GB2407312A - Divided or separable container for liquid medicines - Google Patents

Abstract

A container for liquid medicine consists of several graduated (16) vessels (12) being either permanently joined together or separable. The permanently joined vessels can be joined in an end-to-end fashion. The vessels (12) can have an external screw thread (18b) on the rim which mate with an internal screw thread (18a) on a lid (14). Two vessels can share the same lid due to the lid having two oppositely placed internal screw threads (18a). Two vessels can be connected via an external screw thread (18b) on the one vessel's rim and an internal screw thread (19) in the second vessel's base. The container or vessels (12) can be snap fitted or slotted into a rack. When connected the vessels (12) forms a container which can easily be transported in a pocket, briefcase, lunch box or handbag.

Description

PATENTS ACT 1977 Title: Containers for Liquid Medicines

Description of Invention

This invention relates to containers, specifically to containers for liquid medicines. In particular, although not exclusively, this invention relates to containers for liquid medicines which may be reusable and from which a dose of liquid medicine may be provided.

Typically, containers for liquid medicines are heavy, bulky, glass bottles.

The conventional approach to dispensing medicines from such bottles is to use a plastic measuring spoon, or the cap of such bottles may be used as a dose measurement device. Such bottles can store a considerable amount of liquid over a relatively long time and, since any dose can be dispensed from them, provide a considerable amount of flexibility. However, they are neither easy to carry nor quick to use.

Other types of containers, such as liquid filled capsules having a digestible outer casing, have been developed and provide portability and ease of use, but these can be expensive to manufacture and are unsuitable for some medical uses, particularly those where a fast entry of the medicine into the blood stream is required. Alternative dispensing systems such as pipettes which depend from the lid of the container or oral syringes, have been developed, but although these enable a more measured dose of liquid to be administered they are generally delicate or bulky in themselves.

According to a first aspect of this invention there is provided a container suitable for liquid medicine, comprising a plurality of graduated vessels. Such a container enables a dose of medicine, or a plurality of such doses to be stored and, since each dose, or a small number of doses, may be stored separately, the medicine may be dispensed with relative ease.

The term "graduated" as used in this specification includes any indicator suitable for showing the amount of liquid present in a vessel, such as an electronic or mechanical indicator or scale.

Preferably the vessels are in end to end alignment. Each vessel may be joined to a neighbouring vessel at one or both of its ends.

Each graduated vessel may conform to a recognised scale. The term a recognised scale as used in this specification means any scale in common use, such as millilitres, or fluid ounces. This enables a user to see easily how much medicine is being dispensed.

Each graduated vessel may be similar. Similar in this context means mathematically similar, so the graduated vessels are shaped alike, indeed, preferably each graduated vessel is substantially identical.

Conveniently, each graduated vessel may be removably connected to at least one other such vessel. The vessels may be connected by mutually inter engaging formations, preferably the mutually inter-engaging formations comprise a screw thread arrangement.

Conveniently the container comprises a stack of graduated vessels.

Each vessel is, preferably, aligned so as to produce a stack having a continuous outer surface.

The base of one or more of the vessels may provide the lid for an adjacent vessel. Alternatively, each vessel may connect to an adjacent vessel via its lid.

The graduated vessels may be vertically aligned.

The container may be reusable, and is preferably resealable.

According to a second aspect of this invention, there is provided a rack in combination with a plurality of graduated vessels suitable for forming a container as outlined above.

Each graduated vessel may snap fit into the rack. Alternatively, each graduated container may slot into the rack.

Embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the following drawings in which: FIGURE la shows schematically a perspective view of a graduated vessels for liquid medicines which provides a basic modular unit for further embodiments; FIGURE lb shows schematically a side sectional view of the graduated vessels shown in Figure 1; FIGURE 2 shows schematically a perspective view of a first embodiment involving two graduated vessels; FIGURE 3 shows schematically a perspective view of a second embodiment in which two of the vessels shown in Figure 1 are removably connected; FIGURE 4 shows schematically a side sectional view of a rack for storing a plurality of the vessels shown in Figure 1; and FIGURE 5 shows schematically a top view of the rack shown in Figure 4.

A vessel, or bottle, being a relatively small cylindrical container for the storage and dispensing of liquid medicines is shown in Figure 1. The vessel comprises a base 12, suitable for storing at least one dose of a liquid medicine, and a lid 14, which connects to the base 12 to provide a liquid-tight seal for the vessel 10.

The base 12 is graduated in a scale 16, being a series of spaced marks.

The scale is usually suitable for providing an indication of a volume of liquid in the vessel 10. For example, a millilitre scale would be suitable for use in Europe, whereas a fluid ounce scale would be suitable for use in the US. The scale 16 may contain larger graduations to indicate larger volumes. It is useful if each such larger volume is indicative of one dose of a liquid medicine.

The lid 14 and the base 12 are connected via a screw thread arrangement, which comprises an internal thread 18a on the lid 14 which will mate with an external thread 18b on the base 12. A further screw thread arrangement 19 may be used to connect several vessels 10 in a stack. This arrangement comprises an internal thread on the lower part of the base 12, which is engageable with the external thread 18b to form a liquid-tight closure.

S Thus it is possible to connect successive bases 12 together as shown in Figure 3. The arrangement is such that the lid of each vessel is provided by the base of an adjacent vessel when stacked. When the vessels 10 are secured together they form a cylinder having a continuous outer surface.

It will be evident that this arrangement enables an unlimited number of such vessels to be stacked in a secure fashion.

In use, one of the graduated vessels 10 may be removed from the stack by unscrewing it from its adjacent vessels 10. If necessary, the lid of the vessel 10 is removed, and then the user may drink an appropriate amount of liquid medicine from the graduated vessel 10 using the scale 38 to determine the correct dose.

It might also be envisaged that the lid 14, could be provided with an external thread to engage the internal thread 19 of another vessel 20 such that the bases are each connected together via a lid 14. When connected, the outer surfaces of the lid 14 and the base 12 are aligned.

Figure 2 shows an embodiment of a container which comprises two graduated vessels 20 joined to produce a single, cylindrical, container. The two graduated vessels 20 are joined together at an upper and lower end respectively by a solid joint 21, which provides a division between the vessels 20.

The container has two connection points for lids 22, 24 comprising external threads. Each lid may be identical to the lid 14 for the graduated vessel 10 shown in Figure 1. The external threads 22, 24 are positioned at opposite ends of the container, one of the connection points 22 being positioned at the lower end of the container (as shown in Figure 2), whilst the other connection point 24 is positioned at the upper end of the container.

Each graduated vessel 20 has an identically oriented scale 26, 28, which enables a user to ascertain immediately how much liquid medicine remains in each graduated vessel 20 when the container is at a suitable orientation for the user to read both scales 26, 28.

Alternatively, however, the scales 26, 28 could have an opposite orientation so that a user could ascertain the amount of liquid in each graduated vessel 20 when the container is oriented so that the liquid is contained in the base (rather than the lid) of the graduated vessel.

The or each vessel 10 conveniently, although not necessarily, contains a single dose of the liquid medicine when full, which enables a correct dose of the medicine to be taken quickly and easily. In this case, the scale on the graduated vessel may be reduced to a single graduation which provides an indication of the appropriate dose. If desired an alternate indicator, for example an electronic indicator could be used to provide an indication of when the IS vessel is full, indeed the graduations on the vessels 10 could be replaced by an electronic readout or similar indicator.

Each graduated vessel 10 may be conveniently stored in a rack 40 as shown in Figure 4. The graduated vessel in, which may bear the name of the user and the medicine, or other information relevant to its use, slots into an appropriate opening in the rack, as shown in Figure 4, or snaps into the rack, as shown in Figure 5. The rack 40 may be fixed to a wall, or itself slotted into another storage container such as a bridge.

Each vessel is made from a plastic material, and could be made from a luminous plastic which would enable people to see the container easily during the night. Indeed, the graduations themselves could be luminous to enable dosage to be monitored easily during the night.

It will be apparent that this system provides a lightweight, portable, and non-breakable container for carrying one or more measured dosages of a liquid medicine. It could easily be used to enable a person to carry medicines when a traditional medicine bottle would be cumbersome to transport, and is particularly suitable for use by children. The container, or the stack of containers fits into handbags, briefcases, pockets and lunch boxes easily and withstands knocks from other articles in these storage containers during transport.

It would be possible to provide containers of other materials, such as porcelain, if that should be desired.

A particularly advantageous feature of the container is that dosages may be pre-measured and/or that each single container in the stack may contain a single dose when full. This has several advantages, it enables teachers and/or child monitors to monitor the dose received by a child more easily, and similarly it enables senior citizens to monitor their dose more easily. This feature also makes the containers easier to use in the night.

In the present specification "comprises" means "includes or consists of" and "comprising" means "including or consisting of".

The features disclosed in the foregoing description, or the following claims, or the accompanying drawings, expressed in their specific forms or in - terms of a means for performing the disclosed function, or a method or process for attaining the disclosed result, as appropriate, may, separately, or in any combination of such features, be utilised for realising the invention in diverse forms thereof.

Claims (19)

1. A container suitable for liquid medicine comprising a plurality of graduated vessels each having a liquid-tight closure.

2. A container according to claim 1 in which the graduated vessels are in end to end alignment.

3. A container according to claim 1 or claim 2 in which each graduated vessel conforms to a recognised scale.

4. A container according to any preceding claim in which each graduated vessel is similar.

5. A container according to claim 4 in which each graduated vessel is substantially identical.

6. A container according to any preceding-claim in which each vessel is permanently joined together.

7. A container according to any of claims 1 to 5 in which each graduated vessel may be removably connected to at least one other such vessel.

8. A container according to claim 7 in which each graduated vessel is connected by mutually inter-engaging formations.

9. A container according to claim 8 in which the mutually inter-engaging formations comprise a screw thread arrangement.

10. A container according to any preceding claim comprising a stack of graduated vessels.

11. A container according to claim 9 in which the graduated vessels are aligned so as to produce a stack having a continuous outer surface.

12. A container according to claim 10 or claim 11 in which the graduated vessels are vertically aligned.

13. A container according to any preceding claim in which the base of one vessel provides a lid for another vessel.

14. A liquid-tight container according to any preceding claim which is resealable

15. A rack in combination with a plurality of graduated vessels suitable for _ forming a container according to any preceding claim.

16. A rack according to claim 15 in which each graduated container snap fits into the rack.

17. A rack according to claim 15 in which each graduated container slots into the rack.

18. A container substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.

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19. Any novel feature or novel combination of features described herein andlor in the accompanying drawings.