Abstract: A hands-free towel dispenser for dispensing a measured sheet from a roll of towel material includes a housing having an internal volume so as to retain at least one roll of towel material therein. An electronically powered dispensing mechanism is contained within the housing for dispensing a measured sheet from the roll of towel material upon actuation of the dispensing mechanism. A sensor is contained within the housing to detect an object placed within a detection zone of the sensor. Control circuitry is configured with the sensor and dispensing mechanism to initiate a dispense cycle upon detection of an object by the sensor. The sensor is disposed relative to the housing such that the detection zone is defined substantially below a bottom surface of the housing requiring that an object must be placed at a location below the housing to be detected by the sensor.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for the automatic sampling for microorganisms in a liquid product flowing in a processing line. A stream of the product is directed away from the processing line and automatically injected in sequence into a plurality of microorganism collection devices. The stream is injected into each of the collection devices for a predetermined time interval. The collection devices contain sterile membranes which filter microorganisms out of the stream. Subsequent incubation of the membranes on nutrient media permits growth and detection of microorganism colonies. The detection of microorganism colonies in one of the collection devices permits the isolation of suspect liquid product bottled during the time interval when the collection device filtered microorganisms from the stream.