Patent Application
20220323347
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The disclosure relates to delivery devices and more particularly pertains to a new delivery device for masking taste of a medicant for facilitating oral delivery to an animal. The present invention discloses a delivery device comprising an edible, thimble shaped, shell into which a medicant can be positioned and substantially sealed by compression of the shell proximate to a top thereof.
The prior art relates to delivery devices. Prior art delivery devices may comprise edible envelops, capsules, pockets, jackets, and the like, into which a pill or other medicant can be positioned. What is lacking in the prior art is a delivery device comprising an edible, thimble shaped, shell into which a medicant can be positioned and substantially sealed by compression of the shell proximate to a top thereof.
An embodiment of the disclosure meets the needs presented above by generally comprising a shell, which defines an interior space. The shell has a top, which is open and configured for insertion of a medicant therethrough into the interior space. The shell comprises one or more of protein, fat, and vegetable matter, so that the shell is both edible and formable. The shell is configured to be at least one of compressed and folded, proximate to the top, to encase and substantially seal the medicant within the shell. The shell containing the medicant is configured for oral delivery to an animal to medicate the animal.
There has thus been outlined, rather broadly, the more important features of the disclosure in order that the detailed description thereof that follows may be better understood, and in order that the present contribution to the art may be better appreciated. There are additional features of the disclosure that will be described hereinafter and which will form the subject matter of the claims appended hereto.
The objects of the disclosure, along with the various features of novelty which characterize the disclosure, are pointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming a part of this disclosure.
The disclosure will be better understood and objects other than those set forth above will become apparent when consideration is given to the following detailed description thereof. Such description makes reference to the annexed drawings wherein:
With reference now to the drawings, and in particular to
As best illustrated in
The shell 12 may comprise meat, such as, but not limited to, one or more of pepperoni and chicken. The shell 12 also may comprise vegetable matter. Animals, and canines in particular, can be sensitive to tastes and smells of medicants 18, whether formulated as pills, capsules, powders, pastes, syrups, or the like. The animal's sensitive taste and smell can cause difficulties in medicating the animals. The present invention facilitates oral delivery of medicants 18 to animals by providing a means of masking the taste and smell of medicants 18 via the shell 12. The shell 12 comprises meat or vegetable matter, which can be selected specifically to appeal to a particular animal's tastes.
The shell 12 is one of a plurality of shells 12, with each shell 12 being conically frustrum shaped so that the top 16 is circumferentially larger than a bottom 20 of the shell 12. The shells 12 being conically frustrum shaped allows them to be nestable, which is convenient for storage prior to use.
The shell 12 is one of a set of shells 12, with each of the shells 12 of the set of shells 12 having an interior space 14 of a respective volume 22. The set of shells 12 thus comprises shells 12 having interior spaces 14 of a variety of volumes 22, as shown in
The set of shells 12 may comprise a small shell 24, a medium shell 26, and a large shell 28, as shown in
In use, a shell 12 sized appropriately for the animal to be medicated is selected and the medicant 18 is inserted into the interior space 14. The shell 12 is pinched closed, and potentially folded, to encase and substantially seal the medicant 18 within the shell 12. The shell 12 containing the medicant 18 then is fed to the animal to effect medicant 18 delivery.
With respect to the above description then, it is to be realized that the optimum dimensional relationships for the parts of an embodiment enabled by the disclosure, to include variations in size, materials, shape, form, function and manner of operation, assembly and use, are deemed readily apparent and obvious to one skilled in the art, and all equivalent relationships to those illustrated in the drawings and described in the specification are intended to be encompassed by an embodiment of the disclosure.
Therefore, the foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles of the disclosure. Further, since numerous modifications and changes will readily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limit the disclosure to the exact construction and operation shown and described, and accordingly, all suitable modifications and equivalents may be resorted to, falling within the scope of the disclosure. In this patent document, the word “comprising” is used in its non-limiting sense to mean that items following the word are included, but items not specifically mentioned are not excluded. A reference to an element by the indefinite article “a” does not exclude the possibility that more than one of the element is present, unless the context clearly requires that there be only one of the elements.
