Abstract:
The present disclosure covers a prescription vial that has a colored (preferably white) printable portion. That eliminates the need for a label as the prescription information can be printed directly onto the vial.

Description:
CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS  
       [0001]     This application claims priority from copending U.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/618,410, filed Oct. 13, 2004, the entirety of which is hereby incorporated by reference. 
     
    
     BACKGROUND  
       [0002]     Prescriptions today are regularly filled using prescription vials which are amber colored. When a prescription is filled, a label is prepared that contains such information as the patient&#39;s name, the prescribed drug, the prescribing physician, dosage, and unique prescription number, among others. The prepared label is either manually or automatically attached to the vial.  
         [0003]     The manual attachment of labels may be time consuming and prone to errors. The automatic attachment of labels requires dedicated equipment that prints the label and, while the vial is held in place and rotated, attaches the label to the vial. Automated equipment requires a constant stock of labels. The automated equipment may run out of labels, may become jammed, or the labels may not be properly applied to the vials. If any of these events occur, the filling of prescriptions with an automated prescription filling line may be interrupted thereby resulting in costly down time.  
       SUMMARY  
       [0004]     The present disclosure covers a prescription vial that has a colored (preferably white) printable portion. That eliminates the need for a label as the prescription information can be printed directly onto the vial. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES  
       [0005]     For the present disclosure to be easily understood and readily practiced, the invention will now be described, for purposes of illustration and not limitation, in conjunction with the following figures wherein:  
         [0006]      FIG. 1  is a cross-sectional view of a vial constructing according to the present disclosure;  
         [0007]      FIG. 2  is a cross-sectional view of an open mold for molding the vial of  FIG. 1 ;  
         [0008]      FIG. 3  is a cross-sectional view of the mold of  FIG. 2  in the closed position;  
         [0009]      FIGS. 4, 5 ,  6 A and  6 B illustrate other embodiments of vials constructed according to the present invention; and  
         [0010]      FIGS. 7A-7C  illustrate another embodiment of a vial constructed according to the present disclosure. 
     
    
     DESCRIPTION  
       [0011]      FIG. 1  illustrates a vial  10  constructed according to the present disclosure. The dimensions in  FIG. 1  have been exaggerated for purposes of illustration. As shown in  FIG. 1 , the vial  10  is comprised of a tubular side wall  12  integrally formed with a bottom  14 . The vial is open at its upper end or top  16 . The periphery of the top  16  has formed therein notches (not shown) so that a cap can be used to close the upper end  16  as is known in the art. Vials used in the United States for filling prescriptions are typically amber in color and have a paper label affixed prior to, during, or after the time of filling the prescription via an adhesive. In contrast, the vial  10  of the present disclosure has a tubular printable portion  18  colored with pigment (preferably white) which eliminates the need to affix a paper label via an adhesive.  
         [0012]     The vial  10  of  FIG. 1  may be constructed in various ways. One method will now be described in conjunction with  FIGS. 2 and 3 .  FIG. 2  illustrates a mold  20  comprised of left half  20   a  and right half  20   b . The vertical walls of the mold  20  define a central cavity  22  which defines the outer diameter of the tubular wall  12 . The mold  20  has an upper opening  24  at the top thereof and a closed bottom wall  26  at the bottom thereof. Closed bottom wall  26  has an inlet port  28  formed therein (see  FIG. 3 ). An opening  28   a  for one-half of the inlet port  28  is formed in left mold half  20   a  while an opening  28   b  for the other half of the inlet port  28  is formed in right mold half  20   b  such that when the mold halves are brought together (see  FIG. 3 ), the inlet port  28  is formed. The vertical walls of the mold  20  may have a plurality of vacuum ports  30  formed therein.  
         [0013]     When the mold  20  is open as shown in  FIG. 2 , a tool  32  having vacuum tips  34  may be inserted into the mold  20 . The tool  32  carries at the vacuum tips  34  the tubular printable portion  18  which is in two halves, left half  18   a  and right half  18   b . The tool  32  positions the printable portion  18  over the vacuum ports  30 . When a vacuum at ports  30  is drawn, and the vacuum at tips  34  removed, the printable portion will remain positioned within the mold  20  and the tool  32  can be removed. Thereafter, the mold may be closed.  
         [0014]     Turning now to  FIG. 3 , after the mold  20  is closed, a mandrel  36  is positioned as shown in the figure. A lower portion  36   b  of the mandrel  36  is positioned within central cavity  22  and provides a cylindrical form that forms a core around which the material forming the vial  10  may be injected. The lower portion  36   b  of the mandrel  36  defines the inner diameter of the tubular wall  12 . The mandrel  36  has a rim  36   b  which closes the upper opening  24  of mold  20 . Thereafter, the material of which vial  10  is constructed is injected through inlet port  28  into the gap  38  formed between the inner surface of the mold  20  and the outer surface of the lower portion of the mandrel  36   b . The gap  38  thus forms the shape of the vial  10 . As will be apparent to those skilled in the art, the printable portion  18  will be molded into the tubular wall  12  of vial  10 . After an appropriate cooling time, mandrel  36  may be withdrawn and mold  20  opened to release the vial  10  formed therein. A sprue extending from the bottom  14  of vial  10 , formed by the hardening of material in inlet port  28 , may need to be removed.  
         [0015]     It is anticipated that the vial  10 , including the printable portion  18 , may be comprised of a wide variety of thermoplastic materials, typically polyethylene or polypropylene, with pigments added as required. It is also anticipated that printable portion  18  may be implemented using any of a known variety of materials such as synthetic papers (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,083,443 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety), printable media (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,284,177 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety) and various types of laminates (see, for example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,387 which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety).  
         [0016]     Although the molding of the vial  10  is illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3  in conjunction with an injection molding process, the present disclosure is intended to cover the use of a preform in conjunction with a blow molding process.  
         [0017]     Turning now to  FIG. 4 , another embodiment of a vial  40  constructed according to the present disclosure is illustrated. The vial  40  of  FIG. 4  may be constructed using an injection molding technique and a mold and mandrel similar to those illustrated in  FIGS. 2 and 3 . However, in  FIG. 4 , the addition of pigment to the thermoplastic as it is injected into the mold is controlled such that the tool  32  and printable portion  18 A and  18 B illustrated in  FIG. 2  are not necessary.  
         [0018]     In  FIG. 4 , injection molding begins at time t 1  and continues until time t 2 . During that time period, the thermoplastic injected into the mold is the traditional amber color. However, at time t 2 , a pigment is added to the thermoplastic being injected into the mold, and the addition of pigment continues until time t 3 . At time t 3 , the addition of the white pigment is discontinued and thermoplastic of the traditional amber pigment is injected into the mold from time t 3  until time t 4 . Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that because the inlet for injecting pigment is upstream of the mold, the amount of thermoplastic “in transit” must be controlled so that, at time t 2 , when the white pigment is added to the thermoplastic, that thermoplastic which contains the white pigment does not reach the mold until such time as the printable portion  18  is to be formed.  
         [0019]      FIG. 5  illustrates another embodiment of a vial  50  constructed according to the teachings of the present disclosure. The vial  50  is constructed of an upper section  52 , a printable middle section  54 , and a lower section  56 . The upper section  52  carries a plurality of male (or female) connectors  58  extending from a bottom portion thereof. The middle section  52  contains a plurality of complimentary female (or male) connectors  60  configured in a top portion thereof. Similarly, the middle section  54  carries a plurality of male (or female) connectors  58  extending from the bottom portion thereof while the lower section  56  carries a plurality of complimentary female (or male) connectors  60  in an upper surface thereof. It is anticipated that the upper section  52 , middle section  54 , and lower section  56  will each be separately molded such that the completed vial  50  may be formed by mechanically interconnecting the upper section  52  to the middle section  54 , and the middle section  54  to the lower section  56 .  
         [0020]      FIGS. 6A and 6B  illustrate yet another embodiment of a printable prescription vial  60  constructed according to the teachings of the present disclosure. A traditional, commercially available vial  60  is illustrated in  FIG. 6A  with a heat shrink wrap label  62  appropriately positioned. After the application of the appropriate heat, the wrap  62  shrinks in size to form a tight fit around vial  60  as shown in  FIG. 6B  thereby providing a printable surface.  
         [0021]     Another vial  70  constructed according to the teachings of the present disclosure is illustrated in  FIG. 7A . It is anticipated that for small diameter vials, the high degree of curvature of the surface may make it difficult to print large letters. To provide a smooth printing surface, vials may be formed in a square, rectangular, triangular, or other flat sided configuration as shown in  FIG. 7A . Despite having a flat sided configuration, the top  72  of the vial  70  may be a standard round configuration and contain the notches typically found on prescription vials so that commercially available lids may still be used. The vial  70  may have a bottom  74  which is either hollow or specifically configured to receive the top  72  of an adjacently placed vial. Thus, an adjacently placed vial (placed in the direction shown by arrow  75 ) fits completely within the hollow bottom or especially configured bottom  74  of vial  70 . Additionally, a ledge  76  (See  FIG. 7B ) may be formed at the joint between the top and side walls so that the bottom  74  of one vial  70  is self-centering when placed on top of another vial  70 . The vials  70  may have one entire side wall having printable (preferably white) pigment or, as shown in  FIG. 7C , a printable strip  78  formed in one, or more, side walls.  
         [0022]     It is anticipated that the vial  70  illustrated in  FIGS. 7A and 7C  may be constructed using any of the aforementioned techniques. For example, the technique described in conjunction with  FIGS. 2 and 3  could be used with appropriate modification to the configuration of the mold and mandrel. Alternatively, the technique of  FIG. 4  could be used together with the use of additional inlet ports to control the flow of thermoplastic material into the mold. Additionally, the technique of  FIG. 5  could be used with appropriate modification such that the printable wall is mechanically attached to the remainder of an amber vial to produce the finished product. Additionally, the heat shrink wrap approach of  FIG. 6  could be used. More specifically, that portion of the heat shrink wrap which is to cover the side that is to become printable would be located approximate to that side of the amber colored vial, while the remainder of the heat shrink wrap covering the other three sides could be transparent. Those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that other methods of manufacture may lead to other physical configurations for a printable vial.