Tablet supplying apparatus for tablet sorting and counting machine

• US 6,170,699 B1
• Filed: 07/29/1999
• Issued: 01/09/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Hyupshin Medical Co. Ltd., JV MEDI Company Limited
• Original Assignee: JV MEDI Company Limited
• Inventors: Kim, Jin Soo
• Primary Examiner(s): Noland, Kenneth W.
• Application Number:
  US09/364,547
• Time in Patent Office: 530 Days
• Field of Search: 221/69, 221/75, 221/82, 221/84, 221/85, 221/92, 221/119, 221/123, 221/253, 221/174
• US Class Current: 221/85
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/58 the articles being supported on or by endless belts or like conveyors
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 17/0092 for assembling and dispensing of pharmaceutical articles medical dispensers for private use, A61J7/00

Abstract

A tablet supplying apparatus for a tablet dispensing system includes a conveyer belt carried over on a driving roller and a driven roller, a plurality of tablet receiving trays, and a plurality of hoppers. A tablet release means is provided adjacent to a rear portion of said conveyer belt for releasing tablets in a plurality of tablet input ports correspondingly placed above the tablet receiving trays. The hoppers are attached to a guide which is cross-fixed between lower portions of a pair of side plates forming the frame. Each of the hopper includes a release guide, a lever and a control plate unitary therewith. The release guide is raised (opened) by a corresponding one of a plurality of cams regularly carried on a cam shaft driven by a first motor. said tablet release means including a cam lever, said cam lever making an angular movement in accordance with an eccentric cam engagedly connected to a second motor, said cam lever hingedly connected to said frame, an upper portion of said cam lever being hookable into a hooker opening formed in a corresponding portion of a release plate disposed underneath said tablet input ports, whereby said release plate is pulled by said cam lever so that a plurality of release openings formed through said release plate correspond to said tablet input ports thereabove for thereby facilitating the tablet releasing therethrough.

Claims

1. A tablet supplying apparatus for a tablet dispensing system, comprising:

a motor-operated conveyer belt carried on a driving roller and a driven roller, said conveyor belt and said rollers being disposed between a pair of side plates forming a frame;

a plurality of tablet receiving trays arranged in rows and disposed on the surface of said conveyor belt, each of said tablet receiving tray having a tablet holding opening unitary therewith;

means to connect each of said tablet receiving tray to said conveyor belt;

a guide cross-fixed between lower portions of said side plates forming said frame;

a row of hoppers disposed on said guide adjacent to said driving roller, said hoppers temporarily storing therein tablets released from said trays, said hoppers being partitioned by a plurality of interwalls;

a tablet input receptacle having a plurality of tablet input ports disposed over said tablet supplying apparatus;

whereby, each of said tablet input port having an open top and an open bottom is disposed above a corresponding tablet receiving tray;

a release plate disposed beneath said tablet input receptacle underneath said tablet input ports;

said release plate having a plurality of release openings formed through said release plate corresponding to said tablet input ports thereabove;

a tablet release means provided adjacent to a rear portion of said conveyer belt for releasing tablets placed in said tablet input ports;

each of said hopper including a release guide, a lever and a control plate unitary therewith;

a cam shaft disposed between said side plates of said frame;

a first motor disposed on said frame adjacent said cam shaft for rotating said cam shaft;

said release guide being raised (opened) by a corresponding one of a plurality of cams regularly carried on said cam shaft; and

,

said tablet release means including a cam lever, said cam lever making an angular movement in accordance with an eccentric cam engagedly connected to a second motor, said cam lever hingedly connected to said frame at one end and having a second end which is hookable into a hooker opening formed in a corresponding portion of said release plate;

whereby, the rotation of said eccentric cam causes said cam lever to pull said release plate aligning said openings of said release plate with said corresponding tablet input ports above thereby facilitating the release of tablets into the corresponding tablet receiving trays therebelow.

2. The apparatus as described in claim 1 wherein said means to connect each of said tablet receiving tray to said conveyor belt comprises:

a fixing pin attached beneath each of said tablet receiving tray;

a corresponding fixing opening is formed through said conveyor belt, said fixing pin being engaged to said corresponding fixing opening;

an elastic slot formed in said fixing pin for smooth engagement with said fixing opening; and

,

a plurality of recesses formed on corresponding outer periphery surface portions of said driving and driven rollers for preventing intervention from occurring between said fixing pin and said rollers.

3. The apparatus as described in claim 1, wherein said cams carried on said cam shaft have phase variations different from each other for sequentially raising (opening) said release guides.