U.S. patent number 3,563,410 [Application Number 04/739,672] was granted by the patent office on 1971-02-16 for medication-dispensing device and method.
Invention is credited to Jerome G. Murray.
United States Patent |
3,563,410 |
Murray |
February 16, 1971 |
MEDICATION-DISPENSING DEVICE AND METHOD
Abstract
This invention relates to method and apparatus for dispensing
medication in the form of pills or capsules for a number of
patients in a ward or wing of a hospital or similar mass treatment
institution. There is provided a machine that will release a
desired number of pills or capsules of a given kind and dispense
the pills into a medication cup. Adjustable selection apparatus is
provided for determining and controlling the number of pills or
capsules to be released from a given medication reservoir. Audible
signals indicating the number of pills or capsules dispensed are
simultaneously provided as a safety measure.
Inventors: |
Murray; Jerome G. (Pittsburgh,
PA) |
Family
ID: |
24973320 |
Appl.
No.: |
04/739,672 |
Filed: |
June 25, 1968 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
221/1; 221/131;
221/3; 221/133; 221/265; 221/277 |
Current CPC
Class: |
A61J
7/0084 (20130101); G07F 17/0092 (20130101); G07F
13/10 (20130101); A61J 2205/20 (20130101); A61J
2205/70 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
A61J
7/00 (20060101); B65g 059/00 () |
Field of
Search: |
;221/3,124,133,265,277,1,92--94,129--131 ;53/(INQUIRED) |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
614,416 |
|
Dec 1948 |
|
GB |
|
506,886 |
|
Dec 1954 |
|
IT |
|
Primary Examiner: Coleman; Samuel F.
Claims
I claim:
1. A method for preparing a plurality of medication cups for a
corresponding plurality of patients with the use of a
medication-dispensing device having at least some containers for
generally circular pill-type medications and other containers for
generally tubular capsule-type medications, chute means associated
with all of said containers and leading to a common point, first
medication-dispensing means of one type for dispensing pill-type
medications into said chute means where they fall by gravity to
said common point, and second medication-dispensing means of
another type for dispensing capsule-type medications into said
chute means where they also fall by gravity to said common point,
said method comprising:
positioning one of said cups at said common delivery point;
selectively operating some of said first and second
medication-dispensing means to dispense both pill-type and
capsule-type medications into said chute means where they both fall
by gravity to said common point and into said one cup;
removing said one cup containing said medication of both the
pill-type and capsule-type;
positioning another of said cups at said common delivery point;
and
repeating the steps of actuating, removing, and positioning until
each of said cups comprising said plurality of cups is provided
with medications of preselected kinds and dosage.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatus for dispensing medication such
as pills or capsules, and in another aspect it relates to a method
of preparing a plurality of medication cups for a number of
patients, for example, in a ward or wing of a hospital.
2. Description of the Prior Art
It is common in a hospital for a nurse to spend a considerable
amount of time preparing medication cups for the patients. In
accordance with the practice presently used, the pills or capsules
are kept in large jars in one or more supply cabinets, and a nurse
must frequently prepare prescribed dosages of pills and/or capsules
of various kinds into individual cups for as many as 60 or 80
patients. The nurse has a supply of cups, a group of prescription
cards indicating the respective dosages of individual patients, and
a medication try or cup holder. The tray resembles a tea caddie
with individual sections for the medication cups and the
above-mentioned cards. To eliminate the danger of mistake, a nurse
does not simply take down a container of a certain drug and
distribute from said container the appropriate dose into the
various cups. Rather, each order is filled individually. The giving
of medications is not the only demand on the time of the nurse and
with the present shortage of nurses and the accordingly increased
patient load that each nurse is expected to carry, the preparation
of medications consumes a very large part of a nurse's time.
Devices are known for dispensing a given number of pills into a
container. In the drug industry, there is the problem of providing
for sale a large number of individual bottles of various sizes,
each containing, for example, 1,000 aspirin tablets or 15 vitamin
pills. In accordance with U.S. Pat. No. 988,082, for example, it is
known to make a pill-counting and dispensing machine by means of
which the pills are delivered from a reservoir into a counting
plate which has a number of holes or openings corresponding to the
number of pills to be delivered to the bottle or other container.
It also has means for rotating the counter plate between a first
position wherein the above-mentioned holes are provided with
bottoms so as to receive the above-mentioned pills, to a second
position wherein no bottom is provided, so that the individual
pills are free to move into a chute and thence to the bottle. These
machines have power-driven shafts and operate continuously, and
every container receives the same number of pills of the same
kind.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,111,529 shows another pill-counting machine of the
rotating pocketed-disc type. This Pat. discloses replaceable
counting plates so that different numbers of pills can be dispensed
per rotation, but once again, the machine is set and then operated
in a rapid and continuous manner to deliver the same number of
pills of the same kind to each of a large number of containers.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In accordance with the invention there is provided apparatus
comprising reservoir means for holding pluralities of pills of
various kind, support means for said reservoir means, pocketed-disc
type separating and dispensing means associated with each of said
reservoir means for the purpose of separating and dispensing pills
and/or capsules and being operated by means of a knob having
associated therewith a clicker or other suitable means for giving
an audible indication of the number of pills dispensed, and a chute
means cooperating with said separating and dispensing means for
leading the pills and/or capsules to a medication cup.
In yet another aspect, the invention relates to a method of filling
medication cups for a plurality of patients using apparatus of the
kind described above.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
A complete understanding of the invention may be had from the
foregoing and following description thereof, taken together with
the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is an elevational view, partly schematic, of apparatus in
accordance with the invention;
FIG. 2 is a detail view, showing a part of the apparatus of FIG. 1;
and
FIG. 3 is a second detail view, showing another part of the
apparatus of FIG. 1.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
There is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 a device comprising a base 2 and,
at right angles thereto, a vertically-extending backing member 4.
Secured to the backing member 4 and projecting outwardly therefrom
is a plurality of support or clamp members 6 which encircle
indented portions 5 (FIG. 2) provided in a plurality of pill
reservoirs 8. Each of the pill reservoirs 8, as shown in FIG. 2, is
provided with a threaded cap secured to the sides 10 of each
reservoir 8 by means of screw threads 14. Each reservoir 8 is
provided with a sloped portion 16 near its bottom mouth so as to
urge pills 18 toward an opening 20 in the base of each reservoir
8.
Also secured to the backing member 4 by means of supports 24 is a
plurality of plates or discs 26, one for each of the reservoirs 8.
Between each plate 26 and a plate 27 beneath the reservoir 8 is a
rotatable disc or plate 28 which has an opening or openings 30
adapted to register with an opening in the plate 27 beneath the
opening 20 at the bottom of reservoir 8, or with an opening 36 in
the plate 26. Around the periphery of each plate 28 is a bevel gear
42 which cooperates with a bevel gear 44 affixed to a shaft 46 and
rotatable by means of a knob 48. Secured to the shaft 46 is a
finger 50 which, when the shaft is rotated through a complete
revolution, engages a clicker member 54 carried on rod 52. Rod 52
may be carried on any suitable support, not shown.
With the positions of the elements 26, 27 and 28 shown in FIG. 2, a
pill will drop into the opening 30. Rotation of the knob 48 will
then rotate the opening 30 into registry with the opening 36,
whereupon the pill will drop downwardly through tube 58 into a
chute 62 (FIG. 1) secured to the backing plate 4 by means of
support members 60. There are two chutes shown in FIG. 1, each of
which empties into a downcomer 64 leading to a common delivery
point, at which there is situated a medication cup 66.
As best seen in FIG. 3, the invention further comprises means for
dispensing capsules. Capsules cannot conveniently be dispensed with
the same equipment used for pills, as the capsules have a
gelatinous exterior casing that tends to become sticky whenever a
capsule is exposed to moisture, such as the moisture of the air. To
overcome this problem and provide for the convenient dispensing of
capsules, there is used a tube 68 provided with a flange 70 which
cooperates with a support member 72 secured to the backing member
4, the tube member 68 having an interior opening conforming to the
dimensions of the capsule to be dispensed. Secured to the backing
member 4 by suitable means is a shaft member 74 having thereon a
knob 76 and a wheel 78 comprising a number of fingers 80. The tube
68 has leaf members 82 that extend downwardly therefrom so as to
expose the ends of individual ones of the capsules 84. Secured to
the backing member 4 is a rod 86, having wound around it a clicker
member 88 composed of thin spring metal, the member 88 being
adapted to engage projections 90 on the wheel 78.
Also secured to the backing member 4 is a chute member 94 for
receiving a capsule, once that it is dispensed from the container
68.
It will be obvious to those skilled in the art how the
above-described apparatus may be operated in such a manner as to
make it possible to fill medication cups for a large number of
patients, such as 40 or 80, in a small fraction of the time
presently required for such operation. In principle, the number of
pill-dispensing reservoirs 8 or capsule-dispensing reservoirs 68
may be quite large to enable about 50 or even about 150 different
kinds of medication to be dispensed from one machine. The turning
of an appropriate knob 48 or 76 through an appropriate angle,
dependent upon the number of pills or capsules to be dispensed,
will cause the release of a pill or capsule to the medication cup
66 through the openings 36 and thence, by means of the chutes
62.
As a safeguard against error, activation of the clicker means 54 or
88 will cause at the time of release, an audible indication of the
dispensing of a pill or capsule.
In accordance with the broader aspects of the invention, the
medication cups may be provided near the machine with the use of a
self-leveling device, such as is commonly used in cafeterias to
provide plates or saucers. Thus, with a stack of patient medication
cards before her, a nurse may speedily refer to a card, place a
medication cup under the outlet of the machine, turn one or more
knobs so as to release the medication desired, see that the pills
or capsules are discharged into the medication cup, and place it in
an appropriate location on the medication tray, along with the
associated card. This will shorten very substantially the time
required for the preparation of medication cups for a large number
of patients.
If desired, the reservoirs 8 and 68, as well as the knobs 48 and
76, may be color-coded, e.g., white for aspirin, yellow for
phenobarbital, gray for pyrobenzamine, etc.
Though this is not essential to the invention, it will in many
instances prove desirable to provide the electrical or electronic
means for directing a predetermined number of units of a
preselected medication to the common delivery point. Those skilled
in the art will perceive how this may be done; for example, a
circuit provided with suitable stepping switches or the like may
serve to turn a preselected knob or shaft through an angle
corresponding to the number of units of medication to be dispensed,
or there may be used a circuit comprising a photocell to sense each
pill or capsule dispensed, a counting circuit, a comparator, and
means responsive to the comparator to terminate the
medication-dispensing action when a preselected number of pills or
capsules has been dispensed.
While I have shown and described herein a certain embodiment of my
invention, I intend to cover as well any change or modification
therein which may be made without departing from the spirit and
scope thereof.
* * * * *