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Lawrence Welk, the bandleader who entertained millions of Americans over a generation of broadcasting his TV show, once received a patent: for a music-themed design of an ashtray.
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| Number | Title | Issue Date |
| 7415815 | Tube dispensing magazine device and method A magazine and tube dispensing method is provided. The magazine includes a receiving compartment for temporarily receiving unfilled tubes intended for filling with a flowable product, the compartment being formed with a movable outer rail wall. A gate assembly downs... | 08/26/2008 |
| 7325701 | Dispenser for cup-shaped articles with improved clamp-ring securement feature A dispenser for cup-shaped articles comprises a body defining a storage region for receiving an associated stack of cups or other cup-shaped articles. The body comprises an open end that communicates with the storage region. A resilient diaphragm restricts the open ... | 02/05/2008 |
| 7222711 | Multiple coin actuation mechanism A multiple coin actuation mechanism has a carrier wheel with angularly spaced first and second coin recesses aligned with first and second coin slots of a front cover plate when the carrier wheel is in an initial home position at which a user initially deposits firs... | 05/29/2007 |
| 7134571 | Absorbent sheet products dispenser having interchangeable face plates A napkin dispenser has a container body for holding a stack of napkins, and a pair of interchangeable face plates each connectable to the container body. One of the face plates has a first elongated dispensing opening exposing a bottom region of the napkin stack, fo... | 11/14/2006 |
| 7025301 | Dispenser A dispenser for feeding perforated paper towels from a continuous roll of paper towels. The apparatus includes a dispenser body for containing the towel roll and an adjustable nozzle attached to the dispenser body for dispensing an end portion of the continuous roll... | 04/11/2006 |
| 6966454 | Dispenser for cup-shaped articles and adjustable retainer for same A dispenser for cup-shaped articles includes a housing defining a storage portion adapted to receive an associated stack of nested cup-shaped articles. The housing includes an open end that communicates with the storage portion. A cup retainer mounting base is locat... | 11/22/2005 |
| 6919122 | Flexible composites with integral flights for use in high-temperature food processing equipment and methods for producing the same A flexible composite with integral flights is provided and methods for making the same. The composite is made from, for example, silicone rubber, urethane rubber, polytetrafluoroethylene or other polymer. The composites are useful for making articles of manufacture,... | 07/19/2005 |
| 6769589 | Center-pull sheet material dispenser The invention consists of a paper towel dispenser for dispensing individual sheets of paper towels from a roll of paper having regularly spaced apart lines of partial severance. The dispenser is comprised of a housing and a housing door which can be pivotally opened... | 08/03/2004 |
| 6592001 | Dispenser for sheet material containing a dispensing port incrementally variable within a range A dispenser adapted to dispense sheet material therefrom is provided and includes a housing configured to support a sheet material product therein which has an exit port. The dispenser also includes at least an iris diaphragm for controlling the movement ... | 07/15/2003 |
| 6508382 | Element for adjusting the outlet width in paper towels dispensers An element for adjusting the width of the outlet (11) in paper towel dispensers (10) consists of a single piece molded in a plastic material having resilience features, in two specular left (1a) and right (1b) versions, which is substantially C-shaped wit... | 01/21/2003 |
| 6199723 | Apparatus for holding a cup in a cup dispenser A flexible diaphragm for covering the discharge end of a cup dispenser that stores a plurality of cups in a nested stack. The diaphragm includes an inner continuous edge defining a central discharge opening through which the bottom of the outermost cup in... | 03/13/2001 |
| 6003724 | Apparatus for securing a cup dispensing collar to a cup dispenser A cup dispenser includes a housing for storing a plurality of cups nested in a stack. The cup dispenser has an annular collar surrounding the exterior of the housing. An annular retaining ring carries a cup holding member that is removably mounted on the ... | 12/21/1999 |
| 5778632 | Hopper assembly for literature feeder system A hopper assembly for feeding literature to a literature dispenser. The literature dispenser and a label dispenser are positioned on opposite sides of a conveyor on which products being furnished with literature and labels are transported. The hopper asse... | 07/14/1998 |
| 5738245 | Commodity discharging device in automatic vending machine A commodity discharging device in an automatic vending machine, which can easily change the area of the commodity discharging opening, is disclosed. The commodity discharging device comprises: a drum which is rotatable with respect to a shaft extending in... | 04/14/1998 |
| 5709316 | Cup dispenser The dispenser is adapted to dispense different size cups, such as portion cups, and includes a housing for storing a plurality of cups in a nested stack and a flexible diaphragm covering the discharge end of the housing. The diaphragm includes a web secti... | 01/20/1998 |
| 5553736 | Vending apparatus A vending apparatus for supplying articles such as snacks is disclosed. Articles to be dispensed from the apparatus travel horizontally in a direction parallel with the front surface of the apparatus to a position from which the articles drop through a ve... | 09/10/1996 |
| 5540315 | Serpentine-type vending rack for a vending machine A vending rack for a vending machine is formed of a housing, a path for a merchandise defined in the housing and having an inlet side and an outlet side, an inlet regulating device situated at the inlet side of the path for regulating a size of the mercha... | 07/30/1996 |
| 5501364 | Doorstops for multiple-product merchandising machine A variable doorstop selectively determines the opening distance of an access door of a merchandising machine, the access door being mounted in channels of the merchandising machine to be slidable between an open position wherein the access door permits ac... | 03/26/1996 |
| 5472189 | Table tennis ball dispenser A table tennis ball dispenser in the shape of an elongated tubular body providing openings for selectively receiving and withdrawing table tennis balls. In one preferred embodiment, an opening along the side of the body permits visually indicating the num... | 12/05/1995 |
| 5445297 | Roofing washer-dispenser In a machine for dispensing stackable roofing washers individually and for driving fasteners through such washers, a shuttle is actuatable to displace a lowermost washer of one from a stack, either a small, circular or large, square washer. A gate is bias... | 08/29/1995 |
| 5383572 | Card counter and dispenser A low cost high speed counter and dispenser of tickets includes a feed roll and a hopper for feeding cards tangentially onto the feed roll. A pair of nip rolls rotating at a higher peripheral speed than the feed roll opens a gap between the trailing edge ... | 01/24/1995 |
| 5335822 | Apparatus for dispensing tickets from a stack An apparatus for dispensing tickets from a stack includes a base. A frame for enclosing a stack of tickets is fixedly mounted on the base. A partition wall whose position can be changed to accommodate tickets of different sizes is removably mounted in the... | 08/09/1994 |
| 5263607 | Adjustable nozzle for a dispenser and method of using same An adjustable dispenser nozzle apparatus for a paper towel container of either rolled or folded towels. The apparatus comprises a base, an adjustable fixture and an inner sleeve. The base includes a plurality of extensions separated by slits. The fixture ... | 11/23/1993 |
| 5259532 | Coin operated vending machine with adjustable dispensing wheel In a bulk vendor having a dispensing wheel for carrying merchandise to a dispensing aperture, containers in the dispensing wheel are adjustable in size according to the size and volume of merchandise to be dispensed. An adjusting wing is rotationally secu... | 11/09/1993 |
| 5248060 | Theft deterrent device for newspaper dispensing machines A theft deterrent device restricts the number of newspapers or other periodicals that can be retrieved from a newspaper vending machine at one time. The device includes a cover gate forming a generally T-shaped opening with a vertical passageway and a hor... | 09/28/1993 |
| 5201869 | Dispenser for cups and cup-like articles An apparatus for storing a supply of cup-shaped containers in a stacked, telescopically interfitted relationship comprises a tubular housing with a resilient diaphragm across the lower end. The diaphragm has a center opening through which the lowermost co... | 04/13/1993 |
| 5135136 | Device for use in varying the effective cross-sectional area of an outlet opening of a dispensing unit A device for use in varying the effective cross-sectional area of an outlet opening of a dispensing unit for nested containers, e.g. paper cups, comprises at least two shutter members, pivotally mounted on equispaced pivots of a support means at the outle... | 08/04/1992 |
| 5040761 | Handy adjusting assembly for disposable cup holder A handy adjusting assembly for disposable cup holder, including a cup sleeve for containing disposable cups; a sleeve connector screwed on lower end of the cup sleeve, lower end of the sleeve connector being formed with an outward extending cover shade, a... | 08/20/1991 |
| 5012952 | Lid and cup dispenser having an elongated yieldable tension element secured by a transversely adjustable anchoring block disposed astride the dispensing opening A group of flanged lids or cups of substantially identical construction and arranged in nested relation in a container are dispensed from an open end of the container by an elongated yieldable tension element disposed astride the open end of the container... | 05/07/1991 |
| 4981236 | Anti-theft device for use in a coin-operated dispensing machine for newspapers and the like An anti-theft apparatus for use in a dispensing machine for newspapers and the like having a coin-operated locking access door. The apparatus includes a cover panel sized to mount within the access opening in the rack. The cover panel restricts access int... | 01/01/1991 |
| 4881660 | Jumbo cup dispenser An adjustable dispenser for holding and dispensing various size cups including the so-called jumbo cup. Radially adjustable retainers within a flanged storage tube frictionally hold the rim of the forwardmost cup against discharging until manually pulled ... | 11/21/1989 |
| 4854479 | Adjustable cup dispensing assembly A cup dispenser for dispensing a stacked array of cups comprising housing for enclosing a plurality of cups arranged in a stack, three parallel rods extending inwardly of the housing parallel to the axis of the stack of cups disposed in surrounding relati... | 08/08/1989 |
| 4804108 | Iris mechanism An iris mechanism for preventing unauthorized removal of containers from apparatus for dispensing containers, such as cups. The apparatus separates and releases a single container from a stack of containers. The iris mechanism defines a central opening th... | 02/14/1989 |
| 4787798 | Inlet checking device for a stacking channel An inlet checking device for a stacking channel comprises at least one jaw provided with at least one inclined plane and a check groove, the jaw being located in a recess of the channel structure, and further comprising at least one jaw loading spring and... | 11/29/1988 |
| 4706845 | Diaper dispensing and disposal unit A unit combining a diaper dispenser and disposal drawer is shown. The unit consists of two sections, an upper dispensing section and a lower disposal section, which provide a single unit for new and soiled diapers, as well as other supplies used in changi... | 11/17/1987 |
| 4706846 | Tag dispenser A tag container has a dispensing wall and contains a plurality of tags which are stackable in parallel to the dispensing wall. In the top wall of the container is a dispensing opening through which tags may be dispensed from the container by a slider whic... | 11/17/1987 |
| 4658983 | Cup dispenser In this tubular cup dispenser, resilient cup-engaging fingers are secured to the inner wall of a tubular housing and extend both forwardly toward a front opening and radially inwardly. At the foremost end of each finger is a radially outwardly extending l... | 04/21/1987 |
| 4298142 | Article holder and dispenser including adjustable dispensing means and one-way discharge opening An article holder and dispenser assembly including an elongate hollow container especially suitable for storing and dispensing nested articles such as ice cream cones, cups and the like is disclosed herein along with a particular arrangement including art... | 11/03/1981 |
| 4261480 | Article holder and dispenser including adjustable dispensing means and method An article holder and dispenser including an elongate hollow container especially suitable for storing and dispensing nested articles such as ice cream cones, cups and the like is disclosed herein along with a particular arrangement for releasably retaini... | 04/14/1981 |
| 4234101 | Cup dispenser employing universal adjustment apparatus There is disclosed a cup dispenser which employs a cam actuated cup accommodating and release assembly. A cam ring employs four cam surfaces about the periphery thereof. Each cam surface is associated with a flexible rocker arm. The cam ring is rotatably ... | 11/18/1980 |
