Abstract:
A pill splitter including a support body with an inclined plane having a triangular shaped recess with sidewalls incorporating a plurality of alternating linear sectors and inwardly curved sectors for centering a wide variety of shapes and sizes of pills to be split by a knife mounted on a cover which is pivotally mounted on the support body.

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED SPECIFCATIONS 
   Not Applicable 
   STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT 
   Not Applicable 
   REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX 
   Not Applicable 
   BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
   This invention relates to devices for splitting solid pills, tablets and the like and, in particular, relates to devices with the capability to split solid pills of virtually any shape, can be manipulated by the aged and/or the infirm or the blind, and is inexpensive to manufacture. 
   It is frequently required that prescription pills, vitamin pills and the like be ingested at a dosage which is less than that of a full pill. Additionally, it is often the case that pills can be more economically purchased if they are purchased at a higher dosage and then split to the desired dosage. While the need to split pills is widespread, it is also the case that the persons who are aged and/or infirm are the most likely to require some form of medication and therefore are the ones who are most likely to require a pill splitter. Unfortunately, persons who are aged and/or infirm are the ones who are also more likely to have difficulty in engaging in the manual dexterity, or who have the sight, required to accurately manipulate pill splitters available prior to the subject invention. 
   The primary failing of the prior art is that of providing an inexpensive pill splitting device that can be used to positively position pills of various shapes and sizes so that they can be accurately split. The pills that are most easily split are those that are round. A number of pill splitting devices employ a simple V shaped pill bed to center round pills for splitting. However, when an attempt is made to utilize a simple V shaped configuration to center pills of other than round configurations, the trembling hands of the aged and/or the infirm, coupled with the possibility of poor or no eyesight, can make the accurate centering of a pill extremely difficult. 
   A number of pill splitting devices have been proposed which address the splitting of pills of various shapes. Examples are: U.S. Pat. No. 6,644,528 to Reitano describes a pill splitter that utilizes a family of beds, which substantially conform to the shapes of pills to be split. This approach requires a relatively expensive device to manufacture and the installation of the various pill splitting beds poses a challenge to the aged and/or the infirm or the blind. Additionally, a number of pill splitting beds must be kept track of so as not to be lost and new beds must be added as new pill shapes and sizes are developed; U.S. Pat. No. 5,118,021 to Flocchi describes a pill splitting device which incorporates a pill bed enclosed by a diamond shaped wall. The diamond shape accommodates round pills, but the only place that an elongated pill can be accurately centered is at the midpoint of the diamond. Even then, the elongated pill must be of the same longitudinal dimension as the dimension of the midpoint of the diamond. Elongated pills of a lesser dimension cannot be positively centered by someone whose hands tremble or who has poor or no eyesight. Pills of other than elongated or round configurations are not addressed in Flocchi&#39;s patent; U.S. Pat. No. 5,038,475 to Wolff describes a pill splitting device that claims to accommodate both round and elongated pills. However, there are no positive means for securing a pill in a centered position and the pill can readily slip to an unfavorable position while the cover is being closed. This would be especially true if a person with trembling hands and/or poor or no sight was using the device. Additionally, the centering device described in Wolff&#39;s patent is fixed in dimension and does not lend itself to various pill lengths. 

   
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWING 
       FIG. 1  Perspective view showing general arrangement of the subject invention with cover in open position. 
       FIG. 2  Exploded perspective view of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 3  Perspective view of subject invention with cover in a partially closed position. 
       FIG. 4  Section view taken at section  4 ,  4  of  FIG. 3 . 
       FIG. 5  Partial view of triangular recess showing details of pill centering sectors. 
       FIG. 6A  View of triangular recess with an elongated pill in place. 
       FIG. 6B  View of triangular recess with a round pill in place. 
       FIG. 6C  View of triangular recess with a square pill in place. 
       FIG. 6D  View of triangular recess with a diamond shaped pill in place. 
       FIG. 6E  View of triangular recess with a triangular shaped pill in place. 
       FIG. 7  Perspective view of subject invention in an inverted position with cover closed. 
       FIG. 8  Perspective view of  FIG. 1  rotated 90 degrees. 
       FIG. 9  Partial view of an alternative triangular recess showing a configuration of only inwardly curved sectors. 
   

   DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
   Preferred Embodiment 
   The preferred embodiment of a pill splitter made in accordance with the subject invention is generally illustrated in  FIG. 1 . The pill splitter includes a support body  10  with one face of the support body being an inclined plane  20 . At the top of the inclined plane  20 , there is an essentially triangular recess  40  with a depth sufficient to accommodate the thickness of the pills to be split. As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , the base of the triangular recess  40  is aligned with the top edge of the inclined plane  20  and has convergent sidewalls  12  and  13 . In  FIG. 5 , the convergent sidewalls  12  and  13  are further detailed to show the pill centering properties of the subject invention. Left-hand sidewall  12  is composed of a series of linear sectors  35  and curved sectors  37 . The linear sectors are parallel to a centerline between the left-hand  12  and the right-hand  13  sidewalls. The curved sectors  37  are curved inwardly toward the centerline between the left-hand  12  and right-hand  13  sidewalls. In a similar fashion, the right-hand sidewall  13  is composed of linear sectors  30  and curved sectors  31 . The linear sectors  30  are parallel to a centerline between the left-hand  12  and right-hand  13  sidewalls. The inwardly curved sectors  31  are curved toward the centerline between the left-hand  12  and right-hand  13  sidewalls. As further illustrated in  FIG. 5 , the left-hand linear sectors  35  are cooperative with the right-hand linear sectors  30  to form a parallel path for pills of a smaller dimension then the distance between the linear sectors to pass through. The left-hand inwardly curved sectors  37  are cooperative with the inwardly curved sectors  31  of the right-hand sidewall to form a stop for pills having a larger dimension then the distance between the inwardly curved sectors thereby providing a series of diminishing distances between the pill stops as the left-hand and right-hand sidewalls of triangular recess  40  converge toward closure.  FIG. 6A  illustrates the centering of an elongated pill  65  between Left-hand sidewall  12  and right-hand sidewall  13 .  FIG. 6B  shows the centering of a round pill  68 .  FIG. 6C  shows the centering of a square pill  63 .  FIG. 6D  shows the centering of a diamond shaped pill  69 , and  FIG. 6E  shows the centering of a triangular shaped pill  64 . Detailed descriptions of how each of the various shaped pills is centered follows in the operation section of this specification. 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 1 , cover  11  is pivotally mounted to the support body  10  for pivotal movement to and from the triangular recess  40  as the cover is opened and closed. The cover  11  and the triangular recess  40  have planer faces confronting when the cover  11  is closed. The cover  11  incorporates a knife-edge means fixedly mounted at its centerline and disposed to split a pill and essentially engage the centerline of the triangular recess  40  when the cover is closed. 
   As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , the cover  11  incorporates a left-hand side  18  and a right-hand side  19 , an end plate  15  and a pill retention plate  17  to form a container on the interior surface of cover  11 . Roll pin holes  51  are drilled into the left-hand cover side  18  and the right-hand cover side  19  to accommodate installation of a roll pin  50 . A corresponding roll pin hole  51  is drilled into the support body  10  to complete the hinge pivot capability. The end plate  15  incorporates a recess  16 , which is disposed in such a manner as to align with and provide direct access to the triangular recess  40  when the cover  11  is closed. 
     FIG. 3  illustrates the subject invention with the cover  11  in a partially closed position. Section  4 ,  4  is taken through the support body  10  and the cover  11  just to the side of a vertical centerline of support body  10  and cover  11 .  FIG. 4  shows the section view  4 ,  4  of  FIG. 3 . As illustrated in  FIG. 4 , the cover  11  is in a partially closed position with knife-edge means  52  just making contact with an elongated pill  65 . Pill repository recess  45  in support body  10  provides a means of storing split pills  61 . The pill retention plate  17  is shown rotated into the pill repository recess  45 . When cover  11  is fully rotated to the closed position, any split pills that are contained in the cover  11  are deposited into the pill repository recess  45 . 
     FIG. 2  is an exploded perspective view of the subject invention to illustrate the components associated with its manufacture and assembly. The subject invention can be fabricated from a number of materials. For example, the device can be fabricated from plastic, glass, or metal with a preferred embodiment of plastic for the support body  10  and the cover  11 . The preferred material for the knife-edge means  52  and the roll pin  50  is steel. 
   Alternate Embodiment 
   An alternate embodiment of the subject invention is described in  FIG. 9 . As indicated in  FIG. 9 , left-hand sidewall  12  and right-hand sidewall  13  are composed of left-hand inwardly curved sectors  37  and inwardly curved sectors  31 , thus the linear sectors  36  and  30  are omitted. The alternate embodiment operation is precisely the same as for the preferred embodiment with the only difference being that the centering guidance provided by linear sectors  36  and  30  is omitted. 
   Operation: 
   The embodiment of the subject invention makes it particularly versatile in operation. The centering of typically shaped pills is illustrated in  FIGS. 6A through 6D . To split elongated pills, the pill  65  is manually held horizontal and placed near the upper edge of triangular recess  40  with a side of the pill in contact with the planar surface of triangular recess  40 . The pill is then slid downward while continuing to maintain the pill horizontal and in contact with the planar surface of triangular recess  40 . Linear sectors  30  and  35  positively guide the pill as it travels downward. The pill will slide unimpeded through the linear sectors  30 ,  35  until the pill&#39;s longitudinal length exceeds the distance between the inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  at which point the inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  will stop further downward movement of the pill as illustrated in  FIG. 6A . The inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  will not only arrest further downward movement of the pill, but the curvature of sectors  31 ,  37  will further aid in the precise centering of the pill even if the person performing the operation has trembling hands and/or poor or no eyesight. 
   Once the pill is centered, cover  11  as shown in  FIG. 3 , is rotated toward the closed position. As the knife-edge means  52  contacts the pill, a slight additional closing force on the cover  11  is all that is required to split the pill into very close to exactly equal halves. 
   When cover  11  is returned to the open position, the halves of the split pill can be manually removed from the triangular recess  40  or permitted to fall into the container formed by the cover  11 , the cover sides  18  and  19  the end plate  15  and the pill retention plate  17 . If it is desired to store pills in the pill repository recess  45 , the cover is again closed. The split pills will then be rotated into the pill repository recess  45  for storage as indicated  FIG. 4 . The centering of other shaped pills is accomplished in a similar manner. When centering a round pill, the pill is placed at the top of the triangular recess  40 . It is then slid downward while maintaining it in contact with the planar surface of triangular recess  40  until the inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  stop further downward movement as illustrated in  FIG. 6B . When centering a square pill, the pill is placed in the top of triangular recess  40  with the top edge of the pill approximately parallel to the top edge of triangular recess  40 . The pill is then slid downward while maintaining it in contact with the planar surface of triangular recess  40  until further downward movement is stopped by the inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  as indicated in  FIG. 6C . A diamond shaped pill is centered by placing it at the top edge of triangular recess  40  with the maximum diameter of the diamond shaped pill parallel with the top edge of triangular recess  40 . The pill is then slid downward while maintaining it in contact with the planar surface of triangular recess  40  until further downward movement is stopped by inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  as illustrated in  FIG. 6D . As an alternative, a square pill can also be centered in the same manner as a diamond shaped pill by placing the square pill in triangular recess  40  with a diagonal of the square pill parallel with the top edge of triangular recess  40 . A triangular shaped pill is centered by placing it at the top edge of triangular recess  40  with the base of the triangular shaped pill parallel to the top edge of triangular recess  40 . The pill is then slid downward while maintaining it in contact with the planar surface of triangular recess  40  until further downward movement is stopped by inwardly curved sectors  31 ,  37  as illustrated in  FIG. 6E . In all instances, once the pill is centered, the cover  11  is rotated to the closed position to cause the centered pill to be split by knife-edge means  52 . 
   When the cover  11  is fully closed, the base support  10  is partially nested within the left-hand cover side  18 , the right-hand cover side  19 , and end plate  15 . Friction between the support body  10  and the cover left-hand side  18 , the cover right-hand side  19 , and end plate  15  maintains the cover in a closed position for storage. The subject invention can then be confidently carried in a purse or pocket etc. with any stored split pills safely stored. 
   When access to the stored pills is desired, the subject invention can be rotated 90 degrees and then opened as indicated in  FIG. 8 . This places the pill repository recess  45  with its contents of split pills in an attitude where the split pills will not spill from the pill repository recess  45  when the cover is opened. The split pills may then be individually removed as desired. 
   As an alternative to the storage of split pills in the pill repository recess  45 , when the cover  11  of the subject invention has been closed to split a pill, the subject invention can then be inverted as indicated in  FIG. 7 , and the halves of the split pill  60  will be discharged through the recess  16  into the hand or a suitable receptacle. Thus the subject invention provides an inexpensive, accurate and readily utilized device that can be confidently used by the aged and/or infirm or the blind to split pills of virtually any size or shape. 
   It will be understood that certain features and sub-combinations are of utility and may be employed without reference to other features and sub-combinations. This is contemplated by and is within the scope of the claims. 
   Since many possible embodiments may be made of the invention without departing from the scope thereof, it is to be understood that all matter herein set forth or shown in the accompanying drawings is to be interpreted as illustrative and not in limiting sense.