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OwnerMichael T. Newhouse, W. Douglas Bainesinventors
Estimating the term…
A powder inhaler and process are provided for aerosolizing finely powdered or pulverized medication and a gas provided in a pillow or blister-type container of extremely thin elastic suitable plastic construction. The pillow is compressed between an anvil with a conical depression and a confronting conical piston. The conical depression has a small orifice at its apex, and the periphery of the pillow is restrained so that compression between the conical pillow and the conical depression produces explosive rupture of the pillow and exit of the gas and medication at a very high speed up to supersonic through said orifice. Medication particle clumps are very efficiently separated into separate particles, and the gas/medication exiting from the orifice are conveyed through a very small area linear or curved tube to a dispersal chamber or directly to a patient, movement through the tube producing a shearing action further enhancing separation of aggregated particles of powder medication.
A powder inhaler assembly for dispersing medication, said assembly not using a propellant, said assembly comprising a pillow containing a dose of powdered medication and gas, said pillow constructed of plastic means for explosively discharging the powdered medication and gas from inside said pillow comprising a housing having a dispersal chamber, means providing an exit from said chamber for transporting dispersed medication to a patient, a support in said housing, said support having a depression of predetermined shape and having a maximum transverse dimension of predetermined size, said depression having an outlet orifice which is small relative to said predetermined size, a piston positioned opposite to said depression and having a surface confronting said depression which at least in part conforms to said depression, means for moving said piston towards said depression to compress a medication pillow therein, means associated with said piston and said depression for providing peripheral support to a medication pillow, said pillow being completely restrained except for said orifice, the gas in said pillow compressing responsive to continued movement of said piston toward said depression and resulting in explosive rupturing of said pillow, said dose and gas exploding and deaggregating into said orifice and through said orifice, for inhalation by a patient, wherein said exit means includes a conduit means from said orifice to said dispersal chamber for transmission of aerosolized medication to a patient.
Apparatus for dispersing of medication, said apparatus not using a propellant, said apparatus comprising, a pillow containing powdered medication and a gas together in said pillow said pillow being of plastic construction;
A process for propellant free dispersing of powder medication, said process comprising the steps of providing a plastic pillow containing powder medication and a gas, completely surrounding said pillow except for a very small area relative to the size of said pillow, explosively rupturing said pillow at said small area by compressing said pillow and the gas within said pillow while so surrounded and thereby deaggregating said powder medication, and delivering said deaggregated powder medication to a patient for inhalation.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.