Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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SU~IMARY OF THE ~NVENTION . -
Various insufflators have been proposed and used
from which medicament can be inhaled directly into the
lungs of a patient. These prior devices have generally
relied upon the motion o the air being inhaled causing ~ ?
dispersion of the medicament into the air being inhaled.
Typical of such insufflators are devices described by
Altounyan et al. in U.S. Patent Nos. 3,507,277 ~1970);
3,635;219 ~1972); and 3,669,113 ~1972).
lOIt has now been found that more reliable oPeration ~-
of an insufflator can be obtained where the patient can `~
use the action of exhalation to distribute or disperse the
medicament powder within a medicament chamber ready for
reliable treatment upon inhalation drawing the dispersed
powder from the chamber into the lungs of the patient.
According to the present invention there is provided
an inhaling device for dispensing medicament in finely
dlvided form comprising a housing, a rotor adapted to
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disperse a medicament in a chamber within the housing, a
mouthpiece communicating with the chamber, a passage
communlcating between the chamber and the exterior of the
housing, a drive portion of the rotor adapted to be driven
by flow of air therepast, a second passage communicating
the mouthpiece with the drive portion of the rotor, and ;
valve means permitting flow of air from the mouthpiece
past said drive portion upon exhalation into the mouth-
piece and alternatively permitting air flow through said
first mentioned passage and said chamber upon inhalation
through the mouthpiece.
Preferably the drive portion is provided in a
- second chamber within the housing with the two chambers
being separated by the rotor which may conveniently be
in the form of a disk. The drive portion of the rotor ;
can then comprise a plurality of vanes adapted to be
driven by an exhaled flow of air from the mouthpiece
through the second chamber.
While the device may be constructed so as to provide
on the rotor mounting means for a single capsule, prefer-
ably so located as to extend radially outwards from the
axis of the rotor so that when the outer end thereo-f is
opened or pierced spinning of the rotor will help to dis-
tribute medicament centrifugally within the medicament
chamber, in an alternative arrangement a plurality of -~;
capsules may be mounted in a ring around the axis of the
rotor with these capsules being usable in turn as ~
required by the patient. With this latter arrangement ~ ~ -
conveniently the plurality of capsules may be mounted as
part of a blister pack which is secured to a face of the
rotor. It will be apparent that both capsule mounting
arrangements provide means for effectively dispersing
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medicament within the medicament chamber upon spinning
of the rotor.
While it is possible for the capsules to be individ-
ually opened or pierced as required by the patient before
use by opening of the housing it is preferred that capsule
opening means are provided selectively operable for
breaking or piercing a capsule carried by the rotor. A
convenient form of capsule opening means may comprise a ~ ~
plunger manually movable between a rest position and the ~ -
capsule opening position, the plunger being spring
biased to a rest position. If a portion of the rotor iS
engageable from the outside o-E the housing for permitting
indexing movement of the rotor within the housing, the
rotor can readily be indexed to align a full capsule with
the capsule opening means permitting the capsules in the
insufflator to be prepared for use without any opening ;
of the housing by the patien~ being required. This is
of particular convenience when the patient may require - ~
immediate relief, as all that he need do is take out the ` ~ :
loaded insufflator, open a capsule using the capsule
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opening means, apply the mouthpiece to his mouth and
quickly exhale before immediately inhaling to breath the ~;
dispersed particles of medicament into his lungs. .
A particularly convenient form of valve means com-
prises nonreturn type flap valves covering ports through
the housing, it being possible -for such flap valves to
comprise simple flaps of resilient plastic material which
I are normally in a position closing the ports associated
f therewith.
f 30 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
The i~vention will be further described, by way of
example, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in
which:
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1 FIGURE 1 is a front elevational view of a single dose
form of insufflator embodying the invention;
FIGURE 2 is a rear elevational view of the insuf-
flator of Figure l;
FIGURE 3 is an end elevational view of the insuf-
flator as viewed -from the right hand side of Figure l;
FIGURE 4 is a fragmentary sectional view taken
through the front end cap of the insufflator and showing
the inhalation nonreturn valve;
FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary sectional view taken
through the rear end cap of the insufflator and showing
the exhalation nonreturn valve; and
FIGURE 6 to 8 are views similar to Figures l to
3 but showing a multiple dose form of the insufflator.
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DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS
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Referring to the drawings, and in particular to `~
Figures 1 to 3, there is shown a single dose inhalation
device comprising a substantially cylindrical housing 1
of high impact thermosetting plastics material provided
with front and rear end caps which, in the illustrated
embodiment of the invention, are transparent. These end
caps are screwed into position so as to be remo~able, and
at least one of said end caps carries a bearing portion,
not apparent in the drawings, for rotatably supporting a
rotor 4 within the housing. The rotor is of disk like
form and separates the chamber within the housing into a
first chamber portion at the rear thereof and a second or
medicament chamber portion at the front thereof. The rotor
4 comprises on the front side thereof a mounting 12 for
a capsule or other suitable container 14 for accommodating
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a medicament to be dispensed, and on the rear side
thereof is formed with a series of radial vanes 6 which,
in a manner to be describecl below, acts as a drive por-
tion for rotating the rotor. An inhalation passage or
port 3 is provided through the end cap at the front of
the housing, while an exhalation passage or port 5 is
provided through the end cap at the rear o-f the housing. -
A mouthpiece 2 has passage means which communicates with
the interior o-f the housing and may comprise a divided
entry providing a passage 11' leading to the aforementioned
first chamber portion within the housing containing the ~ ;
vanes 6, and a passage 11 leading to the second or medi~
cament chamber portion within the housing within which ,
the rotor supports the medicament capsule 14. "
Manually operable capsule opening means 7 are shown ~
at the top of the housing as comprising a plunger 8 which ~ ;
is biased by a spring 9 to the rest position where an
opening projection 10 is clear from contact with a cap-
sule 14 carried by the rotor. The plunger 8 is manually ~ ;
depressable against the action of the spring 9 to cause
the projection 10 to move towards the axis of the rotor
whereby when a capsule 14 is aligned with the projection
10 such depression of the plunger will cause the projec-
tion 10 to break or pierce the end of the capsule 14. ~ ;
Omitted in ~igures 1 and 2 are valve means in the
form of nonreturn inhalation and exhalation valves 13 and
15 which cooperate with the ports 3 and 5, respectively.
These are shown in cross section in the detail views of
Figures 4 and 5, the inhalation valve 13 being shown at
the top of Figure 4 in the position closing the port 3
which it adopts at rest and when a patient is exha]ing
through the mouthpiece 2 while the lower part of Pigure 4
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shows the position adopted by the inhalation valve 13
when the patient is inhaling through the mouthpiece, air
being sucked into the medicament chamber from the outside
of the housing through the port 3. Similarly Figure 5
shows the exhalation valve 15 in its closed position
which it occupies during rest and when the patient is
inhaling through the mouthpiece and its open position
which it occupies when the patient is exhaling through
the mouthpiece.
In both instances the valves are simple nonreturn ~ ,
flap valves which are made of resilient plastic material ;
biased to closed position. The valve 13 is shown as
mounted in a recess formed in an inner surface portion
of the -front end cap of the housillg so that it does not
project to a position where it could interfere with rota-
tion of the rotor, while the valve 15 is shown as mounted
on the outside of the rear end cap of the housing normally
resiliently to close the port 5.
Figures 6 to 8 show an alternative embodiment of
insufflator which is adapted to mount a plurality of cap-
sules of medicament. The structure is generally similar ``
to that of Figures 1 to 3 with a housing 21 provided with
a mouthpiece 22 and having in front and rear end caps,
respectively, an inhalation port 23 and an exhalation
port 25 provided with nonreturn flap valves similar to
'I those illustrated in Figures 4 and 5. A rotor 24 provided
¦ with vanes 26 on its rear side is mounted for rotation
within the housing, the vanes being drivable by flow of
air from the mouthpiece 22 through a first chamber portion
3~ containing the vanes and out through the exhalation port
25. On the front side of the disk like rotor a plurality
of mounting means 32 are provided for capsules or other
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1 suitable containers 3~ for accommodating a medicament to be
dispersed. The mounting means 32 are arranged to hold
the capsules extending radially from the axis of the
rotor, whereby upon rotation o~ the rotor a dispersion -of the medicament from a capsule will be assisted by
centrifugal action, the outer end of the capsule being
the part of the capsule opened.
In this embodiment no opening means corresponding `
with the opening means 7 of the first embodiment are
illustrated although such may be provided if desired.
Instead, the user removes the front end cap of the housing
in order manually to open a capsule before use of the
insufflator, or he can use a piercing instrument to extend
from the mouthpiece to penetrate the end of a capsule
lS aligned with the mouthpiece passage 31.
As before, a portion of the rotor may be engageable
exteriorly of the housing to permit indexing of a cap-
sule for opening.
Instead of having individual mounting means for the
various capsules they may be formed as a single blister
pack which can be attached to the front face of the rotor
24.
In an alternative arrangement the rotor and medica-
ment filled capsules may themselves comprise an entirely
replaceable unit which can be provided within the housing
for replacement by another full unit once all the
individual doses have been used.
~uring use of the insufflator the patient, having
loaded the device with one or more capsules, either opens
one of the capsules manually be~ore replacing the end
cover on the housing or utilizes an opening means 7 to
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l open the capsule after closure of the housing. The ~:
patient then puts the mouthpiece to his mouth and exhales
strongly therethrough, whereupon the ai.r exhaled passes
through the passage 11' or 30 into the -first chamber por~
tion within the housing flows past the vanes 6 or 26 and
out through the exhalation port 5 or 25, causing the rotor - `
to spin at high speed to disperse medicament from the .
opened capsule into the medicament chamber portion within
the housing. The patient then immediately inhales strongly
through.the mouthpiece, wh.ereupon the ~alve 15 closes and
the val~e 13 opens to permit air to be inhaled through
inhalation port 3 or 23 and sai.d medicament chamber por~
tion, carrying with it medicament -from said chamber por~
tion lnto the Iungs of the patient,
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