CROSS-REFERENCE TO PRIOR APPLICATION

This application is a § 371 National Stage Application of PCT International Application No. PCT/IB2012/002101 filed Oct. 18, 2012, which claims priority to EP 11008454.8, filed Oct. 21, 2011, both of which are incorporated herein in their entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Sheet product dispensers and in particular sheet product dispensers for dispensing a strip of a sheet product from a static center-feed coreless roll of sheet product are described herein. Such dispensers find a particular, though non exclusive, application in dispensing paper sheet products.

BACKGROUND

Sheet product dispensers are well known in the art. Sheet product dispensers are generally used for dispensing sheet products such as absorbent tissues, wipes, paper towels or sheets made of any other absorbent or non-absorbent material.

FIGS. 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B and 2Cillustrate a drawback of known sheet product dispensers, namely the collapsing and clogging effects when sheet product are dispensed centrally in either a vertical V or horizontal H direction, respectively. The dispenser1has a container with a cylindrical housing2. The cylindrical housing2comprises a side wall21and a bottom portion22which closes a first end of the cylindrical housing2. A second end of the cylindrical housing2is open and can be closed by a lid or cover3to form a closed container for storing a source of a sheet product, e.g. a roll of paper5. The lid3comprises a dispensing opening4, for example in the center of the lid surface of the lid3. The sheet product can be unwound sheet by sheet51from the center of the roll5. Precuts in the sheet product or cutting means (not shown) may help cutting sheets of predefined or desired lengths, respectively. Typically, the roll5is a coreless roll of sheet product. In this case, the central cavity or hollow core region52lacks the supporting effect of a core (e.g. a hollow cylinder made of cardboard). This enables unwinding the roll from the center towards the side of the roll (as illustrated by the arrow U). However, this also results in a deformation and collapsing effect (as illustrated by the arrow C) of the roll of sheet product on itself. In a dispenser positioned such as to dispense sheet vertically (FIG. 1A), the sheet product collapses from both sides toward the central cavity52. In a dispenser positioned such as to dispense sheet horizontally (FIGS. 1B and 2A), the sheet product collapses from the top portion toward the bottom portion. In both cases, there is a tendency of the sheet product to fill-in the central cavity52that is not finely and equally defined all along the roll length anymore. This tendency is further enhanced when the central cavity grows as sheets are dispensed from the roll.FIGS. 2B and 2Cillustrate that collapsing at the bottom of the dispenser or close to the dispensing opening, respectively, result in the dispenser to be jammed due to the friction between the withdrawn sheet51and the collapsed central cavity52. Further, an additional clogging/stuffing of the dispenser can also occur when multiple sheets are withdrawn simultaneously through the dispensing opening4.

A dynamic solution to the collapsing effect is known from WO 2007057537 that describes a dispenser, particularly for dispensing toilet paper, comprising a housing for housing a roll of paper, the housing having a front side with a dispensing opening via which the paper is unwound sheet by sheet, and comprising means for locking the front side to the housing. This dispenser is characterized by virtue of the fact that the front side comprises a hatch for accessing the interior of the housing via which the free end of the roll can be removed. A dispenser of this type permits the user to solve problems of paper blocking inside the housing without, however, being able to steal the roll or, in any event, while leaving it in its original shape so that it can still be used. Such a dispenser comprises a push plate arrangement that apply a longitudinal pressure on the roll towards the inner surface of the front face of the dispenser. Said arrangement also prevents the roll from rotating. Further, said arrangement keeps the roll in shape while preventing it from collapsing when the roll is unwound. However, this is a complex dispenser comprising moving parts.

A static solution to the collapsing effect is known from U.S. Pat. No. 6,082,663 that describes an apparatus which dispenses a static centerflow rolled sheet product. The rolled product is disposed within a housing defined by a front side, back side, and side walls. The front side includes an opening through which an end of the rolled sheet product is pulled. A protrusion is defined, for example, on the back side member and extends towards the front side within the housing. The protrusion is disposed and has a length so as to extend into the rolled sheet product center void a sufficient distance to prevent the rolled product from collapsing on itself as the sheet product is withdrawn.

However, such dispensers are subject to clogging or stuffing because multiple sheets can be dispensed through the opening at the same time.

SUMMARY

It is desired to produce a sheet product dispenser that overcomes the above mentioned drawbacks. For example, a sheet product dispenser that avoids, or at least greatly reduces, collapsing effect of the roll of sheet product within the dispenser and/or clogging/stuffing effect during dispensing.

According to one aspect, there is provided a sheet product dispenser for dispensing a strip of a sheet product from a static center-feed coreless roll of sheet product, said roll including a central cavity, the dispenser including:

a container for accommodating the roll, and

a dispensing piece which protrudes toward an interior of the container from one end of the container and which includes a guidance between a receiving opening for receiving the strip of sheet product from said roll and a dispensing opening for dispensing the strip of sheet product outside of the dispenser. The dispensing piece is arranged to engage into the central cavity of the roll.

The dispensing piece may include a cylindrical outer wall connected to the guidance, the guidance protruding into the container and tapering towards the interior of the container to a first tapered end defining the receiving opening. The dispensing piece may engage the central cavity of the roll such that the receiving opening is located below a planar cylindrical surface of the roll closest to the dispensing piece.

The receiving opening may have a larger cross-section than the dispensing opening.

The guidance may be cone-shaped with the receiving opening forming the base of the cone-shaped guidance and the dispensing opening forming a second tapered end of the guidance.

The container may include a centering element protruding from another end of the container opposite to the one end of the container, and wherein the centering element may be arranged to engage into the central cavity of the roll.

The centering element may be integrally formed with a bottom portion of the container or formed separately as an insert to be placed on an inner surface of the bottom portion of the container.

The dispensing piece and the centering element each may have a circular cross-section perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the dispenser.

The dispensing piece and the centering element each may have a length so as to extend into the central cavity a sufficient distance to prevent the roll from collapsing on itself.

The container may include a cylindrical housing with a loading opening for loading the roll and a lid for closing the loading opening of the housing, wherein the lid may be attachable onto the housing in a removable manner for loading the roll into the container or closing the container.

The dispensing piece may be integrally formed with the lid or formed separately as a separate element to be fixed into an opening of the lid.

The dispenser may include means for compressing the roll within the container along at least one of its cylindrical surface. The bottom portion may be arranged outwardly concave so that a center part of the bottom portion is pressed onto one end of the roll inside the housing.

A handle may be attached at the container. The handle may be L-shaped, one leg of the handle being parallel with a side wall of the cylindrical housing.

According to another aspect, there is provided an arrangement including the sheet product dispenser described above and supporting means so as to mount said dispenser at a vertical supporting surface.

According to a further aspect, there is provided a method of dispensing a strip of a sheet product from a static center-feed coreless roll of sheet product loaded into a container of a dispenser, said roll including a central cavity, wherein the method includes:

engaging a dispensing piece into the central cavity of the roll, the dispensing piece protruding from one end of the container towards an interior of the container, the dispensing piece including a guidance between a receiving opening for receiving the strip of sheet product from the roll and a dispensing opening for dispensing the strip of sheet product outside of the dispenser, and

causing the sheet product when dispensed to circumvent a tapered end of the guidance before penetrating through the receiving opening, travelling along the guidance and leaving the dispenser through the dispensing opening.

Using the sheet product dispensers described above, it is possible to easily and reliably remove the strip of paper one at a time, even when the source of sheet product has collapsed inside the dispenser due to the continued removal of paper by the user. Thus, clogging or stuffing of the sheet product dispenser may be avoided.

Other advantages will become apparent from the hereinafter description of the invention.

