pass in front of the device with no intention of initiating towel dispensing preferably u201c hand wave u201d sensor output voltage is sampled and compared to avoid false initiation the sample rate may be every 10 milliseconds for example when an operator or user intends to dispense a towel u201c hand wave u201d sensor voltage is substantially higher than ambient for a determined number of samples at this point the motor is driven forward the u201c learned towel length u201d to accommodate possible additional towels being desired by the user the program delays for one tenth of the u201c tear time interval u201d then reviews the u201c hand wave u201d sensor output if a hand is still present the toweling is extended an additional l tl this additional dispensing sub sequence will continue until a hand is no longer detected by the u201c hand wave u201d sensor when a hand is no longer detected by the u201c hand wave u201d sensor the u201c tear time interval u201d is initiated during which the operator is expected to tear off the desired paper towels from the dispensed toweling after the u201c tear time interval u201d the motor is driven in reverse until the positioning sensor u201c s 1 u201d again detects the leading edge i e presumed new leading edge of the toweling alternatively the motor is driven forward the number of desired ltls e g 1 ltl 2 l tls or 3 l tls plus a predetermined additional extent the predetermined extent may be for example a distance between the point at which the leading edge of the toweling is.