Apparatus for dispensing lightweight sheet-style articles from a stacked supply of articles
AssigneeRodesch Associates, Inc.
InventorGregory Rodesch
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
An apparatus for dispensing individual thin sheet-like articles from a supply stack of articles includes a supply magazine, and a base closing off the supply magazine. The base includes a dispensing assembly which includes a reciprocatably driven roller upon which the article supply stack rests on. Two openings are located on opposite sides of the roller so that the bottommost article may be bent into one opening as the roller is driven in one direction to free it from the supply stack. Rotation of the roller in the opposite direction urges the bottommost article against a curved deflector plate out of the second opening.
Claims11
An article dispensing apparatus for dispensing, in serial order, individual articles from a stacked supply of articles, said articles comprising thin planar paper sheets and said apparatus comprising:
- a supply magazine for receiving and storing a supply of said articles in the form of a stack, the magazine having opposing first and second endwalls, said magazine further having sidewalls extending between and interconnecting said endwalls to define an enclosure of said supply magazine which receives said stack of articles;
- a base member, a roller mounted on the base member and adapted for rotation in two opposing directions, said base member having first and second slots disposed on opposite sides of the roller, said first slot providing a bending opening through which a portion of the bottommost article of said stack may be bent by rotation of said roller in a first direction, said second slot providing a dispensing opening through which said bottommost article may be dispensed by rotation of said roller in a second direction opposite that of said first direction;
- said dispensing assembly further including a deflector disposed on said base member in the path of said bottommost article as it is driven by said roller in said second direction, said deflector including a curved article-contacting surface disposed proximate to and extending across at least a portion of said second opening, whereby, when said roller rotates in said second direction, a leading edge of the bottommost article contacts said article-contacting surface and is deflected into said dispensing opening and out of said supply magazine and dispensing assembly.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.