Patent Application
20220125682
The present invention relates to a cutting device, especially to a cutting device that is configured to cut a pill.
Pills are manufactured in specific doses but different patients and different diseases need different dosages according to their respective prescriptions. For example, a dosage for a child may be half of a dosage for an adult. Therefore, the pill should be split into a suitable dose. Even though every pill has a notch formed thereon to facilitate splitting, a user still has difficulty cutting the pill along the notch because the pill is solid and hard. Thus, the pill may not be split into suitable doses.
Pill cutters are invented for this purpose. Conventionally, the pill cutter comprises a base, a lid, and a blade. The base forms a recess configured to receive a pill. The blade is mounted on the lid. After a pill is put in the recess of the base, the pill will be cut into two pieces by the blade upon closing of the lid on the base. However, because the pill cutter is configured to be used generally for various pills, the pills may not perfectly fit the pill cutter. As a result, the pill may be cut into two unequal pieces, which causes uneven doses for intakes of the pill.
Besides, the pills are manufactured in various shapes: circle, triangle, square, rhombus, etc. Moreover, some pills may have a special shape, for example, drop shape. Therefore, the conventional pill cutter cannot fix every pill stably, so the pill may be cut into two unequal pieces.
To overcome the shortcomings, the present invention provides a pill locator for a pill cutter to mitigate or obviate the aforementioned problems.
The main objective of the present invention is to provide a pill locator for a pill cutter that assists the pill to be split into two equal pieces.
The pill cutter has a base, a lid, a blade, and a plurality of pill locators. The base forms a recess. The lid is tiltably mounted on the base and selectively closing the base. The blade is mounted on the lid. Each one of the pill locators is configured to be mounted in a pill cutter. The pill locator has a board, and the board forms an edge and at least one hole. The edge is configured to abut the recess of the pill cutter so that the board is fixed in the recess. The at least one hole is configured to receive a pill, and a shape and a size of the at least one hole corresponds to said pill. The holes of the pill locators differ from one another in shape or size; only one of the pill locators is mounted in the recess.
With the edge of the board abutting the recess of the pill cutter, the pill locater may not be moved with respect to the pill cutter. As a result, the pill in the pill locater is well positioned with respect to the pill cutter, so the pill will be split into two equal pieces. Moreover, different pill locators may have the holes with different shapes or sizes, so the user can choose a suitable pill locator according to a pill to be cut, and thereby the pill cutter can be utilized to cut various pills.
Other objectives, advantages and novel features of the invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description when taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.
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The pill locator is configured to be mounted in the recess A12 and comprises a board 10. The pill locator may further comprise at least one protrusion 20, and in this embodiment, a number of the at least one protrusion 20 is two.
The board 10 forms an edge 11 and at least one hole 12, and selectively forms a slot 13. The edge 11 has a contour enclosing the board 10 and is configured to abut the recess A12 of the pill cutter A so that the board 10 is fixed in the recess A12. Precisely, the edge 11 of the board 10 comprises two sides and the two sides are configured to respectively abut the two lateral walls A11 of the pill cutter A at the same time, and thereby the pill locator is stably fixed in the recess A12. The board 10 has a corner located between the two sides of the edge 11 and an angle of the corner is equal to an angle between the two lateral walls A11 of the recess A12 of the pill cutter A so that the pill locator is fit in the recess A12.
Each one of the at least one hole 12 is configured to receive one pill and a shape and a size of the at least one hole 12 corresponding to a shape and a size of said pill. In this embodiment, a number of the at least one hole 12 is one. A shape of a sectional area of the hole 12 may be a circle, triangle, square, rhombus, oval, ellipse, bar-shape, or drop-shape, etc. However, the shape of the hole 12 is not limited thereto and may be any shape according to the shape of the various pills. Therefore, the pill is positioned in the hole 12 and thereby the pill locater prevents the pill from moving. In this embodiment, the hole 12 is a through hole, but it is not limited thereto, as the hole 12 may be a blind hole.
The slot 13 is configured to receive a blade A3 of the pill cutter A and communicates with the hole 12. The hole 12 is divided into two portions according to the slot 13 and areas of the two portions are equal to each other. Therefore, when the blade A3 is moved into the slot 13, the pill in the hole 12 is cut into two equal pieces.
The at least one protrusion 20 is mounted on the board 10 so that the at least one protrusion 20 and the board 10 clamp the lateral wall(s) A11 of the recess A12. A number of the at least one protrusion 20 is two, but the number may be one and is not limited thereto. Each one of the protrusions 20 is mounted on the board 10, located at the corner which is between the two sides of the edge 11. In this embodiment, each one of the protrusions 20 protrudes out of the recess A12 of the pill cutter A so that the at least one protrusion 20 and the board 10 clamp the two lateral walls A11 of the recess A12. In another embodiment, the number of the protrusions 20 may be more than two and the multiple protrusions 20 may clamp the lateral wall(s) A11 of the recess A12, which makes the pill locator more stable. Precisely, the two protrusions 20 protrude parallel with the board 10, and in this embodiment, protrude away from each other.
With the present invention, before a user cuts a pill, the pill locator can be assembled on a conventional pill cutter A, the pill is put into the hole 12 of the pill locator. Because the pill is fittingly positioned with the hole 12, the pill may not be moved with respect to the pill locator. With the two sides of the edge 11 of the board 10 abutting the lateral walls A11 of the pill cutter A, the pill locater may not be moved with respect to the pill cutter A in a direction perpendicular to the blade A3. With the protrusions 20 and the board 10 clamping the lateral walls A11, the pill locater may not be moved with respect to the pill cutter A in a direction parallel to the blade A3. As a result, the pill in the pill locater may not be moved with respect to the pill cutter A, so the pill will be split into two equal pieces.
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Even though numerous characteristics and advantages of the present invention have been set forth in the foregoing description, together with details of the structure and features of the invention, the disclosure is illustrative only. Changes may be made in the details, especially in matters of shape, size, and arrangement of parts within the principles of the invention to the full extent indicated by the broad general meaning of the terms in which the appended claims are expressed.
