Patent ID: 8056764

Claim:
A hand-operated device for dispensing a metered volume of a liquid butter, comprising: a reservoir constructed and arranged to contain a quantity of liquid butter; an opening from which to dispense liquid butter; a liquid metering device to control a volume of liquid butter dispensed at the opening, the liquid metering device including a piston pump that moves liquid butter from the reservoir through the opening; an actuator including a trigger handle pivotally mounted relative to the reservoir and that operates the piston pump and causes a predetermined volume of liquid butter to be dispensed by the liquid metering device when the trigger handle is moved toward the reservoir; and a base having an opening that receives at least a portion of the reservoir and at least partially surrounds the reservoir, the base having an electric heating element to heat at least a portion of the reservoir and the liquid butter by thermal conduction and/or convection, the base having a portion that is interposed between the trigger handle and the reservoir to inhibit movement of the trigger handle relative to the base when the reservoir is received by the base; wherein the reservoir, opening, liquid metering device, and actuator are attached together in a single hand-held dispenser unit that is independent of, and separable from, the base.