Universal cup dispenser
AssigneePeter J. Mckeever, Inc.
InventorsPeter J. McKeever, Mark A. McKeever
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Disclosed are embodiments of cup dispensers that can accommodate a variety of different cup sizes, cup shapes, and/or cup materials without the need for manual adjustment. In some embodiments, the cup dispenser can automatically adjust the applied pressure via fingers/blocks on one or more contact points on a cup among an inserted sleeve of cups. In some embodiments, sets of blocks can be placed at varying depths. In some embodiments, one set of blocks can hold the cup currently being dispensed while another set of blocks can hold the next cup in the sleeve in place, for example.
Claims20
A cup dispenser configured to automatically accommodate for varying cup characteristics, the cup dispenser comprising:
- a front cover configured to receive a sleeve of cups inserted into the cup dispenser;
- a mounting plate, wherein the front cover is attached to the mounting plate;
- a plurality of blocks, each block configured to apply pressure to a contact point on at least a cup of the sleeve of cups;
- a first spring configured to resiliently apply a first pressure applied by a first subset of the plurality of blocks to a first contact point of a first contact point type on the cup;
- a cup retainer tube configured to contain the sleeve of cups;
- a rear tube cap configured to stop the sleeve of cups that is inserted into the cup dispenser;
- a cup plunger;
- a second spring configured to apply pressure to the cup plunger in order to push the cups to the front cover for dispensing of the cups, and
- a third spring configured to apply a second pressure applied by a second subset of the plurality of blocks to a second contact point of a second contact point type on the cup.
A cup dispensing system configured to automatically accommodate for varying cup characteristics, the cup dispenser comprising:
- a front cover configured to receive a stack of cups inserted into the cup dispenser;
- a mounting plate, wherein the front cover is attached to the mounting plate;
- a plurality of fingers, each finger configured to apply pressure to a contact point on at least a cup of the stack of cups;
- a first spring configured to resiliently apply a first pressure applied by a first subset of the plurality of fingers to a first contact point of a first contact point type on the cup;
- a cup retainer tube configured to contain the stack of cups;
- a rear tube cap configured to stop the stack of cups that is inserted into the cup dispenser;
- a cup plunger;
- and
- a second spring configured to apply pressure to the cup plunger in order to push the cups to the front cover for dispensing of the cups, wherein the first spring is orthogonal with the second spring.
A cup dispenser configured to automatically accommodate for varying cup characteristics, the cup dispenser comprising:
- a front cover configured to receive a sleeve of cups inserted into the cup dispenser;
- a mounting plate, wherein the front cover is attached to the mounting plate;
- a plurality of blocks, each block configured to apply pressure to a contact point on at least a cup of the sleeve of cups;
- a first spring configured to resiliently apply a first pressure applied by a first subset of the plurality of blocks to a first contact point of a first contact point type on the cup;
- a cup retainer tube configured to contain the sleeve of cups;
- a rear tube cap configured to stop the sleeve of cups that is inserted into the cup dispenser;
- a cup plunger;
- and
- a second spring configured to apply pressure to the cup plunger in order to push the cups to the front cover for dispensing of the cups, wherein the first spring is non-parallel with the second spring.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.