Compliance-enhancing prescription vial
OwnerJames D. Thackreyinventor
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A prescription vial which counts cyclically, through a window in the cap, how many times it has been opened/closed that day. The construction is unique in that the principal parts can be formed with straight strokes of the forming press, thus they are suitable for mass production. Spring fingers on an index plate extend past the sealing disc to ride on the upper flank of the closure threads. The fingers touch the thread at a flat helical angle. When the cap is rotated in one direction the index plate and fingers move with it; in the other direction the cap turns but the fingers will not pass an abutment on the thread, so force the index plate to turn inside the cap.
Claims10
A container for medicinal doses, the cap of which contains a window through which a serial indicator is visible, the serial indicator advancing each time the container is opened and closed by having spring fingers abut on portions of the attachment threads and so prevent rotation of the cap from driving the member which carries the serial indicator, the open end of the container and cap being generally cylindrical and being attached to each other by multiple start threads on the container which are engaged by inward-projecting tangs on the cap, and having a spring-disc member inside the cap, held down by the cap and sealing to the rim of the container opening, in which the improvement comprises:
- an index plate having the serial indicators on the top surface of its central portion and having a number of spring fingers mounted so as to extend around the periphery of the central portion yet spaced therefrom, each said spring finger being of such length as to terminate short of the mounting portion of the adjacent spring finger, and also projecting below the bottom surface of said index plate, said index plate being located in the cap above the disc spring member with the spring fingers projecting below and past the outer diameter of the disc spring member, and
- multiple start threads on the container, the space between them forming a thread-start one side of which also comprises an abutment for the tip of a spring finger as said index plate rotates relative to the container, said multiple start threads having a lower flank terminating in a rotational stop surface against which the inward-projecting tang of the cap stops, and
- an extension portion on the upper flank of the thread which extends the upper flank clockwise from above the rotational stop surface to the side of the adjacent thread-start looking down, said extension portion having an upper flank which slopes away from the container rim in a clockwise direction when viewed from above whereby the finding of a thread-start by the user is facilitated.
A container for medicinal doses, the cap of which contains a window through which a serial indicator is visible, the serial indicator advancing each time the container is opened and closed, by having spring fingers abut on portions of the attachment threads and so prevent rotation of the cap from during the member which carries the serial indicators, the open end of the container and cap being generally cylindrical and being attached to each other by multiple start threads on the container which are engaged by inward-projecting tangs on the cap, and having a spring-disc member inside the cap, held down by the cap and sealing to the rim of the container opening, in which the improvement comprises:
- a substantially flat index plate having the serial indicators on the top surface of its central portion and having a number of spring fingers mounted with one end coplanar with the central portion so as to extend around the periphery of the central portion yet spaced therefrom, each said spring finger being of such length as to terminate short of the mounting portion of the adjacent spring finger, and also projecting below the bottom surface of said index plate,
- said index plate being located in the cap above the disc spring member with the spring fingers projecting below and past the outer diameter of the disc spring member.
A container for medicinal doses, the cap of which contains a window through which a serial indicator is visible, the serial indicator advancing each time the container is opened and closed, by having spring fingers abut on portions of the attachment threads and so prevent rotation of the cap from driving the member which carries the serial indicators, the open end of the container and cap being generally cylindrical and being attached to each other by multiple start threads on the container which are engaged by inward-projecting tangs on the cap, and having a spring-disc member inside the cap, held down by the cap and sealing to the rim of the container opening, in which the improvement comprises:
- multiple start threads on the container, the space between them forming a thread-start one side of which also comprises an abutment for the tip of a spring finger as said index plate rotates relative to the container, said multiple start threads having a lower flank terminating in a rotational stop surface against which the inward-projecting tang of the cap stops, and
- an extension portion of the upper flank of the thread which extends the upper flank clockwise from above the rotational stop surface to the side of the adjacent thread-start looking down, the circumferential rotation of the inward-projecting tang between the thread start and the end of the rotational stop surface being greater than the circumferential spacing of adjacent spring fingers,
- whereby each full removal-replacement cycle of the cap will include one part in which the cap rotates with respect to said index plate because the index plate is restrained by one or more spring-fingers being against the abutment, the relative rotation advancing the serial indicator.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.