NUT OR CANDY DISPENSER

• US 3,847,305 A
• Filed: 03/28/1973
• Issued: 11/12/1974
• Est. Priority Date: 09/05/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Robert A. Tobin
• Original Assignee: Robert A. Tobin
• Inventors: Tobin, Robert A.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tollberg, Stanley H.
• Application Number:
  US05/345,730
• Time in Patent Office: 594 Days
• Field of Search: 222/166,167,456,455,454 221/186,188,288
• US Class Current: 222/166
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 3/145 Closable display containers jars B65D

Abstract

A dispenser for nuts or candy is a tilting container having a normally vertical tube extending to near the bottom of the container with a pair of scoops transverse to the pivotal motion of the container and spaced apart so a few of the nuts or candies collect between the scoops when the container is upright, and one of the scoops directs the collected nuts or candies into the tube as the container is tilted in either direction from its upright position.

Claims

1. A nut or candy dispenser including a pivotally mounted container for holding nuts or candies and comprising:

a. a length of wire formed to support said container and shaped to have a pair of opposite upright regions spaced apart by slightly more than the width of said container;

b. said upright regions of said wire having supports turned inward toward said container;

c. said container fitting between said upright regions of said wire and having means for receiving said supports for supporting said container in a normally upright position from which said container is free to pivot in either direction in a vertical plane between said supports and perpendicular to a line between said supports;

d. means for returning said container to said normally upright position from a pivoted position in either direction in said vertical plane;

e. a tube in said container extending from above the top of said container to below the lowest surface of said container supporting said nuts or candies and forming a discharge passageway;

f. means for closing the bottom of said tube to said nuts or candies;

g. means around an upper region of said tube above said top of said container and means around a lower region of said tube below said lowest surface of said container supporting said nuts or candies for interconnecting said tube and said container, at least one of said interconnecting means being removable for separating said tube from said container;

h. said lower region of said tube adjacent said lowest surface of said containter supporting said nuts or candies having a pair of diametrically opposed openings to admit said nuts or candies from said container into said lower region of said tube;

i. said lower region of said tube between said openings forming a diametrically opposed pair of scoops oriented transversely to said verticaL plane between said supports so some of said nuts or candies collected between said scoops when said container is upright are scooped up and directed out of said discharge passageway by one of said scoops when said container pivots in one direction and by another one of said scoops when said container pivots in the other direction; and

j. means for controlling the amount of said nuts or candies scooped up and discharged as said container tilts.

2. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said tube bottom closing means is a weight secured in said tube below said scoops and providing said means for returning said container to said normally upright position.

3. The dispenser of claim 2 wherein said weight is vertically adjustable in said tube to determine the number of said nuts or candies directed into said discharge passageway.

4. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said tube bottom closing means is a bottom wall of said tube, and said means for receiving said supports are above the center of said container in said normally upright position of said container to provide said means for returning said container to said normally upright position.

5. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said container has upper and lower portions secured together by said tube and said interconnecting means.

6. The dispenser of claim 3 including an O-ring surrounding said tube below said lower portion, and wherein said tube has a flange positioned over said upper portion.

7. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said tube is rotatable to set said scoops at various transverse angles relative to said vertical pivot plane to determine the number of said nuts or candies scooped up and directed into said discharge passageway as said container pivots.

8. The dispenser of claim 7 wherein said tube has a flange positioned over the top of said container and including means on said flange and said container for indicating the transverse angular disposition of said scoops relative to said vertical pivot plane.

9. The dispenser of claim 1 including deflector means arranged on the outward facing sides of said scoops to prevent said nuts or candies from resting against the outside of the upper one of said scoops when said container is pivoted.

10. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said container is generally cylindrical with a generally conical bottom.

11. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said container is generally cubical, and said tube is generally square in cross section with the edges of said tube aligned with edges of said cube.

12. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said container is a pair of hemispheres secured together by said tube.

13. The dispenser of claim 36 wherein said container is spherical and said tube is cylindrical.

14. The dispenser of claim 1 including a pair of diametrically opposed projections extending upward from said lowest surface of said container adjacent said lower region of said tube and oriented transversely to said vertical pivotal plane.

15. The dispenser of claim 14 wherein said tube is rotatable to set said scoops at various transverse angles relative to said vertical pivotal plane and to adjust the amount of said openings disposed between said projections to determine the number of said nuts or candies directed into said discharge passageway.

16. The dispenser of claim 15 wherein said tube has a flange positioned over the top of said container and including means on said flange and said container for indicating the relative amount of said openings disposed between said projections.

17. The dispenser of claim 16 wherein said tube extends below said scoops and said openings and through said lowest surface of said container and has a closed bottom, said means for receiving said supports are above the center of said container in said normally upright position of said container, and said container has upper and lower portions secured together by said tube.

18. The dispenser of claim 1 including ridges raised up inside the bottom region of said container and oriented to guide said nuts or candies toward said openings in said tube.

19. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said wire is formed in a curve lying in a plane perpendicular to said upright regions to form a base supporting said upright regions.

20. The dispenser of claim 1 wherein said wire is formed as a hanging loop curving under said container between said upright regions and extending above the center of said container.

21. The dispenser of claim 1 including a wooden base upholding said supports.

22. A nut or candy dispenser including a pivotally mounted container and comprising:

a. a base supporting said container on a horizontal pivot axis through the center of said container so said container is free to pivot in either direction in a vertical plane perpendicular to said pivot axis;

b. three tubes set at 120* to each other around said container and generally parallel with said vertical pivot plane, each of said tubes forming a discharge passageway and extending from an open end to a loading end adjacent the wall of said container opposite said open end of said tubes;

c. each of said tubes having a closed bottom and said loading ends of said tubes having a pair of diametrically opposed openings to admit nuts or candies from said container into said tubes;

d. said loading ends of said tubes between said openings forming a diametrically opposed pair of scoops oriented transversely to said vertical pivot plane so some of said nuts or candies collected between said scoops when said tube is upright are scooped up and directed out of said discharge passageway by one of said scoops when said container pivots in one direction and by another one of said scoops when said container pivots in the other direction.

23. The dispenser of claim 22 wherein said loading ends of each of said tubes extends through said wall of said container.

24. A nut or candy dispenser comprising:

a. a container shaped as a bottle having an elongated cylindrical neck;

b. a tube insertable into said container through said neck and extending to the bottom of said container;

c. bearing means engaging said tube and said neck to support said tube in place in said container;

d. a lower region of said tube adjacent said bottom of said container having a pair of diametrically opposed openings to admit said nuts or candies from said container into said lower region of said tube; and

e. said lower region of said tube between said openings forming a diametrically opposed pair of scoops so some of said nuts or candies collected between said scoops when said container is upright are scooped up and directed out of said tube and said container by one of said scoops when said container is pivoted in one direction and by another one of said scoops when said container is pivoted in the other direction.

25. The dispenser of claim 24 including a support stand and means for mounting said container on said support stand for pivotal motion of said container in a vertical plane transverse to the orientation of said scoops.

26. The dispenser of claim 25 wherein said tube is rotatable within said neck of said container to set said scoops at various transverse angles relative to said pivotal plane to determine the number of said nuts or candies scooped up and directed out of said container as said container pivots.