Patent ID: 7992747

Claim:
A product dispenser assembly, comprising: a) a cartridge holding a plurality of cylindrical products, having a front end and a rear end with a length therebetween sufficient to accommodate a plurality of products, a height between a top and a bottom sufficient to accommodate one cylindrical product while allowing the product to roll within the cartridge, and a width between a first side and a second side sufficient to accommodate at least one cylindrical product while allowing the product to roll within the cartridge, and an openable section in the bottom adjacent the front end of the cartridge, sufficiently large to allow a product to drop out of the cartridge through the openable section; b) a dispenser housing having a front and a rear, comprising: i) a first channel sized for receiving the cartridge, sloping downward from a front opening at the front of the housing toward a rear opening at the rear of the housing, the rear opening being sized and located such that when a cartridge is fully inserted in the first channel with the front end of the cartridge adjacent to the rear of the housing, the openable section in the cartridge aligns with the opening in the first channel and a product can pass freely from the openable section of the cartridge through the rear opening of the first channel; ii) a sloped portion located underneath the rear opening of the first channel, having an open top, a vertical blocking section located on a front side, and a sloping ramp on a rear side for guiding product passing from the cartridge through the rear opening; and iii) a second channel sized for receiving at least one product, having a rear end adjoining the sloped portion and an open front end having a stop, the channel sloping downward along a length from the rear end to the front end; such that when a cartridge containing products is inserted in the first channel, product exits the cartridge through the openable section of the cartridge and the rear opening of the first channel, drops and rolls through the sloped portion into the second channel and rolls down the second channel to rest against the stop, for removal through the open front end of the second channel; and wherein the length of the second channel is chosen such that when the second channel is full of cylindrical products and a cartridge containing products is in the first channel, one product is located in the rear opening of the first channel, in line with the blocking section, such that removal of the cartridge from the first channel is blocked by contact of the one product with the blocking section and the rear of the cartridge.