The presently disclosed subject matter is directed towards a medicine dispenser, and more particularly towards a medicine dispenser for dispensing liquid medicine having a high viscosity.
Medicine dispensers taking the form of a depressible container having a medicine within are used for applying liquid medicines to many parts of the body, and in particular for dispensing medicine to the eye. These dispensers usually contain multiple dosages such that many applications of the medicine can be applied over a period of time. Typically, these containers are suitable for at home use by most patients.
One such example of a medicine for use in these types of dispensers may be the use of an antibiotic suspended within a viscous liquid for treating various eye infections. The antibiotic is suspended within the viscous liquid so that the liquid does not flow from the application site in order to maintain the antibiotic onto the surface of the eye, otherwise, a low viscosity fluid would tend to drip off of the eye and require the patient to constantly hold their head in a lay flat position in order to maintain the medicine on their eye or apply additional doses.
It follows that the higher viscosity of the liquid containing the medicine, the more likely that the medicine can maintain prolonged contact with the patient's eye and therefore provide greater treatment effectiveness. Unfortunately, the viscous liquid does not lend itself to easy dispensing within the medicine dispenser. The viscous liquid tends to collect at the lowest portion of the bottle which is typically oppositely placed from the dispenser spout. Due to the higher viscosity of the viscous liquid, the viscous liquid does not quickly flow towards the spout once the bottle is inverted for dispensing. The bottle may also have hard edge lines along the medicine's flow path which also slows the rate of medicine travel. Not only is this time consuming, but, many times, the liquid remains on the bottom or edges of the dispenser thus leaving additional dosages unusable.
Accordingly, there remains a need for a medicine dispenser that addresses the various disadvantages associated with previous devices, and more particularly, a medicine dispenser that is configured for dispensing liquid medicines of a high velocity.
According to one aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a medicine dispenser is provided. The medicine dispenser includes a container having a spout on a first end thereof for dispensing a medicine and defining a generally elongate base on a second end thereof that has a width greater than a width of the spout. A sidewall having a pair of opposing sidewall portions that have generally continuous biconvex cross-sections that extend from respective wide ends of the spout and the base contains a liquid medicine therein.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a tangent surface defined on an intersection of the pair of opposing sidewall portions about the intersection of the sidewall and the base is between about 115 and 155 degrees relative to a horizontal of the base.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a tangent surface defined on an intersection of the pair of opposing sidewall portions about the intersection of the sidewall and the base is between about 125 and 145 degrees relative to a horizontal of the base.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a tangent surface defined on an intersection of the pair of opposing sidewall portions about the intersection of the sidewall and the base is about 135 degrees relative to a horizontal of the base.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a tangent surface defined on an intersection of the pair of opposing sidewall portions about the intersection of the sidewall and the spout is between about 25 and 65 degrees relative to a vertical of the spout.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a tangent surface defined on an intersection of the pair of opposing sidewall portions about the intersection of the sidewall and the spout is between about 35 and 55 degrees relative to a vertical of the spout.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a tangent surface defined on an intersection of the pair of opposing sidewalls about the intersection of the sidewall and the spout is about 45 degrees relative to a vertical of the spout.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a medicine dispenser is provided. The dispenser includes a container having a spout on a first end thereof for dispensing a liquid medicine and a generally elongate base on a second end thereof. A sidewall interconnects the spout and the elongate base to form a volume therein for containing the liquid medicine and defines a pair of opposing sidewall portions for being compressed by a user to thereby direct the liquid medicine through the spout.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the two sidewall portions are joined at a seam extending between respective wide ends of the spout and the elongate base.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the sidewall has a width that is about twice the distance between opposing sidewall portions.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the sidewall portions define generally circular cross-sections.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the dispenser includes a cap engageably received by the spout.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, a medicine dispenser having a viscous medicine contained therein is provided. The dispenser includes a container having a spout on a first end thereof for dispensing the viscous medicine and a generally elongate base on a second end thereof. A sidewall interconnects the spout and the elongate base to form a volume therein containing the viscous medicine.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the viscous medicine has a viscosity greater than 1 centipoise.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the viscous medicine has a viscosity between about 1 and about 2000 centipoise.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the viscous medicine has a viscosity between about 1000 and about 2000 centipoise.
According to another aspect of the disclosed subject matter, the viscous medicine has a viscosity between about 500 and about 1000 centipoise.
This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in a simplified form that are further described below in the Detailed Description. This Summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Further, the claimed subject matter is not limited to implementations that solve any or all disadvantages noted in any part of this disclosure.
The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description of preferred embodiments, is better understood when read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purposes of illustration, there is shown in the drawings exemplary embodiments; however, the presently disclosed subject matter is not limited to the specific methods and instrumentalities disclosed. In the drawings:
The presently disclosed subject matter now will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which some, but not all embodiments are shown. Indeed, this invention may be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided so that this disclosure will satisfy applicable legal requirements. Like numbers refer to like elements throughout.
As illustrated throughout the drawings, a medicine dispenser is provided and is generally designated as 10. The medicine dispenser 10 generally includes a container 12 having a spout 14 on a first end thereof for dispensing a medicine 1. The container 12 may be fabricated from a plastic molding process and may be generally translucent so that the medicine 1 is viewable to a user handing the dispenser 10. The container 12 also includes a generally elongate base 16 on a second end thereof. The base 16 may have a width greater than a width of the spout 14 so as to provide increased support to the bottom of the container 12 while being positioned on a flat surface. The container 12 also defines a sidewall 20 that includes a pair of opposing sidewall portions 22, 24. As illustrated in
As additionally illustrated in
The sidewall portions 22, 24 define generally circular cross-sections. These generally circular cross-sections of the sidewall portions 22, 24 cooperate to generally define a channel 28 formed about seam 26 in which the medicine 1 will generally flow. In typical use, the user will grasp opposing sidewall portions 22, 24 and invert the dispenser 10 into an inverted position as shown in
As illustrated in
The dispenser 10 is provided for containing medicine 1, which may be an ocular medicine that includes an antibiotic portion suspended in a vicious fluid. In an embodiment, this medicine may be AzaSite® available from Inspire Pharmaceuticals in Durham, N.C. In an embodiment, the medicine may have a viscosity greater than 1 centipoise at room temperature. In another embodiment, the medicine may have a viscosity between about 1 and about 2000 centipoise at room temperature. In yet another embodiment, the medicine may have a viscosity between about 1000 and about 2000 centipoise at room temperature. In another embodiment, the medicine has a viscosity between about 500 and about 1000 centipoise at room temperature.
As illustrated in
At illustrated in
While the embodiments have been described in connection with the preferred embodiments of the various figures, it is to be understood that other similar embodiments may be used or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiment for performing the same function without deviating therefrom. Therefore, the disclosed embodiments should not be limited to any single embodiment, but rather should be construed in breadth and scope in accordance with the appended claims.