Patent ID: 7007862

Claim:
A dispenser, for use in a basket of an automatic washing machine for dispersing a laundry product into the basket that includes a rotatable inner wall and an interior region, wherein the dispenser comprises: a housing defining an internal chamber adapted to receive the laundry product and having at least one aperture; cover means for covering and sealing the at least one aperture wherein the cover means includes at least one cover that is movable between a closed position and an opened position upon activation of the cover means; latch means for engaging the at least one cover to maintain the at least one cover in its closed position until the latch means is disengaged whereby the at least one cover moves to its opened position; a weight assembly that is actuated by centrifugal force and that is operatively connected to the latch means, whereby the weight assembly upon actuation by the centrifugal force causes the latch means to disengage the at least one cover; means for causing the housing to orient within the basket, when the housing is subject to a centrifugal force, so that when the weight assembly is actuated and the at least one cover moves to its opened position the laundry product remains within the internal chamber until the centrifugal force has substantially subsided or been removed, with the proviso that only one aperture becomes exposed to the environment when the housing is subject to the centrifugal force; and means for biasing the weight assembly to return the weight assembly to a neutral position when the centrifugal force has substantially subsided or been removed.