Cup lid dispenser

• US 7,669,732 B2
• Filed: 10/24/2006
• Issued: 03/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 10/25/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Marmon Foodservice Technologies Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: IMI Cornelius Incorporated (Berkshire Hathaway Incorporated)
• Inventors: Njaastad, David
• Primary Examiner(s): Crawford; Gene
• Assistant Examiner(s): Waggoner; Timothy R
• Application Number:
  US11/585,611
• Publication Number:
  US 20070090125A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,225 Days
• Field of Search: 221/309, 221/294, 221/267, 221/255, 221/239, 221/194
• US Class Current: 221/255
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 1/085 for nested articles, e.g. cups, cones A47F1/106 takes precedence

Abstract

A cup lid dispenser is characterized by a cylindrical housing for containing a stack of relatively flexible cup lids in vertical orientation with a lip of the bottommost lid supported at points around its circumference on a plurality of shelves within and around a base of the dispenser at a lower end of the housing. The base has a forward opening that exposes just a front portion of the lip of only the bottommost lid of the stack for being gripped by a user. To dispense the bottommost lid, a user grips the exposed lip and pulls the lid downward to flex it away from the overlying stack and forward to move it off of the shelves and release it from the overlying stack of lids for downward movement into an underlying pocket in the base, with continued forward pulling of the lid then moving it through and out of a forward dispense opening from the base. Upon dispense of the bottommost lid, the stack gravitationally moves downward and the lip of the next lid up moves into the support shelves and into position for dispensing.

Claims

1. A cup lid dispenser comprising:

a cup lid containment tube for holding a stack of cup lids; and

a base at a lower end of said containment tube for receiving a lower end of a stack of lids in said containment tube, said base having a plurality of cup lid supports for supporting a circumferential periphery of a bottommost lid of the stack, a bottom wall extending from a rearward side of said base partially toward a forward side of said base and below and spaced from said supports and defining between said supports and said bottom wall a cup lid receiving pocket, a cup lid dispensing opening at a forward side of said base and opening to said cup lid receiving pocket, and a user guide at said forward side of said base for exposing a forward portion of just the bottommost lid of the stack for gripping by a user but blocking user access to lids of the stack above the bottommost lid, whereby a user can dispense the bottommost cup lid of the stack by gripping the exposed forward portion of the bottommost lid and pulling the lid downward off of said cup lid supports and into said lid receiving pocket and then forward through said cup lid dispensing opening and out of said cup lid dispenser,

wherein said base bottom wall extends forward from a lower rearward side of said base, is joined to said base rearward side about an arcuate extent that is less than half the circumference of said base, extends in a plane generally perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of said containment tube, and extends forward from said base rearward side in a generally “

bell curve”

configuration toward, but short of, said base forward side to define a generally crescent-shaped opening from a bottom of said base.

2. A cup lid dispenser as in claim 1, wherein said cup lid dispensing opening at said forward side of said base is contiguous with said crescent-shaped opening from said bottom of said base and said two openings together define a cup lid outlet opening from said cup lid receiving pocket.

3. A cup lid dispenser as in claim 2, wherein said user guide comprises a downwardly extending portion of said base that terminates at its lowermost end at said cup lid dispensing opening and below the bottommost cup lid of the stack, said user guide having a medial upwardly extending arcuate opening that exposes just a forward portion of just the bottommost cup lid for gripping by a user, said user guide also having a portion for guiding one of a user'"'"'s thumb and index finger to the exposed forward portion of the bottommost cup lid for gripping and removal of the bottommost cup lid from said dispenser.

4. A method of dispensing cup lids, comprising the steps of:

loading a stack of cup lids into a cup lid containment tube having a cup lid dispensing base at its lower end for receiving a lower end of the stack of cup lids;

supporting a circumferential lip of the bottommost cup lid of the stack on a plurality of supports within the base;

forming in the base a cup lid receiving pocket beneath the bottommost lid;

defining a cup lid dispensing opening at a forward side of the base as an extension of the cup lid receiving pocket;

exposing at the forward side of the base a forward portion of the lip of just the bottommost cup lid of the stack for gripping by a user; and

removing the bottommost cup lid of the stack from the overlying cup lids by gripping the exposed forward portion of its lip, pulling the gripped bottommost cup lid downward off of the supports and into the cup lid receiving pocket, and then pulling the bottommost cup lid forward through the cup lid dispensing opening,

wherein said exposing step comprises providing a generally vertically extending user guide at the forward side of the base, and configuring the user guide to expose just the forward portion of the lip of just the bottommost cup lid of the stack for gripping by a user and to guide one of a user'"'"'s thumb and index finger to the exposed forward portion of the lip for being gripped by the user.

5. A method of dispensing cup lids, comprising the steps of:

loading a stack of cup lids into a cup lid containment tube having a cup lid dispensing base at its lower end for receiving a lower end of the stack of cup lids;

supporting a circumferential lip of the bottommost cup lid of the stack on a plurality of supports within the base;

forming in the base a cup lid receiving pocket beneath the bottommost lid;

defining a cup lid dispensing opening at a forward side of the base as an extension of the cup lid receiving pocket;

exposing at the forward side of the base a forward portion of the lip of just the bottommost cup lid of the stack for gripping by a user; and

removing the bottommost cup lid of the stack from the overlying cup lids by gripping the exposed forward portion of its lip, pulling the gripped bottommost cup lid downward off of the supports and into the cup lid receiving pocket, and then pulling the bottommost cup lid forward through the cup lid dispensing opening,

wherein said step of forming in the base a cup lid receiving pocket comprises the step of providing a bottom wall of the base that extends from a rearward side of the base partially toward the base forward side and spaced from and below the bottommost cup lid of the stack to define the cup lid receiving pocket between the supported bottommost lid of the stack and the bottom wall, and

wherein said step of providing the bottom wall provides a bottom wall that extends forward from a lower rearward side of the base, is joined to the base rearward side about an arcuate extent that is less than half the circumference of the base, extends in a plane generally perpendicular to a longitudinal axis of the cup lid containment tube, and extends forward from its juncture with the base in a generally “

bell curve”

configuration toward, but short of, the base forward side to define a generally crescent-shaped opening from a bottom of the base.

6. A cup method as in claim 5, wherein said step of defining a cup lid dispensing opening defines the cup lid dispensing opening at the forward side of the base to be contiguous with the crescent-shaped opening from the bottom of said base, so that the two openings together define a cup lid outlet opening from the cup lid receiving pocket.