Patent attributes
An article dispensing apparatus includes a carousel and an upper casing with a dispensing face including a dispensing orifice through which the articles are dispensed. The carousel includes plural holding sections for holding the articles to be dispensed and is rotationally movable. A controller controls application of a force to cause the carousel to rotate relative to the dispensing face when an instruction to dispense an article is received. When the carousel is moved so that one of its holding sections having an article therein is aligned with the dispensing orifice, the article is allowed to be dispensed therethrough. A locking mechanism selectively engages the carousel to prevent any relative movement of the carousel when the article dispensing unit is not mounted on the main housing and disengages from the carousel to allow intended relative movement when the article dispensing unit is mounted on the main housing.
