Article dispensing – With discharge assistant – Article adhering or gripping type
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-12
2002-11-12
Skaggs, H. Grant (Department: 3653)
Article dispensing
With discharge assistant
Article adhering or gripping type
C221S255000, C294S001200
Reexamination Certificate
active
06478188
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to a dispenser for separating a single filter from a stack of nested filters and raising the separated filter to an easily accessible position. In particular, it relates to a dispenser having a sticky extractor that lifts a filter so that it can be grasped.
Coffee filters are sold in tightly-packed stacks that must be kneaded and worked to separate the filters from each other. Often, when attempting to obtain a single filter, several filters stick together and the extra filters must either be put back or discarded, causing unnecessary waste and inconvenience.
A number of devices have been invented to separate coffee filters so that a single filter can be accessed. One such device is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,097,984. In that device, a stack of filters is placed in a container that is completely enclosed. A person desiring a single filter presses a plunger mounted in the hinged top of the container, which drives down a spring-mounted shaft that is attached to the plunger. An adhesive material at the bottom of the shaft presses against the uppermost filter in the stack. When the plunger is released, the shaft rises up slightly with a filter attached to the adhesive material. However, the filter is still not accessible because it is still inside a closed container. The hinged top of the container must be raised in order to grasp and remove the filter.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
I have invented a coffee filter dispenser that will separate a single filter from a nested stack of filters and immediately present the filter so that it can be grasped and removed.
Unlike some other coffee filter dispensers, the coffee filter dispenser of this invention does not separate into two or more parts when dispensing filters. Instead, it remains a single, unitary construction.
A further advantage of the coffee filter dispenser of this invention is that it presents the filter dispensed at an angle tilted towards the user, so that it can be more easily grasped and removed.
REFERENCES:
patent: 3248006 (1966-04-01), Lowery et al.
patent: 4285114 (1981-08-01), Underdahl
patent: 4401233 (1983-08-01), Frey
patent: 4417670 (1983-11-01), Booher
patent: 4805801 (1989-02-01), Knopf
patent: 4848815 (1989-07-01), Molloy
patent: 4946066 (1990-08-01), Teitelman
patent: 5097984 (1992-03-01), Meisner et al.
patent: 5322190 (1994-06-01), Bartley
Fuerle Richard D.
Skaggs H. Grant
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