Abstract: A medication dispenser for dispensing pills, tablets, capsules, or the like, one at a time from a receptacle in which the medication is arranged loosely to allow for easy filling. In one embodiment, the medication units are passed through a restricted funnel opening, one at a time, and then captured between two cooperating, movable, compressible structures such as wheels, belts, or the like, which move the units to a detector that counts the units as they are removed from the dispenser. In another embodiment, the medication is first captured and then moved through a restricted opening. The dispenser may also include a computer for controlling and/or recording the time of dispensing and the quantity of medication dispensed. Additionally, the dispenser may include two sequentially placed sets of cooperating, movable, structures at different horizontal levels for achieving greater separation of medication units.

Abstract: A medication dispenser for dispensing pills, tablets, capsules, or the like, one at a time from a receptacle in which the medication is arranged loosely to allow for easy filling. In one embodiment, the medication units are passed through a restricted funnel opening, one at a time, and then captured between two cooperating, movable, compressible structures such as wheels, belts, or the like, which move the units to a detector that counts the units as they are removed from the dispenser. In another embodiment, the medication is first captured and then moved through a restricted opening. The dispenser may also include a computer for controlling and/or recording the time of dispensing and the quantity of medication dispensed. Additionally, the dispenser may include two sequentially placed sets of cooperating, movable, structures at different horizontal levels for achieving greater separation of medication units.

Abstract: A medication dispenser that includes a receptacle having a counting compartment with a first opening into the receptacle and a second opening through which the pills are dispensed. To be dispensed, the pills must passthrough the counting compartment and are counted during such passage. Both openings are blocked or unblocked by logic built into or remotely connected to the dispenser, which logic determines whether the pills in the compartment should be dispensed. In one embodiment of the dispenser, the pills are counted by sensing the amount of light that is passed through the compartment. The logic counts the pills by subtracting the amount of light transmitted through the compartment when it contains pills from the amount of light transmitted through an empty compartment and comparing the result to the known size of the pills. In an alternative embodiment, the pills are weighed in the counted compartment and the weight is compared to the known weight of a single pill.

Abstract: A medication dispenser includes a container having a main compartment, a selection compartment, and an exit compartment whereby a pill or the like is dispensed from the container by passage from the main compartment, through the selection compartment, and to the exit compartment. The configuration of the pill selection compartment may be selectively varied and adjusted into a preselected configuration substantially conforming to the shape and size of a pill contained in the main compartment. A flexible first gate selectively extends between the selection compartment and the main compartment, a second gate selectively extends between the selection compartment and the exit compartment, and a third gate selectively extends across the exit compartment, near the container exterior. Initially, the second gate is in an extended position, and the first and third gates are in nonextended positions.

Abstract: A card for permitting selective access to an object. The card includes a formed section and a covering in sealing, overlying engagement with the formed section. A beaded, looped wire interconnected with the object is interposed with adhesive between the formed section and the covering, thereby preventing access to the object. Only after the code is read can the interposed portion of the beaded, looped wire be removed from its interposed relation thereby to permit access to the object.

Abstract: A method of dispensing medicine by providing a medicine package having a sealed reservoir containing the medicine and bearing a machine readable code indicating the contents of the package, initiating the opening of the package with a machine having a special cutting tool, having a code reader for recording the information indicated by the code, and having a clock for recording the time when the opening of the package is initiated. The method of dispensing medicine further includes recording the identity of the person administering the medication and the identify of the person receiving the medication. The method also further includes the step of rendering the machine readable code unreadable upon the initiation of the opening of the package.

Abstract: A medicine package including a reservoir containing the medicine, the package bearing a machine readable code indicative of the characteristics of the medicine contained therein. If from reading the code it is determined that the medicine contained in the package can be used to satisfy the needs of a particular patient, then the package is opened and the code is rendered unreadable by the machine. A machine for reading the code, opening the package, rendering the code unreadable, and maintaining a record of the dispensing of the medicine to a particular patient is also disclosed.

Abstract: A medicine package including a reservoir containing the medicine, the package bearing a machine readable code indicative of the characteristics of the medicine contained therein. If from reading the code it is determined that the medicine contained in the package can be used to satisfy the needs of a particular patient, then the package is opened and the code is rendered unreadable by the machine. A machine for reading the code, opening the package, rendering the code unreadable, and maintaining a record of the dispensing of the medicine to a particular patient is also disclosed.

Abstract: A method of female sterilization comprising the steps of providing a toxic fluid capable of damaging the fallopian tubes which leads to their ultimate occlusion, injecting the fluid into the uterine cavity of the female, and vibrating the fluid within the uterine cavity. Preferably, the fluid is vibrated at ultrasonic frequencies for a time period in the time range of between five seconds and ten minutes. The device used to inject the fluid into the uterine cavity may be used to produce the vibration, and the vibration may be directed at the uterus, which in turn indirectly causes the fluid in the cavity to vibrate. An instrument for performing the method is also disclosed.

Abstract: A pill dispenser mechanism is provided in which a multilayered compartment is releasably attachable to a receptacle for pills in such a way that pills may be selectively advanced into one compartment, then by selective advancement of one of the compartment layers transfer the pill from the first compartment into a discharge compartment to permit sequential recovery of pills therefrom. In order to accommodate different sized pills, the compartments may be provided with different sized openings to conform to the substantial size and configuration of the pill. Electrical contact switches may be associated with the compartments to sense for the purpose of recording the movement of a pill between one or more, or a combination of both, compartments.

Abstract: An intrauterine contraceptive device is provided which is inserted into a uterus in a collapsed position and held in expanded position by a locking means which prevents any further expansion of the IUD and limits the pressure exerted thereby on the uterine wall. The locking means, however, permits the IUD to collapse upon contraction of the uterus. The locking means may take the form of a string fixedly connected to one arm of the IUD and slidably attached to the other arm to be fixed in position upon initial expansion of the IUD by a quick setting adhesive or by means of an interengaging beaded chain and slot arrangement. The arms of the IUD can also be telescopically expandable in a longitudinal direction and fixed in expanded position once the ends of the arms come into engagement with the uterine wall but can collapse in response to uterine contractions.