Patent ID: 8113388

Claim:
A dispenser for dispensing fluid comprising: a housing, a replaceable cartridge containing material to be dispensed, the cartridge comprises: (a) a fluid containing reservoir having an outlet, and (b) a valving mechanism disposed across the outlet for dispensing fluid from the reservoir, the housing supporting the cartridge in a dispensing position, the cartridge being insertable into said housing to assume said dispensing position for dispensing fluid and removable therefrom for replacement, the housing including a catch member, the cartridge including an engagement mechanism disposed about an axis to engage the catch member and releasably couple the cartridge to the housing in a coupled orientation, the engagement mechanism comprising a resilient member extending radially outwardly from the cartridge in an unbiased inherent configuration, the resilient member being resiliently deflectable radially from the inherent configuration to deflected configurations of different radial extents than the inherent configuration and biased to return to the inherent configuration when deflected from the inherent configuration, the valving mechanism comprising a reciprocally movable element for reciprocal movement along the axis relative to the housing when the reservoir is in the dispensing position to dispense fluid, the housing including an actuator mechanism for actuating the reciprocally movable element, the actuator mechanism movable relative the housing between a first position and a second position, the actuator mechanism carrying the catch member, the movable element carrying the engagement mechanism to engage the catch member and releasably couple the movable element to the actuator mechanism in the coupled orientation in which movement of the actuator mechanism between the first position and the second position results in axial reciprocal movement of the movable element, the movable element having a fluid discharge passageway axially therethrough through which fluid from the reservoir is dispensed axially through the movable element, the discharge passageway having an inner end which receives fluid from the outlet of the reservoir and an outer end out of which fluid is dispensed, wherein from the coupled orientation on moving the cartridge radially relative the catch member engagement between the catch member and the resilient member deflects the resilient member radially from the inherent configuration to one of the deflected configurations permitting the resilient member and catch member to move radially from the coupled orientation to a radial uncoupled orientation in which the cartridge may be removed from the housing, in the coupled orientation the resilient member while in the inherent configuration engaging with the catch member to prevent moving the movable element radially relative the catch member from the coupled orientation to the radial uncoupled orientation.