An inhaler comprising a housing defining a chamber to receive a strip having a plurality of blisters each containing a dose of medicament for inhalation by a user is disclosed. It comprises an actuating lever and a blister strip drive member rotatably mounted in the chamber to sequentially move each blister into a blister opening position. The blister strip drive member and the actuating lever comprise a drive gear and a drive gear element, respectively, that cooperate to effect rotation of the blister strip drive member in response to rotation of the actuating lever. The drive gear and drive gear element are disposed on the outside of the housing remote from the chamber.

An inhaler comprising a housing defining a chamber to receive a strip having a plurality of blisters each containing a dose of medicament for inhalation by a user is disclosed. It comprises an inhaler comprising a housing to receive a strip having a plurality of blisters, each blister having a puncturable lid and containing a dose of medicament for inhalation by a user, a mouthpiece mounted to the housing and through which a dose of medicament is inhaled by a user, a blister piercing member mounted for rotation about a first axis and an actuating mechanism including an actuating lever mounted for rotation about a second axis to sequentially move each blister into alignment with the blister piercing member, wherein the actuating lever co-operates with the blister piercing member so that the blister piercing member pivots about said first axis in response to rotation of the actuating member from an initial position about the second axis to puncture the lid of an aligned blister so an airflow through the blister is generated to en-train the dose contained therein and carry it, via the mouth-piece, into the users airway when a user inhales through the mouthpiece. The inhaler comprises an actuating lever load control member to control the force that must be applied to the actuating lever to cause it to rotate from its initial position such that a biasing force is applied to the actuating lever throughout all, or at least a substantial portion of, the stroke of the actuating lever.

An inhaler is provided, comprising a housing which contains a blister strip having a plurality of blisters which contain powdered medicament for inhalation; a mouthpiece mounted on the housing through which the medicament is inhaled by a user; an actuator; a blister piercing member; an indexing wheel for sequentially moving each blister into alignment with the blister piercing member when the user operates the actuator; an actuator gear, mounted for rotation about a first axis, which is driven by the actuator and which comprises an actuator gear element; and a drive gear for driving the indexing wheel, mounted for rotation about a second axis, which engages with the actuator gear element. The inhaler is characterized in that the gear ratio between the actuator gear element and the drive gear varies as they rotate during operation of the actuator.

A dry powder inhaler (10) having a chamber (26) divided into first and second blister compartments (28, 30) for storing unused and used portions (34, 36) of a blister strip (12) is provided. A moveable dividing wall (32) separates the first and second blister compartments. One or more arcuate supporting surfaces (38, 40, 42) are disposed in either the first and/or the second blister compartments and these surfaces support the used or unused blister strip during successive actuations of the inhaler. Use of the arcuate supporting surfaces facilities compact coils of unused and used portions of blister strip, thereby reducing the size of the chamber required for the inhaler.

A dry powder inhaler (10) having a chamber (26) divided into first and second blister compartments (28, 30) for storing unused and used portions (34, 36) of a blister strip (12) is provided. A moveable dividing wall (32) separates the first and second blister compartments. One or more arcuate supporting surfaces (38, 40, 42) are disposed in either the first and/or the second blister compartments and these surfaces support the used or unused blister strip during successive actuations of the inhaler. Use of the arcuate supporting surfaces facilities compact coils of unused and used portions of blister strip, thereby reducing the size of the chamber required for the inhaler.