Plastic cup dispenser

Claim 1

A dispenser for plastic cups comprising a housing for accommodating a substantially vertical stack of rimmed plastic cups and having an opening at the bottom of the housing to permit the passage therethrough of the cups, and a resiliently flexible plastic strip mounted within said housing above, and in encircling relation to said opening, said strip having a plurality of projections extending therefrom so as to be directed radially inward in a circular array when said strip is mounted within said housing, each of said projections being in the form of an inwardly bowed ribbon that defines an arcuate inner surface of substantial vertical extent which is inwardly convex and which is centrally indented to define an inwardly opening recess intermediate its upper and lower ends, each said bowed ribbon being connected to the remainder of said strip only at said upper and lower ends of said ribbon so as to be free to flex outwardly in response to radially outward pressure of a cup rim thereagainst, said bowed ribbons extending sufficiently from the remainder of the strip to be engaged, at their arcuate inner surfaces, by the rims of the cups as the latter are withdrawn downwardly through said opening so that, as the lowermost cup in the stack is withdrawn, downward movement of the next Cup thereabove is resisted by the engagement of its rim with said arcuate surfaces above the respective recesses and is then arrested by engagement of its rim in said recesses.