Bottle unpack/repack apparatus and methods

This invention pertains to apparatus and methods to enable the unpacking of tablet and capsule medications from bottles for subsequent repackaging.

Medications, either in tablet or capsule form, are commonly bottled by the pharmaceutical producer in one or more standardized quantities suitable for dispensing to the public. Medications, though, are commonly prescribed by a physician to the patient in quantities not conforming to the producer's standardized quantities. Therefore, prescriptions deviating from the standardized quantities require the medications to be unpacked from their original containers and repackaged in the desired quantities.

With the advent of automated prescription dispensing equipment, such as those used in hospitals and mail-order pharmacies, there is a need to supply the medications in bulk quantities. Many pharmaceutical producers do not supply the medications in the bulk quantities required for these systems. Again, the tablet or capsule medications require unpacking and repackaging in order to supply these users.

Pharmaceutical producers commonly supply the tablet and capsule medications in polyethylene bottles, or bottles composed of other plastics. Once the medicines are deposited within the bottles, it is common that any remaining void within the bottle is filled with cotton filler and the like. The filler prevents the tablets or capsules from shifting during shipping and handling in an effort to prevent damage to the contents. The bottles are subsequently sealed with various tamper-resistant inner and outer seals as well as capped with child and/or tamper-resistant caps.

The current methods of unpacking and repackaging tablet and capsule medications are labor intensive and inefficient. The child and/or tamper-resistant cap, as well as any tamper resistant seals require removal to access the medications. Subsequently, the cotton filler requires removal; an operation not amenable to automated equipment.

There is a need for apparatus and methods to replace the labor intensive and inefficient process of unpacking and repackaging bottled tablet and capsule medications. In order to be economical and efficient, the system must operate at high volume throughput with minimal human intervention.

The present invention includes apparatus and methods for the efficient and economical removal of tablet and capsule medications from polyethylene and other plastic bottles. The inventive apparatus includes a bottle opener assembly that enables the removal of the medications from the base of the bottle. Removal of the medication from the base of the bottle bypasses the need for removal of the bottle cap, tamper-resistant seals, and any filler material.

The present invention further includes an automated unpack/repack system for packing the medications in bulk and individual containers.

FIGS. 1A, 1 B and 1 C are exploded, partially assembled, and assembled perspective views, respectively, of a bottle opener assembly in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 2-5 are perspective views of the gripper assembly in accordance with the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the gripper assembly in accordance with the present invention.

FIGS. 7A and 7B are exploded and assembled perspective views of the translate/rotate assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are exploded and assembled perspective views of a slicer assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 9A and 9B are exploded and assembled perspective views of a discharge chute traverse assembly in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIGS. 10A, 10 B and 10 C are perspective, top and side views of an embodiment of a bottle unpack/repack system in accordance with an embodiment of the invention.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bottle unpack/repack line in accordance with the invention.

In the following detailed description, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof wherein like numerals designate like parts throughout, and in which is shown by way of illustration specific embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. It is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural or logical changes may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention. Therefore, the following detailed description is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present invention is defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.

FIGS. 1A, 1 B and 1 C are exploded, partially assembled, and assembled perspective views, respectively, of a bottle opener assembly 100 . The bottle opener assembly 100 provides the ability to access the contents 11 of a bottle 10 , as shown in FIG. 5 through an opening in the lower portion 12 of the bottle 10 adjacent the base 16 of the bottle 10 . The bottle opener assembly 100 may be a stand-alone apparatus or a component of a bottle unpack/repack system that opens the bottles 10 and directs the bottle's contents 11 to subsequent components of the system to repackage the contents 11 into a container, such as, but not limited to, a bulk container 262 and new bottles 20 .

One embodiment of the bottle opener assembly 100 in accordance with the present invention comprises a gripper assembly 120 , a translate/rotate assembly 140 , a bottle slicer assembly 160 , a discharge chute traverse assembly 180 , and a second discharge chute 190 . The gripper assembly 120 is adapted to firmly grip a bottle 10 standing in a vertical position as shown in FIG. 2 . The gripper assembly 120 provides that the lower portion 12 of the bottle 10 remains unobstructed. The gripper assembly 120 is coupled to the translate/rotate assembly 140 . The translate/rotate assembly 140 is adapted to lift the gripper assembly 120 and attached bottle 10 away from a bottle 10 pick-up location 102 , as shown in FIG. 1 B. In addition, the translate/rotate assembly 140 is adapted to rotate the gripper assembly 120 to position the bottle 10 in a horizontal position.

Adjacent the translate/rotate assembly 140 is the bottle slicer assembly 160 . The translate/rotate assembly 140 positions the bottle 10 such that the bottle sidewall 14 proximal the base 16 of the bottle 10 makes contact with a cutting blade 162 of the bottle slicer assembly 160 as shown in FIG. 3 . This contact provides for the cutting blade 162 of the bottle slicer assembly 160 to pierce the sidewall 14 of the bottle 10 . The gripper assembly 120 is adapted to spin the bottle 10 about an axis 18 of the bottle 10 while held in a horizontal position. The rotation enables the cutting blade 162 to slice the bottle sidewall 14 circumferentially about the base 16 of the bottle 10 . The bottle sidewall 14 is sliced such that the base 16 of the bottle 10 remains attached to the bottle 10 by a tab 13 of material as shown in FIG. 4 .

The base 16 of the bottle 10 is subsequently pivoted away from the bottle sidewall 14 about the tab 13 connecting the base 16 of the bottle 10 with the bottle sidewall 14 . The bottle 10 is rotated in a downward direction as shown in FIG. 5 such as to cause the contents 11 of the bottle 10 to be discharged into the first discharge chute 182 of the discharge chute traverse assembly 180 , as shown in FIG. 1 B. The first discharge chute 182 directs the contents 11 of the bottle 10 to a secondary discharge chute 190 such that the contents 11 are directed out of the bottle opener assembly 100 . The discharge chute traverse assembly 180 is adapted to translate in a horizontal direction away from the bottle 10 to expose the bottle discharge chute 184 below. The gripper assembly 120 releases the empty bottle 10 into the bottle discharge chute 184 where the empty bottle 10 is further processed or discarded. The gripper assembly 120 returns to the bottle pick-up location 102 to start the process again.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of an embodiment of the gripper assembly 120 in accordance with the present invention. The gripper assembly 120 is adapted to firmly grip bottles of various shapes and sizes standing in a vertical position. The gripper assembly 120 comprises at least two elongated members or gripping tangs 122 . The gripping tangs 122 are held in parallel relationship with each other and are adapted to translate together and away from each other. The tangs 122 are positioned a distance apart from each other such that the tangs 122 can be brought down from above the bottle 10 to be positioned adjacent to and on opposite sides of the bottle sidewall 14 . Each gripping tang is shaped to enable the tangs 122 to firmly grip bottles of various shapes and sizes, including round, oval, and square shapes. In the embodiment of FIG. 6, each of the two tangs 122 has a vee-shaped cross-section with serrated edges 124 .

The tangs 122 are assembled in a camming assembly 128 employing a motor 130 to move the tangs 122 toward and away from each other in a linear and parallel fashion. The trough 126 of each tang 122 is positioned facing the bottle sidewall 14 as shown in FIG. 2 .

In an embodiment of the method of the invention as shown in FIGS. 2-5, the gripper assembly 120 is positioned above a standing bottle 10 . The gripper assembly 120 is lowered onto the bottle 10 such the tangs 122 are positioned on either side of the bottle sidewall 14 , while positioned a distance from the base 16 of the bottle 10 . The motor 130 is used to drive the camming assembly 128 to bring the tangs 122 together and in contact with the bottle sidewall 14 . The gripper assembly 120 provides a secure grip to the bottle 10 sufficient to hold the bottle 10 as it is lifted into position and rotated against a cutting blade 162 , as shown in FIG. 3 . The distance of the gripping tangs 122 above the base 16 of the bottle 10 , defining the lower portion 12 , provides that the lower portion 12 of the bottle sidewall 14 remains uncovered around the circumference to allow access by the cutting blade 162 .

FIGS. 7A and 7B are exploded and assembled perspective views of the translate/rotate assembly 140 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The translate/rotate assembly 140 comprises two parallel rods 142 upon which a carriage assembly 144 is attached. A belt-driven drive assembly 146 translates the carriage assembly 144 vertically along the rods 142 . A dust belt 148 between two rollers 149 is provided. The belt 148 is attached to one side of the carriage assembly 144 , such that as the carriage assembly 144 is translated along the rods 142 , the belt 148 moves with the carriage assembly. The belt 148 provides protection to the rods 142 and other components from dust and the like.

The carriage assembly 144 comprises an anchor 150 for coupling the gripper assembly 120 to the carriage assembly 144 . The gripper assembly 120 is raised and lowered as the carriage assembly 144 is raised or lowered. The anchor 150 is adapted to rotate, such that the attached gripper assembly 120 and bottle 10 may be rotated from a vertical position to a horizontal position.

FIGS. 8A and 8B are exploded and assembled perspective views of a slicer assembly 160 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The slicer assembly 160 comprises a blade 162 , a blade guide 164 , and a nesting frame assembly 166 . The nesting frame assembly 166 comprises first portion 168 and a second portion 169 adapted to telescopically nest one within the other. The first portion 168 and the second portion 169 are coupled together with a pair of spring-biased rods 170 . The rods 170 guide the first portion 168 and the second portion 169 in linear translation with respect to each other. The springs 172 provide a bias force to hold the first portion 168 and the second portion 169 apart.

A blade guide 164 is provided either as a component of the first portion 168 of the nesting frame assembly 166 and/or as a component of a blade-coupling element 174 . The blade guide 164 is adapted to allow the blade 162 to penetrate the bottle sidewall 14 but to prevent the blade 162 from extending into the bottle 10 a distance that could damage the bottle's contents 11 . The blade 162 is coupled to the first portion 168 by the a blade-coupling element 174 . The blade-coupling element 174 provides for easy and quick blade 162 replacement.

In accordance with an embodiment of the method of the present invention, during a piercing and slicing operation, the bottle 10 is placed in contact with the blade 162 with the blade 162 piercing the bottle sidewall 14 and the sidewall 14 abutting the blade guide 164 . The bottle 10 is urged against the blade guide 164 with sufficient force to move the first portion 168 and partially compress the springs 172 . The spring bias force on the blade guide 164 against the bottle sidewall 14 is sufficient to enable full contact between the blade 162 and the bottle sidewall 14 while the bottle 10 is rotated against the blade 162 . The spring bias force provides for full blade 162 contact with the bottle sidewall 14 as the blade guide 164 follows the contour of bottle 10 . In this manor, bottles 10 of various contours, such as oval and square, are accommodated.

In one embodiment in accordance with the invention, the blade 162 is coupled to the first portion 168 of the nesting assembly 166 at an angle to the bottle sidewall 14 to facilitate the piercing and slicing of the bottle sidewall 14 .

FIGS. 9A and 9B are exploded and assembled perspective views of a discharge chute traverse assembly 180 in accordance with an embodiment of the invention. The discharge chute traverse assembly 180 comprises two parallel rods 186 upon which a discharge chute carriage assembly 192 is attached. A first discharge chute 182 is coupled to the discharge chute carriage assembly 192 as shown in FIG. 1B. A belt-driven drive assembly 194 translates the first discharge chute 182 horizontally along the rods 186 . A belt 196 stretched between two rollers 197 is provided between the parallel rods 186 and the first discharge chute 182 . The belt 196 is attached to one side of the discharge chute carriage assembly 192 , such that as the discharge chute carriage assembly 192 is translated horizontally along the rods 186 , the belt 196 moves with the discharge chute carriage assembly 192 . The belt 196 provides protection to the rods 186 and other components from dust and the like.

The discharge chute traverse assembly 180 is adapted to position a first discharge chute 182 below the bottle 10 when the bottle 10 is positioned against the bottle slicer assembly 160 . After the bottle slicing operation, the contents 11 of the bottle 10 is allowed to drop into the first discharge chute 182 , which directs the contents 11 to a second discharge chute 190 and out of the bottle slicer assembly 160 as shown in FIG. 1 B. The gripper assembly 120 is adapted to rotate the bottle 10 in a downward direction to facilitate the discharge of the contents 11 of the bottle 10 into the first discharge chute 182 . When the bottle 10 is empty, the discharge chute traverse assembly 180 is adapted to translate the first discharge chute 182 horizontally out from under the bottle 10 to expose the bottle 10 to the bottle discharge chute 184 below. The gripper assembly 120 subsequently releases the bottle 10 into the bottle discharge chute 184 for processing or disposal.

In one embodiment in accordance with the present invention, the bottle discharge chute 184 further comprises a bottle guide 198 , as shown in FIG. 1 A. The bottle guide 198 is coupled to the bottle discharge chute 184 with a hinge 199 . The bottle guide 198 is adapted to flex out of the way in one direction when contacted by the bottle 10 as the gripper assembly 120 positions the bottle 10 from a vertical position to the horizontal position, and to subsequently return back into position when contact is released. The bottle guide 198 keeps the empty bottle 10 directed into the bottle discharge chute 184 when released by the gripper assembly 120 . The bottle guide 198 further comprises two cutouts 195 to allow the gripper tangs 122 to pass through the bottle guide 198 when returning to the bottle pickup position 102 .

FIGS. 10A, 10 B and 10 C are perspective, top and side views of an embodiment of a bottle unpack/repack system 200 in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention. The bottle unpack/repack system 200 comprises a bottle feed assembly 220 , the bottle opener assembly 100 as previously presented, an inspection tray conveyor assembly 240 , a bulk container assembly 260 , and a control assembly 280 . The bottle feed assembly 220 is adapted to convey a plurality of bottles 10 in an upright position in single file fashion to the gripper assembly 120 . The bottle feed assembly 220 may be of any type suitable for the intended purpose and are commonly known in the art. One embodiment of a bottle feed assembly 220 comprises a hopper 222 , a turntable 224 , and a bottle feed discharge chute 228 . The hopper 222 commonly has spiral-shaped waIls 226 with the turntable 224 as the floor. The spiral-shaped walls 226 are of a height that can contain the bottles 10 while the turntable 224 rotates beneath the bottles 10 . The rotation of the turntable 224 feeds the bottles 10 into the narrow end of the spiral-shaped walls 226 such that the bottles 10 are forced into a single-file configuration. The bottles 10 are then fed into a bottle feed discharge chute 228 for processing.

In an embodiment of the present invention, the end of the bottle feed discharge chute 228 is coincident with the gripper assembly 120 bottle pickup location 102 . The gripper assembly 120 picks up the waiting bottle 10 to be processed. As the bottle 10 is removed, the next bottle 10 is moved into place.

The second discharge chute 190 is positioned adjacent an inspection tray conveyor assembly 240 . The inspection tray conveyor assembly 240 is adapted to convey the bottle's contents 11 past an inspection area 242 . The conveyance may be driven by various means, such as by a belt or by vibratory conveyance. As the contents 11 are conveyed past the inspection area 242 , the contents 11 may be inspected for quality. For example, contents 11 comprising damaged or broken tablets or capsules (debris) can be removed during the inspection process by directing the debris through a debris bin 244 . The inspection tray conveyor assembly 240 further comprises an air handling system 246 to contain airborne dust particles. After the inspection process, the inspected contents 11 , such as tablets or capsules are conveyed to the bulk container assembly 260 that comprises a slide 264 and bulk container 262 . The tablets or capsules are subsequently discharged down the slide 264 into the a bulk container 262 .

In one embodiment of the invention, a control assembly 280 is used to control the operations of the various components of the bottle opener assembly 100 . In one embodiment, an attendant can regulate the speed of the operation using a foot controller. The control assembly 280 changes the speed of the bottle unpack/repack system 200 based on the input of the operator.

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of an embodiment of a bottle unpack/repack line 300 in accordance with the invention, wherein the tablets or capsules are repackaged into new bottles 20 . The bottle unpack/repack line 300 comprises the bottle unpack/repack system 200 in addition to a bottle handling apparatus 302 . The bottle handling apparatus 302 comprises a bottle unscrambler 340 , a bottle conveyor 350 , a bottle capper 370 and a cartoner 390 . Empty, uncapped new bottles 20 are loaded into a hopper 342 of the bottle unscrambler 340 . The bottle unscrambler 340 correctly orients the new bottles 20 for conveyance to a tablet counter/bottle filling apparatus 320 . The tablet counter/bottle filling apparatus 320 couples to the slide 264 of the inspection tray conveyor assembly 240 , as shown in FIG. 10 A. The tablet counter/bottle filling apparatus 320 elevates the contents 11 , comprising tables/capsules using a tablet/capsule elevator assembly 322 and subsequently counts the tablets/capsules and deposits them into the new bottles 20 . The new bottles 20 are conveyed to the bottle a capper 370 that places a bottle cap on the new bottle 20 . The new bottles 20 are conveyed to a labeler 380 and subsequently to a cartoner 390 .

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein for purposes of description of the preferred embodiment, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations calculated to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the specific embodiment shown and described without departing from the scope of the present invention. Those with skill in the construction arts will readily appreciate that the present invention may be implemented in a very wide variety of embodiments. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof.