Cup Sleeve Dispenser

Abstract

A dispenser for sequentially dispensing a plurality of collapsed cup insulator sleeves in manner that facilitates separation between adjacent collapsed cup insulator sleeves during each extraction or dispensing event. The dispenser includes a housing that defines a discharge opening that is constructed to accommodate dispensing of the collapsed cup sleeves from the dispenser in a singular and sequential manner and a manner that facilitates presentation of a subsequent single cup sleeve associated with a respective end of a stack of cup sleeves for subsequent removal of the respective cup sleeve from the dispenser.

Description

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 62 / 117,775 filed on Feb. 18, 2015 titled “CUP SLEEVE DISPENSER” and the disclosure of which is incorporated herein.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention relates generally to an apparatus for use in dispensing single use consumer products, and more specifically, to a dispenser configured to dispense cup sleeves or cup insulators. The dispenser is constructed to be deployed proximate a point of use or point of sale and configured to present the cup sleeves in a manner that accommodates sequential removal of a single sleeve during each dispense event. Preferably, the cup sleeve dispenser is constructed to present the sleeves in a sequential manner and such that a single sleeve can be removed from the dispenser while accommodating presentation of subsequent sleeves for subsequent extraction and use.[0003]Disposable cup sleeves or cup insulators are used...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

The present invention is about a cup insulator (sleeve) dispenser that can allow for sequential and easy removal of cup sleeves, without interfering with others. The dispenser has a housing that can hold multiple cup sleeves and a biasing mechanism that pushes them towards a discharge opening. The opening is designed so that the cup sleeves can be easily removed without the cover getting in the way. This invention solves the problem of difficulty in removing cup sleeves from dispensers, making it easier to use and more efficient.

Problems solved by technology

Such sleeves are generally ill-suited to be dispensed from other disposable paper product dispenser as many such sleeves are formed of a somewhat more rigid material, are not interwoven with one another, and are expandable between a storage or dispenser configuration and an in-use or expanded position.

Although others provide “containers” associated with presenting a plurality of cup sleeves proximate a point of use, such containers are ill-suited to considered dispensers.

The dispenser is incapable of providing any segregation or presentation of the cup sleeves in a manner that facilitates the user's interaction with the container to remove only a desired number or even a single cup sleeve from the container during each interaction with the container.

Surface friction between adjacent sleeves as well as close spatial presentation of a plurality of cup sleeves commonly results in removal of multiple sleeves each time a cup sleeve is removed from such containers.

The user or customer who inadvertently removes excessive cup sleeves from the container must either return excess sleeves to the container, leaving them presented in less than a sanitary manner, or may discard excess sleeves thereby generating excess process waste.

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