FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0001] The invention relates to an inhalation vaporizer for delivering a vaporised inhalant comprising an aliquot dispenser for delivering metered, discrete, incremental aliquots of volatile liquid from a volatile liquid reservoir to a liquid vaporizing heater.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION:

[0002] An electronic cigarette or e-cigarette is typically a hand-held electronic device for emulating more conventional smoking of dried plant materials: although in use it is associated with heating a liquid constituency comprising, for example, propylene glycol, glycerine, and flavorings and often but not always, nicotine. Some such liquids have been reported to include cannabinoids: Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2015 Aug; 12(8): 9988-10008 Published online 2015 Aug 21 , Έ-Cigarettes: A Review of New Trends in Cannabis Use”, Giroud et al.

[0003] This heating facilitates the generation of an aerosol, (e.g. a "vapor"), that the user inhales - a practice sometimes referred to as“vaping”. The practice is in at least some quarters, thought to be safer than the conventional smoking of tobacco cigarettes - and indeed its use has been reported as an aid for facilitating“quitting” by smokers of dried tobacco products. While broader insights into health and social implications of recreational vaping are still under investigation, these vaping practices have been associated with adverse effects include throat and mouth irritation, vomiting, nausea, and coughing.

[0004] A Chinese pharmacist, Hon Lik, has been credited in at least one report, with the 2003 invention of the modern e-cigarette - and according to some reports, most e-cigarettes are made in China, (as of 2015). See for example US7832410B2 2010-1 1-16; US8375957B2 2013-02-19; USD590989S1 2009-04-21 ; USD590991 S1 2009-04-21 ; USD590990S1 2009- 04-21 ; USD590988S1 2009-04-21 ; US20060196518A1 2006-09-07;

US201201 1 1347A1 2012-05-10; US2012021 1015A1 2012-08-23;

WO2013159245A1 2013-10-31 ; W02004080216A1 2004-09-23;

USD614346S1 2010-04-20; US20120234315A1 2012-09-20;

US20140150810A1 2014-06-05; WO2013155645A1 2013-10-24;

W02016101202A1 2016-06-30; EP3000339B1 2017-03-01 ;

W02016101203A1 2016-06-30; US20170325509A1 2017-1 1-16;

WO2017143515A1 2017-08-31 ; US20170188632A1 2017-07-06;

US20170042242A1 2017-02-16; and, W02016101200A1 2016-06-30.

However, earlier e-cigarette developments can be traced at least as far back as US3200819, Aug 17, 1965 for a device which produced flavored steam without nicotine.

[0005] In any case, with sales reported from about 2004, the global use of e-cigarettes has risen exponentially, including widespread use in the United States and the United Kingdom. With the potential for overlap of various tobacco laws and medical drug policies, e-cigarette legislation is being debated/formulated in many countries - including for example a European directive of 2016 which has set standards for liquids, vaporizers, ingredients and child-proof liquid containers. Also, the US FDA’s regulatory power as of 2016, has been extended to cover e-cigarettes, pursuant to which the regulator undertook the evaluation of many issues, including ingredients, product features and risks - and regulatory compliance deadlines relating to premarket review requirements for most e-cigarette and e-liquid products have been extended from November 2017 to 2022. In some jurisdictions, notably Canada and Australia, sales have not been permitted. Reports suggest that there may be around 500 brands of e-cigarette, with global sales on the order of US$7 billion. Although global growth since their introduction to the market in 2004 to 2015, surged exponentially the growth rates in the US and UK slowed in 2015.

[0006] Some users have stopped vaping due to issues with the devices per se - but a majority of reported side effects were associated with mouth or throat irritation/dryness, cough, vertigo, headache and nausea even in the absence of serious adverse events. User concerns over the devices included, in particular, leaking cartridges and it has been reported that one of the primary causes of leaking is cracked, missing, or misplaced seals. According to a report issued by the CDC, there has been increasing focus on questions about the safety of these devices and the e-liquid. One of the major concerns about these products is the potential for acute nicotine poisoning, especially among children, owing to several factors: nicotine liquid colors and flavors, such as apple pie, banana split, and graham cracker, may appeal to children; lack of childproof containers for the nicotine liquid; and, the concentrated nature of the nicotine liquid. Nicotine poisoning may engender tachycardia, diaphoresis, nausea, and vomiting, and late signs include hypotension, seizures, respiratory depression, and death. A CDC Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report documented an increase in the number of calls to US poison centers involving exposures to e- cigarettes - with the number of e-cigarette exposure calls increasing from one call in September 2010 to 215 calls in February 2014 - with more than half of the 2400 e-cigarette calls involving children aged less than 6 years. Ingestion of the e-liquid accounted for 69% of exposures, inhalation of the vapor accounted for 17%, eye exposures accounted for 9%, and dermal exposures for 6%.

[0007] In several countries, E-cigarettes have been listed as drug delivery devices in several countries because they contain nicotine, and their advertising has been restricted until safety and efficacy clinical trials are conclusive. There is clearly a need to address leakage as well as dosing issues.

[0008] Dosing poses problems transcend the esthetic experience for recreational and medicinal users alike, particularly where ingredients possessed of pharmacologic/psychotropic activity are in use. In the case of phytoextracts of cannabis, for example, the constituency of the ingredient mixture, and their relative and absolute concentrations, all have a bearing on both the desired efficacy as well as collateral effects which may be either desirable or merely tolerable to greater or lesser degrees by the user and their circumstances.

[0009] Prior attempts at dosing are variously disclosed in US20130276799A1 Perry Davidson Exonoid Medical Devices Ltd. 2013-10-24; W02005125026A2 Perry Davidson Shaka Technologies Ltd 2005-12-29; US20100153376A1 Perry Davidson Incredimail Ltd. 2010-06-17; US20170095624A1 Perry Davidson Syqe Medical Ltd. 2017-04-06;

WO20171 18980A1 Perry Davidson Syqe Medical Ltd. 2017-07-13;

WO2017122196A1 Perry Davidson Syqe Medical Ltd. 2017-07-20; and, WO2017122201 A1 Perry Davidson Syqe Medical Ltd. 2017-07-20.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION:

[0010] There remains a need in the art for a simple, inexpensive solution to provide for user-incremented metered dosing for inhaled vapour, and preferably with an operational accommodation for physiological/psychological response latency, wherein incremental control over frequency of metered dose deliveries affords a user the opportunity to asses the dosage required to elicit the desired effect.

[001 1 ] In accordance with an aspect of the present invention there is provided a vapor delivery device for delivering a metered dosage of a liquid constituency contained within a container having a valve adapted on selective actuation, to deliver instances of said dosage (consider volume/concentration) for conversion into a vapor - especially through thermal conversion (e.g. a liquid-vaporizing heater), for administration through inhalation modalities (e.g. oral, nasal).

[0012] Preferably, each instance of actuation results in a predetermined volumetric delivery.

[0013] In an aspect of the present invention therefore, there is provided an inhalation vaporizer for delivering a vaporised inhalant comprising an aliquot dispenser for delivering metered, discrete, incremental aliquots of volatile liquid from a volatile liquid reservoir to a liquid vaporizing heater. The aliquot dispenser typically comprises one of a valve or a pump (with a pump being preferred to the extent that it can function as a positive displacement device for facilitating metered doses - whereas a valve operation may rely on time from opening to closing as a proxy for the volume metered thereby).

[0014] It is also preferred that the liquid vaporizing heater is a non-pyrolytic heater - and while other options exist, the heater in this case will typically be a thermal heater and especially an electrical resistance heater.

[0015] Aspects of the present invention may include user-powered, mechanically actuated aliquot dispensers - which offer some advantage in their simplicity and the fact that the dispensing operation does not rely on on-board power reserves that can then be allocated to, for example, the operation of an electric heater. Syringe or lever pumps may be examples of such user powered aliquot dispensers.

[0016] More typically, however, the dispenser is a user operated electrical solenoid actuated, aliquot dispenser. A piston or screw type mechanism may be operated by such a solenoid. In any case, these tend to be more discrete in their operation than a user-powered device.

[0017] In the case where the dispenser includes a valve, the reservoir may be a propellant pressurized reservoir, and a valve-opening/closing-operations actuator is provided to operate the valve for delivering the metered, discrete, incremental aliquots of volatile liquid from the propellant pressurized volatile liquid reservoir to the vaporizing heater.

[0018] On the other hand, if the dispenser includes a pump, then a pump actuating mechanism is provided to operate the pump for delivering metered, discrete, incremental aliquots of volatile liquid from said propellant pressurized volatile liquid reservoir to said vaporizing heater. Here again, it is noted that positive displacement pump action can result in more accurate and consistent metering of the does. [0019] In an aspect of the present invention the vaporizer includes a heater actuator for actuating the heater’s vaporization of delivered metered, discrete, incremental aliquots of volatile liquid. A user-activated switch for closing an electrical circuit connecting a battery and the resistive heater element are contemplated for this purpose.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

[0020] Figure 1 is an elevated top view of a“vape-pen” embodiment of the present invention;

[0021 ] Figure 2 is an elevated cross-sectional view through the“vape-pen” depicted in Figure 1 ;

[0022] Figure 3 is an exploded view of that same“vape-pen” embodiment;

[0023] Figure 4 is an exploded view of a reservoir and associated dosing pump useful in embodiments of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 5 is an elevated side view of a mouth piece depicting a lateral venturi ambient air inlet; and,

[0025] Figure 6 is an exploded view including a heater useful in aspects of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION:

[0026] In reference now to the drawings in general, there is shown an inhalation vaporizer 1 comprising a housing 2.

[0027] Housing 2 provides accommodation for a power supply 3 (e.g. a battery 3a); and a volatile liquid reservoir 4 adapted on actuation thereof to facilitate discharge of incremental aliquots of the volatile liquid.

[0028] Housing 2 further includes: at least one air inlet 5 for admitting air drawn by user inhalation; at least one air outlet 6 through which a user inhales; and, an interconnecting channel 7 for accommodating air flow between inlet 5 and outlet 6.

[0029] Moreover, housing 2 includes within it, a discharge actuator 8 for actuating discharge of incremental aliquots of said volatile liquid, from the reservoir 4, to facilitate delivery thereof to heater 9.

[0030] Heater 9 is adapted to receive metered, discrete, incremental aliquots of volatile liquid from volatile liquid reservoir 4, and to be operable by heater actuator 10 for actuating heater 9 to vaporize delivered incremental aliquots of said volatile liquid, discharged from reservoir 4.

[0031 ] The interconnecting channel 7 is adapted to mix air drawn by user inhalation with vaporized liquid from heater 9, to pass a mixture of air and vaporized liquid to outlet 6 for user inhalation. Outlet 6 includes a mouthpiece 1 1 adapted to be engaged by a user’s mouth, and in the embodiments depicted in the appended drawings, includes at least one venturi 12 for admitting additional ambient air, drawn by user inhalation, into the mouthpiece for mixing with the volatile liquid air mixture drawn from channel 7. The role of venturi 12 is multifold: for example, its admission of ambient air both cools and disperses the vaporized volatiles; and, moderates the draw through the inlet 5 and intermediate channel 7 so that the flow of air therethrough moderates the load on the heater 9, which can then more reliably vaporize the delivery of liquid volatiles. Venturi 12 accomplishes both of these in proportion to the particular effort expended by the user in any given instance of a draw on the vaporizer 1.

[0032] Reference numerals used in the drawings:

inhalation vaporizer 1

housing 2

power supply 3

battery 3a

volatile liquid reservoir 4

at least one air inlet 5

at least one air outlet 6 interconnecting channel 7 discharge actuator 8 heater 9

heater actuator 10 mouthpiece 1 1 at least one venturi 12