Patent ID: 7341166

Claim:
A gravity feed dispenser comprising: a) a housing having an upper and lower end and including walls defining an interior for accommodating a stack of folded sheet products within said interior, said folded sheet products having edges and generally planar surfaces, and said interior being of a size and configuration to allow slideable movement of the stack of folded sheet products accommodated thereby under the influence of gravity during depletion of said stack; b) a dispensing aperture disposed at a lower end of said housing in communication with said interior, said aperture allowing manual access to the folded sheet product at the bottom of said stack; and c) a blocking assembly having a blocking surface operatively associated with said housing and responsive to shortening of the stack of folded sheet products during depletion thereof to a predetermined stack length to restrict movement of the stack within said housing interior, said blocking assembly being movable between a first position wherein the blocking surface is substantially out of said housing interior and does not interfere with axial movement of said stack within said housing interior until the stack length approaches the predetermined stack length and a second position wherein said blocking surface projects into said housing interior and is engageable by the generally planar surfaces of the sheets so as to restrict movement of the folded sheets away from the dispensing aperture in the second position, the blocking assembly including a primary blocker arm, primary biasing means, a guide member and secondary biasing means, wherein: (i) the blocking assembly is biased to the second position by the primary biasing means; (ii) the primary blocking means, secondary biasing means and guide member being configured and adapted such that the weight of the stack of folded sheets will substantially maintain the blocking assembly in the first position when the stack of folded sheets is longer than said predetermined stack length and the primary biasing means will urge the blocking assembly toward the second position as the length of the stack approaches the predetermined stack length; (iii) the guide member is biased away from the interior of the dispenser by the secondary biasing means in the first position of the assembly and is coupled to the primary blocker arm; and (iv) the guide member and secondary biasing means being further adapted such that the guide member projects into the interior of the dispenser housing upon movement of the blocking assembly toward the second position by motion of the primary blocker arm acting on the guide member to provide a guide surface operative to direct product away from the primary blocker arm and toward the dispensing aperture.