Abstract: A waterproof operating device has a pressure resistant housing including a support surface with one or more openings therethrough; a cover plate having corresponding openings therethrough; an elastic member having opposing major surfaces facing the support and cover plates with a protrusion extending from one major surface through an opening in the support surface. A button shaft extends through each pair of aligned openings into the protrusion. Each opposing major surface of the elastic member is maintained in direct continuous contact with the cover and support plates from the openings in the support and cover plates outward to beyond an area covered by the head portion of the button. The protrusion is dimensional for the selected elastic material and button dimensions to resist elongation from water pressure at greater than sixty meter depths, sufficient to actuate a switch element proximal to the distal end of the protrusion.

Abstract: A waterproof operating device has a pressure resistant housing including a support surface with one or more openings therethrough; a cover plate having corresponding openings therethrough; an elastic member having opposing major surfaces facing the support and cover plates with a protrusion extending from one major surface through an opening in the support surface. A button shaft extends through each pair of aligned openings into the protrusion. Each opposing major surface of the elastic member is maintained in direct continuous contact with the cover and support plates from the openings in the support and cover plates outward to beyond an area covered by the head portion of the button. The protrusion is dimensional for the selected elastic material and button dimensions to resist elongation from water pressure at greater than sixty meter depths, sufficient to actuate a switch element proximal to the distal end of the protrusion.

Abstract: A roll towel dispenser is operative to deliver and sever sheets of web from a roll of towel. The dispenser comprises a housing defining a compartment in which the roll of towel is maintained. A drive roller is supported by a frame attached to the housing. Cutting means interconnected with the drive roller operate to sever a sheet of web from the roll of material in predetermined lengths. First and second guide rollers, each supported by the frame, form respective nips with the drive roller. The drive roller is driven by the action of a user pulling on a tail of the roll, which passes through the nips and extends from the housing. A plurality of guide clips, each attached to the guide rollers at aligned annular grooves defined therein, encircle a peripheral segment of the drive roller. The guide clips function to bias the first and second guide rollers toward the drive roller and assist in threading the roll towel through the nips.

Abstract: A system and method of installing a coreless roll of an absorbent consumer paper product in a dispenser performs or includes steps of orienting the coreless roll to a desired position of alignment within the dispenser, and securing the coreless roll to the dispenser by penetrating the coreless roll with at least one projection that penetrates between adjacent layers of paper product in the coreless roll so that the coreless roll is secured against radial displacement with respect to the dispenser during operation. A temporary holding mechanism may be provided to hold the coreless roll in an intended position of alignment while the coreless roll is being secured to the dispenser.

Abstract: A combined dry sanitary tissue and prewetted personal hygiene wipes dispenser including a rear housing and a front housing, the front housing being movable from an open position to a closed position with the rear housing, the front and rear housings forming a first compartment for a roll of dry sanitary tissue, the compartment having an opening through which the roll of dry sanitary tissue is dispensed. A second compartment is provided inside the first compartment from which a roll of prewetted personal hygiene wipes is dispensed. The second compartment includes a lid having a dispensing port therethrough. There is an orifice through the front housing allowing access to the dispensing port in the lid when the front housing section is in the closed position. The lid is not removable from the second compartment when the front housing is in the closed position. A lock is included for locking the front housing in the closed position.

Abstract: A waste paper receptacle/compactor employing a container section and a lid section. Suspended within the container section is an expandable liner with a cylinder supported inside of the liner at the top thereof. The cylinder serves as a staging area for placement of spent and crumpled paper towels. The cylinder works in conjunction with a piston which extends down from the lid section. The liner is biased to contract circumferentially. In such manner, when a used desires to discard spent and crumpled paper towels, that user opens the lid section and inserts the towel into the staging area and allows lid section to close thereon. The piston drives the paper towel down into the liner below the cylinder. The inwardly direction bias of the liner prevents the towels from opening or flowering in the container section. A loop is provided at the top of the liner providing a handle for extracting a full liner from the container section.

Abstract: A dispenser for toilet tissue comprises a housing in which are disposed parallel primary and secondary spindles adapted to carry primary and remnant rolls of tissue. The secondary spindle is located below the primary spindle and is spaced horizontally from a vertical centerline of the housing. The secondary spindle is slidably mounted in inclined slots, so that the stub roll, as it is depleted, gradually gravitates away from the vertical centerline, or alternatively the secondary spindle is pivotably mounted to the housing.

Abstract: A rolled paper embossing dispenser comprises a cabinet in which two parallel embossing rollers are rotatably arranged and spring-biased together to define a nip through which a paper web is pulled while being embossed. Each embossing roller comprises a metal axle embedded in a plastic embossing portion. The embossing portion comprises a plurality of axially spaced disks which are axially offset relative to the disks of the other roller. Each disk comprises a plurality of circumferentially successive knuckles interconnected by flats. The knuckles of axially adjacent disks of each roller are circumferentially offset. Both embossing rollers are formed simultaneously in a common mold whereby both plastic embossing portions are subjected to identical molding conditions to achieve identical dimensional tolerances. A threading roller is provided for automatically feeding a paper web into the nip.