Patent Publication Number: US-2007095342-A1

Title: Accessorized inhaler

Description:
FIELD OF INVENTION  
      This invention relates to medicine dispensing apparatus. More particularly this invention relates to oral mist applicators.  
     BACKGROUND  
      Asthma is a fact of life for many children and adults. As many as one in five Canadian children have asthma. In the U.S., 20.3 million Americans reported having asthma in 2001. This represents an increase of more than 60% since the early 1980&#39;s. The largest proportion of sufferers are children. This demographic is reflected in other countries. Findings show that the number of asthma suffers worldwide is rising within the western hemisphere countries to the extent that, at a conservative estimate, potentially 60 million people in the western hemisphere suffer asthma.  
      Asthma has a number of treatments requiring a number of different methods of delivery/applicators. The most common delivery method is an oral mist applicator whereby the medicine is delivered to an asthma sufferer&#39;s lungs via a gas-powered mist diffuser. Many sufferers, in particular children, need more than one type of medicine and accordingly may require more than one applicator (also referred to as an “inhaler” but the former term is used herein).  
      At present, the principal suppliers of applicators are the same companies that manufacture the various asthma drugs. The applicators are generally packaged with the drug. Accordingly, given that the asthma sufferer is buying the drug rather than the applicator, the applicator tends to be a relatively utilitarian appliance and quite clearly has the look of a “medical device”.  
      Frequently, asthma sufferers have need for their applicators when in public. In view of the utilitarian, medical appliance appearance of conventional inhalers, this causes many inhaler users to feel uncomfortable and embarrassed. Given the health and fitness goals of the general population which strive toward “perfection” of one&#39;s body, taking medication in public makes many people feel uncomfortable. Worse yet is that the method of using an inhaler is such an obvious way of taking medication, as inhalers generally have to be lifted to the front of one&#39;s face with the recipient&#39;s torso upright.  
      It is an object of the present invention to provide an asthma inhaler/applicator (herein referred to as “applicator”) which would be more acceptable to users by avoiding at least some of the discomfort associated with the appearance and configuration of current designs.  
     SUMMARY  
      In general terms, the present invention seeks to accessorize apparatus for dispensing medicine, such as asthma applicators, through the use of cosmetic enhancements to the color, finish, branding (other than the drug name branding) and/or physical design of the applicator to achieve the result of the applicator&#39;s appearance becoming less overtly medical or “non-medical”.  
      In accordance with the present invention, an apparatus is provided which has a housing for receiving the medicine and covering the medicine, with a dispenser extending from the housing for administering the medicine. The apparatus further has at least one of graphic and design indicia for cosmetically enhancing the housing to convey a visual message beyond the immediate utility of the apparatus.  
      The housing may be an asthma applicator which receives a canister of asthma medicine and the dispenser may be a mouthpiece fluidly communicating with the canister when the canister is housed in the apparatus.  
      The graphic and design indicia may include a time of day (day/night) indicator; designer branding; a metal-like finish; ornamental graphic elements; monograms; sports related branding and entertainment related branding.  
      The housing may have a shape emulating a non-medically related structure.  
      The non-medically related structure may include a cosmetic container, a perfume container, a cartoon character, a consumer product container not associated with medicines, miniature sports equipment articles and virtually any other article capable of being configured so as to dispense medicine and having a shape which masked the principal utilitarian function of the apparatus. 
    
    
     BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING(S)  
      The invention will be described below with reference to the accompanying illustrations in which:  
       FIGS. 1A-1D  are different views of a conventional “prior art” drug company supplied inhaler;  
       FIG. 2A  is a perspective view of an alternate prior art inhaler design;  
       FIG. 2B  is an exploded view of the applicator of  FIG. 2A ;  
       FIG. 3A  is a perspective view of housing configuration for an asthma applicator;  
       FIG. 3B  is an exploded view of the applicator of  FIG. 3A ;  
       FIGS. 4 through 11  are front elevational views illustrating a sampling of graphic and design indicia applied to an asthma applicator housing in accordance with the present invention. 
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT(S)  
      An apparatus for dispensing medicine, more particularly an asthma applicator of convention configuration is generally illustrated  20  in  FIGS. 1A-1D . The apparatus  20  has a housing  22  which receives a medicine canister  24 . The housing has a receptacle  26  for receiving a nozzle  28  extending from the canister  24  through which medicine is dispensed from the canister into the inhaler.  
      Although the illustrations show asthma applicators having gas based delivery systems, it will be appreciated that more and more asthma applicators are being introduced to the market in different shapes and different delivery methods. For example, the applicator may powder a pill or aspirate a powder rather than using a gas propellant. Also, some applicators have different overall shapes than the ones illustrated. The present invention is limited to gas based delivery systems or any particular configuration and the disclosure and claims should be read in that context.  
      A mouthpiece  30  extends from the housing  22  and has a passage  32  which fluidly communicates through an aperture  34  with the nozzle  28 . In use, the medicine canister  24  is pressed toward receptacle  26  releasing a valve (not illustrated) causing pressurized gas to dispense medicine through the aperture  34  into the passage  32 . A user places their mouth over the mouthpiece  30  and inhales a medicine into their lungs.  
      As can be seen from  FIGS. 1A and 1B , the prior art device makes no attempt to mask that it is a medical device for dispensing asthma medication. In fact, the medicine canister  24  is visible through the top of the device.  
      More recently, I have designed a fully contained housing which covers the entire medicine canister  24  so as to at least avoid the look of an apparatus which is little more than a spray nozzle for a medicine canister  24 . A first embodiment of my design is generally indicated by reference  50  in  FIGS. 2A and 2B . The internal workings of the apparatus  50  are generally the same as described above with respect to the  FIGS. 1A and 1B  embodiment. As can be seen from the exploded view of  FIG. 2B , the fully enclosing housing  50  includes a base member  52  analogous to housing  22  of the earlier design. In addition however, the apparatus  50  includes a top member  54  which covers a base of the medicine canister  24  and a cap  56  for covering a mouthpiece  58 . Although the  FIGS. 2A and 2B  design is clearly an asthma applicator, it includes features, such as the top member  54 , which at least take the medicine canister  24  and hide it out of sight.  
      A more recent design, along the lines of the  FIGS. 2A and 2B  design is illustrated in  FIGS. 3A and 3B . The  FIGS. 3A and 3B  design seeks to further avoid the appearance of a conventional asthma applicator by deviating from the more conventional generally cylindrical shape. Referring to  FIGS. 3A and 3B , the applicator is generally indicated by reference number  70 . The applicator has a base member  72  for receiving the medicine canister  24 , a top member  74  for hiding the base of the medicine canister  24  and a cap  76  for covering a mouthpiece  78  which extends from the base member  72  and fluidly communicates with the medicine canister  24 .  
       FIGS. 4 through 11  illustrate a radical departure from current applicator design philosophy. Unlike prior designs which either communicate nothing or seek to hide the medicine canister  24 , the designs illustrated convey a bold statement through the use of graphic and design indicia.  FIGS. 4 through 11  are merely samples of what may be accomplished by applying applicant&#39;s invention which in effect removes an asthma applicator from the realm of a medical appliance to that of a designer accessory. The various effects are discussed individually below.  
       FIG. 4  and  FIG. 5  disclose respective children&#39;s day and night designs. The applicator of  FIG. 4  is generally indicated by reference  80  and has a sun  82  and clouds  84  against a sky blue applicator. In contrast, the applicator of  FIG. 5 , which is generally indicated by reference  90  has a black background  92  depicting a night sky with stars  94 . The logic of the day applicator  80  and the night applicator  90  is for use in situations where children require different asthma medication for day time and night time use.  
       FIG. 7  illustrates an applicator  100  which borrows from cosmetic design container indicia. In particular, the container utilizes a design of the type associated with Chanel (trademark) perfumes and has a black lacquered finish  102  set off by gold accent bands  104 .  
       FIG. 6  illustrates an applicator  110  having a “chrome effect finish”  122 . The applicator  110  may be of metal or injection moulded plastic with chrome plating applied to its surface to achieve the chrome effect.  
       FIG. 8  discloses an applicator  120  similar to that of  FIG. 9  however the finish  122  may be a bare metal such as brushed stainless steel, copper or paint emulating the foregoing effects.  
       FIG. 9  illustrates an applicator  130  having camouflage striping  132  to achieve a “camouflage finish”. It is expected that the camouflage finish would be popular with teenagers.  
       FIG. 10  illustrates an applicator  140  having a design which may appeal to girls. The design includes paisleys  142  and flowers  144  against a neutral background  146 .  
       FIG. 11  illustrates an applicator  150  having a sport effect finish. The effect may be achieved by having a logo  152  printed on the applicator  150 . Additionally, an athletic team&#39;s colors may be used such as having a first color  154  for the top member and mouthpiece and a second color  156  applied to the base member. Additionally, stripes  158  of the first color  154  may be applied to the base member.  
      Other variants are possible. One example would be team logos or indicia relating to the entertainment industry. For example, cartoon characters might be depicted, or possibly even the entire shape of the housing might emulate a cartoon character.  
      The above is intended in an illustrative rather than a restrictive sense. Many other design variations are possible while staying within the spirit and scope of the present invention as defined by the claims set out below. Insofar as such variants are within the wording of the claims set out below, they are to be considered as being within the scope of this patent.  
     PARTS LIST  
     
         
           20  conventional apparatus  
           22  housing  
           24  medicine canister  
           26  receptacle  
           28  nozzle of canister  
           30  mouthpiece  
           32  passage (mouthpiece)  
           34  aperture  
           50  1 fully enclosing design  
           52  base member  
           54  top member  
           56  cap  
           58  mouthpiece  
           70  2 fully enclosing design  
           72  base member  
           76  cap  
           78  mouthpiece  
           80   FIG. 4  applicator  
           82  sun  
           84  clouds  
           86  blue background  
           90   FIG. 5  applicator  
           92  black background  
           94  stars  
           100   FIG. 6  applicator  
           102  black laquer finish  
           104  gold accent bands  
           110   FIG. 7  applicator  
           112  chrome effect  
           120   FIG. 8  applicator  
           122  metal  
           130   FIG. 9  applicator  
           132  camouflage striping  
           140   FIG. 10  applicator  
           142  paisleys  
           144  flowers  
           146  neutral background  
           150   FIG. 11  applicator  
           152  logo  
           154  1 color  
           156  2 color  
           158  stripes