Pestle and mortar for crushing pills in pill cups

A pestle and mortar for crushing a pill, comprising:

• a pestle having a frustum-shaped portion with a planar pill crushing face, the pestle having a central axis, and
• a mortar having a frustum-shaped receptacle with a planar floor, the receptacle conforming substantially to the frustum-shaped portion and pill crushing face, the pestle being freely rotatable in the receptacle about the axis whereby the pestle and mortar cooperate to crush a pill.

A pestle for crushing a pill in combination with a frustum-shaped pill cup, comprising:

• a frustum-shaped pill cup with a sidewall and a floor forming a pill cup interior, and
• a pestle having a handle portion and a frustum-shaped pill crushing portion with a sidewall and a planar pill crushing face, the pestle having a vertical axis and being freely rotatable about the vertical axis in the pill cup interior, the pestle also being freely tiltable about a horizontal axis in the pill cup interior the frustum-shaped pill crushing portion conforming substantially to the interior of the pill cup whereby the frustum-shaped pill crushing portion may simultaneously crush and contain the pill in the pill cup.

A mortar in combination with a frustum-shaped pill cup having a continuous pill cup sidewall, comprising:

• a frustum-shaped pill cup with a sidewall and a floor, and
• a mortar with a frustum-shaped receptacle formed by a continuous mortar sidewall and a planar floor, the mortar having top and bottom surfaces to define a height of the mortar, the mortar having a curvilinear perimeter, the top surface forming the shape of a circular band and the bottom surface forming the shape of a disk, the mortar being solid from the top to bottom surfaces, from the mortar sidewall to the perimeter, and from the floor of the receptacle to the bottom surface, the height of the mortar sidewall being
• less than the height of the pill cup sidewall but greater than one-half the height of the pill cup sidewall to deeply and stably receive the pill cup in which a pill may be crushed.

A pestle and mortar for crushing a pill comprising:

• a pestle including a pill crushing portion and a handle portion, the pill crushing portion being formed substantially in the shape of a frustum so as to include a continuous, substantially frustoconical pestle sidewall and a flat, pill crushing face, the pill crushing portion also including a beveled edge being disposed between the pestle sidewall and the flat, pill crushing face, and
• a mortar including a frustum-shaped receptacle formed by a continuous mortar sidewall and a flat mortar floor, the height of the mortar sidewall being greater than one-half the height of the pestle sidewall but less than the height of the full length of the pestle sidewall, the surface area of the mortar floor being slightly greater than the surface area of the pestle floor so that the pestle is readily insertable in and removable from the mortar with minimal lateral movement relative the mortar, the continuous mortar sidewall being parallel and adjacent to but spaced from the pestle sidewall to further minimize lateral movement between the pestle and the mortar whereby the pill is crushed in the mortar by a rotating grinding motion applied to the handle portion.