Abstract: A beverage vending machine with a stirrer dispenser configured to form and dispense disposable stirrers from a strip made of food-grade material, preferably biodegradable or compostable and preferably plastic-free and waterproof. The stirrer dispenser comprises a detaching device configured either to detach, or to allow manual detachment of, an end piece of the strip with such a length as to be usable as a stirrer.

Abstract: Portable pill dispensers are disclosed herein. The portable pill dispenser may include a container configured to house at least one pill therein, a housing attachable to the container, and a dispensing mechanism disposed within the housing. In one configuration, the dispensing mechanism includes an oscillating member configured to dispense the at least one pill from the container.

Abstract: A cutlery dispenser comprises a storage chamber adapted to retain a plurality of cutlery therein; an ejector for sequentially ejecting the plurality of cutlery from the storage chamber; an actuator for driving the ejector; and a sensor for triggering the actuator in response to an event.

Abstract: A dispenser automatically dispenses beverage cans. A housing has a conveyor along which cans are conveyed by gravity to a removal opening. A dispensing flap is on the removal opening and can be pivoted between a closed position, in which it prevents the removal of products through the removal opening, and a removal position. The dispensing flap has two trough-shaped receptacles lying at right angles to the conveyor section for one can, and is pivotal such that in the closed position a can is conveyed from the conveyor section into the first receptacle positioned to the inside of the housing, removal of the can from the first receptacle being prevented. In the removal position the can rolls from the first receptacle into the second receptacle, at the same time a new can is prevented from being conveyed from the conveyor into the first receptacle.

Abstract: A dispensing apparatus for dispensing articles includes a housing and a drive system. The housing defines a hopper chamber to hold the articles, a dispensing outlet, and a dispensing path between the hopper chamber and the dispensing outlet. The drive system includes a belt and a belt actuator operable to drive the belt. The dispensing apparatus is configured such that articles disposed in the hopper chamber are directed onto the belt and the belt, when driven by the belt actuator, conveys the articles received from the hopper chamber in a dispensing direction along the dispensing path toward the dispensing outlet to be dispensed.

Abstract: An apparatus for dispensing open-ended objects such as pharmaceutical vials includes: a housing having an internal cavity configured to house open-ended objects, the housing including a guide and a floor; a pick-up unit mounted to the housing, the pick-up unit including an endless member and at least one pick-up member attached to the endless member; and a drive unit. The endless member engages the drive unit and the guide for movement relative thereto. As the drive unit drives the endless member, the at least one pick-up member travels on a pick-up path, at least a portion of which is within the housing.

Abstract: An article dispensing apparatus has a housing defining a first chamber and a second chamber that are divided by a dividing wall, a lid covering the second chamber and a cover covering the first chamber, with the first chamber holding a plurality of articles, and an opening provided in the dividing wall to allow an article to pass through to the second chamber. A figure is retained inside the second chamber, the figure having a pair of arms that are normally positioned adjacent the opening in the dividing wall to receive an article that is transferred from the first chamber via the opening in the dividing wall. An actuator is coupled to the figure to push the figure upwardly through the lid so that the figure, and the article held in the arms of the figure, are delivered outside the housing.

Abstract: A tablet dispenser includes a device body and a plurality of tablet cassettes disposed on one face of the device body. Each tablet cassette is capable of accommodating a plurality of types of tablets and of dispensing the tablets contained therein in a lateral direction. A plurality of chutes are in communication with the plurality of tablet cassettes. Each chute is disposed on the one face of the device body, adjacent to a corresponding tablet cassette. Each chute retains tablets dispensed from the corresponding tablet cassette and dispenses the tablets in a downward direction into a container.

Abstract: A bullet loader for inserting toy bullets into a magazine is disclosed to include a housing having a bullet chamber, opposing inlet and outlet and a bullet passage in communication between the bullet chamber and the outlet, a press-control device having a press knob and a plunger extended from the press knob and inserted into the bullet chamber and terminating in a repeatedly curved lower plunger portion for pushing toy bullets out of the bullet passage into the outlet, a movable block coupled to the plunger in and horizontally reciprocatable by the repeatedly curved lower plunger portion to turn over storage toy bullets upon a vertical reciprocating motion of the plunger relative to the housing.

Abstract: A method is provided for feeding small items, for example pills, that does not require tooling changes or position adjustment regardless of the size or shape of the pills. A first hopper supplies small items to a second hopper that separates the small items. The method incorporates sensors to detect the presence, size and travel time of the pills in the separating bowl hopper. The method uses the sensed values for setting vibration amplitude and the duration of an air flow to discharge pills from the apparatus.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for collecting, sorting, counting and consolidating an unorganized pool of solid or semi-solid articles such as pills for dispensation. Specifically, the articles are extracted from inside a bin using attraction points on a transport substrate and sorted into containers in finite quantities. The system consists of several components, preferably including a torque source, a counter and a vacuum source, which are uniquely integrated onto a single end-effector to reduce cost and redundancy by servicing several bins. Further, the system presents a method of attracting and carrying pills using negative vacuum pressure, gravity and centrifugal force. This centrifugal force holds articles to the local attraction points and is provided by the spinning of the transport substrate. Pills are collected from the bin or plenum at the local attraction points, counted, cleaved from the local attraction points and guided to a container or vial.

Abstract: An apparatus for dispensing open-ended objects such as pharmaceutical vials includes: a housing having an internal cavity configured to house open-ended objects, the housing including a guide and a floor; a pick-up unit mounted to the housing, the pick-up unit including an endless member and at least one pick-up member attached to the endless member; and a drive unit. The endless member engages the drive unit and the guide for movement relative thereto. As the drive unit drives the endless member, the at least one pick-up member travels on a pick-up path, at least a portion of which is within the housing.

Abstract: Disclosed is a system for collecting, sorting, counting and consolidating an unorganized pool of solid or semi-solid articles such as pills for dispensation. Specifically, the articles are extracted from inside a bin using attraction points on a transport substrate and sorted into containers in finite quantities. The system consists of several components, preferably including a torque source, a counter and a vacuum source, which are uniquely integrated onto a single end-effector to reduce cost and redundancy by servicing several bins. Further, the system presents a method of attracting and carrying pills using negative vacuum pressure, gravity and centrifugal force. This centrifugal force holds articles to the local attraction points and is provided by the spinning of the transport substrate. Pills are collected from the bin or plenum at the local attraction points, counted, cleaved from the local attraction points and guided to a container or vial.

Abstract: An automated method for dispensing pharmaceuticals, particularly tablets and capsules, and other small discrete objects, includes: receiving prescription information, selecting a container, labeling the container, dispensing the tablets or capsules into the labeled container, applying a closure to the filled, labeled container, and offloading the container to a designated location. Preferably, the tablets are dispensed with high speed dispensing bins that employ forced air to agitate and singulate the tablets. The other functions within the system are typically carried out at stations designed to offer speed, flexibility and precision to the dispensing operation.

Abstract: The present invention is a vibratory sheet jogger which is used to jog and separate sheets of paper such as bank checks so that the sheets of paper and/or bank checks can be aligned. To achieve this result, a vertically jogging motion of a sheet tray is generated from a mechanical combination of an eccentric pulley assembly driven by a DC motor and a slotted ring comprising a slotted bore affixed to the sheet tray of the jogger. Specifically the combination includes a ball bearing with the eccentric pulley inserted into the slotted bore of the slotted ring, wherein the height of the slotted bore matches the outside diameter of the ball bearing, and the length of the slotted bore is larger than the diameter of the ball bearing.

Abstract: An apparatus for use in dispensing coin rolls is disclosed. The apparatus includes a receptacle, to hold the coin rolls in a vertically stacked array, a dispensed, to dispense the coin rolls from a bottom of the receptacle, and a controller, to control the dispensing means responsive to instructions from a user. The apparatus may be used to construct a change making machine, and a plurality of change making machines may be used to form a broad cash and coin dispensing system that is centrally controlled.

Abstract: A control system for regulating a dispenser that includes a feeder bowl and a plurality of dispensing paths is disclosed. The control system includes a control unit for controlling a rotation drive for rotating the dispensing paths, a feeder bowl vibration device for vibrating the feeder bowl, and at least one dispensing path vibration device for vibrating the dispensing paths, such that the feeder bowl receives a plurality of items and supply the items uniformly to each of the dispensing paths, and the dispensing paths dispense the items singularly.

Abstract: A dispenser for dispensing solid dosing forms which include a storage compartment and a releasing portion at the bottom of the storage compartment. The releasing portion is adapted to receive a releasing device which dispenses a single solid dosage form while providing security against the release of multiple solid dosage forms as well as clogging which may prevent the release of a single solid dosage form.

Abstract: In accordance with printer-control method and printer-control apparatus according to the present invention, in speed control for a paper-supply motor from the time when a paper-supply roller starts a paper-supply operation to the time when an upper end of a printing paper abuts against a paper-feed roller and a driven roller thereof and then the paper-supply motor is stopped with the upper end portion of the printing paper being nipped by the paper-feed roller and the driven roller thereof, when a difference between a target speed and a current speed in a constant speed section under feedback control becomes equal to or larger than a predetermined value, a proportional gain coefficient used for speed control calculation is changed to a value which is larger than an usual value.

Abstract: An apparatus for delivering parts such as pipette chips in succession to an intended position includes a transfer section. The transfer section includes a stepped portion for changing a transfer passage to upper and lower passages to provide a difference in height between the upper and lower passages, which is in more than a size of the parts. The transfer section further includes a separator for holding on the upper passage an upper part of at least two parts being transferred in overlapping relationship one on the other and causing the lower part of the two parts to drop by gravity onto the lower passage and continuously thereto causing the upper part itself to drop onto the lower passage. A recovery duct is preferably provided upstream of the transfer section. With the above construction, no overlapping parts are delivered to a part supply section and no waste parts occur due to a trouble in transferring.

Abstract: An electronic component feeding apparatus comprises a feeding rotor having a recess for forming a parallel space with a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis. By oscillating a feeding rotor within a predetermined angular range, the apparatus takes the electronic components stored in bulk in a storeroom into the parallel space, and move the electronic components in the parallel space toward a feeding path each time the bottom of the parallel space tilts down toward the feeding path during an oscillation of the feeding rotor, and take the electronic components into the feeding path one by one, and allow the electronic component taken into the feeding path to move downward by gravity.

Abstract: An electronic component feeding apparatus comprises a feeding rotor having a recess for forming a parallel space with a plane orthogonal to the rotation axis. By oscillating a feeding rotor within a predetermined angular range, the apparatus takes the electronic components stored in bulk in a storeroom into the parallel space, and move the electronic components in the parallel space toward a feeding path each time the bottom of the parallel space tilts down toward the feeding path during an oscillation of the feeding rotor, and take the electronic components into the feeding path one by one, and allow the electronic component taken into the feeding path to move downward by gravity.

Abstract: An object counting and dispensing system includes a vibration system, a mounting assembly for coupling a cassette to the vibration system, a chute configured to receive discrete objects from the cassette, and an object sensing system which senses and counts objects fed from the cassette. Each cassette includes a base and a stepped side wall which together define a central open reservoir portion and a peripheral covered tray portion. Cassettes are mounted to the mounting assembly in manner which permits rapid and secure coupling and decoupling. A preferred coupling and decoupling system includes an electromagnet. Each cassette is able to feed and guide a range of sizes and shapes of tablets toward the exit. Only a few standard sizes of cassettes are needed to accommodate all discrete objects, e.g., tablets and capsules, for which the counter is adapted. A universal hopper can be attached to the mounting assembly.

Abstract: A candy dispenser may be provided with a housing shaped like an animated figure and having first and second housing openings formed therein, a candy container operatively positioned relative to the second housing opening so that pieces of candy that are inserted into the second housing opening may pass into the candy container, and a movable animated figure associated with the housing. The movable animated figure may be provided with a candy holder that is sized to hold a piece of candy, and the movable animated figure may be movable between a concealed position in which the movable animated figure is disposed within the housing and a revealed position in which the movable animated figure extends out of the first housing opening.

Abstract: A chip feeder for feeding chips stored in bulk in a case thereof, one by one, from a chip-supply portion thereof, the chip feeder including a partition plate which parts an inner space of the case into a plurality of rooms, the partition plate having an opening which extends in a direction intersecting a horizontal plane and which communicates the respective rooms on both sides of the partition plate, with each other, a movable partition member which extends across the opening of the partition plate and which is movable relative to the opening in the direction intersecting the horizontal plane, and a movable-partition-member control device which controls the movable partition member so that a lower portion of the movable partition member sinks in an upper portion of a mass of the chips stored in bulk in the case and an upper portion of the movable partition member projects upward from the mass of the chips.

Abstract: A particulate object conveying apparatus for conveying particulate objects of indefinite shape, e.g., particulate polycrystalline silicon, one by one, comprises: a stagnating portion for stagnating particulate objects; a rotor having a plural number of grooves formed in and equidistantly arrayed on its outer circumference surface, when ascending, the grooves passing the stagnating portion; and object driving-out means for driving the particulate object out of each groove of the rotor.

Abstract: The invention concerns an apparatus for dispensing cylindrical objects, the apparatus having a dispensing device comprising a device housing having a dispensing opening, a storage magazine disposed within the device housing for storing the objects, and a dispensing drum rotatably borne in the device housing and having a recess for accepting the objects, the recess communicating with the storage magazine and the dispensing opening. The drum has an axis of rotation substantially parallel to a longitudinal axis of the objects, and teeth disposed at the recess to push objects seating on the drum away from the drum. The apparatus is particularly well-suited for dispensing rolls of coins without damage to same and without jamming.

Abstract: A dispenser for dispensing tablets one at a time which includes a feature which prevents children from dispensing tablets. The dispenser has a reservoir, a chamber below the reservoir in which the tablets are arranged in a single layer and a dispensing passageway which leads to a dispensing orifice. The passageway is of such a width that a single column of tablets can be accommodated. The passageway is defined by portions of a moving slider member and can be moved from a non-dispensing position to a dispensing position, after an unlocking plunger is depressed. The plunger presses down a biased locking plate to disengage a locking projection on the slider from a locking face in the container. In the dispensing position, the lowermost tablet is dispensed whereas the remaining tablets in the column are retained in the passageway by a fixed protuberance. One side of the passageway is resilient to minimize tablet damage.

Abstract: A boxing apparatus having a substantially horizontal conveyor feeds overlapping folded boxes into a upright gravity fed hopper with a bottom gate portion. The boxes are generally aligned axially in the hopper on the gate portion to be individually removed by a suction gripper positioned below the gate portion and which reciprocatingly moves up and down to grab and pull the bottommost folded box in the hopper through the gate portion. The box is opened and articles are fed into said box and said box is closed. The suction gripper having a reciprocating arm which reciprocates up and down to accomplish the reciprocating motion of the suction gripper. A tamper device comprised of a elongate member having a reciprocating stack tamper linked to the reciprocating arm and positioned such that the engagement portion of the tamper device follows the reciprocating motion of the reciprocating arm and translates said motion to the tamper for jogging the stack into alignment preventing hopper jams.

Abstract: A dispenser include a housing with an inlet through which reagent pills are received from a vial. Within the housing is a dispensing tube that forms a pill passageway which has a first portion of relatively large cross section adjacent the inlet and a funnel portion in which the passageway reduces in cross section to a narrower linearizing portion. The dispensing tube has a series of ridges on an exterior surface. A metering shaft extends across the linearizing portion and has a depression for conveying one reagent pill at a time between sections of the linearizing portion when the metering shaft is rotated. A gear on the metering shaft is meshes with teeth on a plunger which is slidably mounted in the housing. The plunger also has a member projecting therefrom and against dispensing tube. A user pressing the plunger causes the metering shaft to rotate transferring a reagent pill to a portion of the passageway connected to the outlet of the housing and thereby ejects that reagent pill from the housing.

Abstract: An ice cube containing and dispensing device having a thermally insulating receptacle with a cooling unit, a mechanism for dispensing individual ice cubes including a lever with a pushbutton, a movable platform which closes an ice cube outlet of the receptacle and on which an ice cube is deposited as it awaits opening of the outlet, a stop attached to the lever which intercepts passage of the ice cubes toward the outlet, and a trapdoor which closes off the passage of the ice cubes from the receptacle. In another embodiment, a hopper holds the ice cubes in an interior thereof and has a separate enclosing chamber provided with orifices which connect it to the interior of the hopper. Heat exchange components of a cooling unit are arranged above the hopper. The cold from evaporators is distributed uniformly through the enclosing chamber.

Abstract: A ball feeding device which can feed balls one by one without allowing many impacts on the balls and which can prevent the balls from being magnetized. Balls are accommodated in a housing formed with a conical hole in the bottom thereof. A rotary rod having a conical end is mounted in the housing, the conical end being located near and opposite to the conical hole. Balls are guided one by one into the area between the conical end and the conical hole and discharged one by one through the conical hole. A pair of inclined cylinders are provided under the housing. The balls discharged through the conical hole drop onto the higher end of the gap defined between the cylinders and roll along the gap. The gap expands gradually from the higher end toward the lower end. Thus, the balls drop through the gap into a pan provided under the cylinders while being fed along the gap.

Abstract: A dispenser for containing and dispensing elongated articles such as coffee stirrers, straws and the like is provided and presents an inclined wall therein including upper and lower end portions against and downwardly along which articles to be dispensed rest and may move by gravity. A dispensing member equipped with an upwardly opening groove is reciprocal transversely of the lower end portion of the inclined wall and includes an upper surface along which articles to be dispensed may move from the aforementioned lower end portion into the groove. The dispenser includes a side wall having an opening therein with which one end of the groove is registered and the opposite end of the groove is closed, whereby an article disposed in the groove may be dispensed through the opening upon movement of the dispensing member toward the one side wall of the dispenser.

Abstract: A dispenser for containing and dispensing elongated articles such as coffee stirrers is provided and presents an inclined wall therein including upper and lower end portions against and downwardly along which articles to be dispensed rest and may move by gravity. A dispensing member equipped with an upwardly opening groove is reciprocal transversely of the lower end portion of the inclined wall and includes an upper surface along which articles to be dispensed may move from the aforementioned lower end portion into the groove. The dispenser includes a side wall having an opening therein with which one end of the groove is registered and the opposite end of the groove is closed, whereby an article disposed in the groove may be dispensed through the opening upon movement of the dispensing member toward the one side wall of the dispenser.

Abstract: A mechanical vending system for vending long cylindrical objects such as pencils or the like. The system comprises a cabinet housing the unvended pencils and a coin receptor mechanism for receiving the coins and vending one pencil at a time. The coins are deposited in a coin deposit box located in the interior of the cabinet thereof for storage until the service personnel retrieve the coins and restock the pencils in the cabinet. The mechanical pencil vending system has a simplified design, a low initial cost of manufacture, is easy to install and maintain, is totally independent of an outside power source, and will allow pencils and other long cylindrical objects to be vended in locations considered impractical because of the operating labor and the power requirements of vending machines heretofore.

Abstract: A child-proof dispenser for pharmaceutical tablets capable of dispensing such tablets one at a time is disclosed. A sliding drawer with an open-topped tablet receptacle moves from a first position inside the dispenser where a tablet drops into the receptacle from a storage chamber to a second position outside of the dispenser. During this movement, a horizontal extension on the drawer prevents any further tablets from dropping out of the storage chamber. When the drawer is in the first position, detent means on such drawer mate in locking relation with detent means on a flexible arm of a locking member to prevent any movement of the drawer. Digital pressure on the flexible arm of the locking member will move the appropriate detent means out of locking relation to enable the drawer to move out and dispense the tablet.

Abstract: A horizontal oscillatory feeder apparatus is disclosed for feeding a plurality of different types of electrical components of varying mass along respective tracks to component pick-up stations. The components and the tracks are supported on a base plate, which is excited in an oscillatory movement. The movement of the base plate is constrained so that movement is permitted only along an axis parallel to the feeder tracks. An excitation apparatus excites the base plate so that the acceleration forces applied to the components in a desired direction of movement exceeds the frictional force tending to prevent slippage of the components on the tracks; the acceleration forces applied to the components in the opposite direction are limited so that the components do not slip on the track in the opposite direction to the desired movement.

Abstract: A fruit bin is provide with a perforated floor or bottom allowing at least a single vertical, movable wall that is mounted to move in and out of said perforation into a fruit storage bin. The movable wall is mounted to a feed metering device that serves a dual function of also metering fruit to a fruit processing machine such as a fruit juicer.

Abstract: A tooth-pick dispenser includes a housing having a top formed with a first opening for filling tooth-picks into a tooth-pick chamber and an elongated delivery opening, a floor-like member serving as a bottom of the tooth-pick chamber and supported in the housing to inclined substantially towards the delivery opening of the top of the housing and terminated with an groove locating an elongated opening vertically in alignment with the delivery opening and an oscillation member pivotally mounted in the housing in a rotatable state, whereby the oscillation member can be swung to a feeding position allowing tooth-picks loaded in the tooth-pick chamber to movve along the inclined bottom so as to feed tooth-pick, one tooth-pick at a time, into the groove of the floor-like member and the oscillation member will be automatically retracted by a spring for discharging a tooth-pick through the delivery opening and serving it to a user in a convenient position.

Abstract: Disclosed is apparatus for dispensing cylindrical objects such as pencils. The objects are stored in a hopper within a housing and fall out of the hopper into a delivery reservoir which is movable between a first position and a second position. When an activation mechanism moves the reservoir to the second position, the objects in the reservoir fall to an outlet in the housing. As the reservoir moves to its second position, an agitator aligns the pencils in the hopper to avoid bridging. A platform over the hopper holds some of the objects off the objects in the hopper. A patina on the agitator holds the high friction parts of the objects off the agitator so the objects roll or slide more easily.

Abstract: A chip separation and alignment apparatus capable of accurately and readily accomplishing separation and alignment of chips with a simple construction. The apparatus includes a chip separation and alignment section and a chip separation section. The chip separation and alignment section includes a chip cassette formed into a flat rectangular box-like shape, in which are formed a chip storage chamber, a chip alignment hole provided with an upper end opening through which the chip alignment hole is communicated with a lower portion of the chip storage chamber and a lower end opening, and at least one air ejection port arranged near the upper end opening to intermittently eject air therethrough. The chip separation section is arranged at the lower end opening of the chip alignment hole to separate chips one by one and to successively supply the separated chips to a subsequent step.

Abstract: A dispenser for solid comestibles is disclosed which has a reservoir for containing the comestibles, a port for accessing the comestibles, a channel interposed between the port and the reservoir and a displacement mechanism which dispenses a consistent quantity of the comestibles without mutilating or guillotining the comestibles and which does not become clogged during operation.

Abstract: A dispensing apparatus for a change machine has a reservoir for storing cylindrical objects such as rolls of coins or paper money stored in tubes. The reservoir has a bottom through which a slot extends. A dispensing mechanism is located beneath the reservoir and has at least a pair of spaced apart rollers which form a pocket therebetween. The rollers are mounted for reciprocal movement between a loading position and an eject position. An object will fall from the reservoir through the slot in the bottom of the reservoir into the pocket between the rollers. The rollers are reciprocated between the loading position and the eject position to dispense the object. When the rollers are reciprocated, they agitate the objects remaining in the reservoir to prevent jams caused by the objects bridging across the opening in the bottom of the reservoir. Further, the rollers will roll the object as they are reciprocated which helps prevent damage to the object.

Abstract: An overall cylindrically shaped tablet dispenser that operates by exerting an external vertical force which compresses, through a sliding action, an upper portion toward a lower portion thereby causing a mechanism to issue a tablet. This tablet dispenser can be operated by placing the bottom of the dispenser against a ground surface and pushing downward on the top of the dispenser. Thus, this tablet dispenser is particularly advantageous to motor-impaired patients.

Abstract: A chip separation and alignment apparatus capable of accurately and readily accomplishing separation and alignment of chips with a simple construction. The apparatus includes a chip separation and alignment section and a chip separation section. The chip separation and alignment section includes a chip cassette formed into a flat rectangular box-like shape, in which are formed a chip storage chamber, a chip alignment hole provided with an upper end opening through which the chip alignment hole is communicated with a lower portion of the chip storage chamber and a lower end opening, and at least one air ejection port arranged near the upper end opening to intermittenly eject air therethrough. The chip separation section is arranged at the lower end opening of the chip alignment hole to separate chips one by one and to successively supply the separated chips to a subsequent step.

Abstract: A dispenser for elongated articles that is especially adapted for convenient assembly. The dispenser has a generally rectangular storage bin having an inner chamber and an article discharge slot that extends substantially from side to side across the front of the chamber. A chamber floor inclines downwardly toward the article discharge slot, and a lever arm is hingedly attached to the chamber floor to form therewith a lever arm-floor assemblage that includes substantially all of those moving parts the dispenser whose function directly relates to dispensing articles therefrom. The lever arm extends forwardly through the article discharge slot and has a depressed dispensing position and an elevated closed position.

Abstract: An ice cream sandwich machine includes a nozzle having a discharge end from which ice cream is extruded; a wafer infeed and delivery assembly cooperating with said nozzle and comprising a pair of wafer trays for feeding wafers against opposite sides of the extruded ice cream and paired, vertically reciprocable wafer pusher blade means cooperating therewith to urge corresponding pairs of said wafers downward for applications to the extruded ice cream bar; an index wheel positioned below the nozzle and having a plurality of pockets therein for receiving the wafers and the ice cream in the assembled form of a sandwich; and a wafer agitator assembly including wafer impact arms for periodically impacting the wafers in the wafer trays, and control arms fixedly connected with respect to the wafer impact arms for controlling the periodicity and impact force of the wafer impact arms of the wafers in the wafer trays in response to periodic movement of the pusher blade means.

Abstract: A dispenser of dispensing tabets one at a time has a reservoir, a chamber below the reservoir in which the tablets are arranged in a single layer and a dispensing passageway which leads to a dispensing orifice. The passageway is of such a width that a single column of tablets can be accommodated. The passageway is defined by portions of a moving slider member and can be moved from a non-dispensing position to a dispensing position. In this latter position the lowermost tablet is dispensed whereas the remaining tablets in the column are retained in the passageway by a fixed protuberance. One side of the passageway is resilient to minimize tablet damage. The slider member is adapted to assist the passage of tablets from the reservoir to the chamber.

Abstract: A dispensing unit for elongated articles is disclosed in which the articles are packaged in a carton (62) which can be placed directly into the storage bin (12) of the dispensing unit (10). Articles fall out of the carton (62) onto a support shelf (64) upon which they roll toward the dispensing mechanism to dispense articles through a port formed in the front of the storage bin (12). The dispensing mechanism includes a pair of oscillating members (46) which have pickup fingers (52) formed on them so as to pick up one article and transfer it to the exterior of the storage bin (12) when handles (16) formed in the exterior of the storage bin (12) are operated by the user.

Abstract: A process and relevant machine and has for its object to provide a means for packing individual drinking straws, or similarly shaped articles, in sealed strips consisting of two "films" which can be either hot or cold welded. The stages of said process are as follows:(a) formation of a compact line of straws arranged and cross fed along an inclined plane onto which they are released from a hopper where they are stacked;(b) removal of the first straw from the aforesaid line with the simultaneous arrest of the second one;(c) conduction of each straw into cut-outs provided in welding rollers.