Vacuum Apparatus and Methods for Handling Pills

a technology of vacuum apparatus and pill, applied in the direction of liquid handling, transportation and packaging, packaging goods types, etc., can solve the problem that pills may occasionally fail to be captured, and achieve the effect of accurately filling and facilitating the entry of pills

Inactive Publication Date: 2007-12-20
AYLWARD ENTERPRISES
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  • Summary
  • Abstract
  • Description
  • Claims
  • Application Information

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0009]The present invention provides a pill handling apparatus having a plurality of rotary slats, each of which is disposed in fluid communication with a vacuum assembly. The rotary slats each have an outer surface that defines receptacles for receiving pills. The outer surface of each rotary slat may further define an outer contour sloped toward the receptacles thereof to facilitate the entry of pills into the receptacles. Air is drawn into the pill receptacles by the vacuum assembly to urge pills within a reservoir to be received by the receptacles. The rotary slats rotate to transport the pills from the reservoir to containers, which may be disposed at fil

Problems solved by technology

This device may operate well; however, pills may occasionally fail to be captured

Method used

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  • Vacuum Apparatus and Methods for Handling Pills
  • Vacuum Apparatus and Methods for Handling Pills
  • Vacuum Apparatus and Methods for Handling Pills

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Embodiment Construction

[0018]The present invention now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which preferred embodiments of the invention are shown. This invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention to those skilled in the art. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.

[0019]The present invention is generally directed to a pill handling apparatus 10, such as an automated packaging machine. For example, the handling apparatus of the present invention can be used for dispensing pills into containers, as is discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,185,901 to Aylward, and in U.S. Pat. No. 6,401,429 to Aylward, the entire contents of each of which is incorporated herein by reference. In other embodiments of the present invention, the pil...

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Abstract

A pill handling apparatus having a plurality of rotary slats delivers pills from a reservoir to a number of containers. The rotary slats have receptacles in fluid communication with a vacuum assembly and the pills are drawn into the receptacles by vacuum. The pill may be released into containers by expelled air from a blower assembly. Pills entering containers may be individually counted to assure accurate filling of the containers. A conveyor may position the containers at filling stations to receive pills. The rotary slats may be independently rotatable for delivering accurate pill counts to the containers. Optical devices may inspect the pills as they travel toward the containers.

Description

FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0001]The present invention relates to pill handling apparatus and methods and, more particularly, relates to an apparatus and associated methods for handling pills with a vacuum assembly.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0002]Pharmaceutical medicines and associated packaging apparatuses are subject to high expectations from consumers and guidelines and dictates from regulatory entities. For example, pills, capsules, and the like are produced and packaged to meet various regulations including sterility requirements. In addition, pills should be accurately counted and packaged so that each package includes exactly a predetermined number of units as labeled. Cost effective automated counting and packaging systems address these challenges.[0003]A typical conventional pill counting and packaging machine includes a hopper having a reservoir of pills in contact with a pill-capturing assembly such as an array of rotary slats. The rotary slats capture pills and drop or guide...

Claims

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Application Information

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IPC IPC(8): B65B3/04
CPCB65B5/103B65B35/08B65G2201/027B65B57/20B65G47/1471B65B57/18
Inventor AYLWARD, JOHN THOMAS
Owner AYLWARD ENTERPRISES
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