Patent US3926335A successfully refreshed from Google Patents.
US3926335A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Capsule or pill dispenser-sure way dial a pill
Assignee: Individual
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Filing: 1974-03-18
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Granted: 1975-12-16
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Expires: 1994-03-18
Abstract
Abstract A pill dispensing container having upper and lower pill storage tiers each having twelve radial pill storage compartments each having an embossed hour indicia of the day for 24 hour use. Each tier is covered by a rotatable dial cover having a generally horizontal opening for pill insertion and a vertical opening for pill discharge clockwise one compartment of the horizontal opening. Each tier has a tier rotating tab on the horizontal surface of the tier dial cover adjacent the horizontal opening and a tier stop permitting only clockwise movement of the tier dial cover and being on the underside of each dial cover horizontal surface adjacent the tab and horizontal opening. A pair of pedestal members project from the vertical side of the container base below the lower tier for supporting at right angles to the pill dispensing position in balanced condition the dispenser container in a general vertical storage position so as to view the indicia in vertical elevation on the slope bottom walls of each tier.
Inventors
- 👤 Thomas C Dangles
- 👤 Elsie R M Dangles
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-11-02 07:37
CPC Classifications
A; A47; A47F; A47F1/00; A47F1/04; A61; A61J; A61J7/00; A61J7/0076; A61J7/0084; A61J7/04; B; B65; B65D; B65D83/00; B65D83/04; B65D83/0445; B65D83/0454; B65D2583/00; B65D2583/04; B65D2583/0404; B65D2583/0409
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 11
Claim 1
Independent Claim
251 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier, and the associated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for selectively discharging pills from said compartments, and said base unit including an annular vertical rim encircling the bottom of the base unit, pedestal means mounted on said vertical rim and having a support surface means at an acute angle to the base rim surface for mounting said pill dispenser in a generally upright position but at a slight inclination whereby said upper end of the central opening is tilted for holding an associated pill bottle therein with the base rim being generally horizontal but slightly inclined for balancing of the pill dispenser in an onend position in a generally vertical but slightly inclined to the vertical plane, said support surface adapted to lie on a horizontal surface and support said base unit in a generally perpendicular relationship to the base unit bottom surface.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
251 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier, and the associated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for selectively discharging pills from said compartments, and said base unit including an annular vertical rim encircling the bottom of the base unit, pedestal means mounted on said vertical rim and having a support surface means at an acute angle to the base rim surface for mounting said pill dispenser in a generally upright position but at a slight inclination whereby said upper end of the central opening is tilted for holding an associated pill bottle therein with the base rim being generally horizontal but slightly inclined for balancing of the pill dispenser in an onend position in a generally vertical but slightly inclined to the vertical plane, said support surface adapted to lie on a horizontal surface and support said base unit in a generally perpendicular relationship to the base unit bottom surface.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
202 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier and the assOciated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for selectively discharging pills from said compartments, and stop means mounted on the inside of each dial cover means and including a generally vertical surface engageable with a divider member to prevent counter-clockwise rotation of said dial cover means with respect to said tier and having an inclined surface generally transverse to the lower edge of said divider member and engageable therewith for allowing clockwise rotation of said dial cover means with respect to said tier for allowing upward movement of a dial cover means.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
202 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier and the assOciated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for selectively discharging pills from said compartments, and stop means mounted on the inside of each dial cover means and including a generally vertical surface engageable with a divider member to prevent counter-clockwise rotation of said dial cover means with respect to said tier and having an inclined surface generally transverse to the lower edge of said divider member and engageable therewith for allowing clockwise rotation of said dial cover means with respect to said tier for allowing upward movement of a dial cover means.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
163 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier, and the associated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for selectively discharging pills from said compartments, and stop means including a stop mounted on each dial cover means and engageable with a tier divider member to allow clockwise rotation of the dial cover means with respect to the tier but to prevent counter-clockwise rotation thereof.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
163 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier, and the associated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for selectively discharging pills from said compartments, and stop means including a stop mounted on each dial cover means and engageable with a tier divider member to allow clockwise rotation of the dial cover means with respect to the tier but to prevent counter-clockwise rotation thereof.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
72 words
The invention according to claim 3, and each said stop being mounted on the top under surface of each said dial cover means and having a stop surface and a slope surface at right angles to said stop surface, said stop surface and said slope surface being engageable with a respective divider member to allow for clockwise rotation and prevent counter-clockwise rotation of the dial cover means with respect to a tier.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
61 words
The invention according to claim 4, and the upper dial cover means having less vertical extent to its rim than the lower dial cover means for allowing sufficient spacing between both dial cover means upon upward movement of the lower dial cover means toward the upper dial cover means when the stop slope surface of the lower dial engages the divider.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
80 words
The invention according to claim 4, and the lower dial cover means being mountable over and upon the lower tier and the upper dial cover means being mounted over the upper tier and having its lower extremity spaced above the upper portion of the lower dial cover means a sufficient distance to allow partial rising of the lower dial when the slope surface of the stop of the lower dial cover means contacts a divider member of the lower tier.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
222 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier, and the associated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for seleCtively discharging pills from said compartments, and each tier including a generally horizontal but sloped cone portion and a vertical rim portion depending from said sloped portion, each dial cover means including a generally horizontal but sloped portion and a vertical skirt rim portion, the lower dial cover means being fitted over the lower tier and the upper dial cover means being fitted over the upper tier and preventing the lower dial from being removed, and means mounted around the opening above the upper dial cover means and preventing removal of the upper dial cover means, and said means mounted including a pressure ring.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
222 words
A pill dispenser comprising: a base unit having a stepped shaped contour forming a plurality of vertically spaced tiers and said base unit also having a central portion, a plurality of divider members extending radially from said central portion and forming pill storage compartments on each tier, dial cover means fitted for rotatable movement over each tier, and the associated storage compartments to thereby prevent unintentional discharge of the contents of each storage compartment, and each dial cover means including a top pill loading opening and also including a side discharge opening to thereby provide means for loading pills into the compartments upon selected indexing of said rotatable dial cover means, and also to thereby provide means for seleCtively discharging pills from said compartments, and each tier including a generally horizontal but sloped cone portion and a vertical rim portion depending from said sloped portion, each dial cover means including a generally horizontal but sloped portion and a vertical skirt rim portion, the lower dial cover means being fitted over the lower tier and the upper dial cover means being fitted over the upper tier and preventing the lower dial from being removed, and means mounted around the opening above the upper dial cover means and preventing removal of the upper dial cover means, and said means mounted including a pressure ring.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1978-12-15 | 1979-06-16 | 1979-12-16 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1982-12-15 | 1983-06-16 | 1983-12-16 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1986-12-15 | 1987-06-16 | 1987-12-16 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |