MEDICINE DISPENSING APPARATUS

Abstract

A tablet dispensing apparatus in which the work of cleaning for tablet falling surfaces in an accumulating chute and a gathering chute of a lower tablet collecting mechanism can be easily and accurately carried out. The accumulating chute is forwardly drawn from a housing accompanied by a manual medicine dispensing device, and an accumulating chute support member is provided on a drawer mechanism, and the accumulating chute can be configured to attach and detach by a hunger on an upper end of the accumulating chute support member. Further, when the accumulating chute is forwardly drawn, the gathering chute can be moved backward along a gathering chute support member, and the gathering chute can be attached and detached by holding a handle member.

Claims

1. A medicine dispensing apparatus comprising: a housing; a plurality of tablet feeder storage portions equipped with a plurality of tablet feeders that accommodate tablets and sequentially discharge the tablets, configured to be housed in the housing and to be individually drawable forwarding from the housing; a plurality of upper tablet collecting mechanisms, each of which is provided in the tablet feeder storage portion and which guides the tablets discharged from the plurality of tablet feeders downward and drops the tablets; a lower tablet collecting mechanism provided below the plurality of tablet feeder storage portions and configured to collect the tablets that have fallen from the plurality of upper tablet collecting mechanisms and to fall down the tablets downward; a packing device provided under the lower tablet collecting mechanism to separately pack the tablets discharged from the lower tablet collecting mechanism into a packing band; and a manual medicine dispensing device placed in front of the lower tablet collecting mechanism and configured to be drawable forwarding from the housing, wherein: the lower tablet collecting mechanism includes an accumulating chute accumulating fallen tablets discharged from the upper tablet collecting mechanisms at the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device, and a gathering chute letting fall while gathering both the tablets fallen from the accumulating chute and the tablets fallen from the manual medicine dispensing device, the accumulating chute is forwardly drawn out of the housing accompanied by the manual medicine dispensing device to be forwardly drawn out of the housing, an accumulating chute supporting member detachably supporting the accumulating chute is positioned while standing at a rear of the manual medicine dispensing device, and the accumulating chute is attached to the accumulating chute support member with an upper end of the accumulating chute resting on an upper end of the accumulating chute support member.

2. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the accumulating chute support member comprises a pair of supporting structures, the pair of supporting structures are placed on the left and right with standing at the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device, and a pair of upper end portions of both left and right sides of the accumulating chute rest on upper end portions of the pair of supporting structures.

3. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a recess that can be hung with fingertips is each formed on the side of the pair of upper end portions of the accumulating chute.

4. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, wherein a gathering chute support member that detachably supports the gathering chute is provided at the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device, and the gathering chute is forwardly drawn out of the housing accompanied by the manual medicine dispensing device which is forwardly drawn out of the housing.

5. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the gathering chute is capable to move away from the manual medicine dispensing device to a rear position that the gathering chute can be lifted when the accumulating chute is detached from the accumulating chute support member while the manual medicine dispensing device is forwardly drawn out of the housing, and a backward movement range of the gathering chute is restricted when the accumulating chute is attached with the accumulating chute support member even if the manual medicine dispensing device is forwardly drawn out of the housing.

6. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the gathering chute biasing means is provided to attempt to pull forward the gathering chute in a state where a backward movement of the gathering chute is restricted since the accumulating chute is attached with the accumulating chute support member.

7. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 4, wherein a handle member on which the fingertips can be hung is attached to an upper end surface of the gathering chute.

8. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: a plurality of single-row reserving mechanism provided to lower end portions of the plurality of tablet feeder storage portions, which temporarily reserve the tablets fallen from the upper tablet collecting mechanisms and then to release the tablets; and a multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism that is provided deep inside the housing and operates the plurality of single-row reserving mechanisms at the same time to discharge the tablets all at once; wherein the single-row reserving mechanism and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism are separated from or engaged with each other in accordance with the forward and backward movement of the single-row reserving mechanism that occurs when the tablet feeder storage portion corresponding to the single-row reserving mechanism is taken in and out of the housing, wherein a leftmost single-row reserving mechanism located at the leftmost position in the housing among the plurality of single-row reserving mechanisms includes a left side non-swinging member having a right slope that looks diagonally upward to the right and a right side swinging member facing the non-swinging member, and a tablet falling path with a downward constriction is formed between the non-swinging member and the swinging member, and wherein a rightmost single-row reserving mechanism located at the rightmost position in the housing among the plurality of single-row reserving mechanisms includes a right side non-swinging member having a left slope that looks diagonally upward to the left and a left side swinging member facing the non-swinging member, and a tablet falling path with a downward constriction is formed between the non-swinging member and the swinging member.

9. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism includes a left drive source that drives a member including the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism, and a right drive source that drives a member including the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism.

10. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism share a driving source for rotational movement, and a rotation reversal mechanism reversing the direction of rotational motion is provided in either a left transmission mechanism between the drive source and the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism or a right transmission mechanism between the drive source and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism.

11. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism includes an electric motor as a drive source and an origin sensor that detects a rotation stop position of the output shaft of the electric motor, and is configured to stop rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor when the origin sensor detects that the single-row reserving mechanism and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism are separated.

12. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 5, wherein a handle member on which the fingertips can be hung is attached to an upper end surface of the gathering chute.

13. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 6, wherein a handle member on which the fingertips can be hung is attached to an upper end surface of the gathering chute.

14. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism includes an electric motor as a drive source and an origin sensor that detects a rotation stop position of the output shaft of the electric motor, and is configured to stop rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor when the origin sensor detects that the single-row reserving mechanism and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism are separated.

15. The medicine dispensing apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism includes an electric motor as a drive source and an origin sensor that detects a rotation stop position of the output shaft of the electric motor, and is configured to stop rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor when the origin sensor detects that the single-row reserving mechanism and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism are separated.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0043] FIG. 1: illustrates the structure of a medicine dispensing apparatus for Example 1 of the present invention, with FIG. (A) being a front view and each of FIG. (B) to FIG. (D) being a left side view.

[0044] FIG. 2: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with a tablet feeder storage portion pulled out, FIG. (B) is an A-A cross sectional view of the tablet feeder storage portion, and each of FIG. (C) and FIG. (D) is an A-A cross sectional view of a temporary reserving mechanism.

[0045] FIG. 3: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a composite view of the left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus and a B-B cross sectional view of the tablet feeder storage portion pulled out from the medicine dispensing apparatus, FIG. (B) is a C-C cross sectional view of the B-B cross section of the tablet feeder storage portion, and each of FIG. (C) and FIG. (D) is the A-A cross sectional view of the temporary reserving mechanism.

[0046] FIG. 4: illustrates that each of FIG. (A) to FIG. (C) is a plane view, a front view, and a longitudinal sectional view of a single-row temporary reserving mechanism and a driving mechanism of the single-row temporary reserving mechanism.

[0047] FIG. 5: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a plane view of a multi-row temporary reserving mechanism, a driving mechanism of the multi-row temporary reserving mechanism, and a transmission link mechanism, and each of FIG. (B) and FIG. (C) is a front view of the link mechanism.

[0048] FIG. 6: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with the tablet feeder storage portion pulled out, and FIG. (B) is a D-D cross-sectional view of the medicine dispensing apparatus.

[0049] FIG. 7: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with a manual medicine dispensing device etc. stored in a housing, and FIG. (B) is a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with the manual medicine dispensing device pulled out from the housing.

[0050] FIG. 8: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a perspective view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with an accumulating chute pulled out together with the manual medicine dispensing device, FIG. (B) is a perspective view of the accumulating chute and the surroundings of the accumulating chute, and FIG. (C) is a perspective view of the accumulating chute, a gathering chute and the manual medicine dispensing device.

[0051] FIG. 9: illustrates that FIG. (A) is a perspective view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with the accumulating chute being removed, FIG. (B) is a perspective view of the medicine dispensing apparatus with the gathering chute moved backward, and FIG. (C) is a perspective view of the gathering chute.

[0052] FIG. 10: illustrates the structure of the medicine dispensing apparatus regarding Example 2 of the present invention that FIG. (A) is a front view and FIG. (B) is an E-E cross sectional view.

[0053] FIG. 11: illustrates a plane view of the multi-row temporary reserving mechanism, the driving mechanism, and the transmission link mechanism.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

Description of the Embodiments

[0054] The medicine dispensing apparatus according to the embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to specific examples 1 and 2 for implementing the apparatus.

[0055] FIGS. 1 to 9 are used to explain the example 1, and FIGS. 10 to 11 are used to explain the example 2.

[0056] For the sake of clarity, fasteners such as bolts, connectors such as hinges, transmission members such as gears, electric circuits such as motor drivers, electronic circuits such as controllers, etc. in FIGS. 1 to 11 are omitted, and only those components necessary for explaining the invention and those components related to the invention are illustrated.

EXAMPLE 1

[0057] The specific configuration of Example 1 of the medicine dispensing apparatus of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0058] FIG. 1 illustrates the overall structure of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 according to the Example 1, in which FIG. (A) is a front view, FIG. (B) is a left side view, FIG. (C) is a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 with a packing device 40 pulled out, and FIG. D is a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 with a manual medicine dispensing device 80 pulled out.

[0059] FIG. 2(A) illustrates a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 with a tablet feeder storage portion 12 pulled out from a housing 11 of a medicine storage, and FIG. 2(B) illustrates an A-A cross sectional view of the tablet feeder storage portion 12. In addition, FIG. 2(C) illustrates an A-A cross sectional view of a leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a (a temporary storage mechanism 60, a single-row reserving mechanism) located at a leftmost position in the housing 11 of the medicine storage, and FIG. 2(D) illustrates an A-A cross sectional view of a rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b (the temporary storage mechanism 60, the single-row reserving mechanism) located at a rightmost position in the housing 11 of the medicine storage. Each of FIG. 2(C) and FIG. 2(D) illustrates that the mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) is closed.

[0060] FIG. 3(A) illustrates a composite view of a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 and a B-B cross sectional view (see FIG. 2(B)) of the tablet feeder storage portion 12 pulled out from the housing 11 of the medicine storage. Similarly, FIG. 3(B) illustrates a C-C cross sectional view of the B-B cross section of the tablet feeder storage 12. Further, FIG. 3(C) illustrates an A-A cross sectional view of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a (the temporary reserving mechanism 60, the single-row reserving mechanism) located at the leftmost position in the housing 11 of the medicine storage, and FIG. 3(D) illustrates an A-A cross sectional view of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b (the temporary reserving mechanism 60, the single-row reserving mechanism) located at the rightmost position in the housing 11 of the medicine storage. Each of drawings of the above-referenced FIG. (C) and FIG. (D) illustrates that the temporary reserving mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) is opened.

[0061] Each of FIGS. 4(A) to 4(C) illustrates the set of a plane view, a front view and a vertical cross sectional view in different operating states of the single-row temporary reserving mechanism 60 and driving mechanisms 51 to 55.

[0062] FIG. 5(A) illustrates a plane view of the multi-row temporary reserving mechanisms 60, the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 that simultaneously drive the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms, and transmission link mechanisms 70. Both FIG. 5(B) and FIG. 5(C) illustrate front views of the link mechanisms 70, of which (B) illustrates the operating state when the temporary reserving mechanisms 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) are closed, and FIG. (C) illustrates the operating state when the temporary reserving mechanisms 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) is opened.

[0063] FIG. 6(A) illustrates a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 with the tablet feeder storage portion 12 pulled out from the housing 11 of the medicine storage, and FIG. 6(B) illustrates a D-D cross sectional view of the left side view illustrated in FIG. 6(A) and further illustrates the arrangement states of a fixed chute 31 (a first falling collection section) in the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50.

[0064] FIG. 7(A) illustrates a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 in which the tablet feeder storage portion 12, a manual medicine dispensing device 80, and a packing device 40 are installed in the housing, and FIG. 7(B) illustrates a left side view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 in a state where the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is pulled out from the housing.

[0065] FIG. 8(A) illustrates a perspective view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 in which an accumulating chute 32 (a second falling collection section) is forwardly drawn from the housing accompanied by the manual medicine dispensing device 80, and FIG. 8(B) illustrates a perspective view of the accumulating chute 32 (the second falling collection section) and its surroundings seen through the manual medicine dispensing device 80, and FIG. 8(C) illustrates a left side view of the accumulating chute 32 (the second falling collection section), a gathering chute 33 (a third falling collection section) and the manual medicine dispensing device 80.

[0066] FIG. 9(A) illustrates a perspective view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 in the state which the accumulating chute 32 (the second falling collection section) is removed from the drawer mechanism 81, FIG. 9(B) illustrates a perspective view of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 in the state which the gathering chute 33 (the third falling collection section) is slid to the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device 80, and FIG. 9(C) illustrates a perspective view of the gathering chute 33 (the third falling collection section) alone.

[0067] The medicine dispensing apparatus 10 (see FIG. 1) is a partially improved apparatus of the above-mentioned conventional medicine dispensing apparatus. Therefore, similarly to the conventional medicine dispensing apparatuses described above (see also Patent Documents 1 to 5), the medicine storage is provided in the upper part of the housing 11, and a lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 and the packing device 40 are installed in the lower part of the housing 11 in a vertical arrangement. In this example (see FIG. 1(B), FIG. 2(A), and FIG. 3(A)), the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 is also secured at the uppermost part of the lower part of the housing 11, is located above the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30, and is located directly below the housing 11.

[0068] Although not shown in Figs., a control device consisting of a computer for electronic controlling or the like is also mounted at an appropriate location in the housing. A touch panel 14 serving as an operation input section and a display section of the control device is attached to the front surface of one of the tablet feeder storage portions 12 of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 (see FIG. 1(A)).

[0069] In the housing 11, a plurality of (four in this example) tablet feeder storage portions 12 are arranged side by side on the left and right, and each of the tablet feeder storage portions 12 can be individually pushed into the housing 11 (see FIG. 1) or pulled out from the housing 11 toward the front (see FIG. 2(A)) when using as required during medicine replenishment or the work of maintenance. Side plates 11a are also provided on both the left and right sides of the housing 11, which can be easily opened and closed by attaching and detaching or swinging (see FIGS. 1 to 3).

[0070] In the tablet feeder storage portion 12, the large number of tablet feeders 13 are mounted. In the illustrated example (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 3), the tablet feeders 13 are arranged in 6 rows and 6 stages on the left side (see FIG. 2(A) and FIG. 2(B)) and the tablet feeders 13 are also arranged in 6 rows and 6 stages on the right side (see FIG. 2(B) and FIG. 3(B)). However, regarding the lowest stage, tablet feeder non-installation parts 26 must be secured at the front and rear since the front-to-back length of an upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 must match the front-to-back length of the upper end of the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section). Therefore, only a small number of tablet feeders 13 (three in FIG. 2(A) and FIG. 3(A)) are provided.

[0071] The tablet feeder 13 (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 3) is a tablet feeder of a type dedicated to specific tablets with a removable cassette. The tablet feeder 13 comprises a base part 13a (driving part and discharging part) fixed to the tablet feeder storage portion 12 and a cassette 13b (follower part and accommodation part) attached to and detached from the base part 13a. Each of tablet feeders 13 randomly stores one of the various tablets in each cassette 13b, and sequentially discharges the tablets under the control of the above-mentioned control device. Note that the tablet feeder 13 is not limited to the tablet feeder of the type dedicated to specific tablets with the removable cassette, and some or all of the many tablet feeders 13 may be the tablet feeders of integral and fixed type which can be accommodated a wide variety of tablets (for example, see, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2021-029378).

[0072] In short, the tablet feeder 13 may be of any type as long as it can accommodate the large number of medicines at once and also can sequentially discharge the stored medicines one by one under the control of the above-mentioned control device.

[0073] Note that dispensing instructions or the like to the control device can be given via communication from a dispensing server (not shown) or the like, or can also be given manually via the touch panel 14. The touch panel 14 also displays the operating status of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10, information for the dispensing operator, etc. under the control of the control device.

[0074] Further, as shown in FIG. 2(B), the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 having sliding plates 24 for tablet guide path and drop openings 25 for tablet guide path is arranged between the left tablet feeders 13 and right tablet feeders 13. As shown in FIG. 2(B), FIG. 3(A) and FIG. 3(B), the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 has a box shape with thin left and right thickness, and is incorporated into each tablet feeder storage 12 one by one. The upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 is configured so that the tablets discharged from the tablet feeders 13 aligned on the left and right are received, though the drop opening 25 for the tablet guide path, into the hollow space between the left sliding plate 24 for tablet guide path and the right sliding plate 24 for tablet guide path, and the tablets are guided downward and are dropped downwards. All the tablets discharged from the tablet feeders 13 are entered into the temporary reserving mechanism 60 being in a closed state (described later) and are temporarily stored in the temporary reserving mechanism 60 (see FIG. 2(C) and FIG. 2(D)). Then the temporary reserving mechanism 60 is opened to drop the all tablets downwards (see FIG. 3(C) and FIG. 3(D)).

[0075] The lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 (see FIG. 1(B), FIG. 2(A), FIG. 3(A), FIG. 6, and FIG. 7) is located below the plurality of tablet feeder storage portions 12 within the housing 11. Then, the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 receives and collects the medicines which are dropped from the large number of tablet feeders 13 mounted in the plurality of tablet feeder storage portions 12, and are passed through any one of the plurality of upper medicine collecting mechanisms 20, and are further passed through any one of the plurality of temporary reserving mechanisms 60. The lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 is then for feeding the collected tablets into the lower packing device 40. In this configuration, there is a funnel-shaped member with upper and lower three stages, which comprises, the fixed chute 31, the accumulating chute 32 and the gathering chute 33, as the main components.

[0076] The fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section) is located at the upper stage and is a larger vertical cylindrical member with a lower constriction structure and brings the fallen medicines from the temporary reserving mechanism 60 slightly toward the center.

[0077] The accumulating chute 32 (the second falling object collection section) is a medium size vertical cylindrical member with a lower construction structure and is located at the middle stage. The accumulating chute 32 receives the medicines that has fallen from the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section), collects the medicines in the center, and then releases the medicines downward.

[0078] The gathering chute 33 (the third falling object collection section) is a small vertical cylindrical member with a lower construction structure and is located at the lower stage. The gathering chute 33 receives the medicines that have fallen from the accumulating chute 32 (the second falling object collection section) in addition to the medicines that have been discharged and fallen from the manual medicine dispensing device 80, further collects the medicines in the center, and then releases the medicines toward the input hopper 41 of the packing device 40.

[0079] The packing device 40 (see FIGS. 1 to 3) is provided below the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 described above. The input hopper 41 receives the medicines whose falling position has been narrowed down by the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30. The packing device 40 separately packs the medicines in the input hopper 41 into packing band (not shown) under the control of the control device.

[0080] The packing device 40 is configured to be forwardly drawn out of the housing 11 accompanied by the base member 42 which is forwardly drawn out of the housing 11, as same as the conventional medicine dispensing apparatus described above (see FIG. 1(C)).

[0081] The manual medicine dispensing device 80 is mounted on a drawer mechanism 81 together with the accumulating chute 32 and the gathering chute 33 (see FIG. 1(B)), and can be forwardly drawn from the housing 11 together with the accumulating chute and the gathering chute (see FIG. 1(D)). The manual medicine dispensing device 80 includes a removable preliminary dispensing cassette or a permanent preliminary dispensing portion, in which the large number of compartments (cells) are arranged in rows and stages. The upper surface of each compartment is opened for medicine injected, and the lower surface of each compartment is made of a shutter for medicine discharged, which opens and closes automatically, so that even if the injection of medicine can be performed manually, the discharging of medicine can be performed automatically. The medicines dropped and discharged from the manual medicine dispensing device 80 in compartments unit by unit is downwardly fallen into the gathering chute 33, so that the medicines are transferred from the tablet feeders 13 into the gathering chute 33 and is merged with the medicines fallen via the above-mentioned collecting mechanism (20, 60, 31, 32).

[0082] In this example, the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 is also secured in the lower portion of the housing that installs the manual medicine dispensing device 80, the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30, etc. (see FIGS. 1 to 3 and FIG. 6).

[0083] The temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 is arranged above the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 and is located between the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 and the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 (see FIG. 2(A) and FIG. 2(B)). Furthermore, the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 and the link mechanisms 70 are fixedly mounted in the rear part of the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 (see FIG. 6). Further, the upper end of the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section) is fixed to the center of the lower surface of the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 (see FIG. 6). A space is secured in the center portion and the front portion in which the temporary reserving mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) can move in and out accompanied by the tablet feeder storage portion 12 which moves in and out from the housing of the medicine storage 11 (see FIG. 1(B) and FIG. 6).

[0084] The temporary reserving mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) (see FIGS. 2 to 6) is attached to each tablet feeder storage portion 12 one by one. The temporary reserving mechanism 60 includes a box frame 61 with an open top being long from front to back, an inclined side plate 62 on one side of the box frame, an opening/closing member 63 (a swinging plate, a swinging member) that faces the inclined side plate 62 and opens and closes the lower surface of the box frame, and a support shaft 64 (a transmission shaft) connected the upper portion of the opening/closing member 63.

[0085] When the support shaft 64 is rotated within a restricted range, the temporary reserving mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) swings the opening/closing member 63 to close the lower surface of the box frame 61 (see FIG. 2(C), FIG. 2(D) and FIG. 4(A)), and to open the lower surface of the box frame to create the opening 63a (the tablet falling path with a lower constriction structure) (see FIG. 4(B)), or further to enlarge the opening 63a (see FIG. 3(C), FIG. 3(D), and FIG. 4(C)).

[0086] The above-mentioned temporary reserving mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism) receives the medicines in a closed state and temporarily reserves the medicines when the medicines discharged from the large number of tablet feeders 13 are guided by the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 located above and fall. Then, the lower surface of the temporary reserving mechanism 60 is opened at an appropriate time to drop all reserved medicines into the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 through the opening 63a. During temporary reserving in the temporary reserving mechanism 60, variations in medicine collecting time due to variations in the discharge timing of each tablet feeder 13, differences in falling path length in each upper medicine collecting mechanism 20, and variations in falling time, etc. are resolved. The medicines all to be included in one package are dropped at ones to the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30, so that the waiting time for loading the packing device 40 is shortened, and the operating speed of packing medicines is increased.

[0087] Furthermore, in this temporary reserving mechanism 60 (the single-row reserving mechanism), a cam mechanism 52 consisting of an original node 53 and a follower node 54 are used for an engagement portion of the temporary reserving mechanism 60 and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 (see FIG. 4) as the corresponding temporary reserving mechanism 60 and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 are operable to smoothly separate and engage, which are accompanied by the movement back and forth of the temporary reserving mechanism 60 by the movement in and out from the housing 11 of the tablet feeder storage portion 12. The follower node 54 on the driven side of the cam mechanism 52 is attached to the support shaft 64 of the temporary reserving mechanism 60, and the original node 53 on the driving side of the cam mechanism 52 is attached to a rotational driving shaft of the electric motor 51 (a drive source) of the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55. In each time when the rotational driving shaft of the electric motor 51 (the drive source) rotates once, the original node 53 and the follower node 54 temporarily change from a separated state to a contacted state, and then return to the separated state.

[0088] In the separated state and a non-operating state where the original node 53 and the follower node 54 are separated (see FIG. 4(A)), the closed state is maintained in which the lower end of the opening/closing member 63 contacts with the lower end of the side plate 62 (an inclined side plate, an opposing fixed type/an inclined type non-swinging member) (see also FIG. 2(C) and FIG. 2(D)) and rests by the action of an unillustrated biasing spring or the like.

[0089] Therefore, in this closed state, both the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63 are inclined toward the opposite side by, for example, several tens of degrees from the vertical, and a tablet reserving space with a vertical section inverted triangular shape is secured between the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63.

[0090] On the other hand, in the joined/operated state in which the original node 53 is in contact with the follower node 54 and pushes/moves the follower node (see FIG. 4(B) and FIG. 4(C)), the support shaft 64 is rotated by several tens of degrees in a restricted range, and as a result, the opening/closing member 63 swings, and the opening 63a temporarily created between the lower end of the side plate 62 and the lower end of the opening 63a (see also FIG. 3(C) and FIG. 3(D)).

[0091] In this opened state, the upper, middle, and lower portions between the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63 are opened, and in particular, the closed lower portion is opened, so that the tablets temporarily stored in the tablet reserving space are fallen at once.

[0092] Further, the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 51 to 55 (see FIG. 4) has the origin sensor 55 in which detects the rotation angle (the rotation phase) of the output shaft of the electric motor 51 and the rotation stop position by sensing, for example, the approach and separation of the original node 53. For example, when it is detected that the detection level exceeds a predetermined threshold based on the detection status of the origin sensor 55, motor control is performed to immediately stop driving the electric motor 51. As a result, when the temporary reserving mechanism 60 and the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 are separated, the rotation of the output shaft of the electric motor 51 is stopped. Through this operation, the temporary creation of the opening 63a caused by one revolution of the electric motor 51 and the swinging of the opening/closing member 63 (transitioning in FIGS. 4, (A) to (B) to (C) to (A)) can be repeated with high accuracy.

[0093] Further, as shown in FIG. 5, the link mechanism 70 is interposed between the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 51 to 55 and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 to save on the number of electric motors 51.

[0094] Specifically (see the left half of FIG. 5(A)), the link mechanism 70 is interposed between the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, which is the leftmost temporary reserving mechanism 60, and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 next to the right of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, which is located at the middle, and the opening and closing operations of the above-mentioned two reserving mechanisms 60a and 60 are driven by the left side electric motor 51.

[0095] Further, the left side multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 51 to 55 are the left side drive source that drives the members including the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a (the left side link mechanism 70 and the left end cam mechanism 52).

[0096] Moreover (see the right half of FIG. 5(A)), another link mechanism 70 is interposed between the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b, which is the rightmost temporary reserving mechanism 60, and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 next to the left of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b, which is located at the middle, and the opening and closing operations of the above-mentioned two reserving mechanisms 60b and 60 are driven by the right side another electric motor 51.

[0097] Further, the right side multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 51 to 55 is the right side drive source that drives the members including the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b (the right side link mechanism 70 and the right end cam mechanism 52).

[0098] Moreover (see the lower half of FIG. 5(A)), the side plate 62, which is a left side non-swinging member having a right slope that looks diagonally upward to the right, and the opening/closing member 63, which is a right side swinging member facing the side plate 62 are provided, respectively, in the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 adjacent to the right of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a (see also FIG. 2(C) and FIG. 3(C)). The tablet falling path with a lower constriction structure including the lower end opening 63a is formed between the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63.

[0099] On the other hand (see the lower half of FIG. 5(A)), the side plate 62, which is a right side non-swinging member having a left slope that looks diagonally upward to the left, and the opening/closing member 63, which is a left side swinging member facing the side plate 62 are provided, respectively, in the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 adjacent to the left of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b (see also FIG. 2(D) and FIG. 3(D)). The tablet falling path with a lower constriction structure including the lower end opening 63a is formed between the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63.

[0100] The link mechanism 70 (see FIG. 5) is a transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotational movement around the shaft within a restricted angle of the support shaft 64 (transmission shaft) driven by the cam mechanism 52, which coverts one rotational movement of the output shaft of the electric motor 51 into a swinging movement, to the support shaft 64 of the next temporary reserving mechanism 60. The link mechanism 70 is provided in the deep part of the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row reserving portion 50 within the housing 11, and is located behind the plurality of (four in this example) temporary reserving mechanisms 60 (see FIG. 5(A).

[0101] In this example, a set of link mechanism 70 is provided behind the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, the temporary reserving mechanism 60 on the right of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, and the left side multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 51 to 55 that drives the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the temporary reserving mechanism 60. Another set of link mechanism 70 is provided behind the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b, the temporary reserving mechanism 60 adjacent to the left of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b, and the right side multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 that drive the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b and the temporary reserving mechanism 60.

[0102] Each link mechanism 70 (see FIG. 5) includes a horizontally long rod-shaped connecting member 71, a short swinging member 72 arranged one-to-one on the temporary reserving mechanism 60 and a biasing spring 74 arranged one-to-one on each swinging member 72. The swinging end portion 72a of the swinging member 72 is connected to the connecting member 71 in a freely rotatable state, and the swinging fulcrum portion 72b of the swinging member 72 is connected to a support member (not shown) deep inside the housing (see FIGS. 5(A) and 5(B)).

[0103] Then, when the electric motor 51 makes the follower node 54 swing, the corresponding transmission (support) shaft 64 rotates around the shaft within a restricted range against the reaction force of the biasing spring 74, and the other support shafts 64a and 64b which can be interlocked with each other via the link mechanism 70 and the cam mechanism 52, also rotate in the same manner accompanied by the corresponding transmission (support) shaft 64 (see FIG. 5(C)). Furthermore, when the rotational drive of the transmission (support) shaft 64 is stopped, all the support shafts 64 including the transmission (support) shaft 64a return to the original states due to the biasing force of the biasing spring 74 (see FIG. 5(B)).

[0104] Therefore, each time the output shaft of the electric motor 51 rotates once, the cam mechanism 52, the transmission (support) shaft 64a and the link mechanism 70 operate, causing all the opening/closing members 63 to swing, and the opening and closing operations are performed by swinging of all the opening/closing members 63 in all the temporary reserving mechanisms 60.

[0105] Moreover, the link mechanism 70 is interposed between the left side multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 and both the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 next to the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, and the other link mechanism 70 is interposed between the right side multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 and both the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 next to the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b, and furthermore, both link mechanisms 70 are made bilaterally symmetrical (see the mechanisms (70, 52, 51, 60a, 60) that are continuous from the upper left to the lower left shown in FIG. 5(A) and the mechanisms (70, 52, 51, 60b, 60) that are continuous from the upper right to the lower right shown in FIG. 5(A)). With this structure regarding any temporary reserving mechanism 60, the opening/closing member 63 swings the lower end portion of the opening/closing member 63 toward the center from the left and right during the opening operation.

[0106] Specifically, when the control device simultaneously operates the left and right electric motors 51, 51 for one rotation, the swinging members 72, 72 of the left side link mechanism 70 move back and forth once to the left together, and the swinging members 72, 72 of the right side link mechanism 70 also move back and forth once to the right together (see the change of state shown in FIG. 4(A), FIG. 5(B) to FIG. 4(C), FIG. 5(C) to FIG. 4(A), FIG. 5(B)). As accompanied by this movement, the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 adjacent to the right side of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism temporarily open from the left to the right center side (see the change of state shown in FIG. 2(C) to FIG. 3(C) to FIG. 2(C)), and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 adjacent to the left side of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism temporarily open from the left to the right center side (see the change of state shown in FIG. 2(D) to FIG. 3(D) to FIG. 2(D)).

[0107] Regarding the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30, it is only stated that the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 consists of a funnel-shaped member (a lower constriction structure vertical cylindrical member) with three upper and lower stages, such as the fixed chute 31, the accumulating chute 32 and the gathering chute 33, so that details are explained below.

[0108] First, the fixed chute 31 in the upper stage is the largest chute. The upper end of the fixed chute 31 is normally fixed to the bottom plate of the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 (see FIG. 1(B) and FIG. 6), and is located below the plurality of tablet feeder storage portions 12 in the housing 11. When the side plate 11a is removed from the housing 11 of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10, the bottom surface of the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 becomes visible from the side of the housing 11, and accordingly, the inclined inner surface of the fixed chute 31 can be easily viewed diagonally from above (see FIG. 6(B)).

[0109] The middle accumulating chute 32 is the chute smaller than the above-described fixed chute 31, and is mounted on the drawer mechanism 81 of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 and is located at the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 (see FIG. 1)). When the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is pushed into the housing 11 (see FIG. 7(A)), the middle accumulating chute 32 is installed inside the housing 11 and is located directly below the fixed chute 31. The middle accumulating chute 32 collects the tablets fallen from the fixed chute 31 and releases the collected tablets toward the accumulating chute 32 (the second falling object collection section). Furthermore, when the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is forwardly drawn from the housing 11, the middle accumulating chute 32 is also forwardly drawn from the housing 11 accompanied by the drawer (see FIG. 7(B)).

[0110] The accumulating chute support member 32A that removably supports the accumulating chute 32 is provided upright on the upper surface of the drawer mechanism 81 in order to enable to be accompanied by the action such as forwardly drawing from or pushing into the housing, and also to allow the accumulating chute 32 to be easily and quickly attached and detached when forwardly drawing the accumulating chute 32 from the housing 11 (see FIG. 8 and FIG. 9(A)).

[0111] In this example, the accumulating chute support member 32a has the structure locating behind the manual medicine dispensing device 80 by separating the pair of support structures 32a into left and right parts. In addition (see FIG. 8), the left and right overhangs of the upper end of the accumulating chute 32 (the second falling object collection section) are provided on the pair of upper ends 32b of the pair of support structures 32a of the accumulating chute support member 32A, and keeping the condition above then, the accumulating chute 32 is fixed to the drawer mechanism 81 when the hangers 32d included in the accumulating chute support member 32A are operated to engage both ends of the accumulating chute 32. As a result, the accumulating chute 32 is also fixed to the manual medicine dispensing device 80.

[0112] If the hanger 32d is operated in the opposite direction to release the engagement of the hanger 32d with the accumulating chute 32, when the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is forwardly drawn from the housing 11 with the accumulating chute 32 fixed to the drawer mechanism 81, the fixation of the accumulating chute 32 with the drawer mechanism 81 for the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is released. As a result, the accumulating chute 32 can be lifted and removed with both operator's hands (see FIG. 9(A)).

[0113] A recess 32c that can be hung with operator's fingertips is formed in each side of the left side and right side of the upper end portions of the accumulating chute 32 to facilitate the work of lifting the accumulating chute 32 (see FIG. 8(B), FIG. 8(C) and FIG. 9(A)).

[0114] Further, the lower gathering chute 33 is the chute smaller than the above-described accumulating chute 32, and is mounted inside the drawer mechanism 81 of the manual medicine dispensing device 80. The gathering chute 33 is mounted to be slidable back and forth with respect to the gathering chute support member 33a that is pushed in and forwardly drawn from the housing 11 together with the drawer mechanism 81, and is located at the lower rear of the medicine dispensing device 80 (see FIG. 1 and FIGS. 7 to 9).

[0115] The gathering chute support member 33a (see FIG. 8(C) and FIG. 9) is consisted of slide rail-like members provided inside the drawer mechanism 81, and allows the gathering chute 33 to be attached and detached behind the manual medicine dispensing device 80, and is also configured to be supported to be movable back and forth.

[0116] When the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is pushed into the housing 11 (see FIG. 7(A)), the gathering chute 33 is installed inside the housing 11, and the latter half of the gathering chute 33 is located directly below the accumulating chute 32 and further collects the tablets fallen from the accumulating chute 32 to the gathering chute 33, and the first half of the gathering chute 33 also collects the medicines discharged from the manual medicine dispensing device 80. Further, the gathering chute 33 is configured to put together the tablets discharged from the manual medicine dispersing device 80 in addition to the tablets discharged from the tablet feeder 13 within the housing 11 by releasing the collected tablets together to the lower part from the lower end of the gathering chute 33, and to put together all collected tablets mentioned above into an input hopper 41 of the packing device 40.

[0117] On the other hand, when the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is forwardly drawn from the housing 11 (see FIG. 7(B)), the gathering chute 33 is also forwardly drawn from the housing 11 accompanied by the drawing of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 in the same manner as the above-mentioned accumulating chute 32 (see FIG. 8).

[0118] Regardless of whether the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is forwardly drawn from the housing 11 or not, if the accumulating chute 32 is attached to the drawer mechanism 81 (see FIG. 8), the back-and-forth movement of the gathering chute 33 is restricted within a slight length, and is normally urged forward and positioned at the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device 80.

[0119] In the configuration of this example (see FIG. 8), a restriction member 32e that restricts the backward movement range of the gathering chute is formed at a rear portion of the lower end of the accumulating chute 32 (see FIG. 8(C)). The restriction member 32e protrudes downward to the extent that the restriction member 32e abuts and interferes with the rear part of the gathering chute 33. Further, a gathering chute biasing means 33b is provided to the lower end of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 (or a corresponding portion of the drawer mechanism 81). The gathering chute biasing means 33b (or the manual medicine dispensing device 80 or the drawer mechanism 81) is located at a place contacting and interfering with the front part of the gathering chute 33. Therefore, when the accumulating chute 32 is mounted on the drawer mechanism 81, the back-and-forth movement of the gathering chute 33 is restricted within a slight range obtained by subtracting the back-and-forth length of the upper end of the gathering chute 33 from the separation distance between the restriction member 32e which restricts the backward movement range of the gathering chute 33 and the gathering chute biasing means 33b.

[0120] Moreover, a magnetized ferromagnetic material such as a permanent magnet is adopted for the gathering chute biasing means 33b, and a material such as iron that is easily attracted to the gathering chute biasing means 33b is adopted for at least a portion of the gathering chute 33 that faces the gathering chute biasing means 33b. Therefore, when the upper end of the gathering chute 33 is located between the gathering chute biasing means 33b in the front and the restriction member 32e in the rear (see FIG. 8(C)), the gathering chute 33 slips on the upper surface of the gathering chute support member 33a, and is drawn to the gathering chute biasing means 33b.

[0121] Such gathering chute biasing means 33b is able to restrict the rearward movement range of the gathering chute 33 as mentioned above in the case that the gathering chute 32 is mounted on the gathering chute support member 32a, even when the manual medicine dispensing device 80 is forwardly drawn from the housing 11. Moreover, the gathering chute biasing means 33b has the function of drawing the gathering chute 33 forward and keeping a constant position relative to the manual medicine dispensing device 80, under the condition that the accumulating chute 32 is mounted on the accumulating chute support member 32A installed upright on the drawer mechanism 81 and the backward movement of the gathering chute 33 is restricted.

[0122] Furthermore, when the accumulating chute 32 is removed from the accumulating chute support member 32A with the manual medicine dispensing device 80 being forwardly drawn from the housing 11 (see FIG. 9(A)), the restriction member 32e which restricts the backward movement range of the gathering chute 33 is also coming out of the housing 11. As a result, the gathering chute 33 can be moved backward due to no interference with the restriction member 32e. Thereby, when the gathering chute 33 is moved backward against the force of the gathering chute biasing means 33b (see FIG. 9(B)), the entire gathering chute 33 is positioned between the front surface of the housing 11 and the rear end of the manual medicine dispensing device 80. The position of the entire gathering chute 33 is a rear position where the gathering chute 33 can be lifted from the manual medicine dispensing device 80, the drawer mechanism 81, and the gathering chute support member 33a.

[0123] The gathering chute 33 has handle members 33c, 33c mounted at both ends of the upper surface of the gathering chute 33 (see FIG. 9(C)). The gathering chute 33 (the third falling object collection section) can be easily and safely removed from the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 by hanging the operator's fingertips on the left and right handle members 33c, 33c and lifting with the operator's both hands.

[0124] Further, the gathering chute 33 can be easily and safely attached to a predetermined position by performing the procedure in reverse.

[0125] The manner of use and operation of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 of Example 1 will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 9 described above.

[0126] The manner of use and dispensing operation of this medicine dispensing apparatus 10 are basically the same as those of conventional medicine dispensing apparatuses, and if there is the tablet feeder 13 that is known to require to be replenished with medicines (tablets) in advance, the predetermined medicines (tablets) can be filled with in the exposed corresponding feeder 13 by being forwardly drawn the medicine feeder storage portion 12 from the housing 11 (see FIG. 2(A)). Then, the medicine feeder storage portion 12 is pushed back into the housing 11 (see FIG. 1(A) and FIG. 1(B)), and a dispensing instruction is further given to the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 by operating the touch panel 14 or the like. If the prescription includes the medicines (tablets) which no tablet 13 has been assigned, manual dispensing guidance will be displayed on the touch panel 14 by the control device, so the manual dispensing device 80 is pulled out from the housing (see FIG. 1(D) and FIG. 8(A)), and the medicines are manually dispensed in each compartment (cell) from the top surface of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 according to the manual dispensing guidance.

[0127] When an instruction to start dispensing medicines is given to the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 by operating the touch panel 14 or the like, the medicines to be dispensed are discharged from the tablet feeders 13 in which the respective tablets are stored. The discharged medicines are guided by the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 to the lower temporary reserving mechanism 60 (see FIG. 2(B)), and temporarily stored in the lower temporary reserving mechanism 60.

[0128] Then, after an appropriate passage of time has elapsed, the electric motor 51 rotates the output shaft once, and accordingly, all the temporary reserving mechanisms 60 swing the opening/closing member 63 via the cam mechanism 52 and the link mechanism 70 in corresponding with the rotation of the output shaft (see FIG. 4 and FIG. 5). As a result, all the medicines stored in the temporary reserving mechanism 60 fall from the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 all at once.

[0129] The falling medicines are then guided to the input hopper 41 of the packing device 40 by the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30. At this time, the manual dispensed medicines of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 also join at the gathering chute 33, and the medicines to be dispensed in one package are collected and packed into the divided package by the lower packing device 40. In this way, the necessary medicines are automatically packed one after another.

[0130] Moreover, in this case, the tablet falling path from the tablet feeder 13 to the temporary reserving mechanism 60 and the tablet falling path from the temporary reserving mechanism 60 to the packing device 40 are almost separated by the opening/closing operation of the temporary reserving mechanism 60. Therefore, most of the medicine falling on the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 side and the medicine falling on the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 side can be operated in parallel, so that the total time for making multiple or large numbers of packages which are made based on one prescription/dispensing instruction sheet is reduced.

[0131] As a result, the above-mentioned medicine packing operation being repeated when regular or irregular internal cleaning becomes necessary, the automatic operation of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 is stopped, and the required cleaning for each part (20, 60, 30, 40) consisting of the medicine falling path is carried out.

[0132] First, with respect to the packing device 40, cleaning can be easily carried out, because almost all the components including the input hopper 41 are exposed when the base member 42 on which the packing device 40 is placed is forwardly drawn from the housing 11 (see FIG. 1(C)).

[0133] In addition, with respect to the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 incorporated in the tablet feeder storage portion 12, the medicine falling path can be easily cleaned, because the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 can be pulled out individually with separating the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 to the left and right, or the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20 can be opened to the left and right after pulling out the upper medicine collecting mechanism 20. Note that since this point is well known, for example, in Patent Documents 2 and 3, so specific illustrations and detailed explanations are omitted.

[0134] With respect to the temporary reserving mechanism 60, the tablet falling path can be easily cleaned, because the temporary reserving mechanism 60 can be forwardly drawn from the housing together with the tablet feeder storage portion 12 (see FIG. 2 and FIG. 3).

[0135] With regard to the upper fixed chute 31 of the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30, when the tablet feeder storage portion 12 is forwardly drawn from the housing 11, the temporary reserving mechanism 60 is also drawn from the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 accompanied by the drawing operation. In addition, since the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 are collectively arranged at the rear part of the temporary reserving mechanism multi-row storage portion 50 (see FIG. 6), when the side plate 11a is removed, not only the upper end of the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section) is exposed, but also a large empty space manifests above the fixed chute 31.

[0136] Therefore, since the fixed chute 31 has a lower constriction structure at the bottom, it is easy to see the medicine falling path provided on the inside of the fixed chute 31 even from diagonally above, and even if the fixed chute 31 is a large fixed type, or even when cleaning is further carried out in a posture where the operator looks into the fixed chute 31 from above, the cleaning of the medicine falling path can be easily and accurately carried out.

[0137] Moreover, with regard to this fixed chute 31, the burden of maintaining a clean state can be reduced by improving the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 and the temporary reserving mechanism 60.

[0138] Specifically, with respect to the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 to the right of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a (see FIG. 5(A)), the fixed side plate 62, which is a non-swinging member, is located on the left side, and the opening/closing member 63, which is a lower end swinging type swinging member, is located on the right side, and both the fixed side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63 are facing each other (see FIG. 4). In addition, the right side of the side plate 62 is sloped to form a right slope that looks diagonally upward to the right. In this condition, when the lower end of the opening/closing member 63 swings toward and away from the lower part of the side plate 62, the medicine falling path formed between the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 63 becomes a lower constriction structure, and the bottom end of the medicine falling path opens and closes. As a result, when the opening/closing member 63 swings (see FIG. 4(B) and FIG. 4(C)), the medicines retained in the closed leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a or the like (see FIG. 4(A)) move diagonally downward to the right along the inclined surface of the side plate 62 while being guided in the swinging direction, and then leave the temporary reserving mechanism 60 and freely fall diagonally downward to the right.

[0139] On the other hand, with regard to the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 to the left of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b (see FIG. 5(A)), the fixed side plate 62, which is a non-swinging member, is located on the right side, and the opening/closing member 63, which is a lower end swinging type swinging member, is located on the left side, and both the fixed side plate 62 and the opening/closing member are facing each other (FIG. 2(D) and FIG. 3(D)), In addition, the left side of the side plate 62 is sloped to form a left slope that looks diagonally upward to the left. In this condition, the lower end of the opening/closing member 63 swings toward and away from the lower part of the side plate 62, the medicine falling path formed between the side plate 62 and the opening/closing member 3 becomes a lower constriction structure, and the lower end can be opened and closed, the bottom end of the medicine falling path opens and closes. As a result, when the opening/closing member 63 swings (see FIG. 3(D)), the medicines retained in the closed rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b or the like (see FIG. 2(D)) move diagonally downward to the left along the inclined surface of the side plate 62 while being guided in the swinging direction, and then leave the temporary reserving mechanism 60 and freely fall diagonally downward to the left.

[0140] In this way, the medicines are released diagonally downward to the right from the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 to the right of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, and the medicines are released diagonally downward to the left from the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b and the temporary reserving mechanism 60 to the left of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b. However, the medicine falling path of the fixed chute 31 that receives the released medicines has a lower constriction structure toward both left/right and front/back (see FIG. 6). Therefore, the medicines which are fallen from any of the single-row reserving mechanisms 60 and are pathing through the medicine falling path of the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section), hit the inner surface of the fixed chute 31 that defines the medicine falling path at similar angles. As a result, the tablet does not bounce significantly even if the tablet comes into contact with the inner surface of the medicine falling path, and the impact on the falling tablet is only slight. Moreover, there is less undesirable variation or excessive extension of the falling path, and decrease in the falling speed is also small.

[0141] Therefore, in the fixed chute 31 located below the temporary reserving mechanism 60, the tablet collection time is short, and the medicine falling path is hard to get dirty, so that the burden of maintaining the clean state is light.

[0142] In addition, as described above, by setting the origin sensor 55 at the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 (see FIG. 4) and stabilizing the timing of separation and engagement between the electric motor 51 and the temporary reserving mechanism 60, the falling timing of the tablets falling from the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b, and the temporary reserving mechanisms 60, 60 located between the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b to the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section) will be also aligned. In addition, the impact and vibration generated on the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section) due to the collision of falling tablets are contained within a short period of time, and since the time for staining to occur is shortened, suppression of staining for the fixed chute 31 can also be helpful.

[0143] The accumulating chute 32 and the gathering chute 33 of the lower medicine collecting mechanism 30 are arranged behind the manual medicine dispensing device 80, so when cleaning the medicine falling path, etc., the manual medicine dispensing device 80 should be forwardly drawn from the housing before cleaning (see FIG. 7).

[0144] As a result, (see FIG. 8), the accumulating chute 32 is exposed at the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device 80 (see FIG. 8(A)), and the accumulating chute support member 32a and the hanger 32d are also exposed (see FIG. 8(B)), the hanger 32d is operated to release the fixed engagement of the accumulating chute 32 with the accumulating chute support member 32A.

[0145] Then, when the accumulating chute 32 is lifted by hooking the operator's fingertips on a recess 32c, both ends of the accumulating chute 32 are separated from the upper end 32b of the accumulating chute support member 32A, and the accumulating chute 32 is removed from the housing 11 (see FIG. 9(A)), the accumulating chute 32 is free to be carried by itself.

[0146] Therefore, the accumulating chute 32 can be easily and accurately performed for various maintenance operations including cleaning the inner tablet falling surface. If there is a spare accumulating chute 32, the used accumulating chutes 32 can be cleaned while medicine dispensing continues by replacing the used accumulating chute 32 with the spare accumulating chute and promptly restarting the dispensing operation of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10.

[0147] When the accumulating chute 32 is removed from the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 (see FIG. 9(A)), the restriction member 32e (see FIG. 8(C)) that restricts the backward movement range of the gathering chute is removed from the rear of the gathering chute 33.

[0148] Therefore, if the gathering chute 33 is pushed rearward with a force stronger than the attractive force of the gathering chute biasing means 33b, the gathering chute 33 is guided by the gathering chute support member 33A and moves to the rear of the manual medicine dispensing device 80, and the upper end of the gathering chute 33 including the handle member 33c is entirely exposed (see FIG. 9(B)).

[0149] Then, when the gathering chute 33 is lifted by hooking the handle member 33c with the operator's fingertips, both ends of the gathering chute 33 are separated from the gathering chute support member 33A, the gathering chute 33 is entirely removed from the housing, and the gathering chute 33 is free to be carried by itself (see FIG. 9(C)).

[0150] Therefore, the accumulating chute 32 can be easily and accurately performed for various maintenance operations including cleaning the inner tablet falling surface in the same manner as the above-mentioned accumulating chute 32. If there is a spare gathering chute 33, the used gathering chutes 33 can be cleaned while medicine dispensing continues by replacing the used gathering chutes 33 with the spare gathering chute and promptly restarting the dispensing operation of the medicine dispensing apparatus 10.

EXAMPLE 2

[0151] The specific configuration of Example 2 of the medicine dispensing apparatus 4: invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0152] FIG. 10 shows the structure of a medicine dispensing apparatus 90 according to the second example, in which FIG. 10(A) is a front view, FIG. 10(B) is an E-E cross sectional view, and FIG. 11 shows a plane view of three rows temporary reserving mechanisms 60 and the corresponding multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 91 and link mechanism 92.

[0153] The points, for which the medicine dispensing apparatus 90 is different from the medicine dispensing apparatus 10 of the first example described above, are that the number of tablet feeder storage portions 12 arranged in rows on the left and right in the housing 11 of the medicine storage is reduced by one from four to three (see FIG. 10), and correspondingly, there are now three temporary reserving mechanisms 60 (see FIG. 11), the two sets of multi-row simultaneous driving mechanisms 51 to 55 have been changed into one set of multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 91, and the two sets of link mechanisms 70 have been changed into one set of link mechanisms 92.

[0154] Further, due to the above-mentioned difference, the width of the housing 11 (see FIG. 10(A)) and the width of the fixed chute 31 (the first falling object collection section) are narrower (see FIG. 10(A)).

[0155] To explain each part in detail, regarding the temporary reserving mechanism 60 (see FIG. 11), the second one from the leftmost is omitted, and the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, the second temporary reserving mechanism 60 from the rightmost and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b are remained.

[0156] With regard to the multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 91 (see FIG. 11), the second cam mechanism 52 from the leftmost and the left electric motor 51 are also omitted. The right electric motor 51, the first and second cam mechanisms 52 and 52 from the rightmost and the leftmost cam mechanism 52 are remained.

[0157] With respect to the link mechanism 92, the second swinging member 72 from the leftmost and the biasing spring 74 are also omitted, and the left and right connecting members 71 are combined into one. Furthermore, in the left transmission mechanisms extending from the electric motor 51 as the drive source to the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a, a rotation reversal mechanism 93 for reversing the direction of rotational movement around the shaft is implemented between the leftmost swinging member 72 and the cam mechanism 52 of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a. The rotation reversal mechanism 93 is composed of, for example, a pair of spur gears, and converts the swinging motion of the swinging member 72 into a swinging motion in the opposite direction, and transmits the swinging motion to the cam mechanism 52 and further to the support shaft 64.

[0158] Among the temporary reserving mechanisms 60 driven by the above-mentioned multi-row simultaneous driving mechanism 91 via such a link mechanism 92, the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b share the electric motor 51 as the drive source for rotational motion. Further, the opening/closing member 63 of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the opening/closing member 63 of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b swing in the opposite directions. Since the opening/closing member 63 of the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a on the left side opens the lower end portion toward the lower right and the opening/closing member 63 of the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b on the right side opens the lower end portion toward the lower left, both the single-row reserving mechanisms 60a and 60b located at both left and right ends drop the medicines in the direction near the center.

[0159] In this case, the electric motor 51, which is the only rotational drive source, makes the three swinging members 72 swing together in the same direction via the cam mechanism 52 to be driven and the connecting member 71. However, as described above, the rotation reversal mechanism 93 is interposed between the leftmost swinging member 72 and the leftmost cam mechanism 52, whereas t rotation reversal mechanism 93 is not interposed between the rightmost swinging member 72 and the rightmost cam mechanism 52 and is directly connecting the rightmost swinging member 72 with the rightmost cam mechanism 52. Although the single electric motor 51 can be commonly used for the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b as a rotational drive source, the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a releases the medicine diagonally downward to the right, and the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b releases the medicine diagonally downward to the left. Therefore, this medicine dispensing apparatus 90 also allows the medicines that have fallen from the left and right single-row reserving mechanisms 60a and 60b and entered the medicine falling path of the fixed chute 31 to quickly but gently pass through the fixed chute 31 without making a large jump.

Others

[0160] Although not mentioned in the description of the above examples, the fixed chute 31, the accumulating chute 32 and the gathering chute 33 may be formed of partition plates having the shape illustrated in FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 or other appropriate shapes may be incorporated in an appropriate number.

[0161] In the above example, the gathering chute support member 33a is constructed as a separate member from the drawer mechanism 81, but since the gathering chute support member 33a is forwardly drawn from and pushed in the housing accompanied by being forwardly drawn and pushed in the drawer mechanism 81, the gathering chute support member 33a may be configured as an accessory of the drawer mechanism 81, or may be integrated with the drawer mechanism 81.

[0162] In the second example described above, the rotation reversal mechanism 93 for reversing the direction of rotational motion is incorporated in the left transmission mechanism from the electric motor 51 as the drive source to the leftmost single-row reserving mechanism 60a. The installation position of the rotation reversal mechanism 93 is not restricted at the left transmission mechanism, and the rotation reversal mechanism 93 may be incorporated in the right transmission mechanism from the electric motor 51 as the drive source to the rightmost single-row reserving mechanism 60b.

[0163] The applications of the medicine dispensing apparatus of the present invention are not limited only to the medicine dispensing apparatus exclusively for the tablet dispensing apparatus illustrated in Examples 1 and 2 above, but also the other applications of the medicine dispensing apparatus of the present invention equipped with a powder medicine dispensing mechanism in addition to the tablet dispensing mechanism having the tablet collecting mechanism and the temporary reserving mechanism described above.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

[0164] According to the present invention, the tablet dispensing apparatus can be provided that the work of cleaning for the tablet falling surface of the gathering chute and the accumulating chute can be easily and accurately carried out in order to further reduce the burden of maintaining the cleanliness of the gathering chute and the accumulating chute in the lower tablet collecting mechanism.

DESCRIPTION OF THE REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0165] 10 . . . medicine dispensing apparatus, 11 . . . housing, 11a . . . side plate, 12 . . . tablet feeder storage portion, 13 . . . tablet feeder, 13a . . . base part, 13b . . . cassette, 14 . . . touch panel, 20 . . . upper medicine collecting mechanism, 24 . . . tablet guide path sliding plate, 25 . . . tablet guide path sliding opening, 26 . . . tablet feeder non-mounted portion, 30 . . . lower medicine collecting mechanism, 31 . . . fixed chute, 32 . . . accumulating chute, 32a . . . accumulating chute support member, 32b . . . upper end, 32c . . . recess, 32d . . . hanger, 32e . . . restriction member, 33 . . . gathering chute, 33a . . . gathering chute support member, 33b . . . gathering chute biasing means, 33c . . . handle member, 40 . . . packing device, 41 . . . input hopper, 42 . . . base member, 50 . . . temporary reserving mechanism (multi-row storage portion), 51-55 . . . multiple simultaneous driving mechanism, mechanism, 53 . . . origin node, 51 . . . electric motor, 52 . . . cam 54 . . . follower node, 55 . . . origin sensor, 60 . . . temporary reserving mechanism (single-row reserving mechanism), 60a . . . leftmost single-row reserving mechanism, 60b . . . rightmost single-row reserving mechanism, 61 . . . box frame, 62 . . . side plate (non-swinging member), 63 . . . opening/closing member (swinging member), 63a . . . opening, 71 . . . connecting member, 72 . . . swinging member, 72a . . . swinging end portion, 72b . . . swinging fulcrum portion, 74 . . . biasing spring, 80 . . . manual e dispensing device, 81 . . . drawer mechanism, 90 . . . medicine dispensing apparatus, 91 . . . multiple simultaneous driving mechanism, 92 . . . link mechanism, 93 . . . rotation reversal mechanism.