Dispenser with stowable cover

Abstract

A dispenser for small objects, such as candy, pills, tablets, and other objects of similar size. The dispenser includes a housing having a bottom, a front wall, a rear wall and two opposing side walls. The housing defines an interior volume and an aperture providing access to the interior volume. A cover is movably attached to the housing and has a closed position for securing objects within the interior volume and at least one opened position for displaying and/or dispensing the objects from the interior volume. Two flanges depend from the cover. The flanges are functionally engaged respectively with the sides walls of the housing such that the cover is laterally movable with respect to the housing, selectively rotatable about an axis defined in the housing, and movable into the closed and opened positions including a stowed position in which the cover is opened, the cover is substantially flush with the housing and, except for the thickness of the cover, the cover does not extend substantially beyond the planes of the front wall and the side walls.

What is claimed is:  
     
         1 . A dispenser for storing and dispensing small objects, comprising: 
 a housing including a bottom, a front wall, a rear wall and two opposing side walls, said housing defining an interior volume and an aperture providing access to the interior volume;    a cover movably attached to said housing and having a closed position for securing objects within the interior volume and at least one opened position for displaying and/or dispensing the objects from the interior volume; and    two flanges depending from said cover, said flanges being functionally engaged respectively with said sides walls of said housing such that said cover is laterally movable with respect to said housing, selectively rotatable about an axis defined in said housing, and movable into the closed and opened positions including a stowed position in which said cover is opened and said cover is substantially flush with said housing.    
     
     
         2 . A dispenser for storing and dispensing small objects, comprising: 
 a housing including a bottom, a front wall, a rear wall and two opposing side walls, said housing defining an interior volume and an aperture providing access to the interior volume;    a cover movably attached to said housing and having a closed position for securing objects within the interior volume and at least one opened position for displaying and/or dispensing the objects from the interior volume; and    two flanges depending from said cover, said flanges being functionally engaged respectively with said sides walls of said housing such that said cover is laterally movable with respect to said housing, selectively rotatable about an axis defined in said housing, and movable into the closed and opened positions including a stowed position in which said cover is opened and in which said cover does not extend substantially beyond planes of said front wall and said side walls.    
     
     
         3 . A dispenser as claimed in  claim 2 , wherein said cover does not extend substantially beyond a plane of said rear wall when said cover is in the stowed position.  
     
     
         4 . A dispenser for storing and dispensing small objects, comprising: 
 a housing, defining an interior volume and an aperture providing access to the interior volume;    a cover, movably attached to said housing and having a closed position for securing objects within the interior volume and at least one opened position for displaying and/or dispensing the objects from the interior volume; and    moving means for moving said cover laterally with respect to said housing, rotating said cover selectively about an axis defined in said housing, and moving said cover into the closed and opened positions including a stowed position in which said cover is opened, said cover is substantially flush with said housing and, except for a thickness of said cover, said cover extends only partially beyond boundaries of said housing or said cover does not extend substantially beyond the boundaries of said housing.    
     
     
         5 . A dispenser as claimed in any of  claims 1  to  3 , further comprising a groove provided on each of said side walls of said housing and a projection provided on each of said flanges, whereby said grooves and said projections are engagable with each other so as to allow said cover and said housing to selectively slide and rotate relative to one another.  
     
     
         6 . A dispenser as claimed in any of  claims 1  to  3 , further comprising a groove provided on each of said flanges and a projection provided on each of said side walls of said housing, whereby said grooves and said projections are engagable with each other so as to allow said cover and said housing to selectively slide and rotate relative to one another.  
     
     
         7 . A dispenser as claimed in  claim 5 , 
 wherein each of said grooves has a front end and an aft end, and the axis is defined by center points of said projections when said projections are at the aft ends of said grooves, respectively; and    wherein said housing further comprises a top, and said cover and said top partially overlap such that, when said cover is in the closed position, said cover and said housing cannot be rotated relative to one another until said cover is slid to a rearmost position in which said projections have slid to said aft ends of said grooves, respectively,    whereby said cover may be moved into the stowed position by first sliding said cover to the rearmost position, then rotating said cover about the axis to invert said cover, and then sliding said cover forward.    
     
     
         8 . A dispenser as claimed in any of  claims 1  to  4 , wherein, when said cover is in the stowed position, said cover is substantially flush with said bottom of said housing.  
     
     
         9 . A dispenser as claimed in  claim 5 , wherein said grooves are substantially L-shaped such that, when said cover is in the stowed position, said cover is substantially flush with said rear wall of said housing.  
     
     
         10 . A dispenser as claimed in any of  claims 1  to  4 , further comprising a rib disposed on said cover and functionally engagable with said housing, whereby said cover can be placed in a plurality of different stable opened positions in which the objects may be dispensed from said dispenser, the different stable opened positions being fixed positions of said cover and being positions in which said cover is opened to different degrees, thereby allowing the objects to be dispensed at different dispensing rates.  
     
     
         11 . A dispenser as claimed in any of  claims 1  to  4 , wherein said cover is removably attached to said housing.  
     
     
         12 . A dispenser as claimed in any of  claims 1  to  4 , wherein said dispenser further comprises a locking means for locking said cover in a closed position.  
     
     
         13 . A dispenser as claimed in  claim 12 , wherein said locking means comprises a releasable catch provided on said cover.