Patent ID: 7836880

Claim:
A pressurized metered dose inhaler system for dispensing multiple metered doses of a medicament to a patient, comprising: a) a transparent or partially transparent canister for containing the medicament and at least one propellant, wherein the canister is closed at one end with a metered dose valve assembly; b) a housing comprising a bottom and a top, the bottom being attached to a longitudinally-extending wall forming a cavity which is open at the top, wherein the bottom includes an orifice box for receiving the metered dose valve assembly, and the orifice box includes an internal stop which engages the metered dose valve assembly; c) a rotation means comprising a wheel rotatably mounted on the longitudinally-extending wall of the housing, wherein the wheel comprises a plurality of gear teeth between two raised rails on the face of the wheel, and wherein the gear teeth and two raised rails are concentric and are mounted perpendicular to the face of the wheel; d) a drive means for rotating the rotation means incrementally when the canister is depressed towards the internal stop and the valve assembly is actuated, wherein the drive means is mounted on the bottom of the housing and comprises a vertical rod connected with an angled flexible pawl, wherein the rod engages the canister and the pawl engages one of the gear teeth, and wherein the drive means moves down in response to depressing the canister onto the vertical rod, thereby incrementally rotating the rotation means; e) a counting means comprising alpha-numeric characters on the face of the wheel, wherein the alpha-numeric characters are incrementally advanced in response to rotating the rotation means; and f) a display means for viewing the counting means, wherein the display means is located in the longitudinally-extended wall of the housing; and g) a reverse rotation prevention means to prevent reverse rotation of the rotation means.