Chewing gum dispenser
Chewing gum dispenser with a hollow rectangular housing, a battery door, a DC power source, a pair of battery contacts, a plurality of electrical conducting wires, a gum loading door, a DC motor, a speed reduction gear assembly, a gum pushing cam member, a momentary normally open motor start switch switch, a a momentary normally closed motor stop switch, and a compression spring. A stack of gum sticks are inserted into the front door of the housing so that they are being pushed up by the compression spring. The cam member is attached to the shaft of the gear reduction assembly and is located just behind the top most gum stick. When a person presses on the start button, the cam rotates and pushes out the top gum stick enough for a person to pull it completely out of the housing.
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STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OF DEVELOPMENTNot Applicable
DESCRIPTION OF ATTACHED APPENDIXNot Applicable
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTIONThis invention relates generally to the field of dispensers and more specifically to a chewing gum dispenser.
- Chewing gum has been sold around the world for many years. It traditionally comes in stick form and individually wrapped in paper or foil.
- Chewing gum packages can become damaged after opening, especially when they are stored at the bottom of a purse or similar carrying case.
- The gum sticks contained within the package can slide out and become bent and soiled to the point of non-usability.
- It would be useful therefore to provide a gum stick housing that both stores and dispenses the sticks one at a time so that the remaining sticks can be continued to be stored in pristine condition until the user decides to dispense another stick. A number of inventors have addressed this problem including Ray Buban's U.S. Pat. No. 4,465,208, Edwin Wilson's U.S. Pat. No. 5,353,956, Helen Mabry's U.S. Pat. No. 5,649,642, Atsushi Shibuya's patent Des. 392157 and Helen Mabry's U.S. Pat. No. 6,578,732.
- All of the above sited patents describe a means of storing a plurality of gum sticks in a housing and manually being able to push the sticks out one at a time.
- However, there are occasions when a person might want to make a favorable impression when dispensing a stick of gum to ones self in the presence of others or to a friend.
- To this end, the present invention uses an electromechanical means to dispense a gum stick so that at the push of a button the stick automatically and quickly presents itself to the user or the user's friend.
The primary object of the invention is to provide a chewing gum dispenser that holds a quantity of individual pieces of gum and automatically dispenses them one at a time.
Another object of the invention is to provide a chewing gum dispenser that dispenses gum at the push of a button.
Another object of the invention is to provide a chewing gum dispenser that can be decorated by custom side panels.
Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following descriptions, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein, by way of illustration and example, an embodiment of the present invention is disclosed.
In accordance with a preferred embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a chewing gum dispenser comprising: a hollow rectangular housing, a battery door, a DC power source, a pair of battery contacts, a plurality of electrical conducting wires, a gum loading door, a DC motor, a speed reduction gear assembly, a gum pushing cam member, a momentary normally open motor start switch, a momentary normally closed motor stop switch, a compression spring, said housing capable of storing a stack of chewing gum sticks, said compression spring set under said gum stack, said housing front being hinged so that said housing can be opened to accept gum sticks, said housing front top edge terminating short of the underside of said housing top surface by the dimension of the thickness of one gum stick, said motor and connected gear reduction assembly terminating in an output shaft and said cam member mounted to said output shaft located at the rear of said stack of gum sticks so that said cam member is aligned with the top most said gum stick, said motor start switch activation button located on the top exterior of said housing, said motor stop switch mounted so that it's lever arm is interacting with a protrusion located on the side of said cam shaft, said DC power source powering said DC motor, said DC power source capable of being removed and replaced by opening said battery door, said DC power source placed between said battery contacts and said electrical conducting wires attach said power source to said DC motor, said normally open switch, and said normally closed switch in such a way that when a person pushes on said activation button of said normally open switch, said DC motor is activated causing said cam member to rotate thereby pushing said top-most gum stick out of said gap at the top of said front housing, said cam member is caused to stop when said protrusion on the side of said cam shaft member pushes on the lever arm of said normally open switch.
The drawings constitute a part of this specification and include exemplary embodiments to the invention, which may be embodied in various forms. It is to be understood that in some instances various aspects of the invention may be shown exaggerated or enlarged to facilitate an understanding of the invention.
Detailed descriptions of the preferred embodiment are provided herein. It is to be understood, however, that the present invention may be embodied in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but rather as a basis for the claims and as a representative basis for teaching one skilled in the art to employ the present invention in virtually any appropriately detailed system, structure or manner.
Referring now to
While the invention has been described in connection with a preferred embodiment, it is not intended to limit the scope of the invention to the particular form set forth, but on the contrary, it is intended to cover such alternatives, modifications, and equivalents as may be included within the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims.
Claims
1. Chewing gum dispenser comprising:
- a hollow rectangular housing;
- a battery door; a DC power source; a pair of battery contacts; a plurality of electrical conducting wires;
- a gum loading door;
- a DC motor;
- a speed reduction gear assembly;
- a gum pushing cam member;
- a momentary normally open motor start switch switch;
- a a momentary normally closed motor stop switch;
- a compression spring; a gum platform said housing capable of storing a stack of chewing gum sticks; said compression spring and said gum platform set under said gum stack; said housing front being hinged so that said housing can be opened to accept gum sticks; said housing front top edge terminating short of the underside of said housing top surface by the dimension of the thickness of one gum stick; said motor and connected gear reduction assembly terminating in an output shaft and said cam member mounted to said output shaft located at the rear of said stack of gum sticks so that said cam member is aligned with the top most said gum stick; said motor start switch activation button located on the top exterior of said housing; said motor stop switch mounted so that it's lever arm is interacting with a protrusion located on the side of said cam shaft; said DC power source powering said DC motor; said DC power source capable of being removed and replaced by opening said battery door; said DC power source placed between said battery contacts and said electrical conducting wires to attach said power source to said DC motor, said normally open switch, and said normally closed switch in such a way that when a person pushes on said activation button of said normally open switch, said DC motor is activated causing said cam member to rotate thereby pushing said top-most gum stick out of said gap at the top of said front housing; said cam member is caused to stop when said protrusion on the side of said cam shaft member pushes on the lever arm said normally open switch.
2. Chewing gum dispenser as claimed in claim 1 wherein said housing sides are recessed to allow for application of custom side panels.
Type: Application
Filed: Mar 23, 2007
Publication Date: Sep 25, 2008
Inventor: MaryAnn Randolph (Danville, CA)
Application Number: 11/726,749