JP5568378B2 - Aerosol container - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an aerosol container provided with an injector for injecting contents.

  As an aerosol container of this type, a configuration including an aerosol container main body that contains a medicine (contents) such as an asthma drug and an injector attached to the aerosol container main body has been conventionally known ( For example, see Patent Document 1).

Specifically, the above-mentioned aerosol container body includes a container containing liquid contents and a stem protruding in a biased state from the container to the outside of the container, and the stem is pushed into the container. As a result, the contents in the container are ejected through the stem. On the other hand, the above-described injector includes a bottomed cylindrical container accommodating portion that accommodates a container, a cylindrical injection port portion protruding from a side surface of a lower end portion of the container accommodating portion, and a lower end portion of the container accommodating portion. An insertion hole formed inside and into which a stem is inserted, and a nozzle that communicates with the insertion hole and opens toward the injection port.
In the aerosol container having such a configuration, by pressing the upper end of the container (the bottom part of the container in an inverted state) with a finger or the like with the injection port facing the affected part (for example, the oral cavity), The stem is pushed into the container, and the contents in the container are sprayed in a mist from the nozzle into the injection port through the stem, and the contents are administered to the affected area.

  By the way, depending on the type of contents contained in the aerosol container body, it is necessary to strictly manage the total amount of contents used.

Japanese Patent No. 3487866

  However, in the above-described aerosol container, the injector and the aerosol container main body are separated before the contents are used up, and the contents may be unintentionally ejected from the aerosol container main body.

  Therefore, the present invention solves the above-described conventional problems, and prevents the aerosol container body from being detached from the injector after the start of use, so that the contents in the aerosol container body can be used up reliably. It is an object to provide an aerosol container that can be used.

An aerosol container according to the present invention includes an aerosol container main body provided with a container in which contents are stored, and a stem protruding in a state of being biased from one end of the container toward one side, and the container stores A container housing portion, an insertion hole into which the stem is inserted, and an injector provided with a nozzle communicated with the insertion hole, and presses the other end of the container to press the container An aerosol container in which the stem is pushed into the container and the contents in the container are ejected from the nozzle to the outside through the stem. The container housing part opens toward the other side, the aerosol container main body has an opening part to be inserted from one end side, and the injector is detached from the opening part of the container housing part. Fixed to impossible By comprising at least a portion of the other side from the covering cover at the other end of said container, said cover body is pressed down hole for pressing the other end of the container is formed, the container housing portion and the The cover body is formed with engaging portions that can be engaged with each other, and the cover body is bonded to the container housing portion .

  With such a feature, when the cover body is detachably fixed to the opening of the container housing portion, the cover body covers at least a part of the other end of the container from the other side of the container housing portion. Therefore, between the start of use of the aerosol container and the use of the contents, the aerosol container may be dropped and the aerosol container body may be detached from the injector, or the aerosol container body may be intentionally removed from the injector. Even if the entire aerosol container body is about to move to the other side with respect to the injector, the other end of the container hits the inner surface of the cover body. Thereby, the movement to the other side of an aerosol container main body is controlled and it can prevent that an aerosol container main body remove | deviates from an injector. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the aerosol container body from being detached from the injector after the start of use, and to ensure that the contents in the aerosol container body are used up.

In addition , the container housing portion and the cover body can be easily and firmly fixed simply by interposing an adhesive on the bonding surface of the container housing portion or the cover body.

Furthermore, when the container housing portion and the cover body are fixed, the positioning of the container housing portion and the cover body can be performed more easily than when the container housing portion and the cover body are bonded to each other at the end surfaces, for example. In addition, even before the container housing portion and the cover body are fixed, the container housing portion and the cover body are maintained in the assembled state, so that the fixing operation can be easily performed and the manufacturing efficiency is improved. it can.
Furthermore, since the fixing area can be increased as compared with the case where the container housing portion and the cover body are bonded to each other at the end surfaces, both can be fixed more firmly.

  In the aerosol container according to the present invention, the injector has a built-in counter for counting the number of times the contents are injected, and the counter is pressed each time the container is pushed in, and the number of times the pressure is pressed is counted. It is preferable to have a counting unit that performs the display and a display unit that displays the number of times of pressing counted by the counting unit.

Thereby, every time the contents in the aerosol container are ejected, the number of times the container is pressed can be counted by the counter by counting the number of times the container is pressed. And the frequency | count of injection of a content can be easily confirmed by displaying the frequency | count of a press by a count part on a display part.
In particular, in the aerosol container according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the aerosol container main body from coming off from the injector as described above. The count part of the injector is not pushed down when the container main body is not attached. Therefore, since the accurate number of injections can be displayed on the display unit, the number of injections can be accurately grasped, and the total use amount and remaining amount of the contents can be strictly managed based on the number of injections.

  According to the aerosol container according to the present invention, it is possible to prevent the aerosol container body from being detached from the injector after the start of use, and to reliably use the contents in the aerosol container body.

It is the top view (top view) which looked at the aerosol container from the upper part. It is sectional drawing which follows the AA line of FIG. It is sectional drawing corresponded in FIG. 2, and is a figure which shows the time of use of an aerosol container.

Embodiments of an aerosol container according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a plan view (top view) of an aerosol container 1 according to this embodiment as viewed from above, and FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view taken along line AA in FIG.
In addition, the aerosol container 1 in this embodiment is an aerosol container used in a state where a stem 21 of an aerosol container body 2 described later is faced downward, and the direction in which the stem 21 protrudes from the container 20 described later (in FIG. 2). The “lower side” is defined as “lower side”, and the opposite side (the bottom side of the container 20 (upper side in FIG. 2)) is defined as “upper side”. The above “lower side” corresponds to “one side” in the present invention, and the above “upper side” corresponds to “the other side” in the present invention. A chain line O shown in the drawing indicates a central axis of the aerosol container body 2 and is simply referred to as “axis O” hereinafter. In the present embodiment, the direction along the axis O is referred to as “axial direction”, the direction orthogonal to the axis O is referred to as “radial direction”, and the direction around the axis O is referred to as “circumferential direction”.

  As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the aerosol container 1 is a device for making a medicine (contents) such as an asthma medicine into a mist and sucking it from the mouth. And an injector 3 to which the aerosol container body 2 is attached.

  The aerosol container main body 2 can adopt a known (general) structure, and a container 20 containing a liquid medicine and a stem 21 protruding in a downward biased state from the lower end of the container 20. And.

  The stem 21 is a cylindrical portion extending in the axial direction, and is arranged coaxially with the container 20 with the axis O as a common axis. The stem 21 is disposed so as to be able to be pushed up relative to the container 20, and the aerosol container body 2 is pushed into the container 20 as the stem 21 moves upward relative to the container 20. Thus, the medicine in the container 20 flows into the stem 21.

  The injector 3 includes a bottomed cylindrical container accommodating portion 30 in which the container 20 is accommodated, a cover body 41 that closes the upper end opening 37 of the container accommodating portion 30, and a side surface of the lower end portion of the container accommodating portion 30. A cylindrical injection port portion 31 projecting from the above, a counter accommodating portion 38 in which a counter 5 described later is accommodated, an insertion hole 32 into which the above-described stem 21 is inserted, and a nozzle communicated with the insertion hole 32 33.

The container housing part 30 has an upper end opening part 37 that opens upward, and the aerosol container body 2 is inserted into the container housing part 30 from the upper end opening part 37.
The ejection port portion 31 protrudes radially outward from the edge of the opening 30a formed on the side surface of the lower end portion of the container housing portion 30, and extends in the radial direction. The distal end of the injection port portion 31 is open to the outside, and the proximal end of the injection port portion 31 is open to the inside of the container housing portion 30 through the opening 30a. The inner side of the part 31 and the inner side of the container accommodating part 30 are connected. Further, the injection port portion 31 is formed with a reduced diameter portion 31a whose outer diameter is reduced, and a cap 39 is detachably fitted to the reduced diameter portion 31a. In addition, in this embodiment, seeing the container accommodating part 30, let the injection port part 31 side (left side in FIG. 2) be a front side, and let the other side (right side in FIG. 2) be a back side.

  On the bottom surface (lower end) on the inner side of the container housing portion 30, a protruding portion 34 extending upward is erected, and the above-described insertion hole 32 is formed at the upper end portion of the protruding portion 34. Further, the nozzle 33 described above is formed on the front side portion of the projecting portion 34, and further, a communication hole 35 for communicating the nozzle 33 and the insertion hole 32 is formed therein.

The insertion hole 32 is a bottomed hole extending in the axial direction, and is disposed coaxially with the stem 21 with the axis O as a common axis. The upper end portion of the insertion hole 32 is gradually enlarged in a taper shape as it goes upward, and the upper end of the insertion hole 32 is opened at the upper end surface of the protruding portion 34.
The nozzle 33 is for injecting the medicine in the form of a mist (diffusion state) toward the inside of the injection port 31 and is disposed at a position facing the proximal end opening surface (opening 30a) of the injection port 31. Has been. Further, the nozzle 33 is gradually enlarged in a taper shape from the back side to the front side.
The communication hole 35 is a flow hole for sending the medicine flowing out from the tip of the stem 21 to the nozzle 33 and is a bottomed hole extending downward from the bottom surface (lower end) of the insertion hole 32. Further, an end portion on the back side of the nozzle 33 is opened on the side surface of the lower end portion of the communication hole 35.

  The counter accommodating portion 38 is formed such that the back side of the lower end portion of the container accommodating portion 30 (the back side of the protruding portion 34) projects outward in the radial direction. An opening 38a that opens from the lower surface to the back side is formed in the counter accommodating portion 38, and the counter 5 is inserted through the opening 38a. In addition, a communication hole 38 b is formed on the upper surface of the counter housing portion 38 to communicate the inside of the counter housing portion 38 and the inside of the container housing portion 30.

The counter 5 is a counter having a known configuration, and counts the number of times each time the count unit 51 is pressed, and displays the number of times on the display unit 53.
The count portion 51 is erected on the upper surface of the counter body 50 in an upwardly biased state, and is disposed so as to face the container housing portion 30 through the communication hole 38b. At this time, the count unit 51 is disposed at a position facing the lower end edge (shoulder portion) of the container 20 in the vertical direction. The display unit 53 is provided on the side surface on the back side of the counter body 50 and is disposed so as to be exposed from the opening 38 a of the counter housing unit 38.

  The opening 38 a of the counter accommodating portion 38 is closed by the lid body 36. The lid body 36 is provided so as to cover from the lower end to the back side of the counter housing portion 38, and is undercut fitted or fixed (adhered) to the opening 38 a of the counter housing portion 38. In this case, the outer surface of the lid body 36 is formed substantially flush with the outer surfaces of the counter housing part 38 and the container housing part 30. In addition, a transparent lens portion 36 a whose outer surface is curved in a convex shape is formed at a position facing the display portion 53 of the counter 5 in the lid 36.

  Here, the container housing portion 30 is provided with a cover body 41 so as to cover the upper end opening 37. The cover body 41 is formed in a top cylinder shape that is disposed coaxially with the container housing portion 30.

The cover body 41 is fitted into and bonded to the upper end opening 37 of the container housing portion 30. Specifically, a stepped portion 45 formed by reducing the outer diameter is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the lower end of the peripheral wall 43 of the cover body 41, and the lower end of the stepped portion 45 protrudes radially outward. An engaging protrusion (engaging portion) 46 is formed over the entire circumference. On the other hand, a stepped portion 30f formed by expanding the inner diameter is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the upper end of the container housing portion 30, and an engaging projection that protrudes radially inward at the upper end of the stepped portion 30f. A portion (engaging portion) 30g is formed over the entire circumference.
And the cover body 41 and the container accommodating part 30 interpose an adhesive agent (not shown) between each level | step-difference part 45 and 30f, and each engagement protrusion part 46 and 30f are in the state by which undercut fitting was carried out. Is glued. That is, the cover body 41 and the container accommodating part 30 are assembled | attached so that removal is not possible through the adhesive agent. In this case, the outer peripheral surfaces of the container housing part 30 and the cover body 41 are continuously formed to be substantially flush with each other.

  The cover body 41 has a top wall portion 44 (upper surface) that covers the upper end side of the peripheral wall 43. In the top wall portion 44, a push-down hole 47 that penetrates the cover body 41 and communicates with the container housing portion 30 is formed. The pressing hole 47 is a hole for pressing the container 20 downward when the aerosol container 1 is used, and is formed in a size that allows a finger or the like to be inserted into the container housing portion 30. Specifically, the pressing hole 47 is arranged from the center portion to the back side in the top wall portion 44 of the cover body 41, and climbs over the corner portion between the top wall portion 44 and the peripheral wall 43 to It reaches the back side.

  Thereby, the ceiling wall part 44 of the cover body 41 is formed in the U-shape opened toward the back surface top view side. And the top wall part 44 has covered the outer peripheral side of the upper surface (bottom part) of the container 20 from upper direction. Therefore, the aerosol container body 2 housed in the container housing part 30 is restricted from moving upward in a state in which the edge of the upper surface (bottom part) is covered in the three directions of the front side and the side surfaces. It is configured so as not to be removable from the vessel 3.

  Next, the operation of the aerosol container 1 having the above-described configuration will be described.

  First, a method for mounting the aerosol container body 2 in the injector 3 will be described. As shown in FIG. 1 and FIG. The container 20 is pushed downward until it comes into contact.

Next, the container housing part 30 and the cover body 41 are bonded and fixed. Specifically, an adhesive is applied to the stepped portion 30f of the container accommodating portion 30 or the stepped portion 45 of the cover body 41, and the upper end opening 37 of the container accommodating portion 30 and the lower end opening 42 of the cover body 41 are opposed to each other. Thus, the cover body 41 and the container housing part 30 are moved closer to each other in the vertical direction. Then, the engagement protrusion 46 of the cover body 41 gets over the engagement protrusion 30g of the container housing portion 30 and is undercut fitted, and the stepped portion 45 of the cover body 41 is housed in the stepped portion 30f of the container housing portion 30. The As a result, the upper end opening 37 of the container housing portion 30 is covered with the cover body 41, and the container housing portion 30 and the cover body 41 are bonded and fixed by an adhesive in a state where the container housing portion 30 and the cover body 41 are undercut fitted.
And the installation of the aerosol container main body 2 to the injector 3 is completed, and the aerosol container 1 is provided in a state where the container housing part 30 and the cover body 41 are bonded and fixed. Thus, by fixing the container housing part 30 and the cover body 41 using an adhesive, it is possible to simplify both by simply interposing the adhesive on the adhesive surface of at least one of the container housing part 30 or the cover body 41. And can be firmly fixed.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view corresponding to FIG. 2 and is a view showing the use of the aerosol container.
Next, when using the above-described aerosol container 1, first, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 3, the cap 39 is removed from the reduced diameter portion 31 a and the injection port portion 31 is directed into the user's mouth. . In this state, the container 20 is pushed downward relative to the injector 3 by inserting a finger or the like into the container accommodating portion 30 through the push-down hole 47 and pressing the upper end (bottom portion) of the container 20. At this time, since the distal end of the stem 21 is in contact with the bottom surface of the insertion hole 32 and the downward movement of the stem 21 is restricted, the stem 21 is pushed up relative to the container 20 and It is pushed inward. As a result, the contents in the container 20 are ejected from the nozzle 33 toward the ejection port portion 31 through the stem 21.

  Further, when the container 20 is lowered, the lower end edge of the container 20 comes into contact with the upper end surface of the count unit 51 and the count unit 51 is pressed down. As a result, the counter 5 counts the injection, and the count number is displayed on the display unit 53.

  Subsequently, the finger or the like is released from the upper end of the container 20 to release the pressure on the upper end of the container 20. Thereby, the container 20 is pushed up by the urging force of the stem 21, the container 20 returns to the original position, and the injection from the nozzle 33 is stopped. At this time, the pressing of the counting unit 51 is released by raising the container 20.

  Thus, every time the container 20 is pushed down, the medicine is ejected from the nozzle 33, the count unit 51 is pushed, the number of ejections is counted, and the count number is displayed on the display unit 53. The display unit 53 can be visually confirmed through the lens unit 36 a formed in the counter housing unit 38. In this case, since the count number displayed on the display unit 53 can be enlarged and displayed by passing through the lens unit 36a, the visibility can be improved.

Here, in the present embodiment, when the aerosol container 1 is assembled, the container housing portion 30 and the cover body 41 are bonded to each other, so that the container housing portion can be removed even if the cover body 41 is removed from the container housing portion 30. 30 and the cover body 41 are not separated.
In the aerosol container 1 of the present embodiment, the aerosol container body 2 is likely to be detached from the injector 3 by dropping the aerosol container 1 between the start of use of the aerosol container 1 and the use of the drug. Even if the aerosol container main body 2 is intentionally removed from the injector 3 and the entire aerosol container main body 2 is moved upward with respect to the injector 3, the upper surface (bottom) of the container 20 is not covered by the cover body 41. It strikes against the inner surface of the top wall 44. Thereby, the upward movement of the aerosol container body 2 is restricted, and the aerosol container body 2 cannot be removed from the injector 3.

  According to the present embodiment, as described above, the cover body 41 is bonded so as to cover the upper end opening 37 of the container housing portion 30 from above, so that the cover body 41 is separated from the container housing portion 30 after starting use. It can prevent that the aerosol container main body 2 comes off from the inside of the injector 3. Thereby, the chemical | medical agent in the aerosol container main body 2 can be used up reliably. Further, there is no possibility that the medicine is ejected with the aerosol container body 2 once removed from use, or the counting unit 51 of the injector 3 is not pressed while the aerosol container body 2 is not attached. Therefore, since the accurate number of injections can be displayed on the display unit 53, the number of injections can be accurately grasped, and the total amount of medicine used can be strictly managed based on the number of injections.

Moreover, in this embodiment, when bonding the container accommodating part 30 and the cover body 41, since both are undercut-fitted, for example, when adhering the container accommodating part 30 and the cover body 41 at the end surfaces. In comparison, positioning in the radial direction of both can be performed easily. Further, even before the adhesive is dried, the container housing portion 30 and the cover body 41 are maintained in the assembled state, so that the bonding operation can be easily performed and the manufacturing efficiency can be improved.
Furthermore, since the bonding area can be increased as compared with the case where the container housing portion 30 and the cover body 41 are bonded to each other at the end surfaces, both can be bonded and fixed more firmly.
Further, by forming the pressing hole 47 of the cover body 41 from the top wall portion 44 to the back side of the peripheral wall 43, a finger or the like can be held while the injector 3 is gripped from the back side when the aerosol container 1 is used. It becomes easy to insert into the container accommodating part 30. Therefore, handling at the time of use becomes easy.

The embodiment of the aerosol container according to the present invention has been described above. However, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be appropriately changed without departing from the spirit of the present invention.
For example, in the above-described embodiment, the injection port portion 31 protrudes perpendicularly to the container housing portion 30 (axis O). However, in the present invention, the injection port portion 31 has the container housing portion 30 (axis O). It is also possible to adopt a configuration projecting obliquely with respect to the container, a configuration projecting parallel to the container housing portion 30 (axis O), or a configuration not projecting the injection port portion 31 (only the opening) ) Is also possible.

In the above-described embodiment, the display unit 53 of the counter 5 is disposed on the back side. However, in the present invention, the display unit 53 may be disposed on the lower surface side or the side surface side.
Further, in the above-described embodiment, the counter 5 is accommodated inside the container accommodating portion 30, but in the present invention, the counter 5 may be attached to the outside of the container accommodating portion 30. Further, it is not always necessary to incorporate the counter 5.

  In addition, as the counter 5 incorporated in the above-described embodiment, a digital counter or a counter other than a digital counter may be provided, for example, a mechanical counter using a ratchet mechanism is provided. Also good. As a configuration of such a mechanical counter, a pinion that is allowed to rotate in one direction and whose rotation to the other is restricted by a restricting member is provided. A configuration that counts the number of rotations in the direction is conceivable.

In the embodiment described above, the top wall portion 44 of the cover body 41 is formed so as to cover the outer peripheral side of the upper end surface of the container 20, but the top wall portion 44 is at least a part of the upper end surface (bottom portion) of the container 20. If the pressing hole 47 for pressing the container 20 is formed, the design range of the top wall portion 44 can be appropriately changed.
Moreover, although embodiment mentioned above demonstrated the case where the container accommodating part 30 and the cover body 41 were fixed via an adhesive agent, as long as both are adhering, you may use welding etc.

Further, in the above-described embodiment, the aerosol container 1 is arranged in a posture in which the stem 21 of the aerosol container body 2 faces downward, and the medicine is injected by pushing down the container 20, It is not limited to the aerosol container used with the above-mentioned attitude. For example, the aerosol container 1 can be used in a posture in which the stem 21 of the aerosol container body 2 is directed upward, a posture in which the stem 21 is slanted, a posture in which the stem 21 is laterally oriented, or the like.
Furthermore, the content accommodated in the aerosol container main body 2 is not restricted to a chemical | medical agent, but can accommodate various contents according to a use.
In the above-described embodiment, the engagement protrusions 30g and 46 are formed on the inner peripheral surface of the container accommodating portion 30 and the outer peripheral surface of the cover body 41, and the configuration in which the cover body 41 is fitted and fixed to the container accommodating portion 30 is described. However, a configuration may be adopted in which the engagement protrusions 30g and 46 are formed on the outer peripheral surface of the container accommodating portion 30 and the inner peripheral surface of the cover body 41, and the cover body 41 is externally fitted and fixed to the container accommodating portion 30.

  In addition, in the range which does not deviate from the main point of this invention, it is possible to replace suitably the component in above-mentioned embodiment with a well-known component, and you may combine the above-mentioned modification suitably.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Aerosol container 2 Aerosol container main body 3 Injector 5 Counter 20 Container 21 Stem 30 Container accommodating part 30f Engagement protrusion (engagement part)
32 Insertion hole 33 Nozzle 37 Upper end opening (opening)
41 Cover body 46 Engagement protrusion (engagement part)
47 Press hole 51 Count unit 53 Display unit

Claims (2)

An aerosol container body provided with a container in which contents are stored, and a stem protruding in a state of being biased from one end of the container toward one side;
An injector provided with a container accommodating portion in which the container is accommodated, an insertion hole into which the stem is inserted, and a nozzle communicated with the insertion hole;
With
By pressing the other end of the container and pushing the container to one side relative to the injector, the stem is pushed into the container, and the contents in the container pass through the stem. An aerosol container sprayed to the outside from the nozzle,
The container container has an opening into which the aerosol container body is inserted from one end side while opening toward the other side.
The injector includes a cover body that covers at least a part of the other end of the container from the other side by being detachably fixed to the opening of the container accommodating portion,
The cover body is formed with a pressing hole for pressing the other end of the container ,
The container container and the cover body are respectively formed with engaging portions that can be engaged with each other, and the cover body is bonded to the container container. The injector has a built-in counter that counts the number of injections of the contents,
The counter has a count unit that is pressed each time the container is pushed and counts the number of times of pressing, and a display unit that displays the number of times of pressing counted by the counting unit. aerosol container according to claim 1 Symbol placement.

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