Patent attributes
A sterilizing assembly for on-demand dispensing of sterilized writing utensils includes a housing, which defines an interior space. The housing has a first slot and a second slot positioned in a top and a bottom thereof, respectively. A sanitizing unit and a dispensing unit are engaged to the housing and are positioned in the interior space. The sanitizing unit sterilizes a contaminated writing utensil inserted into the housing through the first slot. The dispensing unit will dispense a sterilized writing utensil from the housing through the second slot. A sensor engaged to the bottom of the housing detects a presence of a hand proximate to the second slot. The sensor is operationally engaged to the dispensing unit and thus is positioned to signal the dispensing unit to dispense the sterilized writing utensil.