Support for Tablets, Capsules, Pills or the Like

The present invention relates to a support for tablets, capsules, pills or the like, constituted by a disc provided with cut-out portions in or on which the tablets or the like are held by two coatings covering each of the faces of the disc and through at least one of which the tablets may be taken out by pressure and tearing.

Packaging of this type is known for medicines and it is used primarily for separating the tablets, capsules or pills from each other and for protecting them from outside influences, whilst making it possible to remove a tablet easily, when required, by exerting slight pressure on one of the sides of the support in order to expel the tablet from the support by tearing a sheet of coating.

The object of the invention is to extend and distinguish the range of application of such supports. To this end, the support, in the form of a disc, according to the invention is provided with an opening intended for the introduction of the disc onto the neck of a bottle, container or the like.

It is thus possible to combine the support with the most varied bottles or containers comprising a neck, this support containing tablets, capsules, pills or the like having any relationship with respect to the contents of the bottle or of the container, but not having to be added to these contents before its use. For example the latter may be constituted by an additive intended to alter the taste, for example sweeteners or flavourings intended to mask the unpleasant taste of the contents of the bottle or gassifying additives, for example carbon dioxide, intended to give the contents of the bottle a refreshing taste. The latter may also be solid medicines intended to be taken at the same time as liquid medicines or simply with water which may not always be available to the user, for example when travelling.

The support according to the invention may be manufactured easily from a sheet of rigid material by known and simple methods, for example by stamping in a single pass, this support then being provided with tablets, capsules, pills or the like, like known supports for medicines and covered on two sides with a coating, one of which is constituted by a sheet of heat-shrinkable, transparent, synthetic material and the other by a thin sheet of aluminium which tears easily.

The accompanying drawings show two embodiments of the invention, by way of example.

FIG. 1 is a vew from above and in perspective of a first embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a view from below of a second embodiment, without its coating.

The support shown in FIG. 1 comprises a circular, annular disc 1 which in addition to its central opening 2 comprises cut-out portions 3 the shape of which is adapted to the shape of the tablets, capsules or pills 4 which are disposed in or on the cut-out portions 3. These capsules or the like are held in the cut-out portions 3 in known manner between two coatings adhering to each face of the disc 1 and which have not been shown in detail in the drawing. The coating on the lower face of the disc is constituted for example by a sheet of aluminium which tears easily, so that the capsules 4 can be expelled from the support, through the cut-out portions, by a downwards pressure, thus tearing the sheet of aluminium.

The circumference of the central opening 2 is provided with several notches 5 on the one hand intended for the adaptation of the support, within a certain range, to various diameters of the bottle neck and on the other hand intended for obtaining a certain gripping action due to elastic deformation of the strips formed between the notches, when the support is fitted on the neck of a bottle or similar container.

According to the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the support disc 1 is constituted by two partial discs 1a and 1b, which solution may prove advantageous for reasons of manufacturing materials or techniques. The two concentric parts 1a and 1b are fixed relatively one with respect to the other by the coatings applied to their two faces. The concentric annular space between the two parts of the disc 1a and 1b may comprise radial enlargements in or on which the capsules or the like ar placed.

In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, these radial enlargements 3' are obtained simply by the fact that the outer partial disc 1a has an octagonal cut-out 6 and that the outer contour of the partial disc 1b comes close to four of the opposite sides 6a of the octagonal contour, the cut-out portions 3' being formed along the other sides 6b of its octagonal contour.

In the case of a circular outer contour of the inner partial disc 1b, the cut-out portions 3' are relatively small, even if the diameter of this outer contour is smaller than the diameter of the circle inscribed in the octagonal contour. In the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 2, the openings 3' have been enlarged thus giving the contour of the inner disc 1b the shape of a square 7, whereof the diagonal is slightly smaller than the diameter of the circle inscribed in the octagon, the sides of this square being parallel to four of the sides of the octagon defining with these sides four cut-out portions 3'.

The corners of the square 7 may also be truncated, which makes it possible to increase the surface of the square and thus to reduce the width of the cut-out portions 3'.

Due to a suitable choice of the shape and dimensions of the inner contour 6 of the partial disc 1a and of the outer contour 7 of the partial disc 1b, it is possible to modify the dimensions of the cut-out portions 3', both radially as well as tangentially, in order to adapt them to the shape and dimensions of the capsules, tablets or the like.

The invention is not limited to a disc having a circular outer contour and a circular central opening, but these contours may have any other shape, for example they may be oval or polygonal, for example if they are intended to be fixed to necks of non-circular containers or to facilitate their packaging.