SINGLE PILL DISTRIBUTING CAP FOR USE ON PILL BOTTLES

Abstract

A single pill distributing cap has a movable part and a fixed part The fixed part is releasably attached onto a bottle and the movable part is rotationally attached to the fixed pan. The fixed part consists in a pill sorting chamber, and an exit chamber. The pill sorting chamber allows only one pill at a time to egress from the pill sorting chamber by way of a pill sorting chamber hole. Once a pill is out of the pill sorting chamber, upon continued rotation of the movable part, it aligns itself with the exit chamber. Once thus aligned, the pill drops into the exit chamber.

Claims

1. A cap adapted to distribute one pill at a time from a pill bottle; said cap comprising a fixed part that is adapted to screw onto said pill bottle; and a movable part that is adapted to be rotationally attached to said fixed part, such that when the movable part is rotated it is adapted to allow only one pill at a time to egress from said pill bottle and through said fixed and movable parts and thereby become distributed and available from said pill bottle.

2. The cap of claim 1, wherein said fixed part includes a pill sorting chamber and an exit chamber, such that said pill sorting chamber is adapted to allow only one pill at a time to egress therethrough.

3. The cap of claim 2, wherein said movable part includes an integral cavity and a porthole, such that when said movable part is rotated with respect to said fixed part and said cavity aligns with said pill sorting chamber of said fixed part said pill is allowed to drop into said cavity; and upon further rotation of said movable part, said cavity aligns with said exit chamber thus allowing said pill to egress from said cavity and into said exit chamber; and at this point said exit chamber is aligned with said porthole, thus allowing said pill to be evacuated therefrom.

4. The cap of claim 3, wherein said movable part includes a second transport chamber and second porthole, such that the degree of rotation necessary of said movable part can be reduced and the number of pills within the chambers in the process of egress can be increased to two.

5. The cap of claim 1, wherein said cap includes circumferential ridges adapted to coincide with circumferential ridges of a pill bottle and adapted to allow a removable secure connection between said cap and said pill bottle.

6. The cap of claim 1, wherein said cap can be formed from materials chosen from a list that includes plastic, metal, glass, fiberglass, paper, wax, and wood.

7. A pill dispensing system comprising a pill bottle adapted to contain a plurality of predetermined sized pills; and a cap adapted to distribute one pill at a time from said pill bottle; said cap comprising a fixed part that is adapted to screw onto said pill bottle; and a movable part that is adapted to be rotationally attached to said fixed part, such that when the movable part is rotated it is adapted to allow only one pill at a time to egress from said pill bottle and through said fixed and movable parts and thereby become distributed and available from said pill bottle.

8. The cap of claim 7, wherein said fixed part includes a pill sorting chamber and an exit chamber, such that said pill sorting chamber is adapted to allow only one pill at a time to egress therethrough.

9. The cap of claim 8, wherein said movable part includes an integral transport chamber and a porthole, such that when said movable part is rotated with respect to said fixed part and said cavity aligns with said pill sorting chamber of said fixed part, said pill is allowed to drop into said cavity; and upon further rotation of said movable part, said cavity aligns with said exit chamber thus allowing said pill to egress from said cavity and into said exit chamber; said porthole aligns with a porthole of said exit chamber thus allowing said pill to be evacuated therefrom.

10. The cap of claim 9, wherein said movable part includes a second cavity and second porthole, such that the degree of rotation necessary of said movable part can be reduced and the number of pills within the chambers in the process of egress can be increased to two.

11. The cap of claim 7, wherein said cap includes circumferential ridges adapted to coincide with circumferential ridges of said pill bottle and adapted to allow a removable secure connection between said cap and said pill bottle.

12. The cap of claim 7, wherein said cap and said pill bottle can be formed from materials chosen from a list that includes plastic, metal, glass, fiberglass, paper, wax, and wood.

13. A pill distributing means* comprising a pill containing means and a capping means adapted to distribute one pill at a time from said pill containing means: said pill containing means adapted to contain a plurality of predetermined sized pills, and said capping means comprising a fixed part that is adapted to screw onto said pill bottle; and a movable part that is adapted to be rotationally attached to said fixed part, such that when the movable part is rotated it is adapted to allow only one pill at a time to egress from said pill containing means and through said fixed and movable parts and thereby become distributed and available from said pill containing means.

14. The cap of claim 13, wherein said fixed part includes a pill sorting chamber and an exit chamber, such that said pill sorting chamber is adapted to allow only one pill at a time to egress therethrough.

15. The cap of claim 14, wherein said movable part includes an integral transport chamber and a porthole, such that when said movable part is rotated with respect to said fixed part and said transport chamber aligns with said pill sorting chamber of said fixed part, said pill is allowed to drop into said cavity; and upon further rotation of said movable part, said cavity aligns with said exit chamber thus allowing said pill to egress from said cavity and into said exit chamber; said porthole aligns with said exit chamber thus allowing said pill to be evacuated therefrom.

16. The cap of claim 15, wherein said movable part includes a second transport chamber and second porthole, such that the degree of rotation necessary of said movable part can be reduced and the number of pills within the chambers in the process of egress can be increased to two.

17. The cap of claim 13, wherein said cap includes circumferential ridges adapted to coincide with circumferential ridges of said pill bottle and adapted to allow a removable secure connection between said cap and said pill bottle.

18. The cap of claim 13, wherein said cap and said pill bottle can be formed from materials chosen from a list that includes plastic, metal, glass, fiberglass, paper, wax, and wood.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] FIG. 1 Perspective disassembled view of the cap and bottle.

[0018] FIGS. 2a-e Series of perspective views showing the various positions of the cap in the pill exiting sequence.

[0019] FIGS. 3a-b Side elevation and cutaway view, respectively, of the bottle and cap.

[0020] FIGS. 4a-b Perspective external and internal views, respectively, of the fixed part.

[0021] FIGS. 5a-b Perspective external and internal views, respectively, of the movable part.

[0022] FIGS. 6a-b Top and cutaway side view, respectively, of the cap in its first position in the pill exiting sequence.

[0023] FIGS. 7a-b Top and cutaway side view, respectively, of the cap in its second position in the pill exiting sequence.

[0024] FIGS. 8a-b Top and cutaway side view, respectively, of the cap in its third position in the pill exiting sequence.

[0025] FIGS. 9a-b Top and cutaway side view, respectively, of the cap in its fourth position in the pill exiting sequence.

[0026] FIGS. 10a-10b, 11a-11b and 12a-12b Side cutaway and top perspective view looking inside the cap, respectively, of variations of the cavity.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] A single pill distributing cap (10) has a movable part (12) and a fixed part (14). The fixed part (14) is screwed onto a bottle (16) and the movable part (12) is rotationally attached to the fixed part (14). The fixed part (14) has two chambers: a pill sorting chamber (18), which forms an extension of the bottle (16) and which collects a plurality of pills (20), and an exit chamber (22) which is created by the juxtaposition of the movable part (12) over the fixed part (14). In other words, half of the interior defining surfaces of the exit chamber (22) are made out of the fixed part (14) while the other half are made out of the movable part (12).

[0028] The movable part (12) includes an integral cavity (24) and a porthole (30), such that when the movable part (12) is rotated with respect to the fixed part (14) and the cavity (24) aligns with the pill sorting chamber (18) of the fixed part (14) the pill (20) is allowed to drop into the cavity (24); and upon further rotation of the movable part (12), the cavity (24) aligns with the exit chamber (22) thus allowing the pill (20) to egress from the cavity (24) and into the exit chamber (22); and at this point the exit chamber (22) is aligned with the porthole (30), thus allowing the pill (20) to be evacuated therefrom.

[0029] The fixed part (14) includes circumferential ridges adapted to coincide with circumferential ridges of the pill bottle (16) and adapted to allow a removable secure connection between the cap (10) and the pill bottle (16).

[0030] Looking at FIGS. 2 and 6 to 9, one can follow the path of the pill (20), in various positions in the pill (20) exiting sequence. In FIGS. 6a-b, when the cap (10) is upside down, a plurality of pills (20), (not shown in FIGS. 6a-b) fall into the pill sorting chamber (18). When a user rotates the movable part (12) one quarter of a turn, so that it looks like in FIGS. 7a-b, at this point, an opening (25) allows only one pill (20) at a time to egress from the pill sorting chamber (18) and drop into a pill cavity (24). Once one pill (20) fills the pill cavity (24), there is no room for more pills (20) and continuing the rotation of the movable part (12) by another quarter of a turn brings it to the configuration as shown in FIGS. 8A-b, which is similar to the configuration of FIGS. 6a-b, except for the fact that the pill (20) is still in the pill cavity (20). At this point, the cap (10) can be returned to the upright position and the pill (20) will remain inside the cavity (24).

[0031] Upon continued rotation of the movable part (12), the pill cavity (24) aligns itself with the exit chamber (22). as can be seen in FIGS. 9a-b, and the pill (20), drops into the exit chamber (22). At this point into the rotation of the movable part (12) a porthole (30) is also aligned with the exit chamber (22) so as to allow the pill (20) complete egress from the cap (10). For example, the user can simply tilts the bottle (16) to let the pill (20) slide out of the exit chamber (22). In fact, the pill (20) can drop directly into the mouth of the user, thus eliminating any contact with the hands. Also, when the porthole (30) is aligned with the exit chamber (22), it is also when the cavity (24) is aligned with the sorting chamber (18), which means that as one pill (20) is being taken in, another pill (20) gets ready for the cavity (24). To reduce the amount of turning necessary, in subsequent use, there are preferably two portholes (30) and two cavities (24) diametrically located within the movable part (12).

[0032] Because pills (20) come in various shapes and sizes, a variety of configured and sized cavities (24) can be made. Some examples of cavity (24) configurations are shown in FIGS. 10 to 12.0a-c. For example, FIGS. 10a-b show a cavity (24) for round pills (20). FIGS. 11a-b show a cavity (24) for cylindrical pills (20). For example, FIGS. 12a-b show a cavity (24) for powder or granular substances.

[0033] As to a further discussion of the manner of usage and operation of the present invention, the same should be apparent from the above description. Accordingly, no further discussion relating to the manner of usage and operation will be provided. With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of the invention, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by the present invention. Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the invention to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the invention.