Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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The present invention relates to an improved
adsorbent cartridge of the type which is generally placed in
containers for medicinal pills or capsules to adsorb moisture,
odors or other gases from the container in which they are
located.
By way of background, there are currently in use
small adsorbent cartridges of the type which have an impervious
body portion and a perforated end cap at one or both ends which
permit communication between the environment and the adsorbent
within the cartridge. ~henever activated charcoal or other like
substances are used which form fine dust, this dust passes
through the perforations and collects on the pills or capsules
adjacent thereto. While this is perfectly harmless because the
activated charcoal is non-toxic, the fact remalns that the
blackening of the pills or capsules makes them unappetizing. In
addition, in the past the small adsorbent cartridges were often
mistaken for medicinal capsules with which they were packaged
and were ingested by various types of people, such as those
with poor vision or who were mentally feeble. It is with
overcoming the foregoing deficiency of prior types of adsorbent
cartridges that the present invention is concerned.
It is accordingly the object of the present invention
to provide an improved adsorbent cartridge of the type used with
pills, capsules and the like and which is fabricated with
components which will pass moisture vapor and gases but under no
circumstances will permit the adsorbent contained therein to
pass into the environment in which the cartridge is located.
Another object of the present invention is to provide
an improved adsorbent cartridge of the type used in containers
of pills, caps~les or the like which has an outer surface
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configuration which is so different from a medicinal capsule
that it can readily be distinguished therefrom by feel.
A further object of the present invention is to
provide an improved adsorbent cartridge which is not only
capable of achieving the above enumerated objects but which also
can be fabricated in an extremely simple and expedient manner.
Other objects and attendant advantages of the present invention
will readily be perceived hereafter.
The present invention relates to an adsorbent
cartridge for placement in a container of pills, medicinal
capsules, or the like, with which it is packaged and which can
be distinguished from said pills or capsules by feel comprising
a rigid plastic body member having first and second ends and an
annular central body portion therebetween, an outer surface and
an internal surface on said central body portion, circum-
ferentially spaced elongated ribs extending longitudinally on
said central body portion between said first and second ends and
formed integrally with said central body portion and projecting
radially outwardly from said outer surface of said central body
portion, said central body portion being completely closed and
impermeable to gases between said first and second ends, said
adsorbent cartridge being distinguishable from medicinal pills
or capsules by detecting the difference therebetween when said
central body portion with said ribs thereon is grasped, an
opening on at least one of said ends, a planar gas-permeable
disc-like membrane closing said opening, and adsorbent within
said central body portion of said body member and in direct
contact with said internal surface thereof.
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The various aspects of the present invention will be
more fully understood when the following portions of the
specification are read in conjunction with the accompanying
drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a side elevational view taken substantially
in the direction of arrows 1-1 of FIG. 2 of an improved cart~
ridge of the pre~ent invention having splines thereon to
distinguish it from medicinal capsules with which it is packed;
FIG. 2 is a top plan view, partially broken away,
taken substantially in the direction of arrows 2-2 of FIG. l;
FIG. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken
substantially along line 3-3 of FIG. 2 and additionally showing
the first step in attaching a permeable end to the body of the
cartridge;
FIG. 4 is a view similar to FIG. 3 and showing the
permeable end actually being attached to the body of the
cartridge;
3A
d
FIG. 5 is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar
to FIG. 4 and showing the outer edges of the permeable end being
trimmed;
FIG. ~ is a fragmentary side elevational view of
another embodiment and showing how body portions of a cartridge
may be cut -to length from an extruded tube;
FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar
to FIG. 6 and showing the first step in attaching the permeable
end to the body portion of the cartridge;
FIG. 8 is a view similar to FIG. 7 and showing the
permeable end being trimmed after it has been attached;
FIG. 9 is a cross sectional view taken substantially
along line 9-9 of FIG. 8 and showing the cross sectional view of
the body portion oE the cartridge and also showing how it is
held in a fixture during the trimming operation;
FIG. 10 is a plan view, partially broken away, taken
substantially in the direction of arrows 10-10 of FIG. ll and
showing the permeable end of the cartridge attached to the body;
and
FIG. ll is a fragmentary cross sectional view similar
to FIG. 8 but showing the permeable end of the cartridge after
it has been trimmed.
The improved adsorbent cartridge lO of the present
invention includes a generally cylindrical casing 11 fabricated
of rigid high density polyethylene, polyester or polypropylene.
The annular ends 12 and 13 are flat (FIG. 3). Secured to ends
12 and 13 are spun-bonded polyolefin membrane discs 14 and 15,
respectively. The securing may be by any form of adhesive
connection and preferably by ultrasonic welding, impulse seal-
ing, radio frequency welding, or any other suitable process.
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The attachment of the membrane discs 14 and ]5 by
means of ultrasonic welding, impulse sealing or radio frequency
welding is possible because the spun-bonded polyolefin and the
high density polyethylene are compatible in that they have
melting points which are reasonably close to each other so that
they can fuse to provide a good seal. A characteristic o~ the
spun-bonded polyolefin is that it becomes transparent when
sealed to another body by the ~oregoing methods and therefore,
as can be seen from FIG. 2, the sealed edge portion, such as 16
on the periphery of disc 14, is glossy while the central portion
of disc 14 within annular periphery 16 retains its opaque
paper-like appearance.
The cartridge 10 is filled with a suitable adsorbent
17 which will adsorb moisture, odor or gases from the
surroundings into which cartridge 10 is placed. By way of
example and not lirnitation, the adsorbent may be a substance
such as Clintolite, activated charcoal, crystalline metal
aluminosilicates, activated bentonite, silica gel, molecular
sieve, calcium sulfate or any other suitable product or mixtures
thereof.
The pore size of the spun-bonded polyolefin is such
that it will pass only gases and liquid vapor but will not pass
water droplets. Furthermore, it is especially significant that
the pore size is so small that it will not pass carbon powder
which has heretofore passed through drilled holes in end caps of
prior types of cartridges.
The fabrication process generally includes the steps
of securing the disc 15 to flat annular surface 13, filling the
cartridge with adsorbent 17, from its open top, and thereafter
securing the top disc 14 to annular surface 12 by any one of the
above attachment processes.
The improved cartridge 10 of the present in~ention
has an outer body configuration by which it can be distinguished
by feel from medicinal capsules. A plurality of triangular
splines or ribs 19 are formed integrally with and extend longi-
tudinally of body portion 11. Splines 19 each have ends 20
which terminate short of ends 12 and 13 of body member 11.
Thus, splines 19 not only provide sharp edges 21 at the outer
edges of the triangular splines or ribs 19 but also provide
sharp points 23 at the junctions of edges 21 and ends 20. Thus,
it is quite apparent that the outer configuration of body
portion 11 can be distinguished by feel from the purely cylin-
drical outer surface of a medicinal capsule which is grasped
prior to ingestion.
One method oE fabricating cartridge 10 is shown in
FIGS. 3-5. The first step is shown in FIG. 3 wherein a sheet 24
of spun-bonded polyolefin is placed in contiguous relationship
to end 12 and a die 25 is used to press the sheet 24 into
engagement with edge 12 to thereby bond it by any above
described methods, such as ultrasonic welding, impulse sealing,
radio frequency welding, or any other suitable process. The
actual sealing operation i5 shown in FIG. 4. Alternatively,
adhesive may be used. After one end is sealed, the protruding
edge portions 26 are trimmed by a circular die 27 which is
forced downwardly over circular annular end portion 29 of the
cartridge body 11 while the latter is held in a fixture or
holder 30. Thereafter, the body member is inverted and the
cartridge is filled with adsorbent 17 which may be of any
suitable type described above. Thereafter, the opposite end 13
of body 11 has a permeable end 15 applied thereto and trimmed in
the same manner described above relative to FIGS. 3-5.
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A modified embodiment of FIGS. 3-5 is shown in FIGS.
6-11. The cartridge 35 of FIGS. 6-11 includes a hody member 36
which is fabricated of rigid, high density polyethylene,
polyester or polypropylene. The body member 36 is cut to size
from an extruded tube, as shown in FIG. 6 and it has triangular
splines or ribs 37 which extend throughout the length thereof,
rather than stopping short of the ends, as in the embodiment o~
FIGS. 1-5. During fabrication, body portion 36 is held in a
fixture or holder 38 and a sheet of spun-bonded polyolefin 39 is
secured to end 40 by head 41 which produces a suitable bonding,
as by ultrasonic welding, impulse sealing, radio frequency
welding, or any other suitable method. r~hile the body member 36
is held in holder 38, a die 42 (FIG. 8) is used to trim the
outer edge of the spun~bonded polyolefin disc 44 to remove
flashing 43 therefrom. It will be appreciated that die 42 is of
a configuration so that it can provide complementary mating
engagement with the end of body member 36. In other words, it
must have a female configuration to mate with the outer con-
figuration shown in FIG. 10. Preferably, holder or fixture 38
is of the same internal configuration so that it will receive
body portion 36 in mating engagement. The die 42 and holder 38
are aligned, as can be visualized from FIG. 9, so that die 42
trims the outer edge of the cartridge 35 to the condition shown
in FIG. 10.
After one disc 44 has suitably been sealed to body
portion 36 and trimmed, as described above, it is inverted, and
the body portion 36 is filled with suitable absorbent 45 as
described above relative to FIGS. 1-3. Thereafter, the opposite
dlsc 44 is secured to body member 36 in the same manner as
described above to seal the adsorbent 45 therein. The outer
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configuration of the cartridge 35 is substantially the same as
the outer configuration of cartridge 10 of FIGS. 1-5 in that it
has triangular ribs or splines 37 extending longitudinally
thereof. However, it differs from cartridge 10 in that the
splines extend all the way to the opposite ends 40 of the
cartridge 35. Each spline 37 includes an outer edge 46 and
there is a point at 47 where edge 46 intersects with end 40.
It can thus be seen that the cartridges 10 and 35
have a different feel than a medicinal cartridge which is
circular in cross section.
By way of dimensions, each of the above cartridges is
approximately 5/8 inches long and 1/2 inch in diameter.
While the ribs of the embodiments of FIGS. 1-5 and
FIGS. 6-ll have been shown as triangular in cross section, it
will be appreciated that they can be of any other suitable
configuration which will distinguish the adsorbent cartridges by
feel from medicinal capsules.
The spun-bonded polyolefin which seals the ends of
the cartridges 10 and 35 is obtainable under the trademark TYVEK
and one particular type contemplated for use is Grade 1059D.
The TYVEK material comes in different grades, that is, different
thicknesses so that the exact thickness which is used for any
specific application will depend on the desired rate of
adsorption. The body members, such as 11 and 36, may vary in
diameter from 1/4 of an inch to 1/2 inch or larger and they may
be of any desired length from less than one inch to a few
inches. The use of the spun-bonded polyolefin ends on the
cartridges of the present invention is especially desirable for
packaging in medicinal products to insure that there is no
dusting of the adsorbent out of the cartridges.
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While the above embodiments show the spun-bonded
polyolefin secured to opposite ends of a cylindrical body
member, it will be appreciated that the body member may be made
with an integral impervious end and that the spun-bonded
polyolefin, in this event, is applied only to one open end of
the cartridge, and this embodiment is within the scope of
certain of the claims. Furthermore, for certain uses, spun-
bonded polyolefin may not be necessary, and any other suitable
porous or foraminous gas permeable membrane material may be
used.
While preferred embodiments of the present invention
have been disclosed, it will be appreciated that it is not
limited thereto but may be otherwise embodied within the scope
of the following claims.
