Foods and beverages: apparatus – Means to treat food – By applying fluid
Reexamination Certificate
1999-04-08
2001-07-03
Alexander, Reginald L. (Department: 1761)
Foods and beverages: apparatus
Means to treat food
By applying fluid
C099S448000, C099S484000, C221S199000, C221S255000, C221S270000, C221S274000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06253669
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus for dispensing Hosts or communion wafers and sacramental wine during a liturgical service. In particular, the disclosed invention provides a Host dispenser, which eliminates a need to have a priest or Eucharist minister physically handle a Host as it is being dispensed to a member of the congregation.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
During many liturgical services, such as a Catholic Mass and in particular, during the communion right, Hosts are dispensed to members of the congregation. Typically, Hosts are provided in the form of thin, substantially circular wafers, which are dispensed by priests and/or Eucharist ministers, who physically pick up each individual Host and offer it to a member of the congregation. While Hosts are generally transferred from the hand of the priest or Eucharist minister into the hand of a member of the congregation, they may also be placed directly onto the tongue of a member of the congregation. These acts provide the opportunity to expose the Host to unwanted germs, which may be transferred to members of a church congregation. The potential for the spread of germs has resulted in many members of a congregation refusing to accept communion.
Accordingly, what is needed is a more sanitary apparatus for dispensing Hosts to the members of a church congregation that would eliminate or substantially reduce the potential for the spread of germs and the like between members of the congregation.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The disclosed invention provides a Host dispenser, which substantially eliminates the possibility of spreading unwanted germs amongst the members of a church congregation. The disclosed apparatus allows a single Host to be dispensed to a person. The Host dispenser includes a Host magazine in which a plurality of individual Hosts are stored.
The Host magazine is configured to register or index the plurality of Hosts, one at a time to an ejection position, where a manually operated ejection ram dispenses one Host at a time out of a dispensing opening in the dispenser. The Host dispenser further includes a reservoir and dispenser for selectively dispensing a small amount of sacramental wine onto a Host as it is dispensed from the Host dispenser.
REFERENCES:
patent: 2211799 (1940-08-01), Tatter
patent: 3193139 (1965-07-01), Iannone et al.
patent: 3326413 (1967-06-01), Anderson
patent: 5131565 (1992-07-01), Lilly
Alexander Reginald L.
Bourque & Associates P.A.
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