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Personal intelligent dispenser

  • US 9,492,357 B2
  • Filed: 04/11/2014
  • Issued: 11/15/2016
  • Est. Priority Date: 04/11/2014
  • Status: Active Grant
First Claim
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1. A dispensing apparatus comprising:

  • a main housing having a mounting section including an axial shaft;

    an article dispensing unit mounted in the mounting section of the main housing, the article dispensing unit including a carousel and a dispensing face including a dispensing orifice through which the articles are dispensed, the carousel including plural holding sections for holding the articles to be dispensed and being rotationally movable relative to the main housing and the dispensing face;

    a rotation section configured to receive a force to cause the carousel to move rotationally relative to the main housing and the dispensing face so that one of the holding sections that has an article therein is aligned with the dispensing orifice to allow the article to be dispensed through the dispensing orifice; and

    a detector configured to detect when an article is within one of the holding sections aligned with the dispensing orifice and when the article is no longer within the one of the holding sections aligned with the dispensing orifice, the detector including an emitter and a receiver, with one of the emitter or the receiver being disposed near a center of the carousel at the axial shaft and the other of the emitter or the receiver being disposed adjacent an outer periphery of the carousel and the dispensing orifice,wherein the article dispensing unit engages with the axial shaft and the carousel is rotatable about the axial shaft, andthe emitter of the detector is provided on the axial shaft and emits a light beam toward the receiver disposed in a region on an opposite side of an article adjacent the dispensing orifice, or the emitter of the detector is provided in the region on the opposite side of the article adjacent the dispensing orifice and emits a light beam toward the receiver disposed on the axial shaft, the light beam being interrupted by the article within the one holding section aligned with the dispensing orifice.

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