Spring Biased Patents (Class 221/276)
  • Patent number: 5259531
    Abstract: A hollow vertical cylinder has a closed vertical side wall and closed upper and lower ends. The cylinder has an upper region for receiving pills and a lower region from which pills are dispensed. A portion of the upper region is removable. The lower region has a first opening in its lower end which is adapted to pass a pill therethrough and has at least one second opening in its side wall. A thin horizontal partition disposed in the cylinder defines a bottom horizontal surface for the upper region and a top horizontal surface for the lower region and also separates each of the regions from the other. The partition has a third opening adapted to pass a pill therethrough, the third opening being out of alignment with the first opening. A structure disposed in the lower region adjacent the partition has a lever extending outwardly through a second opening in the side wall.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 3, 1993
    Date of Patent: November 9, 1993
    Assignees: Marybeth Proshan, Russel O. Stewart
    Inventor: Robert A. Bennett
  • Patent number: 5240143
    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.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 13, 1992
    Date of Patent: August 31, 1993
    Inventor: Bob I. Kornegay
  • Patent number: 5238144
    Abstract: A mechanical vending machine for vending paper tablets or the like, one at a time. The machine comprises a cabinet housing the unvended paper tablets, a tablet delivery apparatus, a coin receptor mechanism for receiving the coins, and a coin box to retain the coins. 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 paper tablets in the cabinet. The paper tablet vending machine 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 paper tablets to be vended in locations considered impractical because of the operating labor and the power requirements of vending machines heretofore. The machine comprises a cabinet having a top panel, a base, a removable lockable side panel for restocking the machine, and an interior storage tray for storing unvended paper tablets.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 6, 1992
    Date of Patent: August 24, 1993
    Inventor: Bob I. Kornegay
  • Patent number: 5195653
    Abstract: An improved slide mount advance mechanism advances a slide mount to an insertion station of a slide mounting apparatus, where the slide mount receives a film transparency to form a photographic slide. The mechanism includes a slide ejector designed to contact a bottom slide mount in a slide magazine and advance the slide mount from the slide magazine to the insertion station. The slide ejector contacts the slide mount through a rear slide ejector opening of the slide magazine to force the slide mount through a front slide mount opening of the slide magazine to a slide track. The apparatus also includes a mechanism for aligning the bottom slide mount at or above an upper edge of the slide ejector while maintaining the bottom slide mount in a position to be engaged by the slide ejector. The aligning mechanism restricts the ejection of multiple slide mounts from the slide magazine to assure proper operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 15, 1992
    Date of Patent: March 23, 1993
    Assignee: Pakon, Inc.
    Inventor: Wilbur Gerrans
  • Patent number: 5172830
    Abstract: A cottonbud dispenser consisting of a base, a plurality of long coiled springs, pushing blocks to push said springs, a position block, a fixing plate, a stop plate and a transparent case body storing cottonbuds, any of said pushing blocks below the base being possible to be pushed to eject a cottonbud in one of the rooms in the base to extend out of said room so as to be picked up by fingers and also possible to be pushed back to its original position by the compressed long spring after said pushing block is released.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 16, 1991
    Date of Patent: December 22, 1992
    Inventor: Ching-Kao Wu
  • Patent number: 5131565
    Abstract: A tongue depressor dispenser having a support base to which an upper cover detachably mounts. A dispenser assembly mounts to the support base. The dispenser assembly includes an ejector assembly that is movable to dispense a single tongue depressor at a time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 20, 1991
    Date of Patent: July 21, 1992
    Inventor: Cary Lilly
  • Patent number: 5104000
    Abstract: A permanent wave end paper dispenser allows a beauty operator to dispense permanent wave end papers from a housing in a one at a time manner, utilizing only one hand. The dispenser includes a rectangular housing with an inclined ramp disposed adjacent a paper discharger opening formed in a front wall. The ramp has a V-shaped notch to allow an operator to grasp an end paper dispensed through the discharge opening. A paper supply drawer is removably received in a feed opening formed in a back wall of the housing, to allow refilling of the dispenser. A push button on the front wall of the housing is in abutment with a first end of a horizontally disposed plunger rod. The second end of the plunger rod and a first end of a coil spring are connected to a lowermost extension member of a vertically extending rotatable post. A second end of the coil spring is connected to the front housing wall, biasing the post and plunger rod to a return position.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 17, 1990
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1992
    Inventor: Lois S. Goff
  • Patent number: 5104001
    Abstract: This invention relates to a dispenser for toilet paper and consists of a tube adapted to hold a stack of rolls, the tube being open at its upper end for loading and closed at its lower end by an end wall. A discharge opening is formed in the tube just above the end wall, A movable plate is supported by the end wall for pushing a roll through the discharge opening, the plate being spring biased. A slot is formed in the end wall, the plate having an arm depending therefrom, the arm extending through said slot to the exterior.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 13, 1991
    Date of Patent: April 14, 1992
    Inventor: Jose Negron
  • Patent number: 5065897
    Abstract: A dispensing device is provided for dispensing a plurality of articles such as cigarette boxes. The device includes two levels of individual dispensing modules. Each dispensing module includes a plurality of vertical stack holders mounted on a support plate having an open center. A dispensing mechanism selectively withdraws an article from one of the stack holders and conveys the article to the open center such that the article drops through the open center for conveyance to a final destination. The dispensing mechanism includes a shuttle plate also having an open center and a mechanism for moving the shuttle plate beneath the support plate for the vertical stack holders. One or more solenoid-activated engagement pins on the shuttle plate selectively engage one or more of the articles held in the stack holders such that, as the shuttle plate moves, the engaged article or articles moves with the shuttle plate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 25, 1990
    Date of Patent: November 19, 1991
    Inventor: Robert D. Smith
  • Patent number: 5056684
    Abstract: A roofing washer-dispensing machine having improved features is disclosed. A novel magazine comprises a substantially box-like container with a substantially open face, for housing a stack of circular roofing washers having inserts, and a substantially rigid rod removably mounted within or upon to a top wall of the box so as to extend downwardly into the central apertures of the stack washers, except for the lowermost washer, so as to restrain the remaining washers. The machine comprises a shuttle arranged to displace the lowermost washer from the stack when it is desired to dispense such washer. The shuttle includes a novel arrangement of means overlying and underlying marginal portions of such washer.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 6, 1989
    Date of Patent: October 15, 1991
    Assignee: Illinois Tool Works Inc.
    Inventors: John R. Beach, Syed R. Hasan
  • Patent number: 5048720
    Abstract: A hand-held tablet dispenser provides a housing having first and second vertically oriented chambers defined by bottom and side walls and a panel separating the chambers. Each of the chambers has an opening at the top. The first chamber includes a magazine that is open at the top and removably mounted for holding a stack of tablets. The tablets are yieldably urged upward to the top of the magazine. Adjacent to the top of the magazine is a discharge opening for allowing the tablets to be dispelled from the magazine as well as a hold down bar at the top of the magazine for preventing the tablets from being forced out the top. A cover is pivotally mounted on the magazine for opening and closing the top of the housing and discharge opening. This cover carries a pusher which forces the topmost tablet in the stack out of the discharge opening when the cover is pivoted to open the discharge opening. A slide is mounted in the second chamber and moves upwardly and downwardly.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 17, 1990
    Date of Patent: September 17, 1991
    Assignee: TCA Group, Inc.
    Inventor: Thomas C. Hoke
  • Patent number: 5038969
    Abstract: The normal practice in serve yourself coffee outlets, such as cafeteria-style restaurants and some convenience stores, is to provide loose lids in a cardboard box. A common result is that lids are knocked on the floor and spread around so that different sizes of lids become mixed together. A simple solution to the problem is a lid dispenser which dispenses lids one at a time when a lever is pressed downwardly. The lever extends through the front wall of the dispenser for actuating a pusher arm which engages the flange of the lowermost lid of a stack of lids and pushes the lid through a slot in the dispenser housing. A helical spring returns the lever and the pusher arm to the rest position in which the arm is suitably located for another lid dispensing operation.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 26, 1990
    Date of Patent: August 13, 1991
    Inventor: Nelson A. Berger
  • Patent number: 4910646
    Abstract: A flashlight-coin throwing gun has a revolver-shaped main body formed by uniting separable main bodies, each having a gunbarrel portion and a handle portion. Within the main body is a percussion mechanism for throwing a coin through the gunbarrel. A coin loading assembly delivers coins to be thrown. A trigger operably connected to the throwing mechanism initiates its operation. A light bulb operably connected to the trigger projects light in the same direction as a coil is thrown.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 7, 1988
    Date of Patent: March 20, 1990
    Assignee: Ki-On Trading Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Myung-wan Kim
  • Patent number: 4865223
    Abstract: A device for organizing desk implements and for dispensing single sheets of paper. By repeatedly depressing and releasing a pressing bar mounted on a casing containing a stack of paper, one sheet at a time is advanced gradually from a slit in the casing. The device also has a pen-receiving stand aligned with the pressing bar, and one or more concave depressions in its upper surface in which paper clips or the like are retained by magnetic discs affixed to the underside of the depressions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 18, 1988
    Date of Patent: September 12, 1989
    Assignee: Glory Formosa Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Harrison Huang
  • Patent number: 4848593
    Abstract: Dispenser for pills or sweets contained in a tube closed by a lid. When not in use, a chimney prevents the pills from falling out of a hopper disposed within the body of the tube. When the lid is pushed in, a boss displaces the chimney towards the axial center of the tube. The pills are dispensed downwardly therein until they contact a cross-pin which acts as a fixed stop. Releasing the lid causes the chimney and the pills contained therein to move laterally such that the pills then fall to the bottom of the lid.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 21, 1986
    Date of Patent: July 18, 1989
    Inventor: Jean-Claude Jeandaud
  • Patent number: 4792058
    Abstract: A pocket-sized dispenser for business or calling cards which includes a case having generally continuous upper and lower surfaces upon which advertising or identification indicia may be displayed and in which the cards are protectively housed for selective dispensing utilizing a reinforced and automatically retracted ejector mechanism which is compactly oriented within the case and is operable through a side wall thereof.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 4, 1987
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1988
    Inventor: Robert J. Parker
  • Patent number: 4792057
    Abstract: An apparatus for dispensing single ones of flat chips or discs from a multi-chip receptacle, and/or depositing them onto a surface at selected locations, is disclosed, as may be desireable, for example, when playing a game of bingo. In one preferred embodiment the chips are dispensed and deposited onto the surface in response to a downward motion or force on the apparatus against the surface after it is properly positioned at the selected location.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 12, 1985
    Date of Patent: December 20, 1988
    Assignee: The Franklin George Co., Inc.
    Inventors: Frank A. Mizer, George J. Coghill
  • Patent number: 4763812
    Abstract: Herein disclosed is a hopper structure which is in a hopper structure for separating chip parts, a swing roll is hopper body which has its lower spout merging into a lining-up cylindrical hole formed in a lining-up block. The swing roll is formed at its outer periphery with an arcuate mixing projection which has its upper end face positioned in the upper mouth of the lining-up cylindrical hole. There is provided a drive mechanism for bringing the swing roll into swinging motions of an angle smaller than the arcuate angle of the mixing projection.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 7, 1987
    Date of Patent: August 16, 1988
    Assignee: Alps Electric Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Koichi Sekinoo, Hiroshi Harada
  • Patent number: 4742937
    Abstract: From a pile or stack of cups, which is available in a magazine, the lowermost one is released with the aid of a slide (4) in such a way, that simultaneously retaining elements (7, 16) are slid away from and separating and releasing elements (5) are slid in between the rims (3) of a lowermost cup and the one above it. In such a way, a positive release of a cup (3) is possible. The separating and releasing elements (5) are provided with upper (14) and lower (12) inclined surfaces and their common points are bevelled at (33) away from each other in the direction of feeding or releasing.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 1986
    Date of Patent: May 10, 1988
    Inventor: Erik Blom
  • Patent number: 4711369
    Abstract: First and second separately actuatable triggers are mounted to a housing which carries a hollow needle through which a fastener is dispensed. The needle is mounted to the housing for movement between original and extended positions. The article to be tagged is situated adjacent the front of the housing. When the first trigger is depressed, a tag is moved from a stack on the housng into alignment with the needle as the needle is moved forward to pierce the tag and article. Also, a fastener is fed into the needle. When the second trigger is depressed, the fastener is moved through the needle such that the T-bar end is situated behind the article and the needle retracts to its original position. The apparatus is pulled away from the article, leaving the tag affixed by the fastener. The apparatus is light-weight, easily manipulatable, and can be operated by a single hand.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 14, 1986
    Date of Patent: December 8, 1987
    Assignee: Monarch Marking Systems, Inc.
    Inventor: Daniel Duchin
  • Patent number: 4702392
    Abstract: A vending machine for vending flat packages is disclosed which includes vend assemblies which are reciprocal from a rearward position to a forward, vend position. The vending machine is equipped with a rotary coin accepting assembly including a handle, a shaft and a circular cam affixed to the shaft to be rotated when the handle is turned. An activator rod extends forwardly from a reciprocating portion of the vend assembly and includes an operating finger which is positioned to be contacted by the circular cam when the handle is rotated in response to acceptance of a coin. The contact between the circular cam and the activator rod drives the vend assembly to its rearwardmost position to again prepare the vending machine for vending a flat package.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: April 30, 1986
    Date of Patent: October 27, 1987
    Assignee: U-Seal-It Vending Co., Inc.
    Inventor: Isadore B. Rachman
  • Patent number: 4648529
    Abstract: An apparatus and process for storing beads in a liquid medium and for draining and dispensing said beads essentially in the absence of said liquid medium is described. In one embodiment, the apparatus is designed so that the liquid medium in which the beads are stored can be captured in a separate compartment from the bead-containing compartment and the beads can be delivered without the liquid medium when the apparatus in inverted. This apparatus is designed so that the liquid medium will join with the beads for storage in the bead-containing compartment when the apparatus is upright. In another embodiment, the apparatus includes a bottle with a removable, threaded inner container which is used to drain the liquid medium from the beads prior to attachment to a separate bead dispenser.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 1985
    Date of Patent: March 10, 1987
    Assignee: Cetus Corporation
    Inventors: Judith I. Blakemore, Mark S. Hanamoto, Fred G. Williams
  • Patent number: 4619376
    Abstract: Chip dispensing apparatus for dispensing bingo chips with a chip transfer slide which is reciprocally moveable between a chip receiving position to receive the lowermost chip from a stack of chips received in an elongate upstanding tube and a laterally removed chip dispensing position in which a chip is dispensed to a bingo card. The apparatus includes a pistol grip-type handle having a linkage which is coupled to the chip transfer slide and actuated by a trigger to reciprocally move the chip transfer slide between the chip receiving and chip dispensing positions.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 8, 1985
    Date of Patent: October 28, 1986
    Inventor: Clifford A. Huss
  • Patent number: 4483066
    Abstract: Disclosed is apparatus for locking and dispensing self-lockable fasteners, comprising a pair of a socket holder and an inserting-part holder. The socket holder comprises a groove for holding sockets of a plurality of fasteners in a series arrangement and a pusher for forcing the plurality of series arranged sockets to an opening at the forward end of the socket holder, and the inserting-part holder similarly comprises a groove for holding inserting parts of the same plurality of fasteners in the same series arrangement as in the socket holder and a pusher for forcing the plurality of series arranged inserting parts toward an opening at the forward end of the inserting-part holder. The apparatus includes also a pressing means operable to press the inserting part of a fastener into the socket of the same fastener, at the corresponding forward end portions of the socket holder and the inserting-part holder.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: July 28, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 20, 1984
    Assignees: Japan Bano'k Co., Ltd., Ben Clements & Sons, Inc.
    Inventor: Furutsu Akira
  • Patent number: 4438867
    Abstract: A manually-operable tool for holding a magazine containing a plurality of stacked, individual electrical components and selectively dispensing the components from the tool in predetermined orientation for loading on a printed circuit board, or the like. The magazine is inserted into an appropriately configured opening in the tool which is held by the operator with the magazine substantially vertical so that components are gravity fed to the lower end. Depression of a spring loaded rod by the operator's thumb moves a plunger to push a component out of engagement between a pair of gripper members. On the return stroke of the rod, a component transport member is moved thereby to carry the lowermost component fed by gravity from the magazine to engagement between the gripper members for ejection on the next depression of the rod and plunger.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 28, 1981
    Date of Patent: March 27, 1984
    Assignee: Industrial Design & Development Corp.
    Inventors: David L. Mayne, David Jahsman
  • Patent number: 4415098
    Abstract: A bead dispenser for gravity feed dispensing beads one at a time from a plurality thereof. A main dispenser body includes a bead reservoir, a bead outlet and a cavity between the reservoir and the outlet for receiving a slidable, retractable plunger having an aperture alignable with the bead outlet. Opposing respective angled surfaces on the plunger and the dispenser main body are adapted to individually feed the beads into the plunger aperture for dispensing one at a time.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 15, 1981
    Date of Patent: November 15, 1983
    Assignee: Abbott Laboratories
    Inventor: Tommy B. Haas
  • Patent number: 4046286
    Abstract: A tamper-proof ball dispensing mechanism for use in conjunction with game tables or the like. A supply of balls is held in a position remote from the player and a predetermined number of balls are dispensed by a mechanism which both measures the number of balls and dispenses them while simultaneously preventing dispensing of other balls and preventing operator interference with the dispensing mechanism. The balls are guided into a single line in a retaining, dispensing mechanism which is actuated by a coin operated plunger. The plunger pivots the dispensing/measuring device allowing the balls to fall through a tortuous path to a position where they may be removed by the player while temporarily preventing further removal from the storage area.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 9, 1976
    Date of Patent: September 6, 1977
    Inventor: Eugene Lee Peppard