Patent ID: 8172105

Claim:
A container for storing and dispensing small solid materials, comprising: a housing having a centrally located longitudinal axis and further having an upper end and a lower end with a plurality of compartments therein, the compartments having an open end adjacent to the upper end of the housing and a lower end adjacent to the lower end of the housing, the lower end of each compartment having an opening with a hinged door covering each of a plurality of the openings; a plurality of cams each having a cam surface, each cam attached to one of a plurality of the doors so the cam rotates as the attached door opens and closes; a plurality of cam followers each abutting and translating along a different one of the cam surfaces, each of the cam followers restrained to move along a predefined path as the door attached to the cam is opened and closed; a tab on one or more doors sufficiently large to allow manual opening of doors individually and against a resilient member urging the doors to a closed position; a centrally located handle only on a top of the container connected to a linkage mechanism that moves the cam followers to open all doors simultaneously when the handle is pushed down, the handle located on the longitudinal axis; the linkage mechanism comprising a crosspiece located outward of the longitudinal axis and connected to move downwardly with the handle, the crosspiece moving first and second sleeves each sliding along a different one of first and second retaining rods which are generally parallel to the longitudinal axis, each sleeve connected to and moving with a different cam follower.