Patent ID: 8905194

Claim:
A lubricant dispenser comprising a cartridge; a wall in the cartridge defining therein a lower chamber and a cavity defining an upper chamber; a piston subdividing the lower chamber into a lower lubricant compartment and an upper gas compartment, the cartridge having an outlet opening into the lower lubricant compartment; a body of fluent lubricant in the lower lubricant compartment, whereby movement of the piston toward the outlet forces the lubricant from the compartment through the outlet; a housing fixed in the cavity of the upper chamber, having a cover with an electrically conductive core and a ring of a nonconductive plastic that surrounds the core and is welded to the housing, and closed except at a gas outlet passage opening through the wall into the upper gas compartment; a gas generator sealed inside the housing and electrically energizeable to generate gas and pressurize the gas compartment; at least one spring contact on top of the housing, made of an electrically conductive plastic, formed on the core of the cover, and connected and extending through the housing to the gas generator; a battery inaccessibly held on the housing of the gas generator and connected to the gas generator; and an electronic controller removably mounted on the cartridge over the upper chamber and having electrical contacts connectable to the battery and to the spring contact on the housing of the gas generator only when the controller is mounted to the cartridge, the controller being powerable by the battery only when mounted to the cartridge for operating the gas generator and thereby pressurizing the gas compartment, moving the piston, and forcing the lubricant out of the outlet, the battery only being in operative electrical connection with the generator and with the controller when the controller is mounted on the upper chamber.