ALEXANDRIA, Va., March 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,253,293, issued on March 18.
"Ice dispenser" was invented by Nicholas White (Aurora, Ill.).
According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "An improved ice dispenser having a serving chamber that feeds ice to dispensing tray which has a dispensing opening on a lower surface of the dispensing tray to feed ice to the end user. The dispensing tray is configured to slide from a closed position that keeps ice within the dispensing tube, to a fill position that allows ice from the dispensing tube to fill the serving chamber, and further to an open position that dispenses ice from the serving chamber. The transfer opening has a protruding edge on an interior fac...