US2757867A

US2757867A - Registering dispenser

Info

Publication number: US2757867A
Application number: US387880A
Authority: US
Inventors: Hosmere C Mckay
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1953-10-23
Filing date: 1953-10-23
Publication date: 1956-08-07
Anticipated expiration: 1973-08-07

Description

7, 1956 H. c. M KAY REGISTERING DISPENSER Filed Oct. 25. 1953 Fig. 4

Hosmere 6. Mc/(ay JNVENTOR. Q2262.

Attorneys REGISTERING DISPENSER Hosmere C. McKay, Portland, Conn.

Application October 23, 1953, Serial No. 387,880

8 Claims. (Cl. 235-91) This invention relates to a registering dispenser and particularly to a dispenser for registering the dispensing of medicines such as tablets, capsules or the like, but may be used for any dispensing article in which it is desirable to have a record of the articles dispensed.

When taking medicine such as capsules, tablets or the like, it is frequently desirable to be absolutely sure of the number of tablets or medicine containers which have been utilized. Frequently, it is necessary that medications be absolutely and accurately administered and if a patient should forget to take a capsule or should take one too many, the results are frequently serious. Heretofore, it has been customary to provide various schedules so that the patient may mark down the taking or administering of each dose so that the quantity taken may be properly supervised. However, it is obvious that such list is easily misplaced and separated from the medication so that the patient is not exactly sure of the amount of medication used.

The present invention provides a container or dispenser having a closure which may be opened to allow the medication or tablet to be removed and which may be again locked in closed position to retain the remaining capsules or other medication within the container. An automatic registering device is enclosed in the cover of the device, so that opening and closing the cover will automatically register the amount of medication removed. For example, if it is necessary to take three tablets during a day, the registering device will indicate the number of tablets taken and the day in which they were taken so that the patient may be absolutely sure as to the number taken.

in the construction according to the invention, the cover is provided with a ratchet toothed disk, successive teeth which are each presented to and operated by a pair of cam members alternately upon opening and closing of the cover to advance the disk so that an indicia provided on the disk may be observed through any suitable opening or a particular spot pointed out by other indicia so that at a glance, the patient may tell the number of capsules or medications which have been removed therefrom. The dispenser may be completely self-contained and contain its own compartment for holding the medication, or the dispenser may be arranged to be mounted on a suitable container of the medications so that any desired number of the medications may be carried and dispensed thereby or the dispenser may be applied to fresh supplies in a new container.

It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide a dispensing container.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a registering dispenser.

It is a further object of the invention to provide a registering dispenser operated by the opening and closing of the dispenser.

Other objects and many of the attendant advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the follownitcd States Patent "ice ing detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of a dispenser container according to the invention;

Figure 2 is an enlarged view in vertical transverse section taken substantially on the plane indicated by the reference line 22 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a view in horizontal section taken substantially on the plane indicated by the reference line 33 of Figure 2 and showing the toothed disk with the indicia thereon;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional elevational view rotated relative to Figure 3 showing the cover in fully open position and showing how one cam operates one of the teeth when the cover is fully opened;

Figure 5 is a fragmentary view similar to Figure 3 but rotated 180 and showing how the tooth is operated by the other earn when the cover is moved toward closing position;

Figure 6 is an elevation with parts broken away and in section showing the application of the dispenser to the mouth of a bottle or other container, and

Figure 7 is a fragmentary perspective view partly broken away and shown in section of the body of the container and the cams.

In the exemplitication according to the invention, a body it? is provided with a hollow interior 12 which may be, if desired, closed by a bottom 14 which may be integral with the sides 16 of the body in.

The top of the body it) is left open so that access may be had into the space 12, or if desired, the bottom 14 may be omitted and a flange 18 may be supplied instead thereof so that the body 19 may be applied to a bottle 20 or other suitable container of medication. A portion of the body 10 is divided out by means of a partition 22 to provide an operating chamber 24. A cover member 26 is pivotally mounted in the side 16 of the body It) by means of suitable pivot pins 28. The pivot pin 28 extends parallel to the partition 22 and one the side of the partition 22 in the compartment 24.

The cover 26 is provided with a substantially circular chamber 28 in which is placed a disk 35) having peripheral ratchet teeth 32 thereon. The disk 30 substantially fills the chamber 28 and is free to rotate therein. A portion of the cover 25 has been cut away at 34 to expose a small segment of the disk 39 and the teeth 32 thereon. A top 36 is preferably provided integral with the cover 26 and encloses the chamber so that the disk 30 is completely enclosed therein and incapable of being removed therefrom during normal operation. A cover 38 may cover a portion of the operating chamber 24 and the top 36 should be cut away to meet the portion 38. A cut-away corner 41) should be provided on the top 36 so that when the cover 26 is oscillated about the pivot point 28, the corner 4i) will inhibit binding between the top 36 and the portion 38. Preferably the portions 35 and 33 are in horizontal alignment with each other so that the portion 38 covers a portion of the disk 30 exposed by the cutting away of the top 36.

Preferably a catch 42 is provided for securing the cover 26 in closed relation with respect to the body it so that it will be necessary to mechanically open the device to extract a medication or other object therefrom so that there will be no false openings and therefore false indications on the recording device.

The operating mechanism for the registering disk comprises a vertical elongated cam member 46 disposed against one side of the chamber 24 and so positioned that when the cover 26 is in closed position, one of the teeth 32 will be in engagement with the cam 46. The teeth 32 are ratchet teeth whereby they are provided with front faces 50 which are substantially radial with respect to the disk 3%! and with back faces 52 which are oblique with respect to the face fill and the cam 46 is provided with a back face 54 which is substantially parallel to the radial face 50 of the teeth and a front face 56 which is substantially parallel to the back face 52 of the teeth 32. An elongated cam 6t? is placed in the chamber 24 and extends at preferably a right angle with respect to the cam 46 and is displaced laterally therefrom in the direction of the rotation of the disk 3% by a distance of the order of half of the distance between the front faces 56 of the teeth 32. The cam as is provided with a back face 62 Wihch is substantially parallel to the radial faces 50 of the teeth 32 and a front face 64 which is likewise substantially parallel to the back faces 52 of the teeth 32.

Any desirable indicia may be placed on the disk 34), and is herein shown as the so-called three-a-day schedule in which each day is provided with three different indicators as first, second and third are provided for each day so that assuming that the patient takes the first medication in the morning, opening the device will give both the day and the dose so that it will be apparent that two more doses are to be taken before the day is completed. As shown, the schedule comprises a series of the numerals l, 2, 3 for each day of the week, the series being arranged in a circle on the disk 3ft, the numerals in the series being radially opposite the teeth 32, and designated in each series by the day of the week, the numerals in each series and the days of the week being arranged in ascending order reversely relative to the direction of rotation of the disk 3t indicated by the arrows in Figures 3, 4 and 5. As the different doses are removed, the indicia will be automatically advanced so that the patient may tell at a glance whether or not he has actually taken the medication desired. Obviously, any desired indicia other than days of the week and times of the day or times per day may be substituted. For example, a straight number indicia may be utilized so that the number of articles removed from one up may be ascertained. Obviously, it may be placed in reverse order so that a given number of articles may be placed in the dispenser and at a glance, it will be obvious how many still remain. Preferably, the top 36 is provided with a window as through which the indicia 66 may be observed.

in operating the device, any suitable articles to be dispensed may be placed either in the chamber 12 or in the container fill as may be desired. The catch 4-2 is released so that the cover 26 may be moved from fully closed horizontal position shown in Figures 1, 2, 3 and 6 into fully opened vertical position shown in Figure 4. In the fully closed position of the cover 26, the cam 4s fits between and engages two adjacent teeth 32, as shown in Figure 3, and prevents rotation of the disk When the cover 26 is pivoted from fully closed position into substantially halfway open position, as shown in dotted lines in Figure 2, the two adjacent teeth are disengaged from the cam dd, and upon further opening of said cover 26, the back face 52 of the leading tooth 32 of the two will engage the front face 64 of cam till and said faces 52;, 64. will coact with a cainming action to move the disk in degree corresponding to half the width of the leading tooth when the cover is in fully opened position as shown in Figure 4. N ow, as the cover 3 is moved into substantially halfway closed position as shown in Figure 5, the back face of the same leading tooth 3a will engage the face 56 of cam 46 and said

faces

52, 56 will coact with a camrning action to again move the disk as in the same direction in substantially the same degree so that it will be moved when the cover is fully closed a distance equal to the width of one tooth and the indicia 6o opposite the tooth will be visible through the window 63. Obviously, each opening and closing of the cover 26 will advance the disk 3% by successive degrees, or step by step, a distance corresponding to the width of one tooth.

It will thus be apparent that the present invention pro- 4 vides a convenient dispenser which may be readily opened to remove medication or other items therefrom and which will automatically record the opening and closing of the device.

For purposes of exemplification, a preferred embodiment of the invention has been shown and described according to the best present understanding thereof. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications of the construction and arrangement of parts thereof may be resorted to without departing from the true spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. An article dispenser comprising a body member, a control chamber in said body, a dispensing aperture in said body, a tilting cover movable into and out of closing relation with said aperture, an annular chamber in said cover, a disk-like body mounted in said chamber, teeth on the periphery of said disk-like body, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a segment of said teeth, said cut-away portion of said cover extending into said control chamber, a pair of angularly disposed cams in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closing relation and the other of said cams when the cover is out of closing relation.

2. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, a control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation.

3. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, a control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation, said cams being laterally displaced whereby movement of said cover out of and into closing relation produces partial rotation of said disk.

4. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, a control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation, said cams being laterally displaced whereby movement of said cover out of and into closing relation produces partial rotation of said disk, indicia 011 said disk, said indicia being correlated with the partial rotation of said disk.

5. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotaliy mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a. pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation, said teeth having front faces disposed radially of said disk and back faces disposed angularly to said front faces.

6. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, a control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation, said teeth having front faces disposed radially of said disk and back faces disposed angularly to said front faces, said cams having back faces disposed substantially parallel to the front faces of said teeth and front faces disposed substantially parallel to the back faces of said teeth.

7. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, a control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation, said teeth having front faces disposed radially of said disk and back faces disposed angularly to said front faces, said cams having back faces disposed substantially parallel to the front faces of said teeth and front faces disposed substantially parallel to the back faces of said teeth, said cams being offset a distance of the order of half the distance between teeth points.

8. An article dispenser comprising a hollow body having an open top, a control chamber in said body, said control chamber being open to the open top of said hollow body, a cover pivotally mounted in the open top of said body, said cover being movable into and out of closing relation with said open top, an annular chamber in said cover, an indicator disk mounted in said annular chamber, a portion of said cover being cut away to expose a portion of the periphery of said disk, teeth on the periphery of said disk, said cut-away portion extending into said control chamber, a pair of cams disposed in angular relation in said control chamber, said teeth engaging one of said cams when said cover is in closed relation and the other of said cams when in open relation, said earns being laterally displaced whereby movement of said cover out of and into closing relation produces partial rotation of said disk, indicia on said disk, said indicia being correlated with the partial rotation of said disk, means for attaching said dispenser to an article container.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 506,618 Bailey Oct. 10, 1893 1,007,123 Macdonald Oct. 31, 1911 1,465,362 Mamiya Aug. 21, 1923 2,062,954 Whitlock et al. Dec. 1, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS 103,173 Switzerland lan. 16, 1924 134,046 Switzerland Sept. 16, 1929