Patent ID: 8651325

Claim:
A dispensing apparatus for dispensing individual tissue cassettes from a stack of such cassettes, the apparatus including: a hopper for receiving a stack of tissue cassettes, the hopper having an aperture through which cassettes are dispensable, wherein the hopper includes a gate which is movable to close the aperture; an ejector mounted to eject a lowermost one of the cassettes through the aperture; a retainer which retains all but the lowermost one of the cassettes in the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer including a support member that acts to support at least part of the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer thereby reducing the force exerted on the lowermost cassette by the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected; the ejector including a tray in which the lowermost tissue cassette may be held; wherein the ejector is operable to slide the tray out of the hopper through the aperture such that a front edge of the tray bears on the gate to open the gate, the tray and gate being configured so that when the tray has slid far enough through the aperture to fully open the gate, the lowermost cassette held in the tray is free to slide out of the tray under the action of gravity; and wherein the retainer is arranged in conjunction with the gate such that when the gate is fully open the retainer is in operation to retain the remainder of the cassettes in the stack.