The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document.
The patent badge is an abbreviated version of the USPTO patent document. The patent badge covers the following: Patent number, Date patent was issued, Date patent was filed, Title of the patent, Applicant, Inventor, Assignee, Attorney firm, Primary examiner, Assistant examiner, CPCs, and Abstract. The patent badge does contain a link to the full patent document (in Adobe Acrobat format, aka pdf). To download or print any patent click here.
Patent No.:
Date of Patent:
Dec. 05, 2000
Filed:
Jul. 30, 1998
Donald C George, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Dean T Upton, Santa Barbara, CA (US);
Other;
Abstract
A first embodiment of a pill dispenser includes a pill carrier and dispenser housing. The pill carrier has a plurality of pill chambers, each of which initially holds a pill that is sealed from the outside environment by a pair of membranes. The dispenser housing has a pill carrier slot into which the pill carrier is disposed and an opening forming a pathway from the slot to the exterior of the housing. In addition, the dispenser housing has an integrated plunger disposed adjacent the slot and opposite the opening. This plunger has a projecting punch head capable of extending into a pill chamber to push a pill out of dispenser housing opening whenever the plunger is depressed by a user. The pill chamber is first placed in alignment with the punch head and housing opening by displacing the pill carrier within the pill carrier slot. An indexing mechanism is preferably used to ensure the necessary alignment. In a second embodiment of the pill dispenser, there are a plurality of integrated plungers, each of which forms a top covering of a respective one of the pill chambers. These plungers are capable of dispensing a pill contained within its associated pill chamber. In operation, the pill carrier is drawn out of the pill carrier slot to sequentially exposure of each of the pill chambers and allow the user to dispense a pill by actuating its associated plunger.