Accessible Pill Container with Molded Blade Platform
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current pill containers, particularly plastic bottles, pose challenges in accessing a single pill without contamination or overdose, as users often tilt the bottle, risking bacterial contamination and overdose, or use dirty fingers to retrieve pills, leading to spills and lost medication.
Innovation Solution
A pill container with integrally molded, free-standing blades forming a concave bowl-shaped platform allows pills to be easily retrieved by tilting the container, capturing one or two pills which can then be removed without mechanical aids, preventing contamination and spills.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If users tilt the bottle to retrieve pills, then pill access is enabled, but bacterial contamination and overdose risk increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary mechanism (the blade system with platform) between the user and the pills. The blade directs pills to a platform where they can be accessed without tilting the bottle, eliminating direct contact between users and the pill container interior while still enabling pill retrieval.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the mechanical action of tilting the bottle with a blade-based pill directing mechanism. Instead of using gravity and bottle tilt to move pills, the blade actively directs pills to a platform, substituting a complex mechanical user action with a simpler structural solution.
2Ease of operation
If users use fingers to manipulate pills, then pill separation is achieved, but contamination and spills occur
Solution Approach 1:
The platform acts as an intermediary surface between the pills and the user's fingers. Pills are directed to the platform by the blade, and users can then access them from the platform without needing to reach into the bottle or use fingers to manipulate pills inside the container, reducing contamination risk.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the pill separation function from the user's fingers and transfers it to the blade mechanism. The blade automatically separates and directs pills to the platform, eliminating the need for users to insert their fingers into the bottle to manipulate pills.
3Adaptability or versatility
If multiple pills are poured into hand, then pill selection is possible, but pill loss and dosage errors increase
Solution Approach 1:
The platform serves as an intermediary holding surface that allows users to select pills without pouring multiple pills into their hand. Pills are directed to the platform one or a few at a time, providing sufficient selection capability while minimizing the number of pills exposed to potential loss or contamination.
Solution Approach 2:
The blade system is designed to direct only one or a few pills to the platform at a time, which is partial action compared to pouring multiple pills. This provides adequate pill selection capability while avoiding the excessive action of pouring many pills that leads to loss and dosage errors.
Data Source
AI summary
An accessible pill container comprising a plurality of closely positioned blades that are integrally formed and molded within a plastic container and forming a concave bowl-shaped platform at a proximal end to be able to hold at least one pill created by the close proximity and concave shape of the blades. Pills enter the bowl by tilting the pill container sideways or upside down so that all of the pill contents rush toward the top of the bottle. Enough space is left between the bowl-shaped platform top and the underside of the cap to allow one or two pills to enter the small open space and fall into the platform bowl capturing the pill or pills until the user tilts the bottle back to its upright vertical position, removes the cap and slides the pill off of the platform with thumb and forefinger to be placed inside the mouth.