System And Method For Protective Eyewear Dispensing

Abstract

A system and method for improved dispensing for protective eyewear components, including frames, lenses and assembled protective eyewear glasses, is described. A housing stores and dispenses the eyewear components through an opening. In an embodiment, the eyewear components may be detachably connected together, such as via perforations, and/or may be coiled in a roll or stacked in serpentine configuration within the housing. Also, in one embodiment, a lever or other mechanism may be coupled to the housing to provide advantageous operations of the dispenser, including assembling and/or dispensing the eyewear components. Accordingly, the system and method provides advantages in that rapid and hygienic dispensing of protective eyewear components may be provided.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A dispenser for protective eyewear comprising:
 a plurality of protective eyewear lenses held detachably together;   a housing having a front panel and sidewalls defining an interior volume configured to hold the plurality of protective eyewear lenses;   an opening in the front panel;   individual protective eyewear lenses from among the plurality of protective eyewear lenses exposed by the opening in the front panel; and   next individual protective eyewear lenses from among the plurality of protective eyewear lenses exposed by the opening in the front panel upon detachably removing the individual protective eyewear lenses.   
     
     
         2 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a mechanism associated with the housing and configured to expose the individual protective eyewear lenses such that a protective eyewear frame may be pushed against the individual protective eyewear lenses to assemble protective eyewear glasses. 
     
     
         3 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a mechanism for dispensing protective eyewear frames for attachment to the plurality of protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         4 . The dispenser of  claim 3 , further comprising
 the protective eyewear frames folded with respect to the protective eyewear lenses, and   the mechanism providing, upon removal of the individual protective eyewear lenses, rotation between the protective eyewear frames and the individual protective eyewear lenses to assemble protective eyewear glasses.   
     
     
         5 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising containers detachably holding the plurality of protective eyewear lenses together via perforations. 
     
     
         6 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a roll of the plurality of protective eyewear lenses in the housing. 
     
     
         7 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a stacked serpentine configuration of the plurality of protective eyewear lenses in the housing. 
     
     
         8 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising an electrical display coupled to the dispenser that is configured to convey at least one of a count of protective eyewear lenses in the dispenser and instructions for using the protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         9 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising a scanner coupled to the dispenser that is configured to wirelessly scan at least one of user identification and dispensed protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         10 . The dispenser of  claim 1 , further comprising an adhesive information tag dispensed with each of the plurality of protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         11 . A dispenser for protective eyewear components comprising:
 a plurality of protective eyewear components;   a housing having a front panel and sidewalls defining an interior volume configured to hold the plurality of protective eyewear components;   an opening in the front panel;   an individual protective eyewear component from among the plurality of protective eyewear components; and   a lever coupled to the housing and in communication with the plurality of protective eyewear components;   wherein movement of the lever moves the plurality of protective eyewear components to expose the individual protective eyewear component via the opening.   
     
     
         12 . The dispenser of  claim 11 , wherein the protective eyewear components are protective eyewear frames. 
     
     
         13 . The dispenser of  claim 11 , wherein the protective eyewear components are protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         14 . The dispenser of  claim 13 , further comprising a mechanism configured so that movement of the lever attaches the protective eyewear lenses to protective eyewear frames to form protective eyewear glasses. 
     
     
         15 . The dispenser of  claim 14 , further comprising a second opening in the housing for inserting the protective eyewear frames. 
     
     
         16 . A method for dispensing protective eyewear comprising
 holding a plurality of protective eyewear lenses detachably together;   storing the plurality of protective eyewear lenses in a housing having a front panel and sidewalls defining an interior volume;   exposing via an opening in the front panel individual protective eyewear lenses from among the plurality of protective eyewear lenses; and   detachably removing the individual protective eyewear lenses to expose next individual protective eyewear lenses from among the plurality of protective eyewear lenses.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising pushing protective eyewear frames against the individual protective eyewear lenses to assemble protective eyewear glasses before detachably removing the individual protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising, after detachably removing the individual protective eyewear lenses, rotating the protective eyewear lenses with respect to protective eyewear frames attached to the protective eyewear lenses, and assembling protective eyewear glasses. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising rolling the plurality of protective eyewear lenses upon removal of the individual protective eyewear lenses. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , further comprising displaying at least one of a count of protective eyewear lenses in the dispenser and instructions for using the protective eyewear lenses.