A two-part breath-actuated inhalation device for dispensing a powdered medicament from a powdered medicament-holding container having only one open end,
- said first part of said device comprising an elongate housing having a passageway for the movement of air therethrough, one end of said housing being an output end adapted for insertion into the mouth or nasal passage of a user thereof, the passageway having an inlet end terminating in an emptying chamber at said output end of said housing, the cross-sectional area of the passageway being less than the cross-sectional area of the emptying chamber,
- means extending into the emptying chamber adjacent the interface thereof with the passageway and transversely thereto a distance into the projected air flow path of the air stream exiting from the passageway for deflecting at least a portion of the air being drawn through the passageway during inhalation into an open, medicament-holding container held adjacent thereto, and an elongate slot extending along the bottom portion of said housing, the slot being defined by two sides of said housing parallel to the longitudinal axis of thereof and adapted for receiving said second part of said device;
- said second part of said device comprising a carriage for receiving the medicament-holding container, said carriage slidably engaged within the slot and having longitudinal sides complementary to said two sides of said housing defining the slot to allow said carriage to slide parallel to the longitudinal axis of said housing,
- said carriage having a chamber therein for releasably receiving a medicament-holding container when in a first container-receiving position, said carriage being adapted to be moved within the slot to a second position where the open, medicament-holding container is adjacent the inner end of the emptying chamber, said carriage having an extension depending from the lower portion thereof in which the container-receiving chamber extends, the container-receiving chamber being partially open along opposed sides thereof such that a medicament-holding container can be at least partially removed from the container-receiving chamber by application of finger pressure to the exposed sides of a container positioned within the container-receiving chamber, said carriage further having stop means thereon for preventing said carriage from being totally separated from said housing,
- whereby when said carriage is moved to the first position a medicament-holding container can be placed within the container-receiving chamber, and, when said carriage holding a medicament-holding container within the container-receiving chamber is moved to the second position where the longitudinal axis of said chamber is transverse to the longitudinal axis of said device, air being drawn through the passageway during inhalation and being deflected by said deflector means into the medicament-holding container through said open end causes the powdered medicament to be dispensed therefrom.