Rhone Poulenc Rorer

Robert Stanley Cook

Michael Anthony Hobbs

Gordon Thomas Simpkin

Roy Trunley

Ann-Marie Leighton

John R Calvert

Anthony Douglas West

An inhaler for inhaling pulverulent medicament from within a capsule comprises a chamber 24 within which the capsule is free to rotate while having its longitudinal axis in the median plane of the chamber and thus generally parallel to the front and rear walls 30 and 31 of the chamber, by virtue of the fact that the spacing between said front and rear walls is less than the axial length of the capsule but just greater than the diameter of the capsule. The device includes pins 21 serving as opening means to pierce the ends of the capsule while it is seated in a recess 25, whereupon the retraction of the pins 21 allows the capsule to be entrained into swirling airflow in the chamber 24 during inhalation of air through air inlets 26 and out through a mouthpiece nozzle 27.

Powder inhaler having capsule holding structure and anti-static walls

An inhaler for inhalation of a medicament from a pierced capsule has a swirling or emptying chamber where the capsule is emptied by inhalation action of an operator. A rotary magazine for a multi-unit does inhaler which holds a number of capsules containing a medicament in a number of recesses arranged around the periphery of the magazine. The capsules are held in place by pins or plugs at both ends. Either the capsules are pierced before being loaded into the magazine or they are pierced by the pins when they are loaded into the magazine. In either case a seal may be provided around the ends of the capsules near the holes which are plugged to keep them fresh. When a recess is rotated to a particular position within the magazine then it releases its capsule. Contents of a capsule are drawn out during inhalation when the capsule is in the swirling chamber. A motor can be used to operate the magazine.

Multi dose inhaler apparatus

An inhaler for powdered medicament in capsules has a swirling chamber which can be opened to allow access of a closed capsule into the swirling chamber for operation of capsule-opening means in the swirling chamber. Access to the swirling chamber is gained by a pivoting cover member (22) which is provided with interlock means associated with the capsule-opening means to ensure that the capsule opening means cannot be operated while the cover member is in its open position to allow access of the user's finger to the region (28) of the swirling chamber (26,28) where the capsule-opening pins (30) could damage the user's finger. A further embodiment of an inhaler has a removable capsule reservoir having a container portion (74) with a closure (76) removable to reveal the interior of said reservoir and closable to define one entire side face of said reservoir, the closure member (76) being hinged to the container portion at thin film hinge (78). The capsule container is closed by a sliding cover (16) held to the container (74) for sliding movement along a second face of the closure reservoir opposite said first face defined by the closure (76).

Growing community of inventors

Dagenham, United Kingdom

Robert Stanley Cook