Dispensing Apparatus

In a dispensing apparatus, including:

• a plurality of pumps;
• a plurality of canisters for supply of material to be dispensed, coupled to the pump;
• a plurality of valves coupled to respective ones of said pumps;
• a dispense head coupled to the valves;
• the improvement comprising:
• the pumps each having a mounting hub extending along an axis and a drive shaft extending along the axis beyond the mounting hub;
• a mounting wall defining a mounting aperture;
• a plurality of tubular sleeves mounting the pump to the mounting wall, the sleeve having opposed first and second ends, the first ends receiving the mounting hubs and the drive shafts and the second ends having an outer surface with a first surface portion of predetermined diameter, a second surface portion of reduced diameter and a radially extending step therebetween for engaging the wall so as to align the axes of the pumps at predefined angles to the mounting wall;
• and
• securement means for securing the sleeve second end to the wall.

Dispensing Apparatus, comprising:

• a frame;
• a drive assembly including a base plate, a plurality of pumps arranged in two spaced serial arrays mounted on the base plate and at least one electric motor disposed between the two spaced serial arrays and coupled to the pumps in driving engagement therewith;
• a first plurality of canisters, of preselected first length and having top and bottom ends;
• a second plurality of canisters, of a second length longer than the first length and having top and bottom ends;
• the first and the second plurality of canisters having generally coterminous bottom ends located immediately above the drive assembly;
• a dispense head having a body with top and bottom walls and at least one sidewall therebetween, a multichannel dispense nozzle downwardly extending from the body and the body defining a plurality of flow channels extending from the dispense nozzle to the at least one sidewall, the flow channels arranged side-by-side in a common, generally horizontally extending plane;
• a valve tray assembly including a tray having a forward end and a rearward end, the dispense head mounted at the forward end of the tray, a plurality of dispense valves arranged in a serial array and mounted at the rearward end of the tray, and a plurality of tubing segments joining the dispense head to the dispense valves, the tubing segments aligned side-by-side in a common generally horizontal plane extending generally parallel to the tray;
• mounting means for mounting the valve tray assembly to the frame so that the dispense valves are located above the arrays of pumps;
• and
• conduit means coupling the dispense valves, the first and the second plurality of canisters, and the pumps to form a recirculation loop and to provide material to the dispense valves for selective delivery to the dispense head;
• and
• the dispense valves having inlet and outlet ports for coupling to said conduit means, and a dispense port for coupling to said tubing segments, said dispense valves being selectively operable to direct material from the inlet port to the dispense port.