Tablet cassette

Abstract

A tablet cassette includes: support points to support a swing member in a slit formed in a bottomed hole of a hollow rotary shaft; an engaged portion provided on a bottom wall portion of a container and spaced from the hollow rotary shaft to surround the rotary shaft; a swing member having a follower portion and an engaging portion located on different sides of the support points; and an urging member operable to move the engaging portion toward the engaged portion and move the follower portion into the bottomed hole. In a free state wherein the tablet cassette is detached from the base, the engaging portion engages with the engaged portion. When the tablet cassette is mounted to the base and the drive shaft is fitted into the bottomed hole, the follower portion is pushed out of the bottomed hole, and the engaging portion is disengaged from the engaged portion.

Claims

1. A tablet cassette comprising: a tablet container having a tablet containing space therein for containing a plurality of tablets in a random manner, the tablet container including a bottom wall portion formed with a discharge port to allow the plurality of tablets in the tablet containing space to fall down one by one; a rotor including a hollow rotary shaft having an axial line extending in a direction orthogonal to the bottom wall portion and having an opening portion on an opposite side to the tablet containing space, and a rotary body configured to rotate about the axial line together with the hollow rotary shaft in the tablet containing space of the tablet container and having a plurality of tablet receiving portions provided in a peripheral portion of the rotary body at predetermined intervals in a circumferential direction to receive the tablets one by one and to allow the tablets to pass therethrough to the discharge port, wherein the rotor is rotated when a motor is rotated with a drive shaft operable to be rotated by the motor being fitted with the hollow rotary shaft; and a lock mechanism configured to inhibit rotation of the hollow rotary shaft when the hollow rotary shaft is pulled off from the drive shaft, and to allow the hollow rotary shaft to rotate together with the drive shaft when the hollow rotary shaft is fitted with the drive shaft, wherein: the lock mechanism includes: a slit formed in the hollow rotary shaft to penetrate the hollow rotary shaft in a radial direction and extending in an axial direction, a swing member supported with respect to the hollow rotary shaft so as to be swingable about a support point of swing motion provided in the slit, the swing member including a follower portion located in an internal space of the hollow rotary shaft and an engaging portion located outside the hollow rotary shaft, an engaged portion provided on the bottom wall portion of the tablet container and spaced from the hollow rotary shaft to surround the hollow rotary shaft, and an urging member operable to urge the swing member such that the engaging portion is moved toward the engaged portion and the follower portion is moved into the hollow rotary shaft; and the swing member is swung in one direction by an urging force of the urging member to cause the engaging portion to engage with the engaged portion when the hollow rotary shaft is pulled off from the drive shaft, and the follower portion is pushed by the drive shaft radially outward to cause the swing member to swing in the other direction, thereby cancelling engagement between the engaging portion and the engaged portion when the hollow rotary shaft is fitted with the drive shaft.

2. The tablet cassette according to claim 1, wherein: a plurality of grooves that extend in the axial direction are formed at constant intervals in the circumferential direction in a portion of an inner peripheral portion of the hollow rotary shaft excluding a portion in which the slit is formed; and a plurality of protrusions that extend in the axial direction are provided at constant intervals in the circumferential direction on an outer peripheral portion of the drive shaft to be fitted in the plurality of grooves.

3. The tablet cassette according to claim 1, wherein: a portion of the rotary body that faces the bottom wall portion is formed with an annular recessed portion that opens toward the bottom wall portion and that surrounds the hollow rotary shaft; and the annular recessed portion receives a part or entirety of the engaged portion and a part or entirety of the engaging portion.

4. The tablet cassette according to claim 1, wherein the urging member is received in the internal space of the hollow rotary shaft.

5. The tablet cassette according to claim 1, wherein: a first tapered surface is formed at an inner circumferential portion of the opening portion of the hollow rotary shaft; a second tapered surface is formed at an outer circumferential portion at a distal end of the drive shaft; and a distance between a start position of following motion, at which the follower portion starts following motion, in the internal space of the hollow rotary shaft and the opening portion of the hollow rotary shaft is larger than a sum of an axial length of the first tapered surface of the hollow rotary shaft and an axial length of the second tapered surface of the drive shaft.

6. The tablet cassette according to claim 1, wherein: the engagement between the engaging portion and the engaged portion is achieved by fitting between at least one projection and at least one recess; and the engaged portion includes a plurality of recesses provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction when the engaging portion includes the at least one projection, and the engaged portion includes a plurality of projections provided at predetermined intervals in the circumferential direction when the engaging portion includes the at least one recess.

7. The tablet cassette according to claim 6, wherein: the engaged portion has an annular wall surface that extends along the hollow rotary shaft; the annular wall surface is formed with the plurality of recesses or the plurality of projections that extend along the hollow rotary shaft; and the engaging portion is formed with the at least one projection or the at least one recess that is provided so as not to inhibit swing motion of the swing member.

8. A tablet cassette comprising: a tablet container having a tablet containing space therein for containing a plurality of tablets in a random manner, the tablet container including a bottom wall portion formed with a discharge port to allow the plurality of tablets in the tablet containing space to fall down one by one; a rotor including a hollow rotary shaft having an axial line extending in a direction orthogonal to the bottom wall portion and having an opening portion on an opposite side to the tablet containing space, and a rotary body configured to rotate about the axial line together with the hollow rotary shaft in the tablet containing space of the tablet container and having a plurality of tablet receiving portions provided in a peripheral portion of the rotary body at predetermined intervals in a circumferential direction to receive the tablets one by one and to allow the tablets to pass therethrough to the discharge port, wherein the rotor is rotated when a motor is rotated with a drive shaft operable to be rotated by the motor being fitted with the hollow rotary shaft; and a lock mechanism configured to inhibit rotation of the hollow rotary shaft when the hollow rotary shaft is pulled off from the drive shaft, and to allow the hollow rotary shaft to rotate together with the drive shaft when the hollow rotary shaft is fitted with the drive shaft, wherein: the lock mechanism includes: a slit formed in the hollow rotary shaft to penetrate the hollow rotary shaft in a radial direction and extending in an axial direction, a linear moving member provided in the slit so as to be linearly movable in the slit, the linear moving member including a follower portion located in an internal space of the hollow rotary shaft and an engaging portion located outside the hollow rotary shaft, an engaged portion provided on the bottom wall portion of the tablet container and spaced from the hollow rotary shaft to surround the hollow rotary shaft, and an urging member operable to urge the linear moving member such that the engaging portion is moved toward the engaged portion and the follower portion is linearly moved toward the bottom wall portion; and the linear moving member is moved toward the bottom wall portion by an urging force of the urging member to cause the engaging portion to engage with the engaged portion when the hollow rotary shaft is pulled off from the drive shaft, and the follower portion is pushed by the drive shaft to cause the linear moving member to move in the slit away from the bottom wall portion, thereby cancelling engagement between the engaging portion and the engaged portion when the hollow rotary shaft is fitted with the drive shaft.

9. The tablet cassette according to claim 8, wherein: a plurality of grooves that extend in the axial direction are formed at constant intervals in the circumferential direction in a portion of an inner peripheral portion of the hollow rotary shaft excluding a portion in which the slit is formed; and a plurality of protrusions that extend in the axial direction are provided at constant intervals in the circumferential direction on an outer peripheral portion of the drive shaft to be fitted in the plurality of grooves.

10. The tablet cassette according to claim 8, wherein: a portion of the rotary body that faces the bottom wall portion is formed with an annular recessed portion that opens toward the bottom wall portion and that surrounds the hollow rotary shaft; and the annular recessed portion receives a part or entirety of the engaged portion and a part or entirety of the engaging portion.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1A is a vertical sectional perspective view of a tablet cassette in a free state, and FIG. 1B is a vertical sectional perspective view of a base and the tablet cassette mounted thereto.

(2) FIG. 2A is a vertical sectional perspective view of the tablet cassette in the free state with a lid and an upper portion of a container being removed therefrom, and FIG. 2B is a vertical sectional perspective view of the tablet cassette mounted to the base.

(3) FIG. 3A is a vertical sectional perspective view of a rotor and a lock mechanism, FIG. 3B is an enlarged sectional view of chamfered portions of a hollow rotary shaft of the rotor and a drive shaft of a motor portion, and FIG. 3C is a vertical sectional perspective view illustrating that the drive shaft of the motor portion is engaged with the hollow rotary shaft of the rotor.

(4) FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the rotor.

(5) FIGS. 5A and 5B are a perspective view and a bottom view, respectively, of an assembly in which a swing member is assembled into the rotor.

(6) FIG. 6A is a vertical sectional view of the assembly, and FIG. 6B is an exploded perspective view of the assembly.

(7) FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating that an urging member is combined with the swing member.

(8) FIG. 8 is a conceptual view illustrating the configuration of a different lock mechanism.

(9) FIG. 9A is a perspective view illustrating that the cassette is detached from the base, and FIG. 9B is a perspective view illustrating that the cassette is mount to the base.

(10) FIG. 10A is a vertical sectional perspective view of a tablet cassette, and FIG. 10B is a vertical sectional perspective view of the tablet cassette mounted to the base.

(11) FIG. 11A is a vertical sectional perspective view of a rotor, and FIG. 11B is a perspective view illustrating that a motor portion is engaged with the rotor.

DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

(12) A tablet cassette according to a plurality of embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

(13) In FIGS. 1 to 3, constituent elements that are similar to those according to the related art illustrated in FIGS. 9 to 11 are given the same reference numerals, and elements with a different configuration are given reference numerals obtained by adding a dash to the reference numerals indicated in FIGS. 9 to 11. Differences from the related art will be mainly described in detail below.

First Embodiment

(14) A specific configuration of a tablet cassette according to a first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1A is a vertical sectional perspective view illustrating the inside of a tablet cassette 10 in a free state. FIG. 1B is a vertical sectional perspective view illustrating the tablet cassette 10 and a base 20, whereby the cassette 10 is mounted on the base 20 from above and the base 20 supports the cassette 10 from below. FIG. 2A is a vertical sectional perspective view illustrating the inside of the tablet cassette 10 in the free state with a lid 15 and an upper portion 14 being detached from the tablet cassette 10. FIG. 2B is a vertical sectional perspective view of the tablet cassette 10 and the base 20, whereby the cassette 10 is mounted on the base 20 from above and the base 20 supports the tablet cassette 10 from below.

(15) FIG. 3A is a vertical sectional perspective view of a rotor 16 and lock mechanisms 60 to 80. FIG. 3B is a sectional enlarged view of a first tapered surface 19 of an inner tooth portion 18 of a hollow rotary shaft 17 of the rotor 16, a second tapered portion 26 of an outer tooth portion 25 of a drive shaft 24 of a motor portion 21, and a follower portion 71 of a swing member 70. FIG. 3C is a vertical sectional perspective view illustrating that the outer tooth portion 25 of the drive shaft 24 of the motor portion 21 is engaged with the inner tooth portion 18 of the hollow rotary shaft 17 of the rotor 16. In FIGS. 3A and 3C, for clear illustration of an urging member 80, the urging member 80 is not illustrated in section, but a portion of the urging member 80 on the closer side with respect to the swing member 70 is also illustrated. FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the rotor 16 as seen from the side of an opening portion of the hollow rotary shaft 17. The appearance of the tablet cassette 10 is the same as the appearance of the tablet cassette 10 illustrated in FIGS. 9 to 11 and discussed already.

(16) The tablet cassette 10 (see FIGS. 1 to 3) includes a fitting frame 11, a bottom wall portion 12, a lower portion 13 of a container, the upper portion 14 of the container, and the lid 15, as with the tablet cassette 10 according to the related art, and also includes the rotor 16 with a new structure obtained by modifying the rotor 16 of the tablet cassette 10 according to the related art, and lock mechanisms 60 to 80 as newly added components.

(17) The rotor 16 is different from the rotor 16rotor 16 discussed already in that a lock mechanism housing space 51 is formed to surround a root portion of the hollow rotary shaft 17, that a portion of a peripheral wall portion 17A of the hollow rotary shaft 17 is cut out in the axial direction to form a slit 52, and that a pair of support points of swing motion 53 are provided to project into the slit 52, as illustrated in FIG. 4.

(18) As illustrated in FIGS. 3A and 4, the lock mechanism housing space 51 is an annular space. In other words, the lock mechanism housing space 51 is an annular recessed portion that opens toward the bottom wall portion 12 and that surrounds the hollow rotary shaft 17. The lock mechanism housing space 51 which is an annular recessed portion is configured to receive a large part of both of an engaged portion 60 as discussed later and an engaging portion 72 of the swing member 70, out of the lock mechanisms 60 to 80.

(19) The pair of support points of swing motion 53 are formed by protrusions unitarily formed respectively with a pair of facing wall portions of the slit 52 to project from the facing wall portions toward each other. The pair of support points of swing motion 53 swingably support the swing member 70 at the swing center of the swing member 70 as discussed later, of the lock mechanisms 60 to 80. The swing member 70 is formed with a pair of recesses (not illustrated), with which the pair of support points of swing motion 53 are fitted. When the swing member 70 is fitted into the slit 52, the hollow rotary shaft 17 is deformed such that the slit 52 is widened in the width direction, or the swing member 70 is deformed to be compressed in the width direction.

(20) The lock mechanisms 60 to 80 include the engaged portion 60, the swing member 70, and the urging member 80 in order to inhibit axial rotation of the rotor 16 and the hollow rotary shaft 17 when the tablet cassette 10 is detached from the base 20 to be in a free state.

(21) The engaged portion 60 is an annular member with an inside diameter that is larger than the outside diameter of the hollow rotary shaft 17, and is spaced from the hollow rotary shaft 17 to surround entirely the circumference of the hollow rotary shaft 17. The engaged portion 60 is fixed to the upper surface of the bottom wall portion 12 of the lower portion 13 (tablet containing space), or unitarily formed with the bottom wall portion 12, to be substantially entirely received in the lock mechanism housing space 51 discussed above. An inner tooth portion 61 to mesh or engage with the engaging portion 72 of the swing member 70 is formed over the circumference of an inner peripheral portion, for example, of the engaged portion 60. The inner tooth portion 61 is shaped such that a plurality of projections and a plurality of recesses alternately appear in the circumferential direction.

(22) The swing member 70 is supported in the slit 52 discussed above by the support points of swing motion 53 so as to be swingable, and includes the follower portion 71 which is swung near the lower end of the hollow rotary shaft 17, the engaging portion 72 which is provided outside the hollow rotary shaft 17 to be swung near the inner tooth portion 61 of the engaged portion 60, and a portion on which the urging member 80 acts (a portion to which one end of a coil spring, as the urging member 80, is fixed). The engaging portion 72 is formed with at least one projection or at least one recess that is to be engaged with at least one recess or at least one projection that constitutes the inner tooth portion 61 provided on the engaged portion 60.

(23) The follower portion 71 and the engaging portion 72 are provided on different sides of the support points of swing motion 53, and the engaging portion 72 and its root portion are received in the lock mechanism housing space 51. When the follower portion 71 is moved into a bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17, the engaging portion 72 engages with the inner tooth portion 61 to inhibit axial rotation of the hollow rotary shaft 17 (or the rotor 16). In contrast, when the follower portion 71 is moved into the slit 52 from the internal space of the hollow rotary shaft 17, the engaging portion 72 is spaced away from the inner tooth portion 61 to allow axial rotation of the hollow rotary shaft 17 (or the rotor 16).

(24) As illustrated in FIG. 3B, the hollow rotary shaft 17 and the drive shaft 24 are shaped and positioned as follows: at the time that the follower portion 71 is moved into the bottomed hole 17a or the internal space of the hollow rotary shaft 17, the distance in the axial direction to the lowest position of the follower portion 71 in the bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17 that is, the distance to a start position of following motion A, as measured from the opening portion at the lower end of the hollow rotary shaft 17 is larger than the sum (B+C) of an axial length B of the first tapered surface 19 of the bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17 and an axial length C of the second tapered surface 26 at the distal end of the outer tooth portion 25 of the drive shaft 24.

(25) The follower portion 71 is configured such that the axial position (A) of a portion of the follower portion 71 that is first contacted by the drive shaft 24 when fitting the drive shaft into the hollow rotary shaft 17 is larger than the sum (B+C) of the axial lengths of the first tapered surface 19 and the second tapered surface 26, and is closer to the bottom side (upper side in the drawing) of the bottomed hole 17a.

(26) The urging member 80 (see FIGS. 3A and 8B) is an elastic member such as a coil spring. The urging member 80 is received in the bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17, and located close to the inner bottom (the upper end portion in the drawing) of the bottomed hole 17a. The urging member 80 is operable to act on a portion of a swingable portion of the swing member 70 that is always received in the bottomed hole 17a to urge the swing member 70 such that the engaging portion 72 of the swing member 70 is moved toward the inner tooth portion 61 of the engaged portion 60 away from the hollow rotary shaft 17. The swing member 70 is urged such that the follower portion 71 is moved into the bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17, since the follower portion 71 and the engaging portion 72 are provided on different sides of the support points of swing motion 53 as discussed above.

(27) The use and operation of the tablet cassette 10 according to the first embodiment will be described with reference to the drawings discussed above.

(28) In order to use the tablet cassette 10, the tablet cassette 10 must be replenished with tablets in advance. Thus, the tablet cassette 10 is detached from the base 20 into a free state (see FIGS. 1A, 2A, and 3A). In the free state, the lid 15 is opened to allow an appropriate amount of tablets to be input into the upper portion 14 (tablet containing space), and then the lid 15 is closed to finish the replenishment work. After that, the tablet cassette 10 containing the tablets is moved to a position right above the base 20 (see FIG. 3B). Until then, the tablet cassette 10 is in a free state in which nothing abuts against the follower portion 71 of the swing member 70. While the engaging portion 72 of the swing member 70 is urged by the urging member 80 and is kept engaging with the inner tooth portion 61 of the engaged portion 60, the hollow rotary shaft 17 and the rotor 16 do not make any axial rotation. As a result, the tablets are not discharged from the discharge port of the tablet cassette 10 in an undesirable manner.

(29) When the tablet cassette 10 is moved down toward the base 20 located below, the fitting frame 11 of the tablet cassette 10 is fitted with a fitting portion 23 of the base 20 so that the tablet cassette 10 and the base 20 are generally aligned with each other in the horizontal and transverse directions, and the first tapered surface 19 of the lower-end opening of the bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17 of the tablet cassette 10 and the second tapered surface 26 at the upper end of the outer tooth portion 25 of the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 contact (or are fitted with) each other. Such tapered surfaces are smoothly fitted with each other in a free fitting state in a contacting stage. When the tablet cassette 10 is moved further downward, fitting between the hollow rotary shaft 17 of the tablet cassette 10 and the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 proceeds to a subsequent meshing state, in which the lower portion of the inner tooth portion 18 of the hollow rotary shaft 17 of the tablet cassette 10 and the upper portion of the outer tooth portion 25 of the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 are fitted with each other to establish meshing between the inner tooth portion 18 and the outer tooth portion 25.

(30) At this point, the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 has not reached the follower portion 71 of the swing member 70 of the tablet cassette 10 yet, and axial rotation of the hollow rotary shaft 17 and the rotor 16 is inhibited by the lock mechanisms 60 to 80. Thus, if there is displacement in tooth position between the inner tooth portion 18 of the tablet cassette 10 and the outer tooth portion 25 of the base 20, the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 receives a component of fitting thrust to make axial rotation for half a tooth or less, absorbing the displacement.

(31) Therefore, the tablets are not discharged from the discharge port of the tablet cassette 10 in an undesirable manner even when the tablet cassette 10 is mounted to the base 20.

(32) When the tablet cassette 10 is moved further downward (see FIGS. 1B, 2B, and 3C), the hollow rotary shaft 17 of the tablet cassette 10 and the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 are fitted with each other and the inner tooth portion 18 and the outer tooth portion 25 are meshed deeply with each other, and the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 abuts against the follower portion 71 of the swing member 70 of the tablet cassette 10 to push the follower portion 71. Thus, the swing member 70 is swung in such a direction that the follower portion 71 which has been pushed is moved out of the slit 52 of the hollow rotary shaft 17. Then, the engaging portion 72 of the swing member 70 is disengaged from the inner tooth portion 61 of the engaged portion 60 in accordance with the swing motion, thereby cancelling the engagement between the engaged portion 60 and the swing member 70.

(33) In this way, now that the lock mechanisms 60 to 80 has finished its role, accompanying the mounting of the tablet cassette 10 to the base 20, the hollow rotary shaft 17 (or the rotary body 16A of the rotor 16) can make axial rotation together with the drive shaft 24 of the base 20. Therefore, the tablet cassette 10 operates in the same manner as that (10) according to the related art after being mounted to the base 20. That is, each time the base 20 follows the control to activate the motor to rotate the drive shaft 24, the hollow rotary shaft 17 makes axial rotation, thereby accordingly rotating the rotor 16 axially. Thus, the tablets which are aligned are allowed to fall down one by one from the discharge port H of the lower portion 13 of the tablet container.

Other Embodiments

(34) In the embodiment described above, the respective numbers of teeth of the inner tooth portion 18 of the hollow rotary shaft 17 of the tablet cassette 10 and the outer tooth portion 25 of the drive shaft 24 of the base 20 are large. However, the numbers of teeth may be small as long as the numbers correspond to each other (see Patent Document 3, for example).

(35) In the embodiment described above, the hollow rotary shaft 17 and the rotary body 16A of the rotor 16 are directly coupled to each other. However, the hollow rotary shaft 17 and the rotary body 16A of the rotor 16 may be separate and operable in conjunction with each other via a coupling structure (see Patent Document 4, for example).

(36) [Modification]

(37) A modification of the first embodiment described above will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7. In this modification, the shape of a swing member 70 and the shape of an urging member 80 are different from those of the swing member 70 and the urging member 80 according to the first embodiment. FIGS. 5A and 5B are a perspective view and a bottom view, respectively, of an assembly in which the swing member is assembled into the rotor. FIG. 6A is a vertical sectional view of the assembly. FIG. 6B is an exploded perspective view of the assembly. FIG. 7 is a perspective view in which the urging member is combined with the swing member. In particular, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the body of the swing member 70 includes a pair of plate-like portions 70A that face each other in the width direction. There is a gap between the pair of plate-like portions 70A. Therefore, a pair of shaft portions 73 provided on the outer side of the pair of plate-like portions 70A can be easily fitted with a pair of recesses that constitute support points of swing motion 53 provided in the facing inner wall portions of the slit 52 of the hollow rotary shaft 17 by deforming the pair of plate-like portions 70A so as to approach each other when fitting the shaft portions 73 with the pair of recesses.

(38) In the present modification, a coil spring of the urging member 80 is disposed in a direction orthogonal to the axis of the hollow rotary shaft 17. One end 80A of the urging member 80 is engaged with the swing member 70, and the other end 80B of the urging member 80 abuts against the inner wall surface of the bottomed hole 17a of the hollow rotary shaft 17.

(39) Adopting this structure facilitates assembly of the swing member 70 into the hollow rotary shaft 17, and facilitates assembly of the urging member 80 with the swing member 70.

(40) In addition, an engaging portion 72 of the swing member 70 is formed with three projections 72A and two recesses 72B that extend in the axial direction. If the respective numbers of projections 72A and recesses 72B are large, the engagement between the engaging portion 72 and the inner tooth portion 61 of the engaged portion 60 can be further secured.

Second Embodiment

(41) FIG. 8 is a conceptual view illustrating the configuration of another lock mechanism adopted in a second embodiment. In this lock mechanism, a hollow rotary shaft 17 is provided with a linear moving member 70 as a swing member to be combined with a slit 52 configured to penetrate the hollow rotary shaft 17 in the radial direction and extending in the axial direction. The linear moving member 70 is provided in the slit 52 so as to be linearly movable in the slit 52, and includes a follower portion 71 located in the internal space of the hollow rotary shaft and an engaging portion 72 located outside the hollow rotary shaft 17. The engaged portion 60 is provided on the bottom wall portion of the tablet container, and spaced from the hollow rotary shaft 17 to surround the hollow rotary shaft 17. The urging member 80 is a coil spring disposed to urge the linear moving member 70 such that the engaging portion 72 is moved toward the engaged portion 60 and the follower portion 71 is linearly moved toward the bottom wall portion 12.

(42) The linear moving member 70 is moved toward the bottom wall portion 12 by an urging force of the urging member 80 to cause the engaging portion 72 to engage with the engaged portion 60 when the hollow rotary shaft 17 is pulled off from the drive shaft 24. When the hollow rotary shaft 17 is fitted with the drive shaft 24, the follower portion 71 is pushed by the drive shaft 24 to cause the linear moving member 70 to move in the slit away from the bottom wall portion 12, thereby cancelling engagement between the engaging portion 72 and the engaged portion 60.

(43) As a matter of course, the structure of the lock mechanism may be different from the structures according to the first and second embodiments as long as the lock mechanism is configured to inhibit rotation of the hollow rotary shaft when the hollow rotary shaft is pulled off from the drive shaft, and to allow the hollow rotary shaft to rotate together with the drive shaft when the hollow rotary shaft is fitted with the drive shaft.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

(44) The tablet cassette according to the present invention is applicable not only to the tablet dispensing apparatuses and the tablet splitting apparatuses discussed already, but also to other medicine dispensers such as bottling apparatuses, as long as such apparatuses include a drive portion for a tablet cassette that can be mounted thereon.

(45) The tablet cassette according to the present invention can be used not only for fully automated medicine dispensers, but also for semi-automatic medicine dispensers etc. operable to process tablets one by one upon each manual operation, for example.

(46) The tablet cassette according to the present invention can be used to contain in a random manner and sequentially discharge not only typical tablets such round tablets, but also capsules etc.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

(47) 10 tablet cassette 11 fitting frame 12 bottom plate portion 13 lower portion (tablet containing space) 14 upper portion (tablet containing space) 15 lid 16 rotor 17 hollow rotary shaft 17 a bottomed hole 18 inner tooth portion 19 first tapered surface 20 base (support portion) 21 motor portion (drive portion) 22 support portion (seat portion) 23 fitting portion (seat portion) 24 drive shaft 25 outer tooth portion 26 second tapered surface 10 tablet cassette 50 rotor (rotor) 51 lock mechanism housing space 52 slit (cutout) 53 support point of swing motion 60 engaged portion 61 inner tooth portion (engaged portion) 70 swing member 71 follower portion 72 engaging portion 80 urging member