Tablet filling device

• US 7,770,357 B2
• Filed: 09/11/2006
• Issued: 08/10/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 09/12/2005
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Original Assignee: Yuyama Manufacturing Company Limited
• Inventors: Ide, Yoshihiko, Okamoto, Masayuki, Koike, Naoki, Yuyama, Hiroyuki, Chihara, Hirokazu, Yoshina, Katsunori, Imai, Takafumi
• Primary Examiner(s): Durand; Paul R
• Application Number:
  US12/066,608
• Publication Number:
  US 20090235614A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,429 Days
• Field of Search: 535/04, 531/67, 532/37, 532/39, 532/47, 532/49, 532/51
• US Class Current: 53/167
• CPC Class Codes: B65B 5/103 for packaging pills or tablets

Abstract

A tablet filling device for supplying a vial container of desired size certainly with no mistake comprising a plurality of containing means containing vial containers by size, a means for taking out a vial container from the containing means based on prescription data, means for carrying a vial container taken out by the container take out means, a means for providing a table to a vial container carried by the carrying means, a means for collecting a vial container in the middle of carriage by the carrying means, a means provided on the carrying passage of the carrying means and detecting the size of a carried vial container, and a control means for judging whether the size of a vial container selected based on the prescription data matches the size of a vial container detected by the container size detection means and collecting the carried vial container by the container collection means if they do not match each other.

Claims

1. A tablet filling device, comprising:

a plurality of container storage means for storing vials based on vial sizes;

container take-out means for taking out a vial of a size selected based on prescription data from a corresponding one of the plurality of container storage means;

carrying means for carrying the vial taken out by the container take-out means;

tablet supplying means for supplying a tablet to the vial carried by the carrying means;

container recovery means for recovering the vial carried by the carrying means;

container size detecting means provided to a carrying path by the carrying means for detecting a size of the vial carried by the carrying means, the container size detecting means including;

an arm portion rotatable about a support shaft, the arm portion adapted to contact an outer peripheral portion of the vial carried by the carrying means, and

a sensor adapted to detect an inclination of the arm portion that results from contact with the outer peripheral portion of the vial; and

control means for determining whether the size of the vial selected based on the prescription data matches a size of the vial detected by the container size detecting means, for allowing the tablet to be supplied to the vial by the tablet supplying means when the sizes match each other, and for allowing the vial to be carried and kept on standby by the retraction means when the sizes do not match each other,

wherein the carrying means carries the vial in a horizontal position,

wherein the control means is adapted to determine the size of the vial based on the inclination detected by the sensor.

2. A tablet filling device according to claim 1, wherein:

the vial has a bottomed cylindrical shape; and

the container size detecting means can detect an outer diameter of the vial.

3. A tablet filling device according to claim 2, wherein the container size detecting means can also detect a lengthwise dimension of the vial.