US 4,306,666 A · Dispenser for dated products

Abstract

There is shown a dispenser for dated products including an elongated magazine with an access opening at the bottom and two compartments for holding containers so they will be one-by-one fed by gravity to the access opening. A gate in the form of a block or the like blocks one or the other of the compartments from the access opening and the gate is blocked from moving from one position to the other by the presence of containers in one side of the access opening. When the compartment on one side is empty the gate is movable to access to the other compartment. The containers are a snug fit in the magazine compartments so they are not readily removed from the top of the dispenser; in addition the dispenser may be provided with a top cover to discourage access from the top of the dispenser. The dispenser may be arranged in a vertical position or, in another embodiment, generally horizontal with a slight slope so that round containers will feed by gravity to the access opening.

Claims11

Dependent claims

A dispenser for uniformly sized product containers comprising,

a hollow elongated prismoidal structure dimensioned to retain at least two stacks of said containers,
a divider therein creating two channels for gravity feed of said containers,
said structure having an access opening dimensioned to give access to only the lowest one of said containers in each of said channels, and
a gate member in the form of a block movably retained in one or another of said channels at said access opening and adapted to block one channel to prevent movement of containers therein to an accessible position,
said gate being obstructed by presence of a container behind said access opening and hence movable only when the space behind said opening is empty of containers.

2 more elements

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.

Dispenser for dated products

Life of this patent

Dispenser for dated products

Life of this patent

Abstract

Claims11