Patent ID: 8171757

Claim:
A dispensing system for liquid or viscous treating agents for use with a washing machine including a suds container configured to receive wash liquid, the dispensing system comprising: a dispenser box in communication with water feed line and configured to dispense treating agents to the suds container by flushing the treating agents out from the dispenser box; a receiving compartment disposed in the dispenser box and configured to receive a cartridge for holding a supply of the liquid or viscous treating agent; and a dosing device configured to dispense the treating agent from the cartridge to the suds container, the dosing device including a linear displacement pump disposed on the cartridge, the linear displacement pump being configured to dispense a substantially constant volume of the treating agent from the cartridge with each reciprocating stroke of the linear displacement pump and an electrically powered actuator configured to impart reciprocating linear movement to the linear displacement pump so as to provide metered dispensing of the treating agent, wherein the substantially constant volume of treating agent is a fraction of a total volume of treating agent dispensed in a wash cycle.