of sheet material is reduced, the paper drum mandrel is maintained at a desired distance from the upper surface of the enclosure of the dispensing system. 
     
     
         32 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , further comprising a control circuitry in communication with the drive mechanism that is programmed to selectively actuate the motor in the first or second rotative direction to feed the sheet material from the selected supply of sheet material through the discharge defined in the dispenser housing. 
     
     
         33 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , wherein the paper drum mandrel is configured for a frictional fit to a roll of sheet material mounted thereto. 
     
     
         34 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , wherein each driven roller further includes a plurality of raised circumferentially extending surfaces that are configured to be in contact with the sheet material on the roll of sheet material throughout operation. 
     
     
         35 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , further comprising one or more material detection modules mounted within the dispenser housing adjacent a respective intake opening of each of the roller assemblies; each material detection modules being configured to determine whether sheet material from the respective supply of rolled sheet material is being fed through the respective intake opening in a respective sensor area along a sheet path the sheet material follows between the respective intake opening and the respective roller assembly. 
     
     
         36 . The sheet material dispenser of  claim 22 , further comprising an activation system configured for sensing proximity of a user and sensing activation gestures for initiating a dispensing operation of the sheet material.