Butter dispenser
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     This invention relates to food containers and applicators and, more particularly, to a container/applicator for dispensing a stick-shaped spreadable food item such as butter or margarine. 
     Traditionally, to apply butter to a piece of food a knife is used to cut the butter from the stick and spread it on the food. For food such as corn-on-the-cob, the butter has a tendency to slip off of the corn and knife while being spread. For other food, such as toasted bread, the pressure exerted by the knife may crush the bread or contact between the knife and bread may tear the bread. 
     To address these and other problems, a number of butter dispensing devices have been proposed. Bordwine, et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,162,884 discloses a telescoping butter dispenser having inner and outer telescoping housing members and a multi-component plunger system for forcing the butter out of the dispenser. Inwardly projecting bosses are formed adjacent the dispenser outlet to prevent the butter from exiting the dispenser until sufficient force has been applied to extrude the butter past the bosses. To fully dispense the stick of butter, the user must change the plunger configuration when the butter has been partially dispensed. 
     Deitz U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,745 discloses a butter dispenser wherein a wire extends across the dispenser outlet. The wire serves to retain the butter in the dispenser until sufficient force is applied to force the butter around the wire so that the wire cuts the stick of butter in two. 
     There is accordingly a need for a butter dispenser which is simple to make and use, which adequately retains the butter within the dispenser and which does not significantly deform a stick of butter which is dispensed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     In one embodiment of the invention, a container/applicator (dispenser) for butter or other stick-shaped spreadable food has a housing and a piston slidable within the housing. The housing has four flat walls with an inwardly and downwardly extending tongue formed at a lower end of at least one wall. The piston has a lower face engageable with an upper end of the stick of butter to move the butter through the housing. The two-piece dispenser is thus simple to make and use, easy to wash and inexpensive. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
     The above-mentioned and other aspects of this invention are more clearly set forth in the following detailed description of the presently preferred and other embodiments of this invention, presented with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: 
     FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a dispenser constructed according to principles of the present invention; 
     FIG. 2 is a side cross-sectional view of the dispenser of FIG. 1 containing a substantially whole stick of food spread; and 
     FIG. 3 is a partial side cross-sectional view of the dispenser of FIG. 1 containing a substantially expended stick of food spread. 
    
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE ILLUSTRATED EMBODIMENT 
     As shown in FIG. 1, a dispenser has a housing 20 unitarily formed of polypropylene and having first and second opposed pairs of flat rectangular walls 22a and 22b. The housing is thus substantially formed as a right parallelpiped having an inlet defined by the upper edges 24a and 24b of the first and second pairs of walls, respectively. At the lower edges 26a and 26b of the first and second pairs of walls, respectively, first and second pairs of tongues 28a and 28b are unitarily formed with the walls and extend downwardly and inwardly from the walls. Lower edges 30a and 30b of the first and second pairs of tongues, respectively, define an outlet from the housing. The housing has a central axis 100 which accordingly has a downward direction defined from the inlet to the outlet. 
     Each wall of the second pair of walls 22b has a row of detents 34. The detents are formed as straight-bore, laterally extending, slots 36 formed in the inner surfaces of the second pair of walls (FIG. 2). The outer surfaces of the first and second pairs of walls 22a, 22b and the inner surfaces of the first pair of walls 22a are smooth (FIG. 1). A piston 40 also formed of polypropylene is axially slidable within the housing. As is best seen in FIG. 1, the piston has a square lower face 42 and an upwardly extending annular handle shaft 44 which bears a cap 46 (FIG. 2). A four-sided skirt 48 is unitarily formed with and extends upwardly from the lower piston face 42. A pair of arms 50 extend upwardly from two opposite sides of the skirt. The upper ends of the arms bear outwardly facing claws 52. For increased flexibility, upwardly extending slots 54 are formed in the skirt alongside the lower portions of the arms. 
     With the container empty, as shown in FIG. 1, the inner surfaces 60a and 60b of the first and second pairs of tongues, respectively, are concave facing inward so as to form smooth unitary surfaces with the inner surfaces of the two pairs of walls. As further shown in FIG. 2, the tongues are tapered to a minimum thickness along their lower edges. 
     To load the dispenser, a stick of food spread 102 is inserted through the housing inlet. The piston is then inserted through the inlet so that the lower face 42 of the piston engages the upper face 104 of the stick. As the width of the stick is greater than the width of the outlet of the empty dispenser, the tongues will retain the stick against moving out of the outlet unless the stick is forced through the outlet via exertion of pressure on the piston handle. As the lower face 106 of the stick passes through the outlet, the tongues will exert an inward force upon the stick causing the stick to very slightly extrude, thus reducing the cross-sectional area of the stick as it passes through the outlet. Similarly, the corresponding outward pressure exerted by the stick on the tongues will normally flex the tongues slightly in an outward direction, although the tongues preferably still extend slightly inwardly to resiliently hold the stick inside the dispenser. 
     As the stick becomes substantially expended, as shown in FIG. 3, the piston will pass adjacent the tongues. As the width of the piston is substantially the same as the internal width of the housing between the first and second pairs of walls, the piston further flexes the tongues in an outward direction until the lower face of the piston reaches the outlet. At this point the inner surfaces of the tongues are substantially co-planar with the inner surfaces of the respective walls. 
     As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a detent mechanism for incrementally moving the food through the dispenser housing is shown. Each claw 52 of the pair of arms 50 has an upper face 62 substantially perpendicular to the adjacent wall, and a lower face 64 oblique to the wall. Accordingly, with sufficient downward force exerted on the piston handle, the piston may freely slide downward within the housing as the interaction of the lower surface of each claw with the lower surface 68 of each slot 36 flexes the claw&#39;s arm inward to disengage from the slot. Conversely, any force exerted on the piston in an upward direction, such as force transmitted from the application of the spread to a piece of food, will cause the upper face 62 of the claw to bear squarely against the upper face 68 of a slot 36 thereby preventing upward movement of the piston. Each slot is thus a detent and the slots, arms and claws form the detent mechanism. Each slot may be formed as a recess in the internal surface of the dispenser or as an aperture therethrough. It is also possible to define such claw engaging slots between internal ridges or protrusions. 
     The dispenser may be provided with a cap for sealing the outlet or a combination cap and stand such as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,964,745. The dispenser may additionally be provided with means for identifying the particular type of spread or brand of spread such as by applying lettering to the dispenser or using a color coded dispenser. Additionally, means may be provided for indicating the quantity of spread which is dispensed and/or the quantity remaining in the dispenser. Such means may include selecting the detent spacing to correspond with a pre-determined volume increment or providing a transparent portion of the dispenser as a visual indicator. 
     While a preferred embodiment of a dispenser has been described and illustrated herein, many other constructions will be apparent to those skilled in the art. In particular, a wide variety of materials may be used to fabricate the dispenser, such as a clear acrylic or stainless steel. Additionally, the detents may take a variety of forms, including, for example, notches having a V-shaped profile which would facilitate cleaning. Similar and entirely different piston structures may be applied to the housing of the present invention. The housing could be cylindrical for a cylindrical stick of spreadable food with the tongues having arc shapes. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims the invention may be practiced otherwise than is specifically described.