Pill dispenser with incrementally movable pill ejector

• US 4,905,866 A
• Filed: 11/09/1987
• Issued: 03/06/1990
• Est. Priority Date: 11/09/1987
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Warner-Lambert Company Ann Arbor Michigan
• Original Assignee: Warner-Lambert Company (Pfizer Inc.)
• Inventors: Neggers, Frank, Bartell, Ralph
• Primary Examiner(s): Rolla, Joseph J.
• Assistant Examiner(s): NOT, DEFINED
• Application Number:
  US07/118,509
• Time in Patent Office: 848 Days
• Field of Search: 221/2, 221/4-5, 221/25, 221/69, 221/87-89, 206/531-534, 206/538-539, 116/308
• US Class Current: 221/5
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 1/035 Blister-type containers blisters in general B65D75/36
• CPC Class Codes: A61J 7/04 Arrangements for time indication or reminder for taking medicine, e.g. programmed dispensers
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 2583/0409 of dates or follow-numbers
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/0463 formed in a band or a blisterweb, inserted in a dispensing device or container

Abstract

A device for holding and dispensing pills which enables the dispensing of pills in successive order. Pills are mounted in a compact in a single row in the desired successive order and a pill ejector is arranged for incremental movement in one direction along the compact. When the pill ejector is adjacent to a pill, a bendable member is displaced to push the pill out of a blister type package and through an opening in the rear of the compact.

Claims

1. A pill holding and dispensing device which facilitates the dispensing of birth control pills in successive order, comprising,

mounting means for ejectably mounting said pills in discrete spatial locations which are in a straight line in a predetermined and successive order wherein said line of pills includes pills which are not identical to each other wherein part of said mounting means comprises a blister type package in which said pills are disposed wherein on the exterior of said mounting means printed matter is disposed which denotes days of the week, each day appearing in correspondence with a said discrete spatial mounting location for a pill and wherein part of said mounting means comprises a compact which has a rigid rear surface having a series of discrete cut-outs which lie behind respective pills which may be ejected therethrough and wherein said compact further has a series of abutments which correspond in position to said cut-outs and wherein said compact comprises an elongated container having said series of cut-outs in a linear row along the long dimension of the compact,

pill ejector means for enabling ejection of individual pills from said mounting means when at ejection positions which are in proximity to the discrete spatial locations of said individual pills in said mounting means, said ejection positions overlie individual pills, and

wherein said pill ejection means includes a movable member which may be moved towards said pills when said member is at an ejection position, so as to exert a force on a pill so as to eject it from said blister type package, said pill ejector means has shoulder means for cooperating with said abutments for allowing easy incremental movement of said pill ejector means in one direction only from abutment to abutment, thereby defining said respective ejection positions wherein said abutments comprise portions of a saw-tooth surface, and wherein said movable member of said pill ejector means comprises a bendable member disposed at the front of the compact bendable towards the rear, and wherein the pill ejector means is arranged for sliding movement along the length of the compact, said series of abutments being disposed on the rear of the compact and said pill ejector means being shaped to wrap around the front, top, and bottom, and part of the rear of the compact, said shoulder being disposed on a part of the pill ejector means which wraps around the rear of the compact for engagement with abutments on the rear of the compact so as to facilitate ejection of said pills in said predetermined order.

2. The device of claim 1 wherein there is a rail on the top surface of the compact which is engaged by a corner of the shaped ejector means for sliding movement thereon, and wherein there is an elongated opening in the front surface of the compact extending along the length thereof which overlies the cut-outs in the rear surface, and which through the bendable member of said pill ejector means is displaced.

3. A device for holding and dispensing pills which are enclosed in a blister type package, comprising,

means for stationarily mounting a blister type package of pills wherein said means for mounting said blister type package comprises part of a compact in which said package is disposed, the rear of said compact comprising a rigid surface having a series of discrete cut-outs, and said blister type package being mounted so that respective pills overlie said discrete cut-outs for being ejected through said cut-outs, wherein the exterior of said compact has a series of abutments which correspond in position to said series of cut-outs and wherein said compact comprises an elongated container having said series of cut-outs in a linear row along the long dimension of the compact, and wherein said compact is between front and rear surfaces thereof relatively flat

mechanical pill ejector means movably mounted in relation to said means for mounting said package of pills for movement to mechanically defined discrete positions overlying said pills, in said blister type package and wherein said pill ejector means has a shoulder which cooperates with said abutments to mechanically define said discrete positions overlying said pills and

said mechanical pill ejector means comprising a movable member wherein said movable member of said pill ejector means comprises a bendable member which is movable out of contact with the pill package but which is displaceable towards said package so as to contact the package to exert a force against said pills to eject them from the package through said cut-outs, said movable member of said pill ejector means being at the front surface of the compact while said abutments are located on the rear surface thereof and said pill ejector means further comprises a slidable member which is shaped so as to wrap around the front, top and bottom, and a part of the rear of said compact, said shoulder being disposed at the end of said slidable member for engagement with said abutments on the rear of said compact.

4. The device of claim 3 wherein there is a rail on the top surface of the compact which is engaged by a corner of the shaped slideable member for sliding movement thereon, and there is an elongated opening in the front surface of the compact extending along the length thereof which overlies the cut-outs in the rear surface, and which through said bendable member of said pill ejector means is displaced.

5. The device of claim 4 wherein said compact is hinged for opening and closing by means permitting said front and rear surfaces to move away from and towards each other and wherein the front of said compact includes means for mounting printed material at a mounting position beneath said pills.