Pill Organizer and Dispenser

Abstract

The present invention provides an organizer and dispenser for pills and the like which reduces demands for manual dexterity when the user retrieves the pills. In one aspect of the invention, the novel organizer and dispenser may have a plurality of compartments, such as one for each day of the week. The organizer and dispenser may have a closure at the top which reveals all of the compartments simultaneously. This is convenient for loading a full week's supply of pills. In addition to the closure at the top, each compartment has an individual closure at the bottom of the compartment. This enables all of the pills stored within one compartment, which are presumably to be taken by the user at one time, to be discharged from the organizer and dispenser by gravity.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to receptacles, and more particularly to multicompartmented receptacles for organizing medicaments such as pills or tablets and for dispensing the same.

2. Background of the Invention

Increasingly, many people require medicaments in the form of pills or tablets, to be taken each day. A person may be obliged to take several pills or tablets each day. Small containers have been provided as organizers and dispensers so that once loaded with each day's measure of pills, the user need only open the container and retrieve one day's dosage.

Consumers of pills may be elderly, or otherwise afflicted with minor physical limitations of the fingers and hands, such as arthritis and Parkinson's disease. Such limitations may adversely affect the ability of the person to open and retrieve a correct dosage of pills. Many pill organizing dispensers require that the user insert his or her fingers into a compartment to withdraw pills. This may be difficult or impossible for those having infirmities of the sort noted above. There exists a need for an improved medicament organizer and dispenser, which can reduce the need for manual dexterity in loading the organizer and dispenser, and dispensing therefrom.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides an organizer and dispenser for pills and the like which reduces demands for manual dexterity when the user retrieves the pills. In one aspect of the invention, the novel organizer and dispenser may have a plurality of compartments, such as one for each day of the week. The organizer and dispenser may have a closure at the top which reveals all of the compartments simultaneously. This is convenient for loading a full week's supply of pills. In addition to the closure at the top, each compartment has an individual closure at the bottom of the compartment. This enables all of the pills stored within one compartment, which are presumably to be taken by the user at one time, to be discharged from the organizer and dispenser by gravity.

This characteristic both eliminates the necessity of possibly bothersome and difficult use of fingers to grasp small pills within the limited confines of a pill compartment, while not simultaneously discharging unneeded pills contained within adjoining compartments.

The common closure at the top of the organizer and dispenser assures expeditious filling of each compartment. Pills may simply be dropped into each compartment by gravity, so that careful maneuvering and grasping by finger are not necessary.

It is therefore an object of the invention to provide a suitable organizer and dispenser for pills and the like, which can avoid necessity of careful grasping of individual pills within a limited space or volume, while limiting discharge to the contents of one compartment.

Another object of the invention is to enable expedited initial loading of plural compartments with pills, which also does not require potentially difficult manual handling of pills.

It is an object of the invention to provide improved elements and arrangements thereof by apparatus for the purposes described which is inexpensive, dependable, and fully effective in accomplishing its intended purposes.

These and other objects of the present invention will become readily apparent upon further review of the following specification and drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Various objects, features, and attendant advantages of the present invention will become more fully appreciated as the same becomes better understood when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views, and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective environmental view of an organizer and dispenser according to at least one aspect of the invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective environmental view of the organizer and dispenser of FIG. 1, showing an upper closure open to enable the organizer and dispenser to be loaded with small objects.

FIG. 3 is a perspective environmental view of the organizer and dispenser of FIG. 1, showing one of a plurality of compartments open at the bottom, for discharging contents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 of the drawings show an organizer and dispenser 10 for organizing and dispensing small objects such as pills, such as pills 2, 4, 6. The organizer and dispenser 10, which is intended to contain these small objects and to make it easy to retrieve the small objects while demanding minimal manual dexterity and effort, comprises a plurality of compartments 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, 24. The compartments 12 . . . 24 may be bounded by a common front wall 26 and a common rear wall 28, and may be separated yet connected by partitions 30, 32, 34, 36, 38, 40. End compartments 12 and 24 may have respective end walls 42 and 44. The common front wall 26, the common rear wall 28, the partitions 30 . . . 40, the left end wall 42, and the right end wall 44 may be formed monolithically by molding a rigid polymeric material for example.

Such a construction leaves each of the compartments 12 . . . 24 with a first open side (for example, the respective top sides) and a second open side (for example, the respective bottom sides). The open tops may be closed in common by a first closure 46 (see FIG. 2) which may span all of the first open sides of the compartments 12 . . . 24, and which opens and closes all of the compartments 12 . . . 24 at the first open sides thereof simultaneously.

A plurality of second closures 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60 (see FIG. 2) is disposed to open and close all of the second open sides of the compartments 12 . . . 24. There may be one second closure 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58 or 60 for each of the second open sides of the compartments 12 . . . 24. The compartments 12 . . . 24 may thus be opened and closed simultaneously using the first closure 46, and each compartment 12 . . . 24 may be opened and closed individually using an associated one of the second closures 48 . . . 60.

The first closure 46 and the second closures 48 . . . 60 may fit to the compartments 12 . . . 24 by friction, as is well known in the art of receptacles. The degree of friction will be selected so that the closures 46 . . . 60 will remain closed under the weight of pills, but will be easy to open by finger.

While the compartments 12 . . . 24 are linearly arrayed in the organizer and dispenser 10, other configurations may be employed. The number of compartments, such as the compartments 12 . . . 24, may vary from the number shown. In the organizer and dispenser 10, the number of compartments 12 . . . 24 corresponds to the days of the week. This would be useful for example in preparing a dosage of pills, such as the pills 2, 4, and 6, for each day, preparing a one week supply at one time. FIG. 2 illustrates convenient loading of the organizer and dispenser 10, exploiting the fact that the closure 46 may expose all of the compartments 12 . . . 24 in one operation. That is, the closure 46 may be opened by grasping by a tab 68 which projects from the compartments 12 . . . 24 sufficiently to enable grasping by finger. The closure 46 may be swung into the open position illustrated in FIG. 2, the closure pivoting on hinges 62, 64, and 66. Pills such as the pills 2, 4, 6 may be conveniently dropped into each compartment 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, or 24 as needed. It will be appreciated that more than one pill may be inserted into any one or any several of the compartments 12 . . . 24.

Each one of the second closures 48 . . . 60 has a respective tab 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82 which projects from its respective compartment 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, or 24 sufficiently to enable grasping by hand. The tabs 70 . . . 82 may be pulled downwardly, as shown in FIG. 3, to enable the respective closures 48 . . . 60, which may be hinged to their respective compartments 12 . . . 24, to swing downwardly as seen in FIG. 3.

The compartments 12 . . . 24 may collectively be configured as a parallelepiped. Hence the organizer and dispenser 10 may also generally take the form of a parallelepiped. This is a convenient configuration for grasping by one hand when loading, as illustrated in FIG. 2, and for dispensing pills, such as the pill 8, as seen in FIG. 3, wherein the closure 60 has been pulled into the dispensing position shown.

The compartments 12 . . . 24 may be one inch high, one inch wide, and one inch deep, the overall length of the organizer and dispenser 10 thereby being about seven inches.

The organizer and dispenser 10, which may be fabricated from polymeric material, may thus be dimensioned, configured, and limited in weight so as to be capable of being held in one hand by a person. The constituent polymeric or other material may be transparent throughout the entire organizer dispenser 10 or at a limited part thereof. This construction enables contents of each compartment 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, or 24 to be viewed without opening either the first closure 46 or any of the second closures 48 . . . 60. As employed herein, transparent will be understood to encompass limited transparency, such as translucent.

Each one of the compartments 12 . . . 24 may bear unique indicia, such as the indicia 84, 86 88, 90, 92, 94, 96. As illustrated herein, the indicia 84 . . . 96 may correspond to days of the week, so that each compartment 12, 14, 16, 18, 20, 22, or 24 may be opened when appropriate to dispense pills. The indicia 84 . . . 96 may be located on the first closure 46 as illustrated, on each tab 70, 72, 74, 76, 78, 80, 82 of the second closures 48 . . . 60 as illustrated, or may be elsewhere on the organizer and dispenser 10.

Claims

1. The organizer and dispenser may have a plurality of compartments, such as one for each day of the week; organizer and dispenser may have a closure at the top which reveals all of the compartments simultaneously convenient for loading a full week's supply of pills.

2. The organizer and dispenser of claim 1: In addition to the closure at the top, each compartment has an individual closure at the bottom of the compartment.