Apparatus for automatically dispensing packed pharmaceuticals

• US 3,903,773 A
• Filed: 11/05/1973
• Issued: 09/09/1975
• Est. Priority Date: 11/08/1972
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Mitsuo Furukawa
• Original Assignee: Mitsuo Furukawa
• Inventors: Furukawa, Mitsuo
• Primary Examiner(s): Abercrombie, Willie G.
• Application Number:
  US05/412,640
• Time in Patent Office: 673 Days
• Field of Search: 83/250,278,365,222,57,208,371 221/251,270,13,30
• US Class Current: 83/208
• CPC Class Codes: A47F 1/10 having mechanical dispensing means , e.g. with buttons or handles
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/035 Blister-type containers blisters in general B65D75/36
• CPC Class Codes: B65G 59/067 articles being separated substantially perpendicularly to the axis of the stack
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/66 Trinkets, e.g. shirt buttons or jewellery items recognising microscopic objects G06V20/69
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/68 in which the articles are torn or severed from strips or sheets
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/4455 Operation initiated by work-driven detector means to measure work length
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/4564 With means to produce plurality of work-feed increments per tool cycle
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/4635 Comprises element entering aperture in, or engaging abutment surface on, work
• CPC Class Codes: Y10T 83/543 Sensing means responsive to work indicium or irregularity

Abstract

An apparatus for automatically dispensing blister packs which comprises a base plate supporting a blister pack container, a discharging member for advancing a strip of blister packs one after another, said strip of blister packs being stacked in said container on said base plate, cutter means for cutting off the leading portion of the strip of blister packs being discharged from the container and means for controlling the cutter means to bring the cutter edge into operation when the cumulative amount of movement of the discharging member has reached a specified value, the container as installed in position on the base plate having a blister pack exit located in the path of movement of the discharging member, there being formed in the bottom of the container an opening for admitting the forward portion of said discharging member, said opening being communication with said blister pack exit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for automatically dispensing blister packs which comprises a base plate supporting in position thereon a blister pack strip container holding therein blister pack strips, said base plate being provided with a slot;

a discharging member for advancing a strip of blister packs one after another, the distal end of said discharging member extending upward through said slot;

said strips of blister packs each having a relatively smooth surface on one side and a plurality of projections which serve as compartments for pharmaceutical articles and are axially arranged at substantially equal spacings on the opposite side, said strips of blister packs being stacked in said container with the projections face down and with the relatively smooth surfaces face up, said container having at the bottom thereof an opening which communicates with the slot of the base plate when said container is set in position on said base plate, said container further having a blister pack exit in communication with said opening, said exit being provided so as to be located in the path of movement of the discharging member when said container is set in position on said base plate;

means for moving said discharging member repeatedly a specified distance back and forth;

means for effecting engagement of said discharging member in its forward travel with one of said projections of a blister pack strip to advance the lowermost blister pack strip a predetermined amount and for preventing in its backward travel past the projections of blister pack strip any arresting or retracting of the strip of blister packs by said discharging member;

cutter means for cutting off the leading portion of the strip of blister packs discharged from said container; and

means for controlling the cutter means to bring the cutter edge into operation when the cumulative amount of movement of the discharging member has reached a predetermined value.

2. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the discharging member comprises a discharging pawl pivoted to a motion member which is repeatedly and linearly movable a specified distance back and forth, said discharging pawl being movable past the projection of the blister pack without being thereby arrested when retracted by said motion member and engageable with the projection to advance the strip of blister packs when advanced by the motion member.

3. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the discharging member comprises a discharging pawl pivoted to a lever pivotally repeatedly movable back and forth about an axis through a specified angle, the discharging pawl being movable past the projection of the blister pack without being thereby arrested when retracted by the lever and engageable with the projection to advance the strip of blister packs when advanced by the lever.

4. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein the discharging member comprises a pushing bar adapted to push out one strip of blister packs from the container without retraction of said pushing bar in a single forward movement.

5. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the stroke of the discharging pawl is equal to the axial pitch of projections of the strip of blister packs.

6. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the stroke of the discharging pawl is equal to the axial pitch of projections of the strip of blister packs multiplied by an integer greater than 1.

7. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein the stroke of the discharging pawl is equal to the axial pitch of projections of the strip of blister packs.

8. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein the stroke of the discharging pawl is equal to the axial pitch of projections of the strip of blister packs multiplied by an integer greater than 1.

9. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the controlling means comprises a counter for detecting the cumulative total number of blister packs withdrawn by counting the strokes of the discharging pawl to thereby regulate the timing of operation of the cutter means.

10. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein the controlling means comprises a preset counter for presetting the number of strokes of the discharging pawl.

11. The apparatus as set forth in claim 4 wherein the pushing bar has a plurality of signal tracks transversely arranged in parallel and spaced apart by a distance corresponding to the axial pitch of projections of the strip of blister packs, the apparatus further including means for scanning the signal tracks to thereby detect the number of blister packs withdrawn based on the cumulative total amount of movement of the pushing bar.

12. The apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein the signal tracks are optical signal tracks and the means for scanning said optical tracks is a photoelectric converter.

13. The apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein the signal tracks are magnetic signal tracks and the means for scanning said magnetic signal tracks is a magnetic pickup.

14. The apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein the controlling means comprises a counter for detecting the number of blister packs based on the amount of movement of the pushing bar to thereby regulate the timing of operation of the cutter means.

15. The apparatus as set forth in claim 11 wherein the controlling means comprises a preset counter for presetting the number of blister packs withdrawn based on the amount of movement of the pushing bar.

16. The apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein means for holding the strip of blister packs against rising is disposed close to the blister pack exit.

17. The apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein means for arresting the strip of blister packs against retraction is disposed close to the blister pack exit.

18. The apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein means for arresting the strip of blister packs against retraction is disposed close to the blister pack exit.

19. Apparatus as claimed in claim 1 wherein said cutter means comprises a fixed blade member supported by said base plate laterally adjacent and immediately above said container exit so as to lie immediately adjacent the upper smooth surface of a blister pack strip extending from said exit, and a vertically movable cutter blade disposed normally below said container exit and movable upwardly between adjacent lower projections of said strip to cooperate with said fixed blade and sever a thin strip portion lying immediately adjacent said upper fixed blade between adjacent strip projections with minimal disturbance of the strip.

20. Apparatus as claimed in claim 19 further comprising resilient means supported by said base between said cOntainer and said cutter means for embracing and resiliently holding a strip portion containing at least the one of said projections lying immediately adjacent said cutter means so as to ensure reliable operation during and after severing between the ultimate and penultimate projections on a strip.