JPH0229257A - Machine for dividing tablet - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To perform efficient handling naturally and without waste by automatically carrying out an operation for cutting a tablet in two pieces by means of a rotary cutter and sending out same at the time of feeding the required tablets one at a time. CONSTITUTION:As a motor 11 is started, a conveyor 3 and a cutter 4 are driven by means of each gear train of a power-transmission driving mechanism 10. The operating piece of the feed valve of a tablet feeder is pushed by the end 21' of an operating lever 21 to take tablets A one at a time out of the feeder. The taken out tablet falls from a falling port 7' to the top end portion of a chute 2 and is interposingly held as it is between the belts 31, 31 of a conveyor 3 to be moved toward the lower course through a tablet holding interval (a). On arriving at the lower end portion of the chute 2, the tablets A held between the belts 31, 31 of the conveyor is cut in its center portion while being advanced, by means of a rotating thin-wall cutter 4. The tablet which was cut in two pieces will be no more subjected to the interposingly holding force of the belts 31, 31 of the conveyor, falling from the lower end of the chute 2 into a receiving box 9 as it is to be housed therein.

Description

[Detailed description of the invention] Industrial field of application: The present invention is a method for providing medicine to patients based on a prescription at hospitals, clinics, etc., by dividing one tablet into further parts according to the prescription at the time of dispensing. This invention relates to a tablet dividing machine used for administering medication.

Background and Problems of the Invention: When administering medication to patients at hospitals, clinics, clinics, etc., the tablets are divided into separate packages, but if one tablet is too much for one dose, the tablets must be divided. The amount may be adjusted accordingly. In this case, it is generally difficult to pick and divide the tablets. For this purpose, a device such as a nail clipper is used to divide the tablet into the required amount.

However, such methods have low workability (and when dividing a large number of tablets or dividing tablets into quantities other than %, it is difficult to process them as desired). However, it has the disadvantage that the whole piece is crushed before it can be divided, making it unusable.

For this reason, it may be possible to divide the required amount of tablets in advance, but this is inconvenient in terms of drug storage, and depending on the type of drug, moisture may be absorbed from the fractured surface, making it impossible to administer the drug. In this situation, when necessary,
There is a need for a device that can easily divide a desired amount of tablets without direct manual intervention.

Therefore, the present inventor previously obtained a device for dividing tablets by mechanical force in Japanese Patent Application No. 62-23849. However, since the present invention adopts a method of pressing the cutter against the tablet to divide it, depending on the shape of the tablet, excessive division may occasionally occur, resulting in defective products.

Means for Solving the Problem: In view of this situation, the present invention automatically performs the following operations: feeding the required tablets one by one, cutting them into two pieces with a rotary cutter, and sending them out. To provide an automatic tablet dividing machine that can efficiently process tablets without strain or waste.

The present invention comprises a chute that allows the tablets to be processed to flow down, a belt conveyor that clamps and conveys the tablets to be processed in a section from the middle part of the chute to the downstream, and a tablet receptacle on this conveyor that is placed at a stop on the input side. a rotary cutter located at the lower end of the chute for cutting the tablets to be processed; and a rotary cutter located at the lower end of the chute for cutting the tablets to be processed; This tablet dividing machine consists of a mechanism that feeds tablets one by one and a body that supports them.

In the belt conveyor according to the present invention, which pinches and conveys the tablets to be processed, the receiving side is arranged such that the receiving side can gradually pinch the tablets.
The tablets are hung with belts in a state where the tablets narrow in the flow direction on the chute, and are arranged symmetrically, and the interval between the clamping sections can be adjusted according to the size of the tablet.

Further, in the tablet posture correction mechanism of the present invention, the tablet receptacle of the belt conveyor has brush-like objects arranged facing each other with bristles tilted in the flow direction of the tablets at the stop portion on the input side. The proximal end is supported by a pin at the top of the chute so that falling tablets can be lifted up without contacting the belt.

The tablet feeding mechanism used in the present invention is such that when the supply valve of a container-shaped feeder containing tablets is opened, the tablets are taken out one by one, and this feeder is set above a chute and transferred to a belt conveyor. In addition, a cam mechanism is incorporated into the drive mechanism that transmits power to the rotating part of the cutter, and the feeder supply valve is opened and closed intermittently at a required speed.

Each mechanism in the present invention is built into a box-shaped body, and the drive section is driven and operated by a built-in motor.

In addition, within the technical scope of the present invention, the configuration of each mechanism is as follows:
It can be changed as necessary. For example, the drive unit of the conveyor for holding and conveying tablets, the structure of the support frame, the power transmission mechanism, etc. can be changed.

Function: In the device of the present invention, a known container-shaped tablet feeder is placed in the feeder mounting section at the top of the machine and the motor is started, so that the operating lever built into the drive mechanism is activated by the cam. The mechanism is activated intermittently to open the supply valve of the tablet feeder and remove tablets one by one. The tablets taken out from the feeder are dropped onto a chute, and as they flow down, their posture is corrected by a brush-like tablet posture correction mechanism, after which the tablets are gripped from both sides by a conveyor belt and descended. When the lower end of the chute is reached, a rotary cutter cuts the tablets held by the conveyor belt into two pieces. When the clamping force of the conveyor belt is removed, the cut tablet pieces are sent to the end of the chute, and the receiver just below the lower end of the cut tablet pieces falls into the box.

The above-mentioned tablet posture correction mechanism is equipped with a brush-like member having a large number of bristles that are inclined in the flow direction so as to apply a pressing force to the tablets flowing down the chute. Correction processing can be carried out smoothly without damaging the object.

Embodiment: The present invention will be described below with reference to an embodiment of the drawings.
It is as follows.

As shown in Figures 1 to 5, the box-shaped aircraft (1
) Inside, a chute (2) with a downward slope in the front is arranged in the center, and in the section from the middle part of this chute (2) to the bottom end, endless belts 0◇ are arranged symmetrically on both sides. A conveyor (3) for holding and conveying tablets is disposed, and a thin rotary cutter (4) is disposed at the front upper part of the lower end of the chute (2). In addition, a feeder attachment part (7) is provided on the top of the machine body (1) to attach a container-shaped tablet feeder (70). The supply valve opening/closing operation mechanism holder is incorporated in a part of the drive mechanism 00 for transmitting power to each drive unit by the motor αυ provided in the fuselage (1), and is attached so as to operate intermittently. . moreover,
The tablet receptacle of the conveyor (3) is provided with a tablet posture correction mechanism (6) equipped with a brush-like brush at the input side and stop side position.

The chute (2) installed inside the fuselage (1)
) It is attached to the upper surface of the support frame (5) attached at a key point. The upper half is wide, and the lower half is about the maximum diameter of the tablet being handled (but is not limited to this)
It has a width of , and a cut groove (2') through which the cutter (4) can pass is provided at the center of the lower end.

The conveyor (3) that pinches and conveys the tablets has a support frame (5).
(1 set includes a limited pulley and a timing belt 01) supported in a movable and adjustable manner.
As shown in Figure 5,
Two sets are arranged symmetrically. These are designed so that the 0◇ portion of the belt that is in contact with the two pairs of pulleys located downstream of the chute (2) moves in parallel while maintaining an interval corresponding to the diameter of the tablets handled on the chute (2). The 0η portion of the belt moves outward between the upper pulley (to) in the flow direction and the driving pulley (to).Furthermore, the pulley at the most upstream position (to) is arranged so that it is located further outside. When viewed from a perspective view, the left and right bells H31)C3υ are arranged in an inverted crosshair shape, so that the tablets flowing down on the chute (2) are gradually guided to the clamping and conveying section. The pulleys mtA in the tablet holding section (a) are arranged so that they can be adjusted in synchronization in the width direction, and the tension of the belt 0η is adjusted by moving the pulleys (to). a
atAA is a pulley support piece.

The conveyor (3) is driven by the motor shaft α of the gear train of the power transmission drive mechanism αO, which is disposed outside the machine body (1).
A bevel gear (to) is installed on the drive shaft α→ which supports the pinion gear 0 which is attached to the small gear 0] and the gear α which meshes with the chrysanthemum. The drive gear pulley (to) is driven and the wrapped timing belt 0]
). Both belts 0])0η are
By arranging the meshing of the pair of bevel gears symmetrically so that they rotate in synchronized and opposite directions, power can be obtained from rotation on the same axis.

The tablet posture correction mechanism (6) includes a chute (2) at the base end.
) Lever (61) supported by a pin (62) and a bracket (7) erected on both sides of the upper end of the forming member
It has a structure in which a brush (63) is attached to the middle lower surface. The brush (63) has relatively long bristles, with the bristles inclined in the direction of flow of the tablets to be treated. The brush (63) is installed at a position just above the bell H31)C3m) of the conveyor (3) just before it narrows down for tablet guidance. Also, at the tip of the lever (61) is a presser bar (64) that prevents the tablets held by the belt from floating up.
A pin (64) is connected and attached. This presser bar (6
4) is provided with a slit (65) so that the cutter (4) can be inserted and rotated freely.

The tablet feeder mounting section (7) is mounted on the top of the machine body (1) and has a well-known feeder (7) which is opened by a supply valve to feed out the tablets one by one.
A recess (7') is opened at the upper part of the chute (2) and is provided with a recess (6) into which the neck of the bottle-shaped feeder is received.

To install this tablet feeder, the tip of the operation lever Cη of the feeder supply valve opening/closing operation mechanism is inserted into the notch (8) provided on the side of the part (7) so that it comes into contact with the valve operation piece. It's Nishide. The opening/closing operation lever Qp of the feeder supply valve has its lower end pivotally attached to a bracket (A) provided on the lower side of the machine body (1), and is bent so as to be inclined toward the machine body from the middle part to the tip. is further curved laterally (see Figure 3). A cam piece with a spherical curved surface is fixed to the side surface of the operating lever (c) at an intermediate position, and is integrally attached to the intermediate gear α9 axis in the power transmission drive mechanism aO. A disk-shaped cam plate (goods) is arranged, and when the cam piece engages with the notch i provided in a part of the cam plate (c), the tip tb of the lever (c) is inserted into the tablet feeder. Push the supply valve operation piece (70) to take out one tablet.Of course, when the cam piece (to) is in contact with a part other than the notch ^ of the cam plate (c), the operation lever Qη is in the state shown by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 3, and is away from the operation piece of the feeder supply valve.

The drive mechanism αO for transmitting power to each of the operating parts described above has the output shaft α of the motor αυ placed in the lower part of the fuselage (1) protruding outside the fuselage (1), and this shaft αb is connected to a large gear α3. The small gear (2) is attached to the drive shaft α of the conveyor (3), and the large gear α3 is the intermediate gear a9 for operating the cam plate (c). and the cutter (4) are meshed with the intermediate gear αSh that transmits the force to the gear α on the drive shaft aQ, so that the power is transmitted simultaneously to each part. In addition, gear 09αh is
) They are designed to freely rotate on supporting shaft crystals αh fixed to the side plates. The drive shaft 04αQ is supported by the body by a bearing.

At the lower front of the machine (1), there is a box (9) to hold the divided tablets.
There is an opening (15) that allows you to take things in and out.

The tablet splitting machine of the present invention configured as described above is equipped with a known manual tablet feeder (7o) in the feeder attachment section (7o).
7), and when the motor αD is started, the conveyor (3) and cutter (4) are driven by each gear train of the power transmission drive mechanism 00. At the same time, the cam piece (to) is operated at regular intervals by rotating the cam plate ■, and when the cam piece engages with the notch i, the tablet feeder (70) is moved by the tip of the operating lever ■D. When the supply valve operation piece is pressed, the feeder (7 tablets (4)
are taken out one by one.

This taken out pill will fall and shoot (2)
while falling onto the upper end and flowing down the chute (2).
The brush of the tablet posture correction mechanism (6) located above it (
63), it was smoothed and corrected to a flat state (
Those flowing down in a flat state from the beginning are caught by the belt 01)01) of the conveyor (3) as they are,
Move the tablet holding section (al toward the downstream).

When the lower end of the chute (2) is finally reached, the tablet (5) held by the belt oneυ of the conveyor is cut at the center by the rotating thin-walled cutter (4) as it advances. The tablet pieces cut into two pieces by the cutter (4) are no longer affected by the clamping force of the belt 6υC3'D of the conveyor, and the tablet pieces are placed in the chute as they are.
2) The receiver falls into the box (9) from the lower end and is stored therein.

In this manner, the tablets that are intermittently fed from the feeder (70) are arranged so that there is no problem in dividing the tablets, and are sequentially cut and divided by the cutter (4).

When the tablets are cut by the cutter (4), they are held by the conveyor belt 01) 0υ to maintain their posture, so if the tablets have different diameters, the belt IJ-c6d of the conveyor (3) should be adjusted. A plow that moves and adjusts widthwise on both sides ensures reliable work. On this occasion,
If necessary, the movement of the pulleys can be adjusted unequal to the left and right to divide the image into unequal parts.

Effects of the invention: According to the present invention, if the dimensions of the tablets to be processed are determined in advance and the conveyor nipping conveyance conditions are set, the tablets can be divided correctly without manual intervention by operating the device. Since it is cut with a rotating cutter, a small amount of chips are generated, but the desired division process is always possible and there is no loss such as small cracks during division. Additionally, since tablets can be processed without touching them, sanitary control is better, and work efficiency is even better than with conventional methods.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

The drawings show an embodiment of the tablet splitting machine of the present invention, in which Fig. 1 is a front view, Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-sectional view, Fig. 3 is a side view taken along the line 1 in Fig. 4, and Fig. 4 is a side view of the tablet feeder. FIG. 5 is an exploded view showing the outline of the supply valve opening/closing operation mechanism, and FIG. 5 is a view showing the manner in which the tablets are divided. (1) ... Machine body (2) ... Chute (3) ... Conveyor that holds and conveys tablets (4) ...
Cutter (5)...Support frame (6)...Tablet posture correction mechanism (7)...Feeder attachment part (7')...Tablet dropout (tip...hole)
Location (8)...Notch part αQ...Power transmission drive mechanism a1)...Motor αυ・
・・Motor shaft (2)・・Small gear (to)・
...Large gear α4αe...Drive shaft a4α
Gear... Gear αh... Intermediate gear αbrA・
・・Support shaft...Feeder supply valve opening/closing operation mechanism ■
D...Opening/closing operation lever Bracket...Cam Piece (c)...Ka
Plate i...Notch in cam plate 0υ...Conveyor belt (to) Height...Gear pulley (to)...Drive pulley (to) i4...Pulley support piece (to) (To)...Bevel gear Yuto...Bracket (61)...Lever (62) (64)...
...Pin (63)...Brush (64)...
・Presser bar (70)...Tablet feeder (2)...
Tablets Figure 1 Figure 3

Claims (1)

[Scope of Claims] 1. A chute that allows the tablets to be processed to flow down, a belt conveyor that pinches and conveys the tablets to be processed in a section from the middle part of the chute to the downstream, and a belt conveyor that is arranged at the upper part of the tablet receiving side of this conveyor. A tablet posture correction mechanism, a rotary cutter located at the lower end of the chute that cuts the tablets to be processed, and a rotary cutter that is installed in the cutter and part of the drive mechanism of the belt conveyor to operate the tablet feeder and cut the tablets to be processed into one piece. A tablet dividing machine comprising: a mechanism for feeding individual tablets one by one; and a body for supporting the mechanisms. 2. The belt conveyor that grips and conveys the tablets to be processed is symmetrically arranged with the belt narrowing in the direction of tablet flow on the chute so that the receiving side can gradually grip the tablets. 2. The tablet dividing machine according to claim 1, wherein the support portion of the pulley is configured so that the interval between the clamping sections can be adjusted according to the width of the holding section. 3. The tablet posture correction mechanism consists of a brush-like part whose bristles are arranged at an angle in the direction of tablet flow, and a base end of the brush-like part supported by a pin on a bracket at an upper position of the chute. and a lever-shaped piece disposed opposite to the chute surface at the upper part of the tablet receiving side of the belt conveyor so as to be able to lift the tablets without contacting the belt of the conveyor. tablet splitting machine.