Patent Application
20200130890
The present invention relates to accessories for medicine bottle, namely, an attachment for preventing a medicine bottle from spilling.
Medicine bottles are prone to falling and/or spilling because of its high aspect ratio, which makes the base of the bottle insufficiently wide as compared to the length, therefore it can easily lose balance. In addition, the lid and top opening of the bottle is typically larger than the base because of the locking mechanism that locks the lid in place, thereby making the bottle top-heavy and further contributing to the instability of the bottle. For example, the bottle may tip over and if the lid is not secured all the way or tight enough, the medicine can spill from the bottle. This may cause some medicine to be lost or disposed of due to contamination. Loss of medication may require additional costs for replacement, or the patient may have to skip some doses if the prescription has re-fill limitations. Moreover, the medicine bottle label is crowded with information typically written in small font sizes that make it difficult to read, particular for a patient with visual impairment. Thus, the bottles have the drawback of not clearly stating the relevant information, such as the medicine's purpose, the condition that is being treated, how many refills are left, when the next refill is due, and how often or times the medication needs to be taken.
Currently in the arts, U.S. Pat. No. 8,999,477 teaches an apparatus for attachment to a medicine container having a label with label surface and an attachment mechanism for attaching the label to a medicine container. MEDI RING® is another example of a labeling device featuring blank plastic adhesive labels. However, none of these devices stabilize the medicine bottle and can actually add weight to the upper portion of the bottle, thereby further destabilizing the bottle. Hence, there is a need for a more stable medicine bottle with improved labeling.
Any feature or combination of features described herein are included within the scope of the present invention provided that the features included in any such combination are not mutually inconsistent as will be apparent from the context, this specification, and the knowledge of one of ordinary skill in the art. Additional advantages and aspects of the present invention are apparent in the following detailed description and claims.
The present invention features a non-spill medicine bottle attachment. In some aspects, the attachment may comprise a band configured to encircle a portion of the medicine bottle, a base disposed on a bottom end of the band, and a writing surface disposed on an exterior surface of the band. In some embodiments, the band can encircle a bottom portion of the medicine bottle such that the base is positioned at a bottom end of the medicine bottle to stabilize said medicine bottle.
One of the unique and inventive technical features of the present invention is the stabilizing base of the bottle attachment. Without wishing to limit the invention to any theory or mechanism, it is believed that this technical feature can advantageously reduce spillage of medicine inside the bottle, especially when the medicine container lid is not completely closed or secured. None of the presently known prior references or work has the unique inventive technical feature of the present invention.
Furthermore, the bottle attachment may be used to clearly label the contents of the bottle for a user. For example, the medication and purpose of the medication, e.g. blood pressure, heart, diabetes, cholesterol, etc., may be labeled on the writing surface of the attachment. The labeling may be conveniently written in the language most understood by the user so that the user can easily identify the medication. This feature can advantageously reduce the risk of selecting the wrong medication.
The features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from a consideration of the following detailed description presented in connection with the accompanying drawings in which:
Following is a list of elements corresponding to a particular element referred to herein:
Referring now to
According to another embodiment, the present invention features a system (100) for stabilizing a medicine bottle (10). The system (100) may comprise the medicine bottle (10), and a non-spill medicine bottle attachment (105) comprising a band (110) configured to wrap around a portion of the medicine bottle. In some embodiments, the band (110) may have a stabilizing base (120) disposed on a bottom end (112) of the band, and a writing surface (130) disposed on an exterior surface (116) of the band. In one embodiment, the attachment (105) may be attached to the medicine bottle (10) by placing the band (110) around a portion of the medicine bottle such that the band (110) encircles or wraps around said portion and the base (120) is positioned at a bottom end (14) of the medicine bottle, thereby stabilizing the medicine bottle (10) in an upright standing position. In preferred embodiments, the stabilizing base (120) may be wider than a top end (114) of the band. In other words, the stabilizing base (120) may have a larger diameter than a diameter of the top end (114) of the band.
In some embodiments, the band (110) may comprise a circular or tubular cuff (115), such as those shown in
In one embodiment, the bottom end (112) of the band may be wider than a top end (114) of the band. Referring to
As an alternative or in conjunction, the base (120) may include a weight (140). As shown in
According to one embodiment, the attachment (105) can snap onto the medicine bottle (10). Preferably, the attachment (105) is fitted snugly to the medicine bottle (10) such that the attachment (105) does not slip or fall away from the medicine bottle (10). For example, when the medicine bottle (10) is lifted by its lid or top portion, the attachment (105) remains connected to the medicine bottle (10). In one embodiment, the band (110) may have an inner diameter (118) that is about equal to or slightly larger than an outer diameter (18) of the medicine bottle, thereby allowing for the medicine bottle (10) to slip into the band (110) and the band (110) can snugly fit around the medicine bottle (10). In another embodiment, the attachment (105) is constructed from an elastic material that snugly fits around the medicine bottle (10). For example, the band (110) may be constructed from silicon to form a silicon sleeve that can stretch and wrap around the medicine bottle. In other embodiments, the attachment (105) may be constructed from a plastic, preferably a hard yet flexible plastic.
In preferred embodiments, the band (110) may be adjustable in size to accommodate various sizes of medicine bottles (10). This can be accomplished by the material of construction that allows for the band to stretch. Alternatively or in conjunction, the band (110) may comprise the C-shaped cuff that can expand in diameter due to the opening in its C-shape. For example, the bottle may be pushed through the opening of the C-shaped band such that the band snaps around the bottle. In some embodiments, the attachment may adjustable such that it may be used with any medicine bottle having diameters ranging from about ¾ inch to about 2 inches. In other embodiments, the attachment may be used with medicine bottles having diameters greater than 2 inches.
In preferred embodiments, the writing surface (130) can be written upon to include medical information and label the medicine bottle (10). This allows for the contents of the medicine bottle to be clearly labeled. The label can include the purpose of the medication, e.g. blood pressure, heart, diabetes, cholesterol, etc, the dosage to take, and how often to take the medication. This information may be written in a language most understood by the user, such as English, Spanish, Chinese, Hindi, French, German, Arabic, etc., so that it may be easier for the user to identify the medicine bottle, thereby reducing the risk of selecting the wrong medication.
As used herein, the term “about” refers to ±10% of the referenced number.
Various modifications of the invention, in addition to those described herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing description. Such modifications are also intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. Each reference cited in the present application is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Although there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that modifications may be made thereto which do not exceed the scope of the appended claims. Reference numbers recited in the claims are exemplary and are solely for ease of review by the patent office only, and are not limiting in any way. The reference numbers are not intended in any way to limit the scope of the claims to the particular features having the corresponding reference numbers in the drawings. Therefore, the scope of the invention is only to be limited by the following claims. In some embodiments, the figures presented in this patent application are drawn to scale, including the angles, ratios of dimensions, etc. In some embodiments, the figures are representative only and the claims are not limited by the dimensions of the figures. In some embodiments, descriptions of the inventions described herein using the phrase “comprising” includes embodiments that could be described as “consisting of”, and as such the written description requirement for claiming one or more embodiments of the present invention using the phrase “consisting of” is met.
