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Automatically advancing pill regimen device

  • US 5,664,697 A
  • Filed: 10/31/1995
  • Issued: 09/09/1997
  • Est. Priority Date: 10/31/1995
  • Status: Expired due to Term
First Claim
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1. A self-actuating dispenser for a regimen of pills comprising:

  • (a) a base having a pill exit aperture;

    (b) a pill container having pill cells for the containment of pills therein, the pill container movably attached to the base such that any pill cell can be aligned with the pill exit aperture, the pill cells having open bottoms for loading and unloading which are adjacent to the base when attached thereto; and

    (c) means for cyclically indexing the pill container with respect to the base such that each pill cell in turn is brought into alignment with the pill exit aperture thereby dropping resident pills in a said pill cell from the dispenser; and

    wherein the means for cyclically indexing comprises a set of vertical saw teeth attached to a circular wall of the pill container concentric with the pill cell array, the saw teeth and pill cells in one to one correspondence with respect to number and regularity, each tooth having an upward-facing ramp face with a pitch to horizontal corresponding to an angular throw equal to the pill cell spacing, and a plunger attached to the base such that the plunger pivots in a vertical plane while remaining torsionally rigid in a horizontal plane, the plunger having a sliding shoe with a downward-facing sliding face complementary to the ramp faces, the sliding shoe located sufficiently distant from the pivot axis for the application of leverage while extending to a position directly above the leading edge of one of the saw teeth such that a downward pivoting force applied to the plunger would bring the sliding face of the sliding shoe into contact with the ramp face of the proximate saw tooth thereby collapsing the inclines into a traversing slide resulting in a rotational thrust of the pill container, the plunger thereafter having means for recycling to the next saw tooth at the completion of the downward pivot stroke.

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