Patent ID: 8172112

Claim:
A chute assembly for a system configured to dispense objects from a bulk supply of the objects, comprising: an elongate chute having an open bottom end; a dispensing assembly slidably mounted to a bottom end portion of the chute, the dispensing assembly including a sleeve that receives the bottom end portion of the chute and a door mounted thereto, the sleeve being slidable between a staging position, in which the door covers the bottom end of the chute and thereby stages at least a portion of the objects in the bottom end portion of the chute, and a dispensing position, in which the door moves away from the bottom end of the chute to enable the objects staged in the bottom end portion of the chute to be dispensed from the chute, wherein contact between the door and the bottom end portion of the chute moves the door away from the bottom end of the chute; and an agitation unit coupled to the dispensing assembly, the agitation unit configured to impart energy to the objects staged in the bottom end portion of the chute as the sleeve moves to the dispensing position.