Metered food dispenser with single motor actuated weighing and dispensing mechanisms

A product dispenser, comprising:

• a storage hopper;
• a rotatable drum having paddles on a periphery thereof located at a bottom of the storage hopper, and a drive motor connected to the rotatable drum;
• a weighing/dispensing assembly located beneath the rotatable drum, the weighing/dispensing assembly includes a load cell and further includes or is connected to one or more dump doors on which product to be dispensed is adapted to accumulate, the one or more dump doors are connected to a support assembly that is movable into and out of contact with the load cell, and a single weighing/dispensing motor that drives a gearbox that includes an actuator shaft that upon rotation in a first direction, raises the support assembly out of contact with the load cell and opens the one or more dump doors such that accumulated product is dispensed, and upon rotation in a second direction, closes the one or more dump doors and upon further rotation moves the support assembly into contact with the load cell;
• a controller configured to actuate the drive motor to rotate the rotatable drum at a start of a dispensing cycle, to receive a signal from the load cell and determine a weight of the product accumulating on the one or more dump doors and deactivate the drive motor upon a target weight being detected, and to activate the single weighing/dispensing motor to drive the actuator shaft in the first direction to raise the support assembly out of contact with the load cell and open the one or more dump doors such that accumulated product is dispensed, and to then rotate the actuator shaft in the second direction to close the one or more dump doors, and the controller is further configured to rotate the actuator shaft in the second direction to move the support assembly back into contact with the load cell at a start of a next dispensing cycle.