Closure for multicompartment medicinal dispensing device

Abstract

A medicinal dispensing device comprising a base formed of a plurality of units, each having flanges and being detachably connected to one another along certain lines. The flanges of each unit form corners and at lease one corner of each unit is cut away. Each unit includes a medicine-holding chamber depending from the flanges thereof and includes an opening. Improved closure means are provided for sealing the chamber opening and the closure means include a cover sheet having an inside surface having an adhesive thereon and a liner sheet temporarily secured therto. The cover sheet, but not the liner sheet, is perforated along intersecting lines corresponding to the flange lines to define plural closure members between the lines. The liner sheet includes circular portions cut therein between the perforated lines but not cut into the cover sheet. The circular portions are adapted to remain to the cover sheet after the liner sheet is removed therefrom. Tab means are provided along the edge of the cover sheet to facilitate the removal of the liner sheet from the cover sheet. Due to the fact that the perforated lines of the cover sheet do not extend into the liner sheet, the liner sheet can be peeled off the cover quite readily and cleanly. Each closure member is arranged to seal the opening in a respective unit to hold a medicament in place therein. This is accomplished by removing the liner sheet from the cover sheet. The cover sheet, with the exposed adhesive, is then placed on the base to secure its component closure members to the flanges of the associated medicine holding units of the base and thereby seal the medicines within the units. The circular portion of the liner sheet on the cover sheet prevents the medicine within the unit from contacting the adhesive of the closure member sealing unit. Striped portions of the inside surface of the cover sheet contiguous with certain perforated lines do not have any adhesive thereon and such non-adhesive portions are disposed over the cut away portions of the flanges of the base to facilitate the gripping of the individual closure members to effect their removal, and the concommitant opening of the chamber disposed thereunder.

Description

The present invention relates generally to medicinal dispensing devices and more particularly to improved closure means for multicompartment medicinal dispensing devices.

In my U.S. Pat. No. 3,780,856, whose disclosure is incorporated by reference herein, there is disclosed and claimed a medicinal dispensing device which is arranged for holding plural medicine therein for subsequent dispensation. The device is arranged to be simply loaded and labeled by a hospital or other personnel and ovecomes various disadvantages of the prior art, like that disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,503,493. Furthermore, unlike the prior art devices, the device of my aforenoted patent is suitable for manual unit dose use. To that end, the dispensing device as disclosed in my aforenoted patent comprises a plurality of individual medicine-holding units, each having flanges thereon. The flanges have corners and are detachably connected along certain lines so that each flange may be separated from the remaining flanges to separate the units from one another. Each unit includes a chamber with an outer opening depending from the flanges of the unit. The chamber is adapted to hold a drug, tablet, capsule or the like therein. A cover sheet covering the chamber openings is provided, with the certain portions of the cover sheet being in contact with the flanges. The cover sheet is perforated along certain lines closely corresponding to the flange lines to form therebetween a plurality of individual closures, each of which being adapted to seal the opening of the chamber in the medicine-holding unit disposed thereunder. To that end, certain portions of the interior surface of the cover sheet are provided with an adhesive coating which is in contact with the flanges while certain other areas of the cover sheet are non-tacky and cover the chamber openings. At least one corner of a flange of each unit is removed in a cut-away area so that the existing corner of the individual closure overlying the cut-away area functions as a lift tab to facilitate the separation of that closure from the flange to which it is connected to thereby provide access to the contents of the chamber disposed thereunder.

In one embodiment of the invention disclosed in my above noted patent, the article-holding units are preferably provided in groups of 25, there being a cut-away area for at least one corner of each flange thereof that is provided by the formation of a minimum number of punched openings, which minimum number is far less in the total number of 16 intersections, that exist in a 5 .times. 5 pattern of flanges.

Prior to the securement of the cover sheet to the medicine holding units, the adhesive surface of the cover sheet is covered by a non-stick liner. The liner is sub-divided into discrete die-cut circular portions.

The cover sheet and liner are arranged such that the liner may be peeled back to remove it from the cover sheet, while leaving the circular portions adhered to the adhesive surface of the liner. Once the liner sheet is removed as described, the cover sheet is placed over the medicine holding units and is pressed in place such that the adhesive contacts the flanges disposed thereunder, with each circular portion of the liner covering the opening in a respective article-holding chamber to prevent the article therein from contacting the adhesive of the liner.

Heretofore, in the manufacture of the device of my aforenoted patent, the perforated lines in the cover sheet were die-cut through the liner sheet and into the cover sheet to effect the perforation of the latter, whereas the circular portions in the liner sheet were merely die-cut therethrough. In order to expedite the die-cutting of the perforated lines and circles, such cutting was accomplished from one side, that is through the liner sheet.

While the cover sheet of the invention disclosed and claimed in my aforenoted patent application is effective for its intended purpose, it has been found that in some situations the liner sheet does not peel cleanly away from the cover sheet.

Accordingly, it is the general object of this invention to provide a cover sheet for a multi-compartment medicinal dispenser which overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a cover sheet for use with the multi-compartment medicinal dispenser which includes means for effecting the fast removal of the liner sheet from the cover sheet.

It is still a further object of this invention to provide a cover sheet including plural perforated lines defining therebetween closures for securement over respective compartments of a medicinal dispensing device and having means for effecting the facile removal of an individual closure from the compartments unit to which they are secured to provide ready access to the interior of such compartments.

The foregoing, as well as other objects of the invention are achieved by providing a medicinal dispensing device including article holding means having a plurality of article holding units, each with flanges having corners and being detachably connected along certain lines such that each unit may be separated from the remaining unit. Each unit includes a chamber depending from the flanges thereof for holding an article there. Improved closure means is provided including a plurality of closure. Each closure is co-extensive in size with an article-holding unit and is adapted to seal the opening in respective one of the units. The closure means comprise a cover sheet and a liner sheet. The cover sheet has an exterior surface and an interior surface having an adhesive thereon. The adhesive temporarily secures the liner sheet to the cover sheet. The cover sheet includes plural perforated lines corresponding to the flange lines. The perforated lines form the closures between themselves.

In accordance with one aspect of this invention, the perforated lines are formed through the cover sheet but not through the liner sheet, such that the liner sheet can be readily and cleanly removed from the cover sheet. This feature enables the efficient securement of the cover sheet to the article holding means, with the closure secured to their respective article holding units.

In accordance with another aspect of this invention, the cover sheet includes a tab for effecting the facile removal of the liner sheet from the cover sheet.

In accordance with yet another aspect of this invention, at least one corner of a flange of each unit is removed in a cut-away area and wherein at least one area of the inside surface of the cover sheet contiguous with one of the perforated lines does not include any adhesive thereon such that one portion of each closure defined by the line includes a portion having no adhesive thereon. That portion is disposed over the cut-away area of a flange of the article-holding unit to which the closure member is secured, to thereby enable the facile removal of the closure from the article-holding unit.

Other objects in many of the attendant advantages of the invention will become more readily apparent by reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of the improved closure means in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken along lines 2--2 of FIGS. 1 and 9;

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line 3--3 of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the underside of the closure means shown in FIG. 1 during the removal of the liner sheet therefrom;

FIG. 5 is a plan view showing the cover sheet of FIG. 1 being secured to a multi-compartment base like that shown in my aforenoted patent;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 6-6 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of an alternative embodiment of the closure means in accordance with this invention;

FIG. 8 is a view similar to that of FIG. 4 showing the liner sheet being removed from the closure means shown in FIG. 7;

FIG. 9 is a view, similar to that shown in FIG. 5, showing the cover sheet in FIG. 7 being secured to another multi-compartment base like that shown in my aforenoted patent;

FIG. 10 is an enlarged sectional view taken along line 10--10 of FIG. 7.

Referring now in greater detail to the various figures of the drawing wherein like reference characters refer to like parts, there is generally shown at 20 in FIG. 1 improved closure means of a medicinal dispensing device like that disclosed in my heretofore noted patent.

As can be seen in FIG. 5, the medicinal dispensing device includes a multi-compartment base member 22 for holding a plurality of articles 24, e.g. medicaments, therein. To that end, base 24 is formed of a plurality of article-holding units 26. Each unit is of general rectangular shape that comprises four flanges having corners 30 and a chamber 32 depending from the flanges. The chamber is bowl shaped and includes an opening 34 through which an article, such as a tablet, capsule, pill, etc., is inserted for disposition within the chamber. The units are detachably connected together by their flanges 28 along intersecting lines 36.

The contents in the chamber of each unit is sealed therein by a respective closure 38 (see FIG. 1) which closure forms a portion of the improved closure means 20 of the instant invention.

As can be seen in FIG. 1, the closure means 20 comprises a cover sheet 40 which is perforated along intersecting lines 42 which correspond to the flange lines 36. The intersecting lines 42 define the closures 38 therebetween, with each closure 38 being coextensive in size with an associated article-holding unit 26.

When the closure means are secured in place, as will be described in detail later, the perforated lines 42 colinearly overlie the flange lines 36, with each closure member secured in place to seal the opening in the chamber of the associated article-holding unit.

The units 26 are adapted to be detached from one another along the colinear lines 36 and 42 to provide individual, sealed article-holding units.

When it is desired to remove the contents of any unit, the closure sealing that unit is peeled off, as will be described later, to provide access to the interior of chamber 32 and to the article disposed therein.

As can be seen in FIG. 2 the closure means 20 basically comprises two distinct members, the heretofore described cover sheet 40 and a liner sheet 44. The liner sheet 44 is coextensive in size with the cover sheet 40. The cover sheet includes an exterior surface 46 and an interior surface 48 having an adhesive coating 50 thereon (See FIG. 2). The adhesive coating on the interior surface of the cover sheet serves as the means for securing the closures of the cover sheet to flanges of the associated units 26 of the multicompartment base to seal the articles within those units. The liner sheet serves to protect the adhesive on the cover sheet before the cover sheet is secured in place. To that end the liner sheet is temporarily secured to the cover sheet and is adapted to be peeled off the cover sheet when the cover sheet is to be secured in place on the multicompartment base. In order to enable the liner sheet to be readily removed from the cover sheet, the liner sheet is preferably formed of a relatively non-sticky material, such as a glassine-type paper.

The cover sheet is preferably formed of a strong and sturdy paper base, having one surface, corresponding to the exterior surface 46, coated so as to be receptive to pencil, ink, multi-lith "spirit" masters and photo-copy offset. This feature enables writing or other indicia to be placed upon the exterior surface of the closures, which writing or indicia may be used to indicate the article contained within the chamber disposed therebeneath, or may contain other information, such as instructions for use, etc.

As can be seen in FIG. 4, the liner sheet 44 includes a plurality of circular portions 52 defined by plural circular lines 54 which are die-cut therein. Each portion 52 is adapted to remain affixed to the adhesive coating 50 on the interior surface 48 of the cover sheet after the liner sheet is removed therefrom so as to provide a non-adhesive area on the inner surface of each of the closures of the cover sheet. The non-adhesive portions are arranged to overlie the openings in respective article-holding units so as to preclude the articles disposed therein from adhering to the adhesive of the closure when the closure is secured in place on the base.

In accordance with one aspect of this invention, the perforated lines in the cover sheet and the circular areas in the liner sheet are die-cut from opposite sides of the cover sheet-liner sheet combination. Furthermore, the perforated lines in the cover sheet are only cut through the cover sheet and not into the liner sheet. Similarly, the circular cuts forming the circular areas in the liner sheet are only cut through the liner sheet and not into the cover sheet.

The above described manner of forming the perforated lines 42 in the cover sheet insures that no adhesive is carried from the interior surface of the cover sheet into the body of the liner sheet when the die-cuts are made, which adhesive might in some cases impede the clean removal of the liner sheet from the cover sheet when securement of the cover sheet to the base is to be effected.

In accordance with another aspect of this invention and in order to expedite the grasping of the liner sheet so as to enable its facile removal from the cover sheet, tab means are provided on the liner sheet.

In accordance with one preferred embodiment of the invention, the tab means comprises a strip 56 (FIGS. 1 and 10) which is die-cut in the cover sheet along line 58 close to and parallel with one edge of the cover sheet. The die-cut line 58 extends through the cover sheet but not into the liner sheet. The line 58 serves as a bend line to effect the separation of the liner sheet from the cover sheet. To that end, the strip 56 is grasped between the fingers of one's hand and bent along line 58 toward the liner sheet. This action has the effect of delaminating the liner sheet from the cover sheet along portions of the cover sheet contiguous with line 58. The tab 56 is then pulled away from the cover sheet to effect the complete removal or peeling of the liner sheet from the cover sheet as shown in FIG. 4.

In order to facilitate the removal of each closure from its associated article-holding unit, one corner of at least one flange of each unit is removed in a cut-away area 60 (see FIG. 5). In accordance with the teachings of my aforenoted patent, the cut-away areas in a 5 .times. 5 unit medicinal dispensing device like that shown in FIG. 5, are provided at only nine selected corners or intersections of flange lines 36, while nevertheless providing at least one cut-away portion for a corner of each unit. The intersections having cut-away portions 60 are denoted by indicia marks 62 provided on the cover sheet.

As will be appreciated, by providing a cut-away corner for each unit, the portion of the closure sealing that unit and which overlies the cut-away portion of the corner can be readily grasped on its underside to enable the closure to be easily peeled off of the flanges of the unit.

In accordance with another aspect of this invention, portions of the interior surface of the cover sheet which overlie the cut-away corners of the article holding units are devoid of an adhesive coating to further facilitate the removal of the closure from its associated unit. To that end, the interior surface of the cover sheet contiguous with each horizontal perforated line overlying a cut-away flange corner is devoid of any adhesive coating thereon. As can be seen in FIG. 4 in a 5 .times. 5 medicinal dispensing device, three non-adhesive strip portions 64 are provided on the interior surface 48 of cover sheet 40 and contiguous with first, second and fourth horizontal peforated lines 65, 66 and 68, respectively.

As will be appreciated, by providing non-adhesive strip portions 64, the portion of each closure 38 which over-lies the flange corner of the associated unit 26 is not sticky and can be readily grasped to effect the facile peeling of the closure from the unit.

In FIG. 7 there is shown a closure means 70 adapted for use in a medicinal dispensing device having a multicompartment base with only one row of five linearly aligned article-holding units 26. The closure means 70 is similar in construction to the closure means 20 as described heretofore and includes a cover sheet 40 having perforated lines 42 die-cut therein to define five closures 38 therebetween and a liner sheet 44 temporarily secured to the adhesive on the interior surface of the cover sheet to protect the adhesive thereon in the same manner as described previously. The perforated lines 42 and the circular lines 54 in closure means 70 are die-cut in the same manner as are the corresponding perforated lines and circular lines in the closure means 20 so as to enable the liner sheet to be readily removed from the cover sheet.

In order to expedite the grasping of the liner sheet 44 so as to enable its facile removal from the cover sheet of closure means 70, a tab 72 is provided along the upper edge of the cover sheet (see FIG. 8). In the embodiment shown in FIG. 8 the tab 72 is an edge strip defined on the liner sheet by an overlying edge strip of the cover sheet. The overlying edge strip of the cover sheet is denoted by the reference numeral 74 and is devoid of adhesive (see FIG. 10). Accordingly, one may readily peel the edge of tab 72 away from the overlying edge portion of the cover sheet 40 to enable one to securely grasp the liner sheet and thereby enable one to peel the liner sheet cleanly away from the cover sheet.

Once the liner sheet is removed from the cover sheet, the cover sheet is secured in place on the article holding unit of the base member in an identical manner to that previously described.

In view of the foregoing it should be appreciated that the improved closure means of this invention enables the liner sheet to be readily and cleanly removed from the cover sheet to enable the cover sheet to be secured in place on a multi-compartment medicinal dispensing base. Furthermore, the novel tab means provided at the edge of the liner sheet further facilitates the effective removal of the liner sheet from the cover sheet.

The non-adhesive strips on the interior surface of the cover sheet and contiguous with selected perforated lines therein provides a non-sticky portion which may be readily grasped to effect the peeling of individual closure from its associated article-holding unit to expose the article disposed therein.

Without further elaboration, the foregoing will so fully illustrate my invention that others may, by applying current or further knowledge, readily adapt the same for use under various conditions of service.

Claims

I claim:

1. For use with a medicinal dispensing device including article holding means having a plurality of article holding units each with flanges having corners and being detachably connected along certain lines so that each unit may be separated by the remaining units, a chamber for holding an article therein depending from each flange and having an opening for said chamber, one corner of at least one flange of each unit being removed in cut-away area, improved closure means including a plurality of closures, each of which being co-extensive in size with each of the article holding units and adapted to seal the opening in a respective one of said units, said closure means comprising a cover sheet and a liner sheet, said cover sheet having an exterior surface and an interior surface having an adhesive thereon, said adhesive temporarily securing the liner sheet to the cover sheet, said cover sheet, when removed from said liner sheet, being disposed upon said article holding means with the adhesive on said cover sheet in contact with the flanges of said article holding means to secure the cover sheet to the article holding means, said cover sheet including plural perforated lines corresponding to the flange lines for forming the closures between said perforated lines, at least one portion of the interior surface of the cover sheet contiguous with one of said perforated lines and extending along said line on both sides thereof having no adhesive thereon such that one portion of each closure defined by said line includes a portion having no adhesive thereon, said non-adhesive interior surface portion being disposed directly over a cut-away area of the flange of the article holding unit when said cover sheet is secured in place to provide a convenient, non-adhesive tab for affecting the removal of the closure from the article holding unit to which it is secured.

2. The closure of claim 1 wherein said plural perforated lines are formed through the cover sheet but not through the liner sheet, said liner sheet being unperforated at portions abutting the perforated lines of the cover sheet such that the adhesive does not come into contact with the interior of the liner sheet, to enable the liner sheet to be readily and cleanly removed from the cover sheet thereby enabling the efficient securement of the cover sheet to the article holding means.

3. The closure means of claim 2, wherein said liner sheet includes plural lines which are die-cut therein but not cut into the cover sheet and defining plural die-cut areas which remain secured to the cover sheet when the liner sheet is removed from the cover sheet, whereupon when said closures are secured in place on the respective article holding units the die-cut areas overlie the openings in the chamber thereof.

4. The closure means of claim 3 wherein one edge of the liner sheet includes a tab for effecting the facile removal of the liner sheet from the cover sheet.

5. The closure means of claim 4 wherein said tab is in the form of a strip which is die-cut through the cover sheet close to and parallel with one edge thereof but not being cut into said liner sheet, said strip being adhesively secured to the liner sheet and adapted to be grasped to effect the peeling of the liner sheet from the cover sheet.

6. The closure means of claim 4 wherein said tab is an edge strip defined on the liner sheet by a strip on the interior surface of the cover sheet close to and parallel to one edge thereof and upon which no adhesive is applied to enable one to readily grasp said edge strip of the liner sheet to effect the peeling of the liner sheet from the cover sheet.

7. The closure of claim 1 wherein portions of the interior surface of the cover sheet contiguous with selected ones only of said perforated lines have no adhesive thereon whereupon each closure includes at least one interior surface portion having no adhesive thereon.