Vacuum pill singulator
CA 2646568 C · Owner: Mckesson Automation Systems, Inc. · Inventors: Volkar, John; Hahn, Adam; Rhodes, Raymond
Overview
Its claims, description and drawings are in the Canadian Patents Database.
Open the CIPO recordAbstract From the Canadian patent
A singulating disc (20), carried by a housing has a plurality of openings (28) around its periphery. The disc (20) rotates vertically through a pickup chamber of a hopper (12) carried by the housing. A vacuum is pulled through the openings (28) by a pump which is connected to the disc (20). Items are placed in the hopper (12) and via gravity, fall to the bottom of the hopper (12) where they contact the periphery of the rotating disc (20). The vacuum at the openings attaches an item and holds it while the disc (20) rotates. At the top of the disc's rotation a diverter (26) directs the item into a path depending on the results of a fragment detection and/or counting mechanism. Items that are …
Read the whole patent
Listed from its CIPO record in Patent Yard's archive of Canadian patents past their term. Its claims, description and drawings are in the CIPO record and on Google Patents, and the Claude kit works from them.
Why it's free to use
- Filed March 15, 2005 and granted July 2, 2013. A Canadian patent filed from October 1, 1989 lasts 20 years from filing, so its term ended March 15, 2025.
- Certificates of supplementary protection extend only drug patents, and it isn't classified as one.
- We check Canadian rights only. A patent in its family in another country could still be in force: check its family on Google Patents.
Timeline
Timeline From CIPO dates
Sources & verification
Official CIPO records
Everything on this page comes from the CIPO record linked above. Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – Canada.