US2445495A - Multiple towel holder and dispenser - Google Patents

Description

July 20, J, RQUSSO MULTIPLE TOWEL HOLDER AND DISPENSER Filed May 14, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 77Z/77 07" JACUES IQOZ/5SO, 3) L I July 20, 1948. J ousso 2,445,495

MULTIPLE TOWEL HOLDER AND DISPENSER Patented July 20, 1948 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ULT BLE TOWEL HOLD E-AND. DISPENSER Jacques Rousso, Lps Angeles, Calif.

Application May 14, 1945, Serial No. 593,578;

7 Claims. 1

nv nt on l t s oimprov m nt in towel holders, More particularly, it relates to. improvements in controlled multiple tower holders. j. t.-.also. relatesto com-controlled means for disrentin o lsobject, among others, of the invention is a p ov on. o fli ient s mple ndv l t v y expensive means controlled by a ,coin for. releas ing. towels for drying. hands, etc.

Another objectrelates to improveclmeans for storing clean and soiled towels.

These andother objects and advantages will appear more fullyhereinafter,

In .the drawings:

Fig. 1. is, a, perspective view of the cabinet em o ng my inventio Fig. .2; is a sectional View on the line 2-2 of Fig.1..

Fig. 3- is.a. detailed perspective of the soiled towel rackshownat the bottom of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4, is atop plan view of the coin slide and gripping devic in position for the withdrawalof atowel.

Fig. 5.is.an enlarged detailed section showing the clean towel storage means and the rack. for transferring. towels to,the removable soiled=towel stora e rack, and showing the towel ready. for use before being dropped to the soiled-tcwelstorage rack.

Fig. 6 is a, fragmental sectional View ofthe supplemental rack.

Referring to the drawings in detail, I have shownacabinet Ill, having a front wall Hv and aback wall I2;

Theback. wall l2 has a section I2a, which is hinged. to,- a, top, section IZb, which is. in turn hinged tothe front. wall ll, so that. walls [2a and l2b may be lifted up andswung upon each other in order to permitthe insertion of clean towels into the .cleanetowel storage maintrack- Way or-rack 15, as will more fully hereinafter 311 9334 7.;

Side? walls; l3; together with a forwardjwall lie; and; the: intermediate wallformed by the lower portion. of the front wall ll, form a well lfljfflr. the storageof soiled towels.

Theclean-towel supply is shown at l; held-in placeby-means ofa channel-shaped clean-towel rackl6, supported in the cabinet between the sidewalls I 3.

Ihe towels have grommets l'I and'are attached to plates l8 by meansof links l9 forming towel holders.

e plates, in n, hare ap rtures 0,. nd. are

2: supported on pins 2!, which also support a pair of rollers 22.

These rollers are adapted to be inserted one on top of the other inthe rack l6,- the plates-l8 projecting from the rack l6 through a slot 23 in the rack I8.

This slot is present in all parts of the rack or trackway, aswell asinthe soiledtowel-storage rack, as will hereinafter more fully appear.

Theslot, whichis vertical, isclearlyillustrated in Fig. 3.

It will be readily understood thatthe rollers are placed one upon another in the clean-towel storage rack Hi.

The front wall H has a window24 tor the purpose of indicating when the supply oi clean towels is exhausted or nearingexhaustion.

To accomplishthispurpose, there isagravityoperated indicator 25 having asupport26 resting upon a foot piece 21, which in turn rests-upon the top mostpf the towel rollers 22'. r

The indicator 25 is connected to thesupport 26 by side members forminga bracket-28, as; shown in dotted lines in Figure 2 and the lower ends-of the support 26' extend forward resting-upon the rollers 22 of the towel holders sothat-as the towels move downward, the supp0rtf26 andthe indicator 25 will also move downward untilthe indicator shows through the window 24. 7 When the indicatorshows through the window 24; the towel rack is empty.

When the towels are-nearing exhaustion, the indicator 25 will register with the window 24-to indicate that fact by any suitable symbol or lettering,

The coin operating means may be any oneofa number of suitable well-known means for actuating the release of a towel upon the insertion -o f a coin, such as in Patent Nos. 1,908,880; 19083752,

1,992,642, 2,026,921, 2.0493597- and gripping members upon contact with the rollers until the heads ride outside the rollers and past the rollers when they will snap together behind the rollers.

Integrally formed with the plate 3| is a base plate 38, which is located between the grippers 34, and the shoulders 31 thereof limit the movement of the grippers toward each other.

The grippers may move in a guideway 39, adapted to guide the movement of the grippers backwardly and forwardly in a well defined pathway, and the plate 3| may be connected by means of a pair of vertical piers 49 to the coin mechanism above.

The cabinet is provided with a roller rack below the guideway 39. The rack is adjustably supported in brackets 4!, the ends of which are provided with slots 42 in which a roller 43 at the upper end of the rack is mounted. Additional rollers similar to the roller 43 are suspended therefrom by links 44 at the ends thereof.

An advantage of these rollers is that they are located to have the clean towels rest upon them so as to facilitate the withdrawal of the bottom clean towels.

There may be a number of these rollers 43, and when the grippers withdraw the bottom clean towel, these towels will ride against the rollers 43 and facilitate their withdrawal thereby.

The grippers, upon the insertion of a coin, will withdraw the clean towel at the lower end of the rack 16 through the guideway 39 and through an opening in the upper part of the intermediate partition forming the lower portion of th front wall H. The grippers 34 draw the clean towel along the guldeway 39 with the towel holder passing through the slot 39a to the opening 39!) in the lower surface of the casing 32.

When a roller 22 reaches the opening 3% it will drop by gravity onto the curved upper portion of the rack 45, as particularly seen in Fig, 5, and then the towel is ready for use. It should be understood that there is a slot 39a in the guideway 39 to permit the plate I8 to ride along under the rollers 22.

There also may be provided a short semi-circular supplemental rack 43 having arms 41 and 48.

This rack may have a cut-out 49 registering with a cut-out 50 in the rack 45. r

The supplemental rack 45 may be welded to the rack 45 where they line up when the cut-outs are in registry.

This supplemental rack will also have a slit for the chain of the towel in the same manner as the rack 45.

This supplemental rack will serve to permit towels to be used by persons standing at the sides of the cabinet by drawing the towels sidewise while at the same time a towel may be used by a person standing at the front of the cabinet.

The rack 45 will lead down into the soiledtowel well l4 to register with the removable substitute an empty removable rack for new soiled towels, and lock the same.

He also will unlock the lock for the hinged doors on top of the cabinet and lift out the indicator and insert a new supply of clean towels, and then replace the indicator on top of the topmost clean towels.

It will also be understood that a large number of towels may be stored in the clean-towel storage space, especially since the rollers may be made almost as small as desired.

While I have illustrated and described the preferred form of construction for carrying my invention into efiect, this is capable of variation and modification without departing from the spirit of the invention. I, therefore, do not wish to be limited to the precise details of construction set forth, but desire to avail myself of such variation and modifications as come within the scope of the appended claims,

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, a trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet.

2. In a towel holding device of th class described, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, a trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet, said trackway continuing continuously downwardly into a lower soiled towel section of said cabinet, whereby said towels may fall by gravity after use,

3. In a towel holding device of the class de scribed, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel by means of a grommet, a trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet.

4. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, a main trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull said rollers with th attached towel from said cabinet, and a supplemental trackway outside said cabinet, connecting with said main trackway and extending on either side of said main trackway and at substantially right angles thereto.

5. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, a trackway in the upper part of said cabinet and protruding horizontally from said cabinet for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and'to pull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet, a second trackway beginning at a point below the horizontal portion of the first-mentioned trackway and adapted to receive said rollers by gravity from said first-mentioned trackway, said second trackway extending continuously into a lower soiled towel bin, whereby said rollers and. said attached towel may be delivered by gravity to said bin.

6. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a set of rollers attached to each towel, a trackway for said rollers, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet, a second set of fixed rollers in said cabinet adapted to contact said towels and reduce the friction of their removal from said cabinet.

'7. In a towel holding device of the class described, a cabinet, a plurality of towels therein, a pair of rollers with towel connecting means between them and a slotted trackway adapted to contain said rollers, but not said towel holding means, and a coin-controlled, manually operated gripping device adapted to grip a single set of rollers and to pull said rollers with the attached towel from said cabinet.

JACQUES ROUSSO.

6 REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 359,213 Leavitt Mar. 8, 1887 622,508 Meyer Apr. 4, 1899 780,418 Garlick Jan. 17, 1905 1,070,536 Rohde Aug. 19, 1913 1,225,390 Anderson May 8, 1917 1,367,033 Fritsche Feb. 1, 1921 1,386,814 Van Der Wyk Aug. 9, 1921 1,437,970 Fritsche et a1 Dec. 5, 1922 2,190,879 Mayfield (1) Feb. 20, 1940 2,287,387 Mayfield (2) June 23, 1942

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