Non-motorized dry food dispensing apparatus
AssigneeChicago Show
InventorsJames M. Snediker, Raymond Gradecki
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
The present invention provides a new bulk, dry foods dispensing apparatus and system for commercial, retail and home use designed to dispense a predetermined volume of dry bulk food into a bowl or other receptacle without crushing or breaking the food. The bulk food dispenser includes a hopper, a feed house including two or more openings, and a feed wheel located within the feed house, where the feed wheel further includes a plurality of protrusions for directing a solid material out of the hopper when the feed wheel is rotated, where at least one of the two or more openings receive the solid material directed by a baffle, and where at least one of the two or more openings dispense the solid material out of the feed house.
Claims18
A bulk food dispenser including:
- a source container for bulk food;
- a feed house assembly in communication with the source container;
- a funnel configured to direct the bulk food from the source container to the feed house assembly;
- a feed wheel with an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the source container, wherein the feed wheel further includes a plurality of protrusions configured to direct the bulk food out of the feed house assembly;
- a unidirectional manually actuated lever operatively coupled to the feed wheel;
- wherein the unidirectional manually actuated lever is configured to actuate the feed wheel, a saddle configured to support and encase the feed wheel;
- wherein the saddle comprises a slot for the unidirectional manually actuated lever to protrude from and engage the feed wheel,
- wherein the unidirectional manually actuated lever has a second plurality of protrusions that engage a plurality of notches on the feed wheel, and
- wherein the source container is comprised of two curved walls coupled mechanically to each other.
A bulk breakfast cereal dispenser, comprising:
- a cavity defined by a source container;
- a funnel disposed at a base of the cavity configured to direct the flow of the flowable bulk breakfast cereal out of the storage container;
- a feed house comprising a mechanism for dispensing the flowable bulk breakfast cereal;
- a feed wheel comprising a plurality of openings configured to allow passage of breakfast cereal from the funnel, the openings adjacent to a plurality of protrusions, wherein the feed wheel is manually driven and the central axis of the feed wheel is substantially parallel to the axis of the storage container;
- a chute configured to direct the breakfast cereal from the feed wheel into a user's container disposed below the chute;
- a saddle configured to support and encase the feed;
- wherein the saddle comprises a slot for a unidirectional manually actuated lever to protrude from and engage the feed wheel,
- wherein a second plurality of protrusions on the unidirectional manually actuated lever engage a plurality of notches on the feed wheel, and
- wherein the source container is comprised of two curved walls coupled mechanically to each other.
A bulk food dispenser comprising:
- a source container for bulk food;
- a funnel configured to direct the bulk food from the source container towards a feed wheel with an axis substantially parallel to the axis of the source container, wherein the feed wheel further includes a plurality of protrusions configured to direct the bulk food through one or more openings in the feed wheel;
- a unidirectional manually actuated lever operatively coupled to the feed wheel;
- a saddle configured to support and encase the feed wheel;
- wherein the saddle comprises a slot for the unidirectional manually actuated lever to protrude from and engage the feed wheel,
- wherein the unidirectional manually actuated lever has a second plurality of protrusions that engage a plurality of notches on the feed wheel, and
- wherein the source container is comprised of two curved walls coupled mechanically to each other.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.