Field of the invention

THIS rNVENTION relates to tablet crushing and is more specifically concerned, although not exclusively, with the crushing of a medication tablet to provide a powder.

State of the art.

Tablet crushing is commonly carried out by a tablet crusher. The tablet crusher has a crushing head and a flat surface between which a tablet can be placed. The tablet is then pulverized into a powder by manually forcing the crushing head down against the flat surface. An example of such a tablet crusher is described and claimed in our Australian Patent No. 2007100219. It is important that during the pulverizing process a negligible amount of the powder from the pulverized tablet is lost as the quantity of medication in the original tablet is normally very precisely controlled to meet the medicinal requirements of a patient to whom the powder from the crushed tablet is to be administered.

One way of minimizing any loss of powder is to place the tablet to be pulverized between the bases of two cheap cups which are fitted together. The assemblage of cups and tablet is then placed between the crushing head and the flat surface so that the crushing head can be ^{^} brought down inside the upper cup to crush the tablet into a powder between the bases of the two cups. The two cups are then separated so that the powder from the tablet can be transferred to a point of use.

It will be appreciated that a busy nurse may dislike having to find time to carry out the rather fiddly process of placing a tablet between two separate cups and then fitting them together, correctly positioning the inter-fitting cups in the tablet crusher, and then separating the cups after the crushing process has taken place to access the powder. This is particularly the case in aged-care facilities where many patients may require to have crushed tablets administered to them several times a day.

Object of the invention

An object of this invention is to simplif the task of pulverizing a tablet. The invention

In accordance with the invention a stackable unit comprises two cups connected by a _' ; jnember allowing the cups to be moved between a tablet-crushing position at which they locate one within the other to permit positioning of a tablet to be crushed between opposed surface of the two cups which can men be forced together to crush the tablet, and a second position at which the two cups are displaced laterally from one another and are so dimensioned as to enable a number of such units to be stacked together t provide a compact and easily transportable assembly.

Preferred features of the invention

Preferably the . .... member b integrally moulded with the two cups and the unit is mad from a plastics material.

Suitable the two cups of the unit are respectively inverted with respect to one another when the unit is in the second position.

Conveniently the member comprises an elongated strip. Suitably the ends of the strip are respectively connected to rims of the two cups. Advantages of the invention

An advantage of the invention is that a nurse can readily detach one of the units from a stack of such units and place a tablet to be crushed into the cavity of its upright cup. Th .

nature of the member allows the unit to assume its tablet-crus ng position at which the tablet is trapped between the opposed base surfaces of the two cups. The two cups are then forced together to crush the tablet to a fine powder. It is preferred for the cups to be shaped so that they can be fitted together easily and without risk of any of the powder being trapped between the side surfaces of the cups. This may be achieved by using similarly-shaped cups having frusto-conical side-walls. To facilitate the fitting together of the two cups with the tablet between them, part of the side-wall of each cup may be scalloped opposite the position of the member so that its circumferential portion opposite the member does not obstruct the fitting of the two cups together. The same result may be achieved by having a portion of the member extending from the cup which is to receive the tablet, longer than the remaining portion of the member, the two portions of the member being connected to one another at a transverse line of weakness conveniently provided by a transverse channel in the strip or by a line of lesser thickness in the strip member serving the same purpose..

Introduction to the drawings.

The invention will now be described in more detail, by way of examples, with reference to the accompanying and partly-diagrammatic drawings, in which:- In the drawings

FIGURE 1 is a sectional view from one side of a unit formed from two similar cups interconnected by a flexible strip member integrally moulded with the cups from a thermoplastics material, the ends of the member being joined to respective rims of the cups which are illustrated in the positions they occupy when the unit is in itsposition of use immediately prior to the crushing of a tablet located between the bases of the cups; and,

FIGURE 2 is a perspective view showing the orientation of the two cups when the unit is in its second position at which a number of such units can be stacked together to provide an easily transportable and compact assembly of units. Description of preferred embodiment .

The unit shown in figures 1 and 2 is particularly useful when used in conjunction with a tablet crusher of the form described and claimed in our above-numbered patent.

The unit comprises two cups 1 and 2 respectively having circular and centrally-recessed bases 10; generally frusto-conical side-walls 8; and, rim flanges 3 interconnected by a flexible member 4 in the form of a thin rectangular strip integrally moulded with the cups 1 and 2 from a transparent thermo-plastics material. A shallow U-shaped channel 6 extends transversely across the central portion of the member 4 to provide a hinging axis 7, shown in figure 2. A transverse line of weakness (not shown) in the strip 4 may be used instead of the channel 6 for basically the same purpose, namely, to define the line about which the strip 4 is to be bent. The member 4 permits the cups to be moved from a first position, shown in figure 1 , at which the bulk of one cup 1 is contained within the other cup 2, to a second position, shown in figure 2, at which the two cups 1 and 2 are laterally displaced with respect to one another and the cup 1 is inverted with respect to the cup 2. The generally frusto-conical side- wall of each of the cups 1,2 is scalloped outwardly at its side remote from the member 4. This scalloping is clearly shown at 9 in the figures and cooperates with the dimensions of the member 4 to enable the cup 1 to be moved into the cup 2 without the base 10 of the cup 1 impeding such movement by abutting the rim of the cup 2.

If desired, the flange 3 of the cup 2 can be formed with circumferentially-spaced upwardly-projecting springy parts (not shown), such as dimples, to assist the separation of the two cups from one another after a tablet located between their respective bases has been pulverized to a powder during the crushing process.

The two-cup unit shown in figures 1 and 2 is easily and cheaply manufactured by a plastics moulding process and, when in the position shown in figure 2, the unit can be stacked easily with other similar units to form a compact and readily transportable assembly. When a unit is removed from the stack prior to use, its two cups can be moved into the positions shown in figure 1 and at which the space between the cup bases remains effectively closed so that its cleanliness is preserved up to trie time of use when the two cups are separated from one another. A tablet, shown diagrammatically at 11 in figure 1, can then be placed in the cavity of one of the cups and the other cup placed on top of it as illustrated in figure 1. The tablet can then be crushed into a fine powder between the bases of the two cups by the use of a crusher such as that described and illustrated in our above^numbered Australian Patent. After the tablet has been crushed and its powder removed from the cup, the unit can be discarded.

Modifications of the preferred embodiment.

It is to be understood that the scalloping of the side walls of the cups mentioned above is not essential. However it facilitates the fitting of the two cups together. An alternative way of achieving the same effect is to have the axis 7, shown in figure 2, positioned slightly nearer the rim 3 of the cup 1 than its spacing from the rim of the cup 2.

A second modification (not shown) involves the construction of a flexible member joining the two crush cups. This may be formed in the same way as the flexible member used to join the cap of a toothpaste tube to a collar surrounding the nozzle of a toothpaste tube. In brief outline, both the collar and the cap are made from a relatively hard plastics material and such an arrangement for closing a toothpaste tube is now so well known as to constitute known prior art. It has the advantage that when the cap is opened from the nozzle end, it is held in the open position when it is clear of the open end of the nozzle so that the flow of toothpaste from the nozzle is not obstructed.

Such an arrangement can be used as part of the flexible strip used to connect the two crush- cups 3. The two parts 4 of the member can be integrally made from a relatively hard plastics material. The channel 6 shown in figure 2 holds the two parts of the member 4 in alignment. A pair of ties (not shown) integrally moulded with the remainder of the unit can be arranged at opposite ends of the channel 6, respectively, and extend between the two portions of the strip 4. These ties are in a relaxed state when the two portions of the member 4 are approximately in alignment or overlie one another. However the action of moving the two members manually between these positions is to close the channel 6 as the two strip portions approach a position at which they are at right angles to one another. When this occurs, further movement of the two portions in the same direction extends the two ties within their elastic limit so that their tensions acts to assist movement of the two crush cups together.

The advantage of such an arrangement is that a relatively hard, or stiff plastics material can be used to make the unit and, after crushing of a tablet within one of the cups, the other cup can be moved into its laterally displaced position. It is then held away from the mouth of the other cup so that it does not impede the administration of the powdered tablet directly into the patient's mouth.

A further modification is to include a weakness extending transversely across the strip 4 to facilitate tearing of the two crush cups apart after a tablet has been crushed between them. This tear-line of weakness is preferably arranged at or close to the rim of the cup in which the tablet is to be crushed. The cup containing the powder from the crushed tablet can then be administered to the patient more easily.