Dedicated multi-cavity dispenser for solids

Claim 1

In an apparatus for dispensing a plurality of pills or tablets or capsules in the form of solid objects, from a bulk supply to a receptacle for the solid objects, said apparatus having hopper means including a support frame for receiving the bulk supply of solid objects; separator means defining the bottom of said hopper means, said separator means including a plurality of separator apertures formed therethrough, shuttle means movably disposed in substantially parallel, juxtaposed relation to said separator means and downstream of said separator means with respect to the flow of solid objects from said hopper means to the receptacle, said shuttle means including a plurality of shuttle apertures formed therethrough; delivery means fixedly disposed in substantially parallel, juxtaposed relation to said shuttle means and downstream of said shuttle means, said delivery means including a plurality of delivery apertures formed therein through which the solid objects ultimately pass into a receptacle placed downstream of said apparatus, the improvement comprising spacer means defined by a pair of replaceable spacer strips, each of said spacer strips being attached on opposing sides of said support frame in interposed relation between said shuttle means and said delivery means, each of said spacer strips defining a substantially L-shaped cross-section with the notch of each of said L-shapes facing the corresponding notch of the opposed spacer strip, said shuttle means being movably disposed across said spacer strips within said notches, when the spacer strips are replaced by ones having notches of different thickness the distance between said shuttle means and said delivery means is adjusted by the difference in thickness of the notch in the replaced spacer strips, and, riser means defined by a pair of riser strips, one of said riser strips being attached on opposing sides of said support frame in interposed relation between said separator means and said shuttle means, whereby the distance between said separator means and said shuttle means may be adjusted.