JPS6234564A - Medical distribution apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

(57) [Summary] This bulletin contains application data before electronic filing, so abstract data is not recorded.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to devices for dispensing or dispensing pharmaceuticals on a large scale, and more particularly to a novel pharmaceutical dispensing device suitable for use in hospitals and nursing homes.

A variety of devices have been developed in the past for automatically dispensing pharmaceutical doses in response to programmed input information. One of them, U.S. Patent No. '49
No. 17.045. U.S. Patent No. 3.91
7.045 is a device for automatically dispensing one or more medication doses to a common collection area in response to input information representing a particular patient's medication requirements. The device includes a locked cabinet containing a relatively large number of removable and refillable cars. Each cartridge contains a plurality of identical medicine doses and is provided with means for sequentially dispensing the doses on demand. The dispensing or dispensing device also includes means for receiving input information and control means for selectively operating each cartridge in response to the input information to dispense individual medication doses in accordance with a particular patient's medication regimen. It is equipped with

Although the device of the above patent serves its intended purpose, its construction is relatively complex and manufacturing costs are high.

For example, in one embodiment, each drug reservoir cartridge requires its own electric motor, sensor, indicator light, and drive belt and pulley, and as many as 81 such cartridges, for example, are required.

In other embodiments requiring at least as many cartridges, each cartridge must have its own lensoid and its own electrical wiring.

Other documents disclosing related prior art include US Patent Nos. 5V144,958 and 179,288;
5,196.276, 43IQ, 199, 312
, No. 372, 3,410,45ol, 3,456,76
No. 6, No. 3,815,780, No. 3,848,112,
4.107.777, 4.22 to 801, and 4.
, No. 237,536.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention provides a pharmaceutical dispensing device for hospitals and nursing homes that is capable of dispensing on a large scale according to prescriptions for large numbers of patients, and that has low manufacturing and operating costs. The device includes means for dispensing pills or other medications prescribed in a particular prescription in accordance with instructions from a computer control device. Pills are automatically selected from a large reservoir array, placed into individual patient trays, and delivered to the laboratory, where the contents of the tray are compared with the patient's data display. Prescription verification is performed.

The pills are mounted in a row, for example 10, on an elongated cardboard or paper strip, and several such pill-carrying strips are stored one above the other in each reservoir. There is. A series of yu on both side walls of the storage box.

The strips or grooves are provided opposite each other, and each longitudinal side edge of each pill-carrying strip is adapted to fit removably into the groove.

Pills are removed from the reservoir by a vertically movable carriage having gripping fingers. That is, the gripping fingers engage the leading edge of a given pill-carrying strip and pull one or more pills from the reservoir. The pulled pill is separated from the pill carrying strip by a cutter blade attached to the carriage, and the pill is allowed to fall onto the conveyor belt by VC and is deposited from the conveyor belt into a patient tray.

1 and 3, the drug dispensing device fa of the present invention basically comprises a plurality of pill dispensing units 20.
, a receiver in the form of an individual tray 21 that receives dispensed pills, a high-speed conveyor belt 22 (Fig. 3) that conveys the pills from the dispensing unit 20 to the tray 21, and a tray 21 into which the pills are loaded. Inspection department 24 for receiving and inspecting
It consists of. Here, "pill" and "pain unit"
Both terms, used interchangeably, refer to a monomer of a drug which can be, for example, in the form of a pill or capsule. Capsules contain solid or liquid drugs.

Except for some operations in the inspection department 24, which will be described later,
The operation of this dispensing device is automatic and controlled by a computer which does not itself form part of the invention. First, prescriptions for all patients at a particular medical institution are keyed into a computer controller or otherwise, and then a dispensing device is activated.
Dispense the medicine required for each prescription according to instructions from the control device.

The medication dispensing device includes a medication source area 25 (FIG. 1) having 16 upright storage racks 26 for storing a backup supply of medication. The medicine in the rack 26 is transferred by the operator to the upper dispensing unit 20 on the elevated platform 27 via the stairs 28 (FIGS. 3 and 4) as necessary. A supply of pill receiving trays 21 is stored in a tray storage area 30 having means for raising each tray one after the other to a fixed height position. The tray is moved horizontally from the height position to the pill receiving station 51. At the station 31, the tray 21 receives pills from the conveyor belt 22 and is moved to the inspection station 22. The tray moving means will be explained later.

In the illustrated embodiment, four pill dispensing units 20
are arranged in a cabinet 32 with an access door 34 (FIGS. 1 and 4); each unit 20 has four upright racks 35 juxtaposed laterally to each other. @
The second rack 35 and the third rack 35 are spaced apart from each other as shown in FIG.

As clearly shown in FIG. 9, each rack 35 has a series of brackets 36 for supporting a plurality of storage boxes 37 stacked one above the other. In the example shown, each rack has 19
A stack of boxes is provided.

The pill to be dispensed is indicated at 38 in FIGS. 9 and 10. Typically ten pills 38 are held in a row on an elongated pill carrying strip 40 made of cardboard or cardboard that is stiff enough not to buckle in the transverse direction. Such pills, capsules, etc. are held in place on the strip 40 by suitable means such as shrink wrapping. Both side edges of the pill carrying strip 40 are connected to the storage box 3.
It is slidably fitted into mutually opposing grooves 41 provided on both side walls of 7. The 6 boxes 57 are 10 as shown in FIG.
It is adapted to support one pill carrying strip 40.

The pill 38 is mounted on a carriage 42 (first and fourth
-8) in each dispensing unit 20 by the upright rack 3
It is divided from 5. Since the carriages 42 of each unit 20 are of the same construction, only one carriage will be described here. The carriage 42 is elongated,
The plate 4 is provided with a horizontally arranged main body plate 44.
4 extends into the gap between the second rack 35 and the third rack 35 as shown in FIGS.

The carriage 42 is moved up and down (raised and lowered) to a predetermined storage box position according to commands from a computer control device.

It is performed by a ball screw drive actuated by a conventional stepper motor (not shown) K. This ball screw drive basically consists of a ball screw 45 and a ball nut 46 (FIGS. 5 and 7) fixed to the underside of the plate 44 of the carriage 42, cooperating with a guide rod 47. These drive parts 45° 46 and rod 47
is arranged in the gap between the second rack 35 and the 32nd rack 35.

Each pill carrying case) IJ tube 40 is connected to each pill storage box 3.
Each storage box 37 is arranged at a predetermined position within each rack 35 . As a result of this placement of the medicament, the controller knows exactly where to move the carriage 42 to dispense the pills for a particular prescription.

Pill carrying strip 40 is withdrawn by a pair of gripping fingers 48 (FIGS. 5-7) supported by carriage 42. Each of the four racks 35 of dispensing unit 200 is provided with a pair of gripping fingers 48 . When the carriage 42 is moved to the predetermined reservoir position according to the command, its gripping fingers 48 are positioned in horizontal alignment with the predetermined pill carrying strip. Six pairs of gripping fingers 48Vi, eg A.

G, coupled to a pickup head 50 such as that sold by Russell Corporation. The gripping fingers 48 can be moved horizontally toward or away from the one-pill carrying strip reservoir 37, as described below.

As shown in FIG. 6, two of the pickup heads 50 are fixed to the transverse par 51, and the other two pickup heads 5G are fixed to the transverse par 52. These two pars 51 and 52 are longitudinally aligned with each other as shown. The pars 51, 52 are both welded or otherwise secured to a transverse plate 54 (FIGS. 5 and 6), which is secured to a pole nut 55 in mesh with a ball screw 56. Screw 56 steps through coupler 57
The motor 58 is connected to a motor 58, which operates according to commands from the control device to rotate the screw 56, thereby moving the par 5L 52 and the pick-up rod 50 toward or away from the pill-carrying strip storage box 37. Separate.

The stepper motor 58 is fixed to a transverse plate 60 (Fig. 5-6), the latter being fixed to the carriage 420 body plate 44 and depending therefrom. The end of the ball screw 56 opposite to the side on which the motor 58 is located is rotatably supported by a transverse plate 61 that hangs down from the lower surface of the main body plate 44 of the screw. Bar 5L
The horizontal movement of the supporting plate 54 toward and away from the reservoir 67 is guided by a horizontal guide rod 62 supported at both ends by transverse plates 60, 61, as shown in FIG. The guide rod 62 is loosely fitted through a guide sleeve 64 fixed to the plate 54. This arrangement serves not only to guide the horizontal movement of the bars 51,52 and the gripping fingers 48, but also to prevent rotation of the pole nut 55, which is fixed to the plate 54 by the bolt 65.

Two pairs of gripping fingers 48 attached to the bar 51 are aligned with the first and second racks 35 of the dispensing unit 20, and two pairs of gripping fingers 48 attached to the bar 52 are aligned with the first and second racks 35 of the dispensing unit 20.
are aligned with the fifth and fourth racks 35. After the carriage 42 is moved to the predetermined storage box position according to the command from the control device, the stepping motor 58 pushes the nut 55 through the screw 56 to move all four pairs of gripping fingers forward. That is, the pill carrying strip 40 is pushed toward the pill carrying strip storage box 37 and the corresponding front edge of the pill carrying strip 40 is slightly pushed into the gap between the six pairs of fingers 48 which are normally open as shown in FIG. Sandwich. At that point, advancement of the fingers 48 is stopped and one or more of the pick amplifier heads 50 are commanded by the controller to close the corresponding fingers 48 while gripping the green of the pill carrying strip. All pairs of fingers are then moved a predetermined distance in opposite directions, thereby removing a predetermined number of pills 38 on the strip 40 gripped by the fingers.
is pulled out from the storage box 37. This strip 40 is then cut by a cutting mechanism, which will be described later, and pulled out to separate it from the rest of the IJ tube 40.

Pill carrying strip 40 with gripping fingers 48 selected
The travel of movement toward the reservoir 37 to engage the carriage is limited by the engagement of the plate 54 with a limit switch 66 (FIGS. 5 and 7) mounted on the body plate 44 of the carriage. . Also, the transition stroke of the gripping fingers moving in the reaction direction after a given pill-carrying strip 40 has been withdrawn from its reservoir 37 and one or more pills have been severed from the remainder of the strip is such that the plate 54 It is limited by engaging a limit switch 67 attached to the main body plate 44. Plate 54 is engaged with switch 67 to prevent the gripping fingers from interfering with the raising and lowering of carriage 42, except when the gripping fingers are moved toward the reservoir to withdraw the IJ tube. ing.

The strip cutting mechanism for each dispensing unit 20 includes an upper cutter blade 69 and a lower cutter blade 7, respectively.
It is equipped with four pairs of cutter blades (Figs. 5 and 8) having a diameter of 0. A pair of blades is arranged for each of the four racks 55 of the dispensing unit 20, and each blade pair is
Each is in vertical alignment with a corresponding pair of gripping fingers. The blade 69.70 carries the pill carrying strip 40.
The width of the IJ tube 40 is slightly wider than the width of the IJ tube 40, and when they are pulled together, they are pulled out from the storage box 57 and perform a shearing action to cut the IJ tube 40.

The upper blade 69 and the lower blade 70 are each carried by a horizontal bar 71172 (FIG. 8), which provides vertical sliding movement toward or away from each other on the inside straight inner rods 74 and 70, respectively. It is guided by an outer straight inner rod 75. inner rod 7
The upper end of 4 is screwed into the main body plate 44 of the carriage, and the lower end is fixed to a U-shaped plate 76. As best seen in FIG. 5, the plate 76 is secured, such as by welding, to a bearing sleeve 77 for the outer carriage guide rod 47, and the upper end of the sleeve 77 is secured to the main body grate 44 of the carriage.

The cutter blades 69,70 are normally held in a spaced apart or open position as shown in FIGS. 5 and 8 by conventional pneumatic cylinders 78 supported by a plate 76. This allows the gripping fingers 48 to move between the blades and withdraw a given pill-carrying strip. When the upper and lower blades are in the open position, the bar 71 carrying the upper blade is attached to the main body plate 44 of the carriage.
The bar 72 that is in contact with the lower surface of the U and carries the lower blade is
It abuts against the shape plate 76.

After the gripping fingers 48 have gripped the selected pill-carrying strip and extracted one or more pills, the pneumatic cylinder 78 is operated in a conventional manner to draw the cutter blade 69, 70 and extract the pill. Separate the removed pill from the rest of the strip. The separated pills fall onto the conveyor belt 22 (FIG. 1.3.4), which conveys them to the pill receiving station 31. The separated pill is
When falling, the slope 80 of the lower blade carrier 72
(FIGS. 5 and 8) and directed toward the conveyor belt 22 by the inclined surface 81 of the auxiliary bar 82.

As shown in Figures 3 and 4, the conveyor belt) 22[,
The belt extends across all four dispensing units 20, and the upper running portion of the belt is spaced apart below the rack 35 (FIG. 4). The belt 22 is
Drive drum 8 driven at one end by a motor 84
3, and the rack is passed to a take-up drum 85 at the other end.

As described in the destination of patient-specific trays, the pills sent to the receiving department 31 by the conveyor belt 22 are sent to the individual patient-specific trays 21 (
1 and 3), and the tray 21 is transferred to the inspection department 24.
will be transferred to. The stack of trays 21 is located in the storage area 30 (
The uppermost tray 21 of one stack 21A is aligned with and at the same height as the horizontal tray transport track 86 leading to the inspection station 24. The uppermost tray is moved along a track 86 by a pusher 87 (FIG. 1.2) which is supported by a pusher carriage 88 (FIG. 2) and which can move back and forth. The carriage 88 will be explained in detail later.

The pusher 87 is in the shape of an inverted U and, in its actuation stroke, moves from left to right as viewed in FIGS. 1 and 2. The rear leg 87A of the pusher engages the leading end of the uppermost tray 21, as shown in FIG. 1, and moves it from the stack to the receiving station 31. At the same time, the forward leg 87B of the pusher engages the trailing end of the preceding tray already loaded with pills in the receiving station 31 and pushes it into the testing station 24.

When a pair of trays is moved to stations 31 and 24, respectively, in this manner, a limit switch (not shown) is actuated, which causes pusher 87 to be raised until it passes over the trays. For this purpose, a plate 89 (FIG. 2) is connected to the upper end of the pusher, which plate 89 is connected to a piston rod 90 of a conventional pneumatic cylinder 91 mounted on the carriage 88 of the pusher. There is. A pair of guide rods 92 cooperate with rods 90 to guide the vertical movement of the pusher 875r without rotating it.

At the end of the upward movement of pusher 87, another limit switch (not shown) is actuated, thereby returning carriage 88 and pusher 87 from left to right to the starting position shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. Horizontal movement of the carriage 88 and the pusher 87 attached thereto is performed by a drive motor 93 connected to a ball screw 95 via a connector 94. The ball screw 95 is screwed into a ball nut (not shown) attached to the carriage 88, and the carriage 88 is moved in the horizontal direction by 950 rotations of the screw. Horizontal movement of carriage 88 is guided by a pair of horizontal guide rods 96. The drive motor 93 and the end of the rod 96 are connected to the dispensing unit 20
It is secured to a suitable fastening structure (not shown) disposed within an elongated nose housing 97 (FIG. 1) extending from the upper end of a vertical nose housing 98 forming a part of the housing.

Carriage 88 returns to its starting position (i-th
2) actuates another limit switch (not shown), thereby raising the entire stack of trays 21A by a height equal to the height of one tray, thereby raising the top tray. is again brought to the same level as the tray transport track and brought into a ready position for movement to the right to the receiving station 31. When the top tray reaches the height of track 86,
Furthermore, another limit switch (not shown) is actuated, thereby lowering the pusher 87 to a position where its leg 87A can push the topmost tray 2 and its leg 87B can push the tray in the receiving station 31. Positioned as Thus,
The tray feed cycle is now ready to begin again.

The mechanism for intermittently lifting the counterfeit tray body 21A includes a lifting arm 100 located below the lowest tray 21, as shown in FIGS. lifting y
One end of jiIDDVi is connected to a ball chit 102 (FIG. 2), and the ball nut 101 is connected to the ball screw 1.
It is screwed into 02.

Ball screw 102 can be rotated in either direction by ball screw motor 104.

The motor 104 is connected to the receiving station 3 when the tray at the top of the stack is
1, the ball screw 108 is rotated in accordance with a command from the control device to raise the tray stack 21A by the height of one tray.

After the last tray in the stack 21A has been delivered to the receiving station 31, the motor 104 is actuated by a suitable limit switch or the like to rotate the ball screw 102 in the opposite direction.
The lifting arm 100 is lowered to the lowest position shown by the phantom line in FIG.

A substantial number of trays 21 can be stored in the storage area 30 (FIG. 1) in stacks of trays, which stacks can be mounted on a horizontally movable carriage 105.

For example, a stack of 21 trays (all of the trays in Figure 1 have not been transferred to the receiving station 31), and the lifting arm 1aa is lowered to the lowest position under the carriage 105 as shown in Figure 2. Carriage 105 is then indexed one tray to the right in FIG. 1 to bring the new tray stack into alignment with horizontal tray transport track 86.

As can be seen in FIGS. 1 and 2, the tray carriage 105 is provided with a plurality of spaced apart notches 106 sized to pass the outer end portions of the lifting arms 100. As shown in FIGS. After the carriage 105 has been moved to align the new tray stack with the track 86, the lifting arm 100 moves into the notch 1o.
6 and applied to the underside of the bottom tray of the stack to intermittently raise the stack as described above.

The mechanism for moving the tray carriage 105 in the horizontal direction consists of a nine-ball nut 107 (Fig. 4'52) fixed to the underside of the carriage, and a ball screw 108 screwed into the ball nut.

Ball screw 108 can be rotated in either direction by a suitable ball screw motor (not shown);
Thereby, the gear ridge 105 can be moved horizontally from side to side. This horizontal movement is guided by a guide rod 110 supported on a bearing sleeve 111 fixed to the underside of the carriage 105.

When the last tray 21 of the last stack is transferred to the receiving station 31, a warning light (not shown) is illuminated to inform the operator that the storage area 3o should be refilled with a tray stack. At this point, the tray carriage 105 is in the first position.
In some cases, it has been moved completely to the right in the illustration. In that case, leave the carriage 105 in the same position (Fig. 3).
A replenishment tray stack can be loaded thereon, and then the carriage 105 is moved sequentially from right to left,
The tray stacks are sequentially aligned on the tray transport track 86.

Operation The operation of the pharmaceutical dispensing device of the present invention is summarized below. First, all patient prescriptions are entered into the computer controller for the drug dispensing device by key bunching or other methods. At this point, each pill storage box 37 has been loaded with the required pill carrying strip, the storage area 30 has been loaded with a stack of trays 21, and the pill receiving station 31 has been loaded as shown in FIG. Assume that an empty tray is positioned. At any time after each patient's prescription has been entered into the controller, the medication dispensing device may be activated, thereby selectively moving the pill dispensing carriage 42 according to the program to fill the initial prescription. from one or more of the pill dispensing units 20 simultaneously. Because each pill-carrying strip 40t/'i is precisely positioned in a predetermined position within the dispensing unit 20, the dispensing carriage 42
You can know exactly where it should go. Each pill dispensed according to the prescription falls onto the conveyor belt 22 at approximately the same time. The belt 22 may run continuously during operation of the medication dispensing device, or it may run only after all pills for a particular prescription have been deposited onto the belt.

When the pills on the belt 22 are loaded into the waiting tray 21 at the pill receiving station 31, the pusher 87 pushes the pill-filled tray to the inspection station 24 and at the same time pushes the empty topmost tray of the tray stack 21A. Tray of pills to pill receiving department 31
The patient will be placed on hold to receive the next prescription pill. There is a cathode ray tube display 112 in the inspection department 24.
The display is displayed in synchronization with the arrival of patient-specific trays at the examination department.

In the testing department 24, there is a pharmacist who takes the pills in the tray,
The prescription information initially entered into the computer controller is derived and compared to the prescription displayed on display 112. In order to double check this comparative verification, it is preferable that the doctor's handwritten prescription manuscript is also displayed on the display 112.

The cathode ray tube display 112 may also indicate that additional medication not processed by the medication dispensing device is needed, in which case the pharmacist manually places the additional medication into the tray. In addition to displaying a particular patient's prescription, the testing department 24 equipment also prints the prescription and patient identification data (such as the patient's name) on a label and applies the label to the tray.

Other prescription drugs are dispensed individually and sequentially in the same way and inspected to complete the dispensing of all prescriptions.

The computer controller for the dispensing device of the present invention should have the ability to analyze specific prescription drugs for adverse drug-to-drug interactions and known patient allergies, as well as for drug inventory management. Preferably, it also has the ability to create invoices.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the drug dispensing device of the present invention, and FIG.
3 is a top view of the apparatus of FIG. 1; FIG. 4 is a front view of the dispensing unit;
The figure is an enlarged partially cutaway side view of the carriage of the dispensing unit, FIG. 6 #: t! 5 is a horizontal sectional view taken along 1fs6-6 in FIG. 5, FIG. 7 is a partial top view of the carriage taken in the direction of arrow 7-7 in FIG. 5, and FIG. 8 is a partial top view of the carriage taken in the direction of arrow 7-7 in FIG.
FIG. 9 is an enlarged front view of the reservoir for the pill-carrying strip, FIG.
Figure 0 is an enlarged partial perspective view of the pill carrying strip. In the figure, 20 is a pill dispensing unit, 21 is a tray (receiver)
, 22 is a conveyor belt, 24 is an inspection department, 30 is a tray storage area, 31 is a pill receiving department, 35 is a rack, 67
is a storage box, 38 is a pill, 40 is a pill carrying strip, 4
2 is a carriage, 48 is a gripping finger, 69.70i cutter blade, 86 is a tray transfer track, 87 is a pusher, and 100 is a lifting arm. J/No1 FIG, ,/

Claims (1)

Claims: 1) upright racks for storing a plurality of elongated pill-bearing strips one above the other, each having a row of spaced apart pills; ,
extracting means for extracting a portion of one pill carrying strip to expose a predetermined number of pills from the rack, the extracting means being positioned opposite the predetermined pill carrying strip; a carriage selectively movable up and down with respect to the pill carrier; a cutting device attached to the carriage for cutting the pill carrier strip to separate the exposed pill from the pill carrier strip; A medicine dispensing device comprising a transport device for automatically transporting pills separated from the strip to a testing department. 2) the conveying device includes a conveyor positioned relative to the upright rack so that the detached pills fall thereon; and a receiver for receiving the detached pills from the conveyor; 2. The medicine dispensing device according to claim 1, further comprising a transfer device for automatically transferring the receiver to the testing station after a pill is placed in the receiver. 3) A plurality of the receivers are provided, and a transfer means is provided for transporting one receiver from the receiver storage area to the pill receiving station and then from the pill receiving station to the inspection station along a horizontal track. A medicine dispensing device according to claim 2. 4) The transfer means is adapted to transfer one receiver from the pill receiving station to the testing station and simultaneously transfer another receiver from the receiver storage area to the pill receiving station. The medicine dispensing device according to item 3. 5) The receivers in the receiver storage area are arranged in stacks stacked one on top of the other, with the uppermost receiver aligned horizontally with the horizontal track. The medicine dispensing device according to item 3 or 4. 6) The receiver stack in the receiver storage area is placed on a vertically movable lifting arm, and the uppermost receiver in the receiver stack is placed in the receiver storage area. 6. The drug dispensing device of claim 5, wherein the device is operative to raise the stack of containers by the height of one container when transferred from the pill receiving station to the pill receiving station. 7) A plurality of upright racks for storing pill-bearing strips are provided, and the carriage includes a withdrawal means for gripping the exposed edge of the pill-bearing strip and withdrawing a portion of the strip from each rack. 7. A medicine dispensing device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, which is provided correspondingly to each of the following. 8) the plurality of racks are arranged in a row in a side-by-side relationship, a portion of the carriage has a width corresponding to the entire width of the plurality of juxtaposed racks, and the pull-out means is arranged in a row in a side-by-side relationship; 8. A medicament dispensing device as claimed in claim 7, comprising gripping fingers, each pair of gripping fingers being vertically aligned with one of the racks. 9) at least one pill dispensing unit is provided consisting of four juxtaposed upright racks, the four racks being arranged such that there is a gap between the second rack and the third rack; A portion of the carriage is positioned opposite the gap, another portion of the carriage extends to straddle near the front of the four racks, and the plurality of pairs of gripping fingers are positioned opposite the gap, and the plurality of pairs of gripping fingers are positioned opposite the gap. 9. A medicament dispensing device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the medicament dispensing device is attached to said other portion of said carriage in vertical alignment with said medicament dispensing device. 10) Each of the upright racks is configured to support a plurality of removable storage boxes stacked one above the other, each storage box supporting both longitudinal edges of the pill carrying strip. Claim 1 comprising means
The medicine dispensing device according to any one of items 1 to 9. 11) The medicine dispensing device according to claim 9, wherein the storage box is a rectangular parallelepiped, and the front surface thereof is open so as to expose the front edge of the pill carrying strip to the withdrawal means.