Tissue cassette dispensing apparatus

1. A dispensing apparatus for dispensing individual tissue cassettes from a stack of such cassettes, the apparatus including:

a hopper for receiving a stack of tissue cassettes, the hopper having an aperture through which cassettes are dispensable, wherein the hopper includes a gate which is movable to close the aperture;

an ejector mounted to eject a lowermost one of the cassettes through the aperture;

a retainer which retains all but the lowermost one of the cassettes in the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer including a support member that acts to support at least part of the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer thereby reducing the force exerted on the lowermost cassette by the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected;

the ejector including a tray in which the lowermost tissue cassette may be held;

wherein the ejector is operable to slide the tray out of the hopper through the aperture such that a front edge of the tray bears on the gate to open the gate, the tray and gate being configured so that when the tray has slid far enough through the aperture to fully open the gate, the lowermost cassette held in the tray is free to slide out of the tray under the action of gravity; and

wherein the retainer is arranged in conjunction with the gate such that when the gate is fully open the retainer is in operation to retain the remainder of the cassettes in the stack.

2. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the gate is biased to a closed position.

3. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the hopper includes a pocket region in which at least part of the stack of cassettes may be held in use.

4. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 3 wherein the support member of the retainer acts on one or more of the cassettes in the stack in the pocket region.

5. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 4 wherein the support member of the retainer acts on at least the lowest cassette in the pocket region, which when the at least the lowest cassette in the pocket region is retained in position in the pocket region by the retainer, then the at least the lowest cassette in the pocket region in turn serves to hold the remainder of the cassettes in the stack in position.

6. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 5 wherein the lowest cassette in the pocket region is the cassette next in the stack to the cassette in the tray.

7. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the retainer includes a finger or tooth which is moveable so as to grip a cassette.

8. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the opening of the gate causes the retainer to operate.

9. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein when the gate is fully closed, the retainer is not retaining the cassettes in the stack in any particular position.

10. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the gate includes a member which causes the finger or tooth to engage one or more cassettes in the stack.

11. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the gate acts so as to prevent a cassette from leaving the tray unless the gate is fully open.

12. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 1 wherein the tray includes a separator which improves the separation of the lowermost cassette held within the tray from an adjacent cassette as the tray is moved.

13. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 12 wherein a rear wall of the tray is angled with respect to a rear edge of a lowermost cassette, when the lowermost cassette is in position in the tray, so that a first upper portion of the rear wall is nearer to the lowermost cassette than a lower edge of the rear wall.

14. A dispensing apparatus according to claim 13 wherein a second upper portion of the rear wall of the tray is angled so that a lower part of the second upper portion is nearer to the lowermost cassette in the tray than another part of the second upper portion.

15. A tissue cassette processing apparatus including:

a dispensing apparatus for dispensing individual tissue cassettes from a stack of such cassettes, the apparatus including:

a hopper which receives a stack of tissue cassettes, the hopper having an aperture through which cassettes are dispensable, wherein the hopper includes a gate which closes the aperture;

an ejector which ejects a lowermost one of the cassettes through the aperture;

a retainer which retains all but the lowermost one of the cassettes in the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer including a support member that acts to support at least part of the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer thereby reducing the force exerted on the lowermost cassette by the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected;

the ejector including a tray in which the lowermost tissue cassette may be held;

wherein the ejector is operable to slide the tray out of the hopper through the aperture such that a front edge of the tray bears on the gate to open the gate, the tray and gate being configured so that when the tray has been moved far enough through the aperture to fully open the gate, the lowermost cassette held in the tray is free to slide out of the tray under the action of gravity;

wherein the retainer is arranged in conjunction with the gate such that when the gate is fully open the retainer is in operation to retain the remainder of the cassettes in the stack; and

an ejection operator which operates the ejector of a dispensing apparatus.

16. A tissue cassette processing apparatus according to claim 15 further including a transport structure which transports either or both of the ejection operator and the dispensing apparatus in relation to each other.

17. A method of operating a dispensing apparatus for dispensing individual cassettes from a stack of such cassettes, the method including the steps of:

loading a stack of cassettes into a hopper, the hopper having an aperture through which cassettes are dispensable, wherein the hopper includes a gate which closes the aperture;

exiting the lowermost cassette in the stack from a pocket region of the hopper to a location where the lowermost cassette may be acted upon by an ejector that includes a tray in which the lowermost cassette may be held;

with the ejector, ejecting the single lowermost cassette held in the tray of the ejector away from the stack by sliding the tray out of the hopper through the aperture such that a front edge of the tray bears on the gate to open the gate, and sliding the tray far enough through the aperture to fully open the gate so that the lowermost cassette held in the tray slides out of the tray under the action of gravity; and

before the lowermost cassette being ejected is fully ejected, retaining with a retainer a remainder of the cassettes in the stack so as to reduce any interference by the remaining stack on the ejecting step of the lowermost cassette, the retaining step including the step of supporting with a support member of the retainer at least part of the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected, the retainer thereby reducing the force exerted on the lowermost cassette by the weight of the stack as the lowermost cassette is ejected;

wherein the retainer is arranged in conjunction with the gate such that when the gate is fully open the retainer is in operation to retain the remainder of the cassettes in the stack.