Patent Publication Number: US-2011049178-A1

Title: Circular Pill Box

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a circular pill box, particularly to a stepwise unidirectional rotation pill box structure, wherein the pills stored in the pill discs can be sequentially released from the circular pill box according to the predetermined order, whereby the user can take out pills from the circular pill box conveniently and correctly. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     The conventional pill box can only contain medicine. When a user has to take several types of medicines, the conventional pill box is neither convenient for the user taking the medicine nor does it prevent the user from taking the wrong medicine. So far, an effective solution has not appeared yet. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     To overcome the abovementioned problems, the present invention proposes a circular pill box having a stepwise unidirectional rotation mechanism, wherein the pills stored in the pill discs can be sequentially released from the circular pill box according to the predetermined order, whereby the user can take out pills from the circular pill box conveniently and correctly. 
     To achieve the abovementioned objective, the circular pill box of the present invention comprises 
     a body having a basin with an opening thereof facing upward, wherein the bottom of the basin has a plurality of positioning grooves, and wherein the lateral of the body has a pill collector protruding outward, and wherein the top of the pill collector has an opening; 
     a positioning ring accommodated inside the body, wherein the bottom of the positioning ring has a positioning spring platelet press-fitting to one of the positioning grooves, and wherein the positioning spring platelet can only rotate with respect to the positioning grooves stepwise and unidirectionally; 
     at least one pill disc accommodated inside the body, stacked above the positioning ring, engaged to each other, each having has a plurality of cells arranged circumferentially and used to store pills; 
     a rotating ring accommodated inside the body, placed over the pill discs, engaged to the pill discs, and having a rotating handle that a user holds to rotate the rotating ring; and 
     a sleeve ring sleeving the rim of the rotating handle of the rotating ring. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is an exploded view schematically showing a circular pill box according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is a perspective view schematically showing the assembly of a circular pill box according to the present invention; and 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view schematically showing the operation of a circular pill box according to the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Refer to  FIG. 1  and  FIG. 2 . The present invention proposes a circular pill box  10 , which comprises a body  11 , a positioning ring  12 , at least one pill disc  13 , a rotating ring  14 , and a sleeve ring  15 . 
     The body  11  has a basin  111  with the opening thereof facing upward. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the bottom of the basin  111  has a plurality of positioning grooves  112 . The lateral of the body  11  has a pill collector  113  protruding outward. The top of the pill collector  113  has an opening  114 . 
     The positioning ring  12  is accommodated inside the body  11 . The bottom of the positioning ring  12  has a positioning spring platelet  121  press-fitting to one of the positioning grooves  112 . The positioning spring platelet  121  can only rotate with respect to the positioning grooves  112  stepwise and unidirectionally. In other words, the positioning ring  12  can only rotate with respect to the body  11  clockwise or counterclockwise without the possibility of reverse rotation. 
     The pill discs  13  are accommodated inside the body  11 , stacked above the positioning ring  12 , and engaged to each other. Referring to  FIG. 1 , the pill disc  13  has a plurality of cells  131  arranged circumferentially and used to store pills. The bottom of the cell  131  is an incline with the outer portion higher than the inner portion. As shown in the drawings, the body  11  can accommodate one or several pill discs  13  stacked together and engaged to each other. 
     Referring to  FIGS. 1 and 2 , the rotating ring  14  is accommodated inside the body  11 , placed over the pill discs  13 , and engaged to the pill discs  13 . The rotating ring  14  has a rotating handle  141  at the top thereof, and the user holds the rotating handle  141  to operate the circular pill box of the present invention. 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , the sleeve ring  15  sleeves the rim of the rotating handle  141  of the rotating ring  14 , covers the top of the rotating ring  14 , and connects with the body  11  in a screwing or meshing way to confine the positioning ring  12 , the pill discs  13  and the rotating ring  14  inside the body  11 . 
     As shown in  FIG. 1 , the positioning ring  12 , the pill discs  13  and the rotating ring  14  respectively have positioning holes  21  and positioning pins  22 ; one positioning pin  22  can engage with the corresponding positioning hole  21  thereof. Thereby, the positioning ring  12 , the pill discs  13  and the rotating ring  14  are coupled to rotate synchronously. 
     When the user rotates the rotating ring  14  along the direction indicated by the arrow shown in  FIG. 2 , the rotating ring  14  can only drive the components inside the circular pill box  10  of the present invention to rotate stepwise and unidirectionally. Via the stepwise unidirectional rotation mechanism, the pills  30  stored in the pill discs  13  are sequentially released to the pill collector  113  according to the predetermined order. Then, the pills  30  are discharged from the opening  114  on the top of the pill collector  113 . 
     In conclusion, the present invention proposes a novel circular pill box, wherein the pills stored in the pill discs  13  are sequentially released according to the predetermined order, whereby as shown in  FIG. 3  the user can take out the pills  30  from the circular pill box  10  conveniently and correctly. Further, the body  11  may be made of a transparent material, whereby the user can easily watch the pills  30  stored inside the circular pillbox  10 . 
     The embodiments described above are only to exemplify the present invention but not to limit the scope of the present invention. Any equivalent modification or variation according to the spirit of the present invention is to be also included within the scope of the present invention.