Dispensing mechanism

A method of dispensing a viscous or semi-solid food product, in which the product is introduced into a container base of a container assembly through an inlet opening of said base, sealing the container base inlet opening with a closure member, placing the assembly on a seating, discharging product from the container assembly through an outlet in the container base, operating deforming means to deform a deformable portion of the closure member into the base member to cause the product to be extruded from the container through said outlet, the seating supporting the container during the action of the deforming means and receiving product from the container in a receptacle positioned below said outlet, the container base being nestable with other container bases when empty of product and before assembly with respective closure members.

A method of dispensing a viscous or semi-solid food product, said method comprising introducing the product into a dispensing container through an inlet opening, sealing the container including said opening, the container having a closeable outlet through which the product is to be dispensed, and the container being sized to contain a predetermined portion of food product and the container having a deformable part to be engaged and deformed by a deforming means, operating the deforming means to cause the deformable part to engage and to pressurize the product within the container and to cause substantially all the product to discharge from the container through said outlet, supporting the container during operation of the deforming means to counteract the action of the deforming means, and receiving the product from the container in a receptacle positioned below said outlet, the capacity of the container and the receptacle being matched in size so that said predetermined portion corresponds to the size of the receptacle, wherein the filled, sealed container of product is assembled with the receptacle for storage and transport from the place of filling to the place of dispensing, the receptacle fitting over a body part of the container.

Dispensing apparatus for use in dispensing product from containers in which the container has a container base portion in which the product is received and a second portion associated sealingly with said base portion, the second portion having a deformable part which is deformed during dispensing, the base portion having a seating surface, the apparatus including a supporting member defining an abutment on which the seating surface is supportable during dispensing of product, and reciprocal drive means arranged to engage the deformable part to deform said part and urge it into the base portion to reduce the internal volume of the base portion, the container base portion having at least one discharge outlet, the outlet having a cross-section less than that of the container, and the container being arranged so that, during operation of the drive means to deform the deformable part, product is extruded through the outlet from the container, the container base portion being of a shape which permits at least two base portions to be nested together with one inside the other.

A dispensing system for dispensing a viscous or semi-solid food product comprising a container for the product, the container having a base part and a top part, said top part comprising a closure member, the top part being invertibly deformable and arranged to be sealed to the base part, and a plunger arranged to engage the top part to invertibly deform said part and urge it into the base part to reduce the internal volume of the container, the base part having at least one outlet so that, during operation of the plunger to deform the top part, substantially all product within the container is caused to pass through the outlet from the container, the base part retaining its initial configuration, the base part of the container being arranged to be nestable with other base parts.