Patent ID: 7678084

Claim:
A medication dispensing apparatus comprising: a housing; a drive member within said housing and movable in a distal direction; a fluid container defining a medicine-filled reservoir with a movable piston at one end and an outlet at the other end, said piston engagable by said drive member to be advanced toward said outlet when said drive member is moved distally; a plunger movable relative to said housing from a distal position to a proximal position, said plunger manually pushable relative to said housing in the distal direction to be shifted from said proximal position to said distal position; and means for interconnecting said drive member and said plunger to convert motion of said plunger from said proximal position to said distal position into a lesser amount of motion of said drive member in said distal direction, said interconnecting means including a gear set including a first pinion in meshed engagement with a rack of said plunger and a second pinion in meshed engagement with a rack of said drive member, said gear set mounted within said housing to move longitudinally relative to said plunger, said drive member and said housing during movement of said plunger from said proximal position to said distal position, wherein said interconnecting means further comprises a rack axially fixed with respect to said housing and parallel to said rack of said plunger, said first pinion in meshed engagement with said fixed rack.