WO2000023352A1

WO2000023352A1 - Tablet dispenser

Info

Publication number: WO2000023352A1
Application number: PCT/DK1999/000555
Authority: WO
Inventors: Claus Schmidt MØLLER; Peter Bender Christoffersen; Jacob Bøgh SCHUBERT
Original assignee: Novo Nordisk A/S
Priority date: 1998-10-19
Filing date: 1999-10-15
Publication date: 2000-04-27
Also published as: AU6188899A

Abstract

A dispenser has a stationary (1) and a movable (2) part which are moved relative to each other to dispense a tablet. An alignment channel (5, 6) in the movable part (2) is telescoped into a dispensing channel (10, 11) in the stationary part (1) the channels being provided with protrusions (7, 12) guiding the tablets along a path so that one tablet is guided to a position resting on a support (8) carried by the movable part (2) from which it is dispensed when the support (8) is lowered relative to the dispensing channel (10, 11) whereas the protrusions (7, 12) in the channels withhold subsequent tablets in the alignment channel (5, 6). One protrusion is a bent -in end of a flexible wall (5) which can be deflected if a tablet jams.

Description

Tablet Dispenser

The invention relates to dispensers of the kind wherein tablets are stored as bulk in a container from which they are led to a channel wherein the tablets are arranged in a line and are dispensed one by one each time a dispensing button is pressed to set free the leading tablet in the line and detain the subsequent tablet in the line.

A common way to successively dispense the leading tablet of the line is to make this tablet fall into a drawer which has no bottom but which rest on an support which forms a bottom when the drawer is in a first position in which the leading tablet fall into the drawer. The drawer is just deep enough to accommodate one tablet and when it is moved by pressing of a dispensing button a blocking plate is moved to replace the drawer under the channel so that this blocking plate detains the subsequent tablet. By the movement the drawer is moved to a second position in which an opening in the support allow the tablet in the bottomless drawer to fall out of the dispenser. When the dispensing button is given free a spring moves back the drawer to its first position so that the detained tablet which is now the leading tablet falls down into the drawer ready to be dispensed.

Especially by dispensing of fragile tablets it may be a problem that the moved parts acts di- rectly on the tablet, e. g. if the tablet has not fallen totally into the drawer the tablet may be squeezed between an edge of the channel and an edge of the drawer. As the squeezing force is delivered by the user when he press the dispensing button of the device, a force strong enough to crush the tablet may easily be exerted.

To avoid this disadvantage dispensers has been developed in which the tablets are predominantly transported by gravity.

From EP 614 437 is known a dispenser wherein tablets are ordered in line in a channel, the leading tablet being supported by a supporting member and the subsequent tablet being supported by the leading tablet. When a button is pressed to dispense a tablet, the support is lowered to a position beyond the channel so that the supported leading tablet can fall sideways off its support. The subsequent tablet is detained by a pair of tongues which are during the lowering of the support moved from the side of the channel into this channel in a direction perpendicular to the circular cross section of the tablets into the space existing bet- ween the leading and the subsequent tablet about their common tangency plane outside their point of tangency. However, if the tablets are varying in size, as it is the case by some hygroscopic tablets, the tongues may hit the edge of one of the tablets and crush it.

EP 188 278 describes another gravity based dispenser. The tablets are arranged in line in a channel which can be moved in its longitudinal direction. The tablets are arranged between a wall in the movable channel an a stationary wall arranged in the channel, the distance between the two walls being large enough to allow the tablet to pass freely. At the bottom of the channel the stationary wall has a protrusion so that the width of the channel is narrowed so that the leading tablet cannot pass. However, a cavity is provided in the lover end of the said wall of the movable channel. When a tablet is accommodated in the cavity it can pass the protrusion when the channel is moved downward to dispense a tablet. The subsequent tablet will be stopped by the protrusion but will be accommodated in the cavity when the channel is moved back. If the tablet is not completely accommodated in the cavity it can be crushed between the upper edge of the cavity and the protrusion as these two parts are moved relative to each other by the force exerted by the user during the dispensing. Even when the upper edge of the cavity is the end of a flexible wall the direction of the force is, especially by small tablets, mainly in the longitudinal direction of said flexible wall which is only flexible for forces perpendicular to its longitudinal direction.

It is an object of the invention to provide a tablet dispenser in which the tablet is not made the object of shearing forces an mainly is moved by gravity.

This is obtained by a dispenser for tablets or pills which dispenser has a stationary and a movable part which are moved relative to each other to dispense a tablet

the movable part comprising a supporting member, and an alignment channel having a first and a second longitudinal side wall in a distance larger than the tablet diameter from each other,

the stationary part comprising a dispensing channel having a first and a second side wall into which dispensing channel the aligning channel is telescoped with its first wall joining the first wall of the dispensing channel and the second wall of the aligning channel joining the second wall of the dispensing channel, the second wall of the dispensing channel being provided with a protrusion projecting inward in said channel and ending in a distance larger than a tablet diameter from the first wall of this channel,

a lower end of the first wall of the alignment channel being bent inward in the channel to end in a distance larger than a tablet diameter from the second wall of the dispensing channel and a distance larger than a tablet diameter from the lower edge of the second wall of the aligning channel, whereas the horizontal distance between the end of the bent-in part of the first wall of the aligning channel and the end of the protrusion of the second wall of the dispensing channel is less than D

the axial distance between the bent-in end of the first wall of the aligning channel and the point in which a tablet touch the support is larger than one tablet diameter but less than 1 V₂ tablet diameter.

Tablets from a container is arranged in a line in the aligning channel. A leading tablet will due to the distance between the bent in end of the first wall of the alignment channel and the second wall of this channel pass down into the dispensing channel and rest against the sup- port member. A subsequent tablet will follow the leading tablet and rest against the upper part of said leading tablet.

When the dispenser is operated the aligning channel will be moved further into the dispensing channel and the support will be moved beyond the lower end of the dispensing channel. Gravity will make the line of tablets follow the support in its descending movement. Before the support member is lowered enough to establish a distance larger than a tablet diameter between the lover edge of the dispensing channel and the support member the bent in end of the first wall of the aligning channel has reached a position opposite the protrusion of the second wall of the dispensing channel. This distance being less than a tablet diameter will make the protrusion and the bent-in end detain the subsequent tablet.

The dispenser is designer to be held vertically to make gravity transport the tablets through the dispenser. If the dispenser is held in an oblique position, the tablets may be reluctant to pass through the dispenser as intended. It could be imagined that a tablet was resting in such a way that it could be squeezed between the protrusion of the second wall of the dispensing channel and the bent in end of the first wall of the aligning channel. To avoid crushing of the tablet in that case the first wall of the aligning channel is made flexible. Due to the bent shape of this wall a force although working in the longitudinal direction of the bending will not work in the longitudinal direction of the wall itself and consequently this wall will be deflected so that a crushing of the tablet is avoided.

In the following the invention is described in further details with references to the drawing, wherein

Figure 1 shows a dispenser according to the invention in a neutral position, and

Figure 2 shows the dispenser in figure 1 in a dispensing position.

The dispenser in figure 1 and 2 comprises a stationary part 1 and a movable part 2 the movable part being telescoped into the stationary part.

The movable part comprises a container which at an end projecting from the stationary part has a closure forming a press button 3 which can be pressed to activate the dispenser. When the button 3 is pressed the movable part is against the force of a spring 4 forced to be further telescoped into the stationary part from which it is moved back by the spring 4 when the press button 3 is released.

The movable part forms a container wherein tablets are stored as a disordered bulk from which the tablets are guided into a channel wherein they are arranged in line. The channel has a first 5 and a second 6 side wall arranged in a distance from each other which allow the tablets to pass freely through the channel, i. e. the distance is larger than the diameter of the tablets. If the tablet diameter of the tablets to be dispensed is D the distance between said wall typically lies in the interval D to 1 ,25 D. The first wall 5 is made somewhat longer than the second wall 6 and its lover end is bent into the channel to form a flap 7 projecting inward in the channel. Further a supporting member 8 forms an integral part of said movable part. The supporting member has a ramp shaped supporting surface 9 supporting the leading one of the up-lined tablets. The distance between the said flap 7 and the point wherein the leading tablet touch the supporting surface 9 lies in the range from D to 1 ,5D. The stationary part 1 is provided with a dispensing channel having a first 10 and a second 11 side wall. The dimensions of the dispensing channel are such that the walls 5 and 6 forming the aligning channel can be telescoped into said dispensing channel with the first wall 5 of the aligning channel following the first wall 10 of the dispensing channel and the second wall 6 of the aligning channel following the second wall 11 of the dispensing channel.

At the lower end of the dispensing channel the second wall 11 of this channel has a protrusion 12 extending towards the first wall 10 of said dispensing channel to a position lying in a distance larger than one tablet diameter from said first wall. The gap between the protrusion 12 and said first wall 10 is filled by the supporting member 8 which this way forms a bottom of the dispensing channel.

In the neutral position of the dispenser the leading tablet will pass through the channels and finally rest against the supporting surface 9 and the first wall 10 of the dispensing channel. The subsequent tablet will rest on the leading tablet and against the second wall 11 of the dispensing channel.

When the button 3 is pressed to dispense a tablet the movable part 2 of the dispenser is moved into the stationary part 1 , the aligning channel is telescoped into the dispensing channel, and the supporting member 8 is lowered relative to the dispensing channel. During the lowering of the supporting member 8 the leading, the subsequent and the tablets above this in the channel will follow the descending of the supporting member. The leading tablet will slide along the first wall 10 of the dispensing channel and the subsequent tablet will slide along the second wall 11 of this dispensing channel. When the position shown in figure 2 is reached the leading tablet can no longer rest against the said first wall 10 and will roll off the ramp inclined support surface. At the same time the first wall 5 of the aligning channel has reached a position where the flap 7 lies opposite the protrusion of the second wall 11 of the dispensing channel. The flap 7 and the protrusion 12 is so dimensioned that the horizontal distance between their ends is less than the diameter of the tablets and consequently the subsequent tablet will be detained by the flap 7 and the protrusion 12.

When the button 3 is released and the movable part 2 is moved back by the spring 4, the subsequent tablet will be lifted until it can roll over the upper edge of the protrusion 12 to- wards the second wall 11 of the dispensing channel. Now the subsequent tablet can pass the flap 7 and roll down onto the supporting surface 9 as a new leading tablet. At this moment the supporting member has ascended so far that this new leading tablet cannot pass under the lower edge of the first wall of the dispensing channel an it will settle on the sup- porting surface as a new leading tablet waiting for dispensing.

The dispenser is designed to be used in a position with its longitudinal axis vertical. If the dispenser is operated in a oblique position the gravity depending movement of the tablets may fail and it may occur that a tablet is squeezed between the end of the flap 7 and the protrusion 12. To remedy damage of the tablet in this occasion the first wall 5 of the aligning channel is made flexible. When a squeezing force acts in the longitudinal direction of the flap 7 said first wall 5 is acted upon in a not longitudinal direction an consequently it will be flexed away and the tablet is saved from crunching.

The device is described as a tablet dispenser but may as well be used for dispensing pills.

Claims

1. A tablet dispenser for tablets or pills which dispenser has a stationary and a movable part which are moved relative to each other to dispense a tablet,

the movable part comprising a supporting member (8), and an alignment channel having a first (5) and a second (6) longitudinal side wall in a distance larger than one tablet diameter from each other,

the stationary part comprising a dispensing channel having a first (10) and a second

(11) side wall into which dispensing channel the aligning channel is telescoped with its first wall (5) joining the first wall (10) of the dispensing channel and the second wall (6) of the aligning channel joining the second wall (11 ) of the dispensing channel,

the second wall (11) of the dispensing channel being provided with a protrusion (12) projecting inward in said channel and ending in a distance larger than a tablet diameter from the first wall (10) of this channel,

a lower end (7) of the first wall (5) of the alignment channel being bent inward in the channel to end in a distance larger than a tablet diameter from the second wall (11) of the dispensing channel and a distance larger than one tablet diameter from the lower edge of the second wall (6) of the aligning channel, whereas the horizontal distance between the end (7) of the bent-in part of the first wall (5) of the aligning channel and the end of the protrusion (12) of the second wall of the dispensing channel is less than one tablet diameter

the axial distance between the bent-in end (7) of the first wall (5) of the aligning channel and the point in which a tablet touch the support (8) is larger than one tab- let diameter but less than 1 V_ tablet diameter.

2. Dispenser according to claim 1 , characterised in that the first wall (5) of the aligning channel is flexible.