Pellet feeding device

Claim 2

A medicament pellet dispensing system comprising a plurality of medicament dispensing units arranged in close side-by-side array, a movable member for moving said array to bring a selected one of said units to a pellet dispensing station, each of said units comprising a frame connected to said movable member, a bowl having a bottom wall in generally horizontal orientation and a peripheral upstanding wall connected with said bottom wall having a generally elliptical configuration with longitudinally extending opposed outer sides and relatively shorter front and back opposed ends, a pellet feed outlet at said front end, said bottom wall having a central pellet storage portion, and a ramp at least partially surrounding said storage portion, said ramp continuously rising and connecting with said storage portion and extending around the back end of said bowl and connecting with said outlet, magnetic means substantially at the center of gravity of said bowl, a plurality of resilient spring members angularly spaced from each other, each of said spring members having one end connected to said frame and the opposite end to said bowl, each of said spring members being inclined to the vertical so that said bowl tends to move downwardly away from said frame and to rotate in one direction in opposition to the resilient forces of said spring members in response to a magnetic force acting on said magnetic means to produce a downward pulling force thereon, the resilient forces of said spring members, upon a reduction of said magnetic force, effecting a return upward and rotary movement of said bowl in the opposite direction of rotation to propel pellets in said bowl generally in said opposite direction of rotation along said ramp toward said outlet, and means at said dispensing station for intermittently producing said magnetic forces to thereby effect movement of pellets along said ramp and through said outlet.

Claim 3

The system of claim 1 wherein said spring members comprise three spring members, two adjacent one end of said bowl and one adjacent the opposite end of said bowl, and each of said spring members is in a plane which substantially intersects the center of gravity of the bowl.

Claim 4

A medicament pellet dispensing system comprising a rotatable turret, a plurality of medicament dispensing units connected to said turret around the vertical axis thereof and adapted to contain different kinds of medicament pellets, each of said units including a frame, bowl of generally elliptical configuration having relatively long longitudinally extending opposed outer sides and relatively short opposed front and back ends extending between the opposed sides, magnetic means on the bowl, and a plurality of spring members resiliently connecting the bowl to the frame, each bowl having an outlet at the front end for discharging medicament pellets from the bowl, a central storage portion adapted to hold medicament pellets, and a noncircular ramp having one end communicating with the central storage portion and the opposite end communicating with the outlet for conveying medicament pellets from the storage portion to the outlet, the frames of said units being connected to said turret with the bowls of said units in close side-by-side relation with the longitudinal axis of said bowl extending generally radially with respect to the vertical axis of said turret, a dispensing station, means for rotating said turret to selectively move one of said units to the dispensing station for dispensing a selected kind and number of medicament pellets, magnetic field producing means at the dispensing station for intermittently effecting a force on the magnetic means of said one unit in opposition to the force of the springs thereof to effect vibration movement of the bowl of said one unit and move pellets along the ramp toward the outlet to discharge pellets from said one unit, container means at the dispensing station for receiving pellets discharged from said one unit, and control means for controlling the number of pellets discharged into said container means.

Claim 5

A medicament pellet dispensing system comprising a rotatable turret, a plurality of medicament dispensing units connected to said turret around the vertical axis thereof and adapted to contain different kinds of medicament pellets, each of said units including a frame, bowl of generally elliptical configuration having relatively long longitudinally extending opposed outer sides and relatively short opposed front and back ends extending between the opposed sides, magnetic means on the bowl, and a plurality of spring members resiliently connecting the bowl to the frame, each bowl having an outlet at the front end for discharging medicament pellets from the bowl, a central storage portion adapted to hold medicament pellets, and a noncircular ramp having one end communicating with the central storage portion and the opposite end communicating with the outlet for conveying medicament pellets from the storage portion to the outlet, the frames of said units being connected to said turret with the bowls of said units in close side-by-side relation with the longitudinal axis of said bowl extending generally radially with respect to the vertical axis of said turret, a dispensing station, means for rotating said turret to selectively move one of said units to the dispensing station for dispensing a selected kind and number of medicament pellets, magnetic field producing means at the dispensing station for intermittently effecting a force on the magnetic means of said one unit in opposition to the force of the springs thereof to effect vibration movement of the bowl of said one unit and move pellets along the ramp toward the outlet to discharge pellets from said one unit, container means at the dispensing station for receiving pellets discharged from said one unit, and control means for controlling the number of pellets discharged into said container means.

Claim 6

The system of claim 3 wherein said units are disposed in the form of a helix about said turret axis.

Claim 7

The system of claim 3 wherein said springs of each unit comprise flat inclined members each in a plane substantially intersecting the center of gravity of the bowl.

Claim 8

The system of claim 3 wherein said spring members of each unit are asymmetrically angularly spaced from each other about the geometric center of the bowl, and each of said springs includes a relatively wide portion having a side in a plane which substantially intersects the center of gravity of the bowl.

Claim 9

The system of claim 5 wherein the bowl of each of said units is of plastic material, and the magnetic means on each bowl comprises a metal plate connected to the bottom of the bowl.

Claim 10

The system of claim 7 wherein said spring members of each of said units comprise three spring members, two of said spring members are disposed adjacent the front end of the bowl and the third spring member is disposed adjacent the back end of the bowl.

Claim 11

A medicament pellet dispensing unit comprising an elongate frame, a bowl of generally elliptical configuration having a bottom wall, longitudinally extending side walls and relatively shorter opposed front and back end walls, an outlet at said front end wall for discharging medicament pellets therefrom, a central storage portion adapted to hold a supply of medicament pellets to be discharged, and a noncircular ramp having one end connected with said storage portion and the other end connected with said outlet for conveying medicament pellets from said storage portion to said outlet, spring means connected between said bowl and said frame with the longitudinal axes of bowl and frame generally parallel to resiliently mount said bowl in spaced relation to said frame, said spring means including first and second springs disposed at opposite sides of said bowl adjacent one of said end walls and a third spring disposed adjacent the opposite end of said bowl, the distance between said third spring and either of said first and second springs is greater than the distance between said first and second springs, each of said springs having a width greater than the thickness thereof and inclined from the vertical with the plane of each spring substantially intersecting the center of gravity of said bowl, and magnetic means on the bottom wall responsive to a magnetic field applied thereto for effecting vibratory movement of said bowl relative to said frame to move said medicament pellets along said ramp toward said outlet.

Claim 12

A medicament pellet dispensing unit comprising an elongate frame, a bowl of generally elliptical configuration having a bottom wall, longitudinally extending side walls and relatively shorter opposed front and back end walls, an outlet at said front end wall for discharging medicament pellets therefrom, a central storage portion adapted to hold a supply of medicament pellets to be discharged, and a noncircular ramp having one end connected with said storage portion and the other end connected with said outlet for conveying medicament pellets from said storage portion to said outlet, spring means connected between said bowl and said frame with the longitudinal axes of bowl and frame generally parallel to resiliently mount said bowl in spaced relation to said frame, said spring means including first and second springs disposed at opposite sides of said bowl adjacent one of said end walls and a third spring disposed adjacent the opposite end of said bowl, the distance between said third spring and either of said first and second springs is greater than the distance between said first and second springs, each of said springs having a width greater than the thickness thereof and inclined from the vertical with the plane of each spring substantially intersecting the center of gravity of said bowl, and magnetic means on the bottom wall responsive to a magnetic field applied thereto for effecting vibratory movement of said bowl relative to said frame to move said medicament pellets along said ramp toward said outlet.

Claim 13

The unit of claim 9 wherein said bowl and said springs are of plastic.

Claim 14

A medicament pellet dispensing system comprising a plurality of medicament dispensing units arranged in a side-by-side array, means for moving said array to bring a selected oNe of said units to a pellet dispensing station, each of said units comprising a frame, a plastic bowl having a bottom wall in generally horizontal orientation and a peripheral upstanding wall connected with said bottom wall having a generally elliptical configuration with front and back opposed ends on the longer dimension of the elliptical configuration, a pellet feed outlet at said front end, said bottom wall having a central pellet storage portion, and a ramp at least partially surrounding said storage portion, said ramp continuously rising and connecting with said storage portion and extending around the back end of said bowl and connecting with said outlet, magnetic means substantially at the center of gravity of said bowl, a plurality of resilient plastic spring members angularly spaced from each other, each of said spring members being rectangular in cross-section and having opposed flat sides with one side in a plane which substantially intersects the center of gravity of the bowl and having one end connected to said frame and the opposite end to said bowl, each of said spring members being inclined to the vertical so that said bowl tends to move downwardly away from said frame and to rotate in one direction in opposition to the resilient forces of said spring members in response to a magnetic force acting on said magnetic means to produce a downward pulling force thereon, the resilient forces of said spring members, upon a reduction of said magnetic force, effecting a return upward and rotary movement of said bowl in the opposite direction of rotation to propel pellets in said bowl generally in said opposite direction of rotation along said ramp toward said outlet, and means at said dispensing station for intermittently producing said magnetic forces to thereby effect movement of pellets along said ramp and through said outlet.

Claim 15

A medicament pellet dispensing system comprising a plurality of medicament dispensing units arranged in a side-by-side array, means for moving said array to bring a selected oNe of said units to a pellet dispensing station, each of said units comprising a frame, a plastic bowl having a bottom wall in generally horizontal orientation and a peripheral upstanding wall connected with said bottom wall having a generally elliptical configuration with front and back opposed ends on the longer dimension of the elliptical configuration, a pellet feed outlet at said front end, said bottom wall having a central pellet storage portion, and a ramp at least partially surrounding said storage portion, said ramp continuously rising and connecting with said storage portion and extending around the back end of said bowl and connecting with said outlet, magnetic means substantially at the center of gravity of said bowl, a plurality of resilient plastic spring members angularly spaced from each other, each of said spring members being rectangular in cross-section and having opposed flat sides with one side in a plane which substantially intersects the center of gravity of the bowl and having one end connected to said frame and the opposite end to said bowl, each of said spring members being inclined to the vertical so that said bowl tends to move downwardly away from said frame and to rotate in one direction in opposition to the resilient forces of said spring members in response to a magnetic force acting on said magnetic means to produce a downward pulling force thereon, the resilient forces of said spring members, upon a reduction of said magnetic force, effecting a return upward and rotary movement of said bowl in the opposite direction of rotation to propel pellets in said bowl generally in said opposite direction of rotation along said ramp toward said outlet, and means at said dispensing station for intermittently producing said magnetic forces to thereby effect movement of pellets along said ramp and through said outlet.

Claim 16

The system of claim 11 wherein said legs become less inclined in response to said magnetic force.