Patent ID: 8745961

Claim:
A small object dispensing station for dispensing small objects into containers, the containers having an interior surrounded by cylindrical walls, a transverse bottom closing said interior, a mouth opposite said bottom for admitting said small objects, and indicia borne on said container identifying and quantifying said small objects to be dispensed into said interior, the dispensing station comprising: a plurality of small object dispenser means for dispensing said small objects into said containers, said dispenser means arrayed around an annular platform supported by a base and having a vertical axis; a plurality of container chutes, each chute having a lower discharge port coupled to one of said dispenser means and extending upward to terminate at an input port; a rotatable dispersion wheel coaxial with and disposed above the annular platform and coupled to the input ports, the dispersion wheel having coaxial annular lower and upper plates disposed a spaced distance apart, and a plurality of cylindrical cups sandwiched between said lower and upper plates, each cup forming a conduit between a pair of lower and upper openings surrounded and defined by said lower and upper plates, each of said cups being adapted to receive one of said containers and to be rotatably aligned with one of said input ports; a plurality of gate means disposed between said cups and said input ports and adapted to articulate between an open position adapted to admit a container from one of said cups into one of said input ports and a closed position blocking said input port and retaining said container within said cup; container entraining means for entraining said containers in sequence for entering said cups; discharge means for discharging said containers after said small objects have been dispensed into said containers; and controller means for operating said dispensing station.