Dispenser for providing warm lather for shaving

Claim 1

A dispenser for handling material stored in a pressurized can, said can having a conventional flattened domed top with a tubular valve rod discharge pipe extending upwardly therefrom, normally closed but adapted to be pressed downwardly for valve opening to permit material to be discharged, said dispenser having a housing whose top is open and adapted to accommodate a can therein, said dispenser having a cover assembly extending above the housing in telescoped relation for limited vertical travel, said cover assembly including a bottom flat plate portion having at the central part thereof a depending intake tube portion with an axial passage through said tube portion and through said flat bottom plate portion, said tube portion being dimensioned to enclose the upwardly projecting tubular valve rod portion of the can, said bottom flat plate and intake tube portions being of heat resistant plastic, said bottom flat plate portion having a smooth flat top surface, a block of metal having good heat conductivity, said block having parallel flat bottom and top faces with the block bottom face lyIng against the top face of said flat bottom plate portion, said block bottom face having a spiral groove therein extending from the center portion of the block bottom face toward the outer portion of said block bottom face, said center portion at the inner end of the groove permitting said tube valve rod member to discharge therein, a discharge spout carried by said block communicating with the outer end of said spiral groove to the exterior of said cover assembly to accommodate discharged material, said heat exchanger block having a spiral track in the top face thereof, an insulated electric heating element disposed in said spiral track at said top face, said spiral track being dimensioned to permit said heating element to be snugly packed in said spiral track, said cover assembly including a flat plate portion disposed over the top face of said heat exchange block, means for maintaining said heat exchange block and remainder of said cover assembly as an integral subassembly, spring means disposed around the downwardly extending intake tube portion of said bottom plate between the flattened dome portion of the can and the bottom face of the bottom plate for biasing said entire cover assembly upwardly, said flat bottom plate portion being spaced well above the can top and the depending tube portion from the bottom plate being properly dimensioned and functioning as a tube to engage the free end of the tubular valve rod when said cover assembly moves downwardly toward the can, said top cover assembly and the top edge of the housing being shaped to limit the downward movement of said top assembly for moving said projecting tubular valve rod downwardly for opening said valve to permit contents from said can to be discharged into the bottom spiral groove of said heat exchanger, said heat exchanger being adapted to have the electric heating element energized for heating the contents discharged from said can, said heat exchanger block having its thickness between the top and bottom block faces small enough so that consistent with mechanical considerations minimum metal lies between the spiral grooves in the two heat exchanger block faces whereby maximum heat efficiency for heating contents within the bottom of said spiral channel is provided permitting minimum heating time while maintaining complete separation between the heating elements and the discharged can contents, said construction having the advantage of easy fabrication and assembly.