A device for use with the inhalation of powdered materials contained in rod-shaped capsules

Abstract: The invention relates to a device for use with the inhalation of powdered materials contained in rod-shaped capsules, having two parts (2,3) which may be pivoted one relative to the other, and provided with a mixing chamber (7) having substantially tangentially directed air inlet openings, said mixing chamber having one end in communication with a mouth piece (6) and the other end in communication with a capsule receiving cavity (26), the latter being formed in conformity with the longitudinal sectional shape of a capsule and having at at least one longitudinal end a passage opening (27) for a transversely (= in the longitudinal direction of the capsule receiving cavity) reciprocating piercing needle, and wherein the part (2) of the device comprising the mouth piece is mounted to pivot relative to the capsule receiving cavity comprising part (3) of the device between a closed ready for use-position and an opened position permitting the insertion of a capsule. In accordance with the invention the mouth piece (6) is integrally formed with the mixing chamber (7), whereas the capsule receiving cavity (26) is provided in a bottom section (25) which closes the mixing chamber (7) in the closed or ready for use-position and is making part of said other part (3) of the device.

Description: The invention relates to a device according to the preamble of claim 1. Such a device is known from EP-A-0041783. In this well-known device the mouthpiece is forming one body part of the device and is adapted to be completely removed from the second body part that comprises said mixing chamber, capsule receiving cavity, piercing needle(s) and ejecting member. The device may be loaded with a fresh capsule and an emptied capsule may be removed therefrom by taking the mouthpiece off. The piercing of the newly loaded capsule is effected automatically when the device is closed by placing the mouthpiece whereby the mouthpiece automatically actuates the piercing needle(s). Moreover, the ejecting member is automatically actuated - when placing the mouthpiece - in the final stage of the placing procedure after the piercing needle(s) being retracted again, to eject the capsule into the mixing chamber. Thus when the well-known device is closed (by placing its mouthpiece) upon loading a fresh capsule, the latter will be automatically pierced and prepared for delivery of its contents. Consequently it is not possible to place a capsule for later use i.e. to postpone piercing of the capsule until the moment at which the device is actually used. The invention aims at providing an improved device, which does not have the shortcomings of the well-known device above referred to. In accordance with the invention this aim is achieved by the features defined in the second part of claim 1. With the device according to the invention, when the mouthpiece is in its retracted position, it is possible to place a capsule into the receiving cavity for later use and then close the device without the capsule being pierced. The piercing will be effected only when the user actually wishes to use the device. For that purpose the user will have to extend the mouthpiece so as to be able to take it into his mouth, thereby automatically effecting the piercing of the capsule and the ejection of the latter into the swirl chamber. Furthermore it can not occur that an inhalation attempt is made with a non-pierced capsule within the swirl chamber, such as e.g. with the device according to NL-A-176837. In accordance with a further feature of the invention the two body parts are connected about an axis that is located in a center plane of the mouthpiece on that side of the mixing chamber that is turned away from the free mouthpiece end, and directed perpendicularly to the longitudinal axis of the mouthpiece. Due to this the device of the invention has in principle obtained the character of an easily openable and closable box. The manner of using the inhalation device of the invention has thus become more simple, and is now of a rather "natural" character. A preferred embodiment of the invention will be hereinafter further explained by way of example with reference to the drawing. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the inhalation device according to the invention, in the opened position and with the mouth piece in its retracted position; fig. 2 is a view as shown in fig. 1, but with the composing parts in a deassembled state; fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the device in the closed position, along the vertical midplane; fig. 4 is a cross-section along the line IV-IV in fig. 3; fig. 5 is a cross-section along the line V-V in fig. 3; fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of a detail; and fig. 7 is a front view on true scale of the inhalation device in its closed position. The inhalation device shown in the drawings comprises two parts A and B, which are pivotally connected about an axis 1. These two parts may be closed in the arrow direction from the opened position shown in fig. 1 to form a relatively flat box. The parts A and B each comprise a circular shell 2 and 3 respectively, containing a filling a and b respectively. The two fillings a and b, which together constitute the proper inhalation device, will be hereinafter further described with reference to the further figures of the drawings. The filling a is formed by a circular support plate 4, which is integrally formed with a mouth piece section 6 and a substantially flat-cylindrical mixing and swirl chamber 7 connected with the latter; in the assembled position the support plate just fits within the circumferential edge of the shell 2. The axis of the mouth piece section 6 and the chamber 7 connected therewith coincides with a center line laying in the upper surface of the support plate 4 and directed at right angles to the pivot axis 1, whereas the terminal edge 8 of the chamber 7 turned away from the upper portion of the mouth piece section 6 is located in a plane which passes through the centre of the support plate and is directed at right angles to said center line. The terminal edge 8 has a portion which is located under the support plate 4 and is extended towards the pivot axis 1 to form an arcuate support means 8a (vide fig. 3) for a bottom section which has still to be described and is making part of the filling b of the part B. A perforated partition 9 is provided between the mouth piece section 6 and the chamber 7. At two diametrically opposed locations of the circumferential wall of the chamber substantially tangentially directed air inlet passages 30 are provided, which correspond with air inlet openings 31 provided in the shells 2 and 3 (vide fig. 5, 2 and 7). Behind the chamber 7 the support plate 4 is recessed up to adjacent the circumferential edge of the plate, at 10. Guide ways 11 are extending at right angles from the two longitudinal edges of the recess 10 and are adapted to receive block-shaped needle carriers 12 (vide fig. 2) and to guide these carriers in the transversal direction. The guide ways 11 are formed by upwardly directed bulgings of the support plate 4. On the inner mouth piece section 6 which is fixedly connected to the support plate 4, there is provided an outer mouth piece section 14, which may slide on the mouth piece section 6 between a retracted position (fig. 1 and 3) and an extended or active position. For this purpose a slot 13 is cut in the support plate 4 on both sides of the fixed mouth piece section 6, while the outer mouth piece section 14 is projecting with its lower portion through a corresponding recess 15 of the shell 2. The outer mouth piece section is provided with rearwardly extending lower and upper finger grip tongues 32 and 33 respectively (fig. 3 and 5), which abut - in the retracted position of the mouth piece section 24 - against the cross edge of the recess 15 in the shell 2 and against the cross edge of a similar, still to be described recess in the shell 3 (fig. 3) respectively. In the retracted position the outer terminal edges of the inner and outer mouth piece sections 6 and 14 are laying in a common plane within the outer circumference of the shell 2. An ejecting tongue 16 is connected with the outer mouth piece section 14 (vide fig. 2) which is located within the rearward part of the recess 10 (adjacent the pivot axis 1) of the support plate 4 when the mouth piece is in its retracted position and which will be moved through the slot 10 forwardly when the outer mouth piece section is moved into its extended position. The ejecting tongue 16 is connected to the outer mouth piece section 14 by means of a connecting yoke 17 (vide fig. 2) that, in the assembled state of the device, is located under the support plate 4 and for this reason is provided slightly under the horizontal center plane of the mouth piece section 14. When formed of plastics material the connecting yoke 17 may resiliently bend relative to the mouth piece section 14 in a sufficient degree to enable it to be assembled with the support plate 4. As shown in fig. 2, guide grooves 19 are provided in the upper surfaces of the legs 18 of the connecting yoke and guide pins 20 which project from the lower side of the needle carriers 20 are engaging into these grooves. The filling b of the part B comprises a substantially circular support plate 5 which - in the assembled state - just fits within the circumferential edge of the shell 3 and which is provided with a slot 22 that corresponds with the slot 21 in the shell 2 to accommodate the upper portion of the outer mouth piece section 14 that projects upwardly from the support plate 4 of the part A. The support plate 5 is also provided with a slot 23 that corresponds with the slot 10 in the support plate 4, and with recesses 24 for accommodating the bulgings of the support plate 4 which constitute the guideways 11 for the needle carriers. The support plate 5 is integrally formed with a bottom section 25 serving to close the rear side of the mixing chamber 7 in part A when the device is in its closed position. The bottom section 25 has an end face that is turned away from the pivot axis 1 and engages the terminal edge 8 of the chamber 7. This end face is forming a part of a cylindrical surface about the pivot axis 1. Furthermore - in the closed position of the device - the bottom section 25 is engaging the rearwardly extending supporting portion 8a of the mixing and swirl chamber 7. A cavity 26 is provided in said end face of the bottom section 25, which cavity is shaped to conform to the longitudinal section of a rod-shaped capsule having rounded ends. On the wall of the cavity 26 pressure points are formed by ribs 35 (fig. 3 and 4) which extend in the capsule-inserting direction and provide for a slightly jamming seat for the capsule C in the cavity 26. The longitudinal axis of the cavity 26 extends diametrically relative to the bottom section 25 and parallel to the pivot axis 1. In the closed position of the device this longitudinal axis coincides with the common axis of the piercing needles carried by the blocks 12 in the guideways 11. Passage openings 27 for the piercing needles 28 are provided in the spherical end walls of the cavity 26 and positioned on said longitudinal axis. As seen in the rearward direction the cavity 26 merges into a passage slot 40 for the ejecting tongue 16 described hereinabove. The device described hereinabove is also adapted to contain a supply of capsules. For this purpose in principle all that space within the closed shells 2 and 3 is available, which has not yet been taken by the mouth piece sections, the mixing chamber, the bottom section and the needle carriers. In those zones of the superimposed support plates 4 and 5 which are not covered by the latter parts, recesses may be provided, the form of which corresponds with the longitudinal sectional shape of the capsules. A respective detail is shown in fig. 4, where a supply capsule C' is received in a broad-dimensioned recess 36 of the support plate 4 and held jammed therein by ribs 37 projecting from the edges of said recess. The capsule is supported on a cross rib 38 provided on the inner side of the shell 2, which rib may - after the part B being opened - act as a tilting rib and thus facilitate the removal of the capsule (vide fig. 6). The preferred inhalation device shown in the drawings forms - in its closed and retracted position - a rather compact and flat article, the size of which hardly goes beyond that of a classic pocket watch or powder compact, so that it may be put away in the user's clothing in a comfortable manner. The actions to be performed for using the device hardly require instructions. The opening of the "box" and the insertion of a capsule may be considered as natural actions and the same applies for the act of taking the finger grip tongues 32 and 33 between thumb and index figer to extend the mouth piece so as to take the latter into the user's mouth. When extending the mouth piece the capsule ends are automatically pierced. With reference to fig. 2 it will be understood that substantially halfway of the extension movement - when the guide pins 20 of the needle carriers 12 will be positioned in the inwardly directed curves of the guideways 19 - the needles 28 are completely inserted and that these needles will thereafter - when the extension movement is continued - be retracted from the capsule ends. In the final phase of the extention movement, when the needles have already been retracted from the capsule, the ejecting tongue 16 will pass through the passage slot 40 in the bottom section 25 to eject the pierced capsule from the bottom section 25 into the mixing chamber 7. The rather flat shape facilitates the handling during inhaling, whereby the wall portions extending laterally from the extending mouth piece constitute an abutment surface for the user's lips and thus contribute to an optimal use. For the rest the operation during inhaling corresponds to that of the well-known device. Air from the surrounding atmosphere is sucked through the tangential air inlet passages into the chamber 7 and causes the capsule to turn around within the chamber, whereby the powdered material is expelled from the capsule and is mixed with the air within the chamber 7, so that an air-powder mixture is breathed in by the user. The device described hereinabove may be suitably formed of plastics material.

Claims: An inhalation device used with powdered materials contained in rod-shaped capsules, comprising: first and second body parts (4, A) and (5, B) respectively, which are movable one relative to the other between an opened position, a closed position and a use position; a mixing chamber (7) in one (4, A) of said body parts provided with tangentially directed air inlet openings (30), said chamber (7) having, in said closed and use position, one axial end in communication with a mouthpiece (6, 14) and the other end in communication with a capsule receiving cavity (26), said cavity being formed in conformity with the longitudinal sectional shape of a capsule and being adapted to jammingly hold a capsule; at least one longitudinal end of said cavity (26) having a passage opening (27) to receive a transversely (= in the longitudinal direction of the capsule receiving cavity) reciprocating piercing needle (28), an ejecting member (16) cooperating with said mouthpiece (6, 14) to urge a capsule from said cavity (26) into the mixing chamber (7), wherein said mouthpiece (6, 14) allowing, in said opened position, the insertion of a capsule into said receiving cavity (26) and being provided with means (19) engaging and actuating said needle(s) (28) and cooperating with said ejecting member (16) in such a way that when said mouthpiece (6, 14) is moved into the use position, said piercing needle(s) (28) is or are actuated first and then said ejecting member (16) gets in operation, characterized in that said mouthpiece (6, 14) consists of two sections, one (6) of which forming part of said one body part (4, A) and the other (14) of which being slidably mounted relative to said one section (6) between a retracted inactive position and an extended active position constituting said use position, wherein it is said other mouthpiece section (14) that actuates said piercing needle(s) (28) through said means (19, 20) and that is connected to said ejecting member (16) to pull the latter from behind into said cavity when said other mouthpiece section is moved into its extended position, while it is said second body part (5, B) that comprises said capsule receiving cavity (26) and that is prevented from being moved from said opened position into said closed position and from the latter position into said opened position when said other mouthpiece section (14) is taking its extended position. A device according to claim 1, characterized in that the two body parts (A, B) are connected about a pivot axis (1) that is located in a center plane of the mouthpiece (6, 14), substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the latter and positioned on that side of the mixing chamber (7) that is turned away from the free mouthpiece end. A device according to claims 1 and 2, characterized in that the piercing needle (28) is located in the pivot axis containing center plane of the mouthpiece (6, 14) and housed in said one body part (4, A) that also comprises said non-slidable section (6) of the mouthpiece (6, 14) and said mixing chamber (7), whereas the slidable section (14) of the mouthpiece (6, 14) carries a U-shaped connecting piece (17) havingleg portions (18) located on either side of the mixing chamber (7) and a bridge portion that extends behind said capsule receiving cavity (26) and carries said ejecting member (16), the latter being tongue-shaped. A device according to claims 1-3, characertized in that said one mouthpiece section (6) and said mixing chamber (7) are making part of a supporting plate portion (4) of said one body part (4, A) that lies substantially in a center plane of said one mouthpiece section (6) and mixing chamber (7), said support plate portion (4) just fitting within the circumferential edge of a shell-shaped box portion (2) of said one body part (4, A), whereas the bottom wall portion (25) comprising said receiving cavity (26) is making part of a second support plate portion (5) that lies substantially in a center plane of said bottom wall portion (25) and is just fitting within the circumferential edge of a second shell-shaped box portion (3) of said second body part (5, B) that is connected with said first box portion (2) via said laterally positioned pivot axis (1), in such a way that the two support plate portions (4, 5) are bearing one onto the other when the box is closed. A device according to claim 4, characterized in that recesses (15; 23) are provided in said two shell portions (2; 3), through which the mouthpiece wall portions, which extend on both sides of said center plane, may project outwardly. A device according to claims 4-5, characterized in that in those zones of the support plate portions (4; 5) which are located beyond said one mouthpiece section (6) and wall portions (6; 25), recesses (36) are provided for receiving supply capsules.

Inventors: NIJKERK ALFRED JAMES, SCHRAM JARIG EELKE, SINOT SANDER JEROEN, NIJKERK, ALFRED JAMES, SCHRAM, JARIG EELKE, SINOT, SANDER JEROEN
Applicants: PHARMACHEMIE BV, PHARMACHEMIE B.V.
Application year: 1991
Main classification: A61M15
IPC codes: A61M15, A61M13