Tablet feeder and pharmacy system

• US 9,790,017 B2
• Filed: 01/21/2015
• Issued: 10/17/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 11/21/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Yuyama, Shoji, Koike, Naoki, Imai, Takafumi, Kumano, Yoshinori, Maeda, Akira, Mitani, Mitsuhiro
• Primary Examiner(s): Kumar, Rakesh
• Application Number:
  US14/601,910
• Publication Number:
  US 20150197391A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,000 Days
• Field of Search: 700231, 700244, 700236, 700242, 53493, 53508, 36447901, 221122, 221130
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 83/04 for dispensing annular, disc-shaped, or spherical or like small articles, e.g. tablets or pills
• CPC Class Codes: G07F 11/18 Recessed drawers
• 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
• CPC Class Codes: G16H 20/13 delivered from dispensers

Abstract

A tablet feeder comprises a device body, a plurality of tablet cassettes disposed on one face of the device body 1 in a vertical direction, each tablet cassette accommodating a plurality of tablets by kind, and a plurality of chutes disposed on one face of the device body 1 in a vertical direction and shifted in a horizontal direction, the chutes temporarily storing the tablets dispensed from the tablet cassette and having the dispensing portion at the downward portion thereof, the dispensing portion being capable of dispensing the tablets to a bottomed cylindrical tablet container.

Claims

1. A tablet feeder comprising:

a device body having a first face and a second, opposite face;

a first plurality of tablet cassettes disposed in a vertical direction on the first face of the device body;

a second plurality of tablet cassettes disposed in a vertical direction on the second face of the device body, each tablet cassette of the first and second plurality of tablet cassettes accommodating a plurality of tablets;

a first plurality of first chutes disposed in a vertical direction on the second face of the device body in a one-to-one relationship with the first plurality of tablet cassettes;

a second plurality of first chutes disposed in a vertical direction on the first face of the device body in a one-to-one relationship with the second plurality of tablet cassettes, wherein each first chute of the first plurality of first chutes is in communication with a respective one of the first plurality of tablet cassettes and each first chute of the second plurality of first chutes is in communication with a respective one of the second plurality of tablet cassettes, each first chute of the first and second plurality of first chutes configured to temporarily store tablets disposed from a respective tablet cassette of the first and second plurality of tablet cassettes and having a dispensing portion, wherein each tablet cassette of the first and second plurality of tablet cassettes is detachably attached to the device body independent from the attachment of a corresponding first chute of the first and second plurality of first chutes to the device body; and

a passage member for guiding the tablets dispensed from a respective tablet cassette to a second face of the device body opposite the first face, the plurality of first chutes vertically disposed on the second face capable of storing tablets dispensed from the respective tablet cassette through the passage member.

2. The tablet feeder according to claim 1, wherein the first plurality of tablet cassettes disposed on the first face are separated in a horizontal direction from the second plurality of tablet cassettes disposed on the second face;

and wherein the first plurality of first chutes disposed on the first face are separated in a horizontal direction from the second plurality of first chutes disposed on the second face.

3. The tablet feeder according to claim 1, wherein a passage section of the passage member in which tablets move is formed so that its cross-sectional area widens from a respective tablet cassette toward a respective first chute.

4. The tablet feeder according to claim 1, wherein the passage member has a detection sensor for detecting a clog of tablets in the passage member.

5. The tablet feeder according to claim 1, wherein a slight gap is formed between a bottom face of an upper side tablet cassette of the first and second plurality of tablet cassettes and an upper face of a lower side tablet cassette of the first and second plurality of tablet cassettes.

6. A pharmacy system comprising:

a tablet feeder including;

a device body;

a first plurality of tablet cassettes provided on a first face of the device body in a vertical direction;

a second plurality of tablet cassettes provided on a second face of the device body in a vertical direction;

a first plurality of chutes disposed on the second face of the device body in a vertical direction, each chute of the first plurality of chutes in communication with a respective tablet cassette of the first plurality of tablet cassettes and disposed on the second face shifted in a horizontal direction from the respective tablet cassette of the first plurality of tablet cassettes;

a second plurality of chutes disposed on the first face of the device body in a vertical direction, each chute of the second plurality of chutes in communication with a respective tablet cassette of the second plurality of tablet cassettes and disposed on the first face shifted in a horizontal direction from the respective table cassette of the second plurality of tablet cassettes,

wherein each chute of the first and second plurality of chutes includes a dispensing portion at a lower portion thereof capable of dispensing tablets to a cylindrically bottomed tablet container,

wherein each tablet cassette of the first and second plurality of tablet cassettes is detachably attached to the device body independent from the attachment of a corresponding chute of the first and second plurality of chutes to the device body; and

a tablet delivery area extending from a first end side to a second end side in a first direction, wherein the tablet feeder is disposed so that a first face or a face thereof is positioned perpendicular to the first direction of the tablet delivery area.