Article dispensing – Supply container movably mounted for dispensing
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-03
2001-10-09
Noland, Kenneth W. (Department: 3651)
Article dispensing
Supply container movably mounted for dispensing
C221S265000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06299019
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention is a simple earplug dispenser which can receive a container with many earplugs and dispense them one or two at a time as a person turns a handle.
Devices for dispensing one item at a time, such as pills, sometimes use a wheel that is rotated by a person's hand, with the wheel having holes that receive the items and that move the items over an opening in a barrier so the items fall into the person's hand. U.S. Pat. No. 2,649,994 shows a tablet dispenser of this construction. This general approach has been applied to earplug dispensers, as described in applicant's earlier application PCT/US93/09801 (WO 94/09456). While tablets are rigid, earplugs are generally elastomeric, so they tend to “bounce”. As a result, an earplug can easily bounce off a person's palm onto the floor, or bounce off a catch pad lying under a dispense location and onto the ground. In factories where large numbers of earplugs are used, the floor is often dirty, as with oil carried to the location by the workers' shoes, so an earplug that drops onto the ground is generally considered dirty and thrown away. A dispenser that minimized the possibility of any dispensed earplug bouncing and falling onto the ground, while enabling earplugs to be readily dispensed in a simple mechanism, would be of value.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with one embodiment of the present invention, an earplug dispenser is provided, which is of simple construction and easy operation, and which minimizes the possibility of loss of a dispensed earplug by accidental dropping of the earplug onto the ground. The dispenser includes a wheel with a plurality of earplug-receiving holes, that rotates about a vertical axis above a barrier wall. As the wheel rotates, the earplugs drop out of the wheel holes and down through a dispense aperture in the barrier wall. A handle device lying below the barrier wall, is fixed to the wheel to rotate it, and has a handle with a hollow vertical passage to direct the fallen earplugs into the palm of a hand that is rotating the handle. The handle has a vertical height that is more than half the handle diameter, to encourage a person to rotate the wheel by placing his/her palm under the open bottom of the handle and with the fingers extending upwardly along the handle. This increases the possibility that any earplug bouncing off the person's palm, will not fall out of the palm.
The barrier is mounted on a stand that extends around and below the handle. A catch pad at the bottom of the stand catches earplugs that have fallen out of the person's palm. The stand has an access opening through which a person can insert his/her hand. The access opening extends by less than 180°, so the closed walls of the stand extend more than 180° about the axis to help catch any earplugs that bounce off the palm and might otherwise fall onto the ground.
The barrier is preferably in the form of an upside-down cap with a threaded inside surface. A container that holds numerous earplugs, has an open lower end with an external thread that threads into the threads of the barrier, to close the bottom of the container and hold it in place.
The novel features of the invention are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention will be best understood from the following description when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
REFERENCES:
patent: 1321385 (1919-11-01), Millard
patent: 1982273 (1934-11-01), Vogel et al.
patent: 2330256 (1943-09-01), Ashton
patent: 2649994 (1953-08-01), Lewis et al.
patent: 2664223 (1953-12-01), Dobkin
patent: 3128011 (1964-04-01), Bleiman
patent: 3330442 (1967-07-01), O'Connor
patent: 5322185 (1994-06-01), Leight
patent: 5443179 (1995-08-01), Palmer et al.
patent: 5954229 (1999-09-01), Scholey et al.
patent: WO 94/09456 (1994-04-01), None
Leight Industries
Noland Kenneth W.
Rosen Leon D.
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