US 4,867,315 AGranted

Vial filling, holding and serving tray arrangement and method

OwnerBrian E. Baldwininventor

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Abstract

An invertable tray/vial package assembly is disclosed formed of separable interlockably connected top and bottom vial holding and locating tray sections which tray enables and effects holding and spatial positioning of a plurality of vials therein for selective external access to the vials at their respective opposite fluid content filling ends and fluid serving ends, for ease of vial filling, closing, handling, labeling and visual identification of vial contents, and for dispensing of the vials and serving the fill content of a vial to a patient. The tray has vial holding and spatially positioning pockets formed on one of its separable sections, with fluid-fill enabling openings formed in the bottom end of each of the pockets, and which are effectively registrable with closeable fill openings of vials disposed therein. The serving mouth ends of the vials are sealed with a peelably removable sealing strip which joins a column of vials together with tear perforations therebetween, and onto which sealing strip is secured a correspondingly tear-perforated labeling strip after filling of the vials and closure of the fill end, of the vials filling and labeling of the vials without necessity for removal of the vials from the tray to effect such filling and labeling.

The method of forming a hospital usable package of a plurality of fillable fluid-holding vials, each of which has a fill opening at one end thereof and an opposite end having a peripheral flange formed thereon, comprising:

removably attaching a common sealing sheet of effectively fluid-sealing material in sealing relation with said peripheral flange of each of a plurality of said vials arranged with their respective said flanges in adjacent substantially linearly aligned side-by-side relation, to thereby form a linear row of said vials laterally interconnected at their said opposite ends by said common sealing sheet material, and having their said one end extending freely from said sheet,
inserting said row of sheet-interconnected vials into a tray having first and second interfacing and separable interconnectable vial containment sections of which said first section is a locating-pocket section having a plurality of linearly spaced and aligned vial-locating-pockets formed therein and generally corresponding in effective vial-lateral-locating and positioning size at their outer ends relative to the peripheral size of said fillable one end of said vials, the spacing of said fillable free end of said vials being generally peripherally locationally complementary at their respective said fillable free ends with the outer ends of said pockets, and each of which pockets has an opening in its outer end,
and disposing said row of sheet-interconnected vials, each with its said free one end extending into side-by-side spatial locating relation within said pockets and with said central fill opening in registry with the corresponding said openings in said pockets of said one tray section and with said sheet-sealed flanged ends extending into and retained by said second section, to thereby form a package of vials which enables ease of vial filling and of vial closure after vial filling without handling or unwrapping of said vials.

Abstract

Claims29