Patent ID: 6452133
Filing Date: 2002-09-17
Classification: A61K,B23K

Abstract:
An apparatus for treating pharmaceutical dispensers with a beam of laser energy, the apparatus comprising:a plurality of laser treatment stations; a laser source for providing the beam of laser energy to treat pharmaceutical dispensers positioned in said plurality of laser treatment stations; a laser beam controller configured to direct the beam of laser energy to altematingly operate in each of said plurality of laser treatment stations; a plurality of batch carriers, each batch carrier adapted to carry a series of sequential batches of untreated pharmaceutical dispensers into and out of said plurality of laser treatment stations; and an advance coordinator configured to advance each of said plurality of batch carriers within said plurality of laser treatment stations in a repeating, alternating cycle, said repeating, alternating cycle being in coordination with the activity of the laser controller such that a batch of untreated pharmaceutical dispensers is substantially continuously positioned in one or another of said plurality of laser treatment stations.