Apparatus for dispersing planar non-circular objects

Apparatus for dispensing single, essentially planar, non-circular, uniform, articles stacked in a delivery shaft including a dispensing mechanism arranged below said delivery shaft, said dispensing mechanism comprising a rotary valve having an aperture for receiving a lowest one of said articles, said valve being rotatable about a center axis of said delivery shaft;

• a base member disposed below said rotary valve, each of said delivery shaft and said base member having an aperture corresponding in shape to each other and to the articles being dispensed, said delivery shaft aperture and said base member aperture being angularly displaced relative to each other along said center axis;
• said base member having a center, said base member aperture being located to one side of the center of said base member;
• and a crank assembly linked to said rotary valve for providing reciprocating movement of said rotary valve between a first position aligned with said delivery shaft aperture and a second position aligned with said base member aperture;
• said crank assembly including an arm having one end linked to said rotary valve, and a free end extending beyond said base member, an intermediate portion of said arm being pivoted on a pin attached to said base member and located to the opposite side of the center, reciprocating movement of said free end of said arm remote to said rotary valve thereby imparting opposite reciprocating movement of said valve.