Automatic dispenser for injection-containing members

• US 20030029882A1
• Filed: 09/13/2002
• Published: 02/13/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 03/16/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Koike, Naoki, Yuyama, Shoji, Hashimoto, Hiroshi, Kasuya, Masahiko, Kohama, Akitomi, Fujikawa, Takayuki, Kodama, Tsuyoshi, Hamada, Hiroyasu
• Granted Patent: US 6,830,161 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 221/123
• CPC Class Codes: B25J 15/0028 with movable, e.g. pivoting gripping jaw surfaces
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 21/12 using grippers engaging bottles, e.g. bottle necks
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 35/16 by grippers
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/165 using xyz-picker or multi-dimensional article picking arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/1653 the picking arrangements being collecting buckets
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/1657 the picking arrangements using suction
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/46 from movable storage containers or supports
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/62 in which the articles are stored in compartments in fixed receptacles
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00

Abstract

In a casing, a grasp means and a movement means are provided. The movement means is driven and controlled by a control means with a container box being positioned in a specified position based on coordinate data of an injection drug housing member preinstalled in a coordinate data table for moving the injection drug housing member to a graspable position by the grasp means. Next, after grasped by the grasp means, the injection drug housing member is automatically transported to a desired position.

Claims

1. An automatically feeding device of an injection drug housing member in a container box carried in a casing based on injection drug prescription data, comprising in the casing:

grasp means capable of grasping the injection drug housing member housed in the container box;

movement means for moving the grasp means; and

control means for driving and controlling the movement means based on coordinate data of the injection drug housing member preinstalled in a coordinate data table in a state that the container box is positioned in a specified position so as to automatically transport the injection drug housing member to a specified position after the injection drug housing member being moved to a graspable position by the grasp means and grasped by the grasp means.

7. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in either claim 1 or 6, wherein the casing is composed of a plurality of racks for individually supporting a plurality of container boxes, and transportation means for sequentially transporting the container boxes supported by the racks.

10. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 1, wherein

the injection drug housing member is a soft bag housed in every partition space in the container box, and

the control means automatically transports the soft bag based on coordinate data of the soft bag housed in each partition space preinstalled in the coordinate data table.

11. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 1, wherein

the injection drug housing member is a soft bag, and

the grasp means has an elastic holding portion for holding a surface sheet of the soft bags stacked flat in the container box from both sides for grasping.

15. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in either claim 1 or 14, further comprising empty box recovery means for dismantling and recovering the container box after the container box is emptied.

2. An automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member, wherein

the injection drug housing member is an infusion bottle;

the grasp means is capable of grasping a bottleneck of the infusion bottle;

the movement means is for moving the grasp means in X, Y, and Z axis direction; and

the control means is for driving and controlling the movement means based on coordinate data of each housed infusion bottle in a state that an upper face of the container box is opened so as to automatically transport the injection drug housing member to a specified position after the injection drug housing member being moved to a graspable position by the grasp means and grasped by the grasp means.

3. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 2, wherein the grasp means is composed of an arm pawl for grasping a bottleneck of an infusion bottle, an arm support barrel for accommodating the arm pawl to prevent expansion thereof, and a retention mechanism capable of retaining the arm pawl in a state of being accommodated in the arm support barrel.

4. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 2 or 3, wherein the coordinate data of each infusion bottle in the container box preinstalled in the coordinate data table includes a margin value for adjusting a grasp position by the grasp means.

5. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in either claim 2 or 4, further comprising an operation portion capable of changing the coordinate data of each infusion bottle in the container box.

6. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in either claim 2 or 5, wherein stock management of the infusion bottle is conducted based on number of the infusion bottles taken out from the container box and the coordinate data table.

8. An automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member for automatically feeding an infusion bottle from a casing based on injection drug prescription data, comprising in the casing:

a holding rail for holding the infusion bottle in a state of being aligned by supporting a bottleneck thereof; and

a grasp arm for moving the infusion bottle along the holding rail and grasping in a specified position to transport the infusion bottle.

9. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 8, wherein the holding rail is provided with a slit-like stage portion for facilitating feeding of the bottleneck of the infusion bottle on one end.

12. An automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member in a container box based on injection drug prescription data, comprising:

an automatic storehouse for storing a plurality of the container boxes and automatically feeding an appropriate container box; and

feeding means for automatically feeding appropriate injection drug housing members one by one based on coordinate data of the injection drug housing member preinstalled in the coordinate data table in a state that the container box automatically fed from the automatic storehouse is positioned in a specified position.

13. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 12, further comprising a transportation line for transporting the container box from the automatic storehouse to the feeding means.

14. The automatic feeding device of an injection drug housing member as defined in claim 13, further comprising opening means for automatically opening an upper face of the container box in a middle of the transportation line.