Package making – Depositing articles and arranging material in preformed... – Plural filling stations and/or contents sources for single...
Reexamination Certificate
2001-09-24
2004-09-21
Huynh, Louis (Department: 3721)
Package making
Depositing articles and arranging material in preformed...
Plural filling stations and/or contents sources for single...
C053S052000, C053S238000, C053S493000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06792736
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The present invention relates to a medication filling apparatus for filling a container with medications (hereinafter referred to all solidified medications, such as tablets, capsules, pills, and lozenges) specified by prescriptions at hospitals or the like.
BACKGROUND ART
Hitherto, at a hospital, a plurality of types of medications prescribed by doctors are separately packaged for each dosage by using a tablet packaging machine disclosed in, for example, Japanese Examined Patent Publication No. 3-59 (A61J3/00), then supplied to patients. However, such a separately packaging system is adapted to dispense tablets for each dosage and collect them by a hopper or a conveyor or the like before packaging them, thus requiring a long time to complete the packaging, including the time for waiting the tablets to be collected. Furthermore, the tablets are collected by such a hopper or a conveyor or the like, solely depending on the gravity, so that the entire apparatus has inevitably been bulky.
This is also a medication filling apparatus adapted to charge each type of prescribed tablets in a container, such as a bottle (or a bag) to supply them to patients. In the case of such a tablet filling apparatus, a construction has conventionally been employed in which a plurality of tablet cases accommodating respective types of tablets are arranged like lockers so that they are tilted low forward, and each tablet case is provided with a dispensing mechanism for dispensing the tablets from the tablet case to thereby dispense the tablets in a tablet case designated according to a prescription by the dispensing mechanism.
In such a tablet filling apparatus, since tablets are not separately packaged for each dosage, the tablets can be charged more quickly than in the tablet packaging machine described above. However, an operator must hold a container and go to the front of a proper tablet case to fill a container with tablets from the dispensing mechanism. Hence, if there are many types of tablets, in particular, it has been extremely complicated and time-consuming to fill different types of containers.
Furthermore, since the plurality of tablet cases are arranged like lockers against a wall surface, it has been impossible to achieve a reduction in size of an entire apparatus that has been required of a conventional tablet packaging machine.
Therefore, the applicant has developed a structure in which a rotary plate is provided under a plurality of tablet cases arranged side by side, a plurality of accommodating portions are formed in the rotary plate, a tablet dispensed from a tablet case is received and held in a predetermined accommodating portion associated with the tablet case and located below the tablet case by the rotation of the rotary plate, and then the tablet is charged in a container from an outlet, as disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 10-192367.
According to the construction, tablets can be charged at one location, and the vertical dimension of an entire apparatus can be reduced, as compared with a conventional conveyor type or a locker type apparatus; however, tablets are prone to jump into another accommodating portion through a clearance (gap) formed around the periphery of the rotary plate when the rotary plate rotates, leading to a possibility of mixture of different types of medications.
In addition, the clearance between the rotary plate and its peripheral member must be closely specified in designing and manufacture to prevent the above, posing a problem in that the productivity is deteriorated and the cost is increased.
The present invention has been made with a view toward solving the conventional technological problems, and it is an object thereof to improve the ease of installation and maintenance and to permit a safe and reliable filling operation, while maintaining a small size in a medication filling apparatus for filling a predetermined container with medications, such as tablets.
DISCLOSURE OF INVENTION
The present invention is characterized in that, in a medication filling apparatus equipped with a plurality of tablet cases for accommodating medications of respective types, a plurality of hoppers provided side by side below the respective tablet cases in a corresponding manner to receive the medications dispensed therefrom, and charging means for guiding the medications dispensed from an outlet formed at the bottommost portion of each hopper to a predetermined container and for charging them, a retaining member for hanging each hopper is provided, each hopper being detachably installed to the retaining member.
According to the present invention, medications are dispensed from the tablet cases accommodating the medications of respective types, and the medications dispensed from the tablets cases are received by the plurality of hoppers arranged thereunder side by side. Hence, the vertical dimension of the apparatus can be reduced while maintaining the tilt angles of the hoppers that allow the medications to fall.
In particular, since the hoppers are detachably installed to the retaining members, the ease of the installation and the ease of the maintenance, such as cleaning, of the hoppers to which chips or dust of medications are prone to stick can be significantly improved, thus making it possible to effectively prevent an inconvenience in that the dust or chips of other medications are mixed in.
In addition to the above, the present invention is characterized by the provision of hopper detecting means for detecting that the hoppers have been installed to the retaining members. With this arrangement, when the hoppers are removed for maintenance or the like, whether the hoppers have been reinstalled or not can be detected by the hopper detecting means. Thus, if there is a possibility of erroneous charging with the hoppers removed, then the operation of the apparatus, for example, can be inhibited or an alarm can be issued to thereby avoid such an inconvenience.
In addition, the present invention is characterized by the provision of a height adjusting mechanism for adjusting the height of the outlet of each hopper. With this arrangement, the clearance between the outlet of each hopper and the charging means can be adjusted to an optimum value, permitting prevention of an inconvenience in which the medications discharged from outlets jump out of the charging means. Moreover, if, for example, the charging means is constructed of a movable member, then it is also possible to avoid an inconvenience in which the hoppers interfere with the operation of the charging means.
Furthermore, the present invention is characterized in that, in a medication filling apparatus equipped with a plurality of tablet cases for accommodating medications of respective types, a plurality of hoppers provided side by side below the respective tablet cases in a corresponding manner to receive the medications dispensed therefrom, and charging means for guiding the medications dispensed from an outlet formed at the bottommost portion of each hopper to a predetermined container and for charging them, each hopper is provided with a vertical wall installed in a standing manner to partition the interior thereof.
According to the present invention, medications are dispensed from the tablet cases accommodating the medications of respective types, and the medications dispensed from the tablets cases are received by the plurality of hoppers arranged thereunder side by side. Hence, the vertical dimension of the apparatus can be reduced while maintaining the tilt angles of the hoppers that allow the medications to fall.
In particular, since each hopper is provided with the vertical wall for partitioning the interior thereof that is installed in a standing manner, it is possible to quickly end an inconvenience in which the medications that have fallen into the hoppers jump around in the hoppers. This allows the medications that have fallen into the hoppers to be quickly retained and stored onto the bottoms in the hoppers, permitting a reduction in the time required for ch
Haraguchi Manabu
Ishiwatari Hitoshi
Ota Toshihiko
Takahashi Hideyuki
Armstrong Kratz Quintos Hanson & Brooks, LLP
Huynh Louis
Sanyo Electric Co., LTD
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