Pill reminder wheel

[0001] The present invention relates to reminder devices and, more particularly, the present invention pertains to a reminder device designed to assist users in recording their medication, pills, capsules, caplets, dietary supplements, homeopathic medicines and vitamin doses by placing it on bottles tops, boxes or other surfaces. The present invention assists individuals in remembering whether or not they have taken their medication. The Pill Reminder Wheel provides individuals with a recording device to register the day and dose for each medication or vitamin while allowing users to attach the Pill Reminder Wheel to a lid, a top, a box or other surface.

[0002] Without an efficient method for recording medication information, individuals, caregivers and medical personal may have difficulty remembering if and when pills, medicine or vitamins where provided. Many medication must be taken daily, some at multiple intervals. Others are taken only as needed, but the patient or caregiver must know when the last dose was taken to prevent overdosing. If an individual loses track they may end up missing a dose or taking double their dose, which can both be dangerous to an individual's health. Incorrect consumption is commonly called non-compliance. Some of the dangers associated with non-compliance include ineffectiveness of the medicine, extending illness, hospitalization, or dead. A 2003 World Health Organization study estimates that only 50% of patients suffering from chronic diseases in developed countries follow treatment recommendations (World Health Organization (2003). Adherence to long-term therapies: evidence for action. Geneva: World Health Organization). This rate is even more pronounce in the elders, or patients with compromise mental faculties. This lack of adherence has dramatic and expensive effects on health: in the United States, it is estimated to cause approximately 125.000 deaths a year, at least 10% of hospitalizations (close to 3.5 million), and a substantial increase in morbidity and mortality. Non-adherence has been estimated to cost the U.S. health care system between $100 billion and $289 billion annually (Ann Intern Med. 2012; 157(11):785-795. doi:10.7326/0003-4819-157-11-201212040-00538). Non-compliance is the greatest single cause for readmissions to hospitals (Meichenbaun & Turk, 1987). Non-compliance is largely because of the lack of adaptable, simple, systematic, easy to use and economically available recording devices. Several medicine dose-tracking devices are currently available to consumers or have been described in prior art. Some are containers with multiple compartments for different doses per day of the week. Others are containers with a special cap. Others are foil-lined packet, or blister packs. Earlier attempts have been made in US as in U.S. Pat. No. 5,433,324 A where the indicia is very small and hard to understand, especially for the elders, and does not adapt to every bottle in the market or a box. U.S. Pat. No. 5,896,990 A is for measuring liquids and not to track day or dose. U.S. Pat. No. 2,565,095 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,347,804 A, U.S. Pat. No. 2,587,147 A, U.S. Pat. No. 3,921,568 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,829 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,345,541 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,501,370 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,920,912 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,009,338 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,392 A, U.S. Pat. No. 6,152,067 A, U.S. Pat. No. 332,208 A, U.S. Pat. No. 8,281,733 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 5,778,818 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,694,882 A don't allow the record of the day, only the dose or the time. U.S. Pat. No. 4,528,933 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,823,346 A U.S. Pat. No. 7,878,350 B2 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,586,087 A are containers with a special closure. U.S. Pat. No. 7,959,023 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,913,437 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,779,775 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 7,637,227 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 6,912,968 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 4,041,628 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,662,520 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,729,472 A and U.S. Pat. No. 6,158,155 A are recording devices not designed for pills, medicines or vitamins. U.S. Pat. No. 5,577,335 A is for doses or days, not both and require difficult assemble to be done by the user. U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,423 A and U.S. Pat. No. 5,377,614 A have very small indicia making it practically impossible to read. U.S. Pat. No. 5,271,353 A does not shows the day, does not attaches securely to the bottle and would be difficult to adapt to a small container. U.S. Pat. No. 7,886,909 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,599 A and U.S. Pat. No. 4,802,438 A do not show the dose and would be difficult to apply to different sizes of bottles. U.S. Pat. No. 4,432,300 A and U.S. Pat. No. 4,915,256 A are a dispenser, U.S. Pat. No. 8,105,291 B2 does not shows either day and dose. U.S. Pat. No. 4,641,759 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,261,548 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,299,701 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,638,970 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,422 A, U.S. Pat. No. 20040144677 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 8,146,528 B2, U.S. Pat. No. 4,365,722 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,489,834 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,753,189 A, U.S. Pat. No. 5,216,975 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,913,083 A, U.S. Pat. No. 20030000452 A1, U.S. Pat. No. 2,066,183 A, U.S. Pat. No. 2,450,949 A, U.S. Pat. No. 3,151,599 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,011,829 A, U.S. Pat. No. 4,405,045, U.S. Pat. No. 6,789,497 B1, U.S. Pat. No. 7,017,762, U.S. Pat. No. D397.295, U.S. Pat. No. 7,621,231, and U.S. Pat. No. D481.946 disclosed a dosage reminder cap, lid or closure to replace the cap of a medicine bottle presenting the challenge of the ample variety of bottles sizes and child proof systems available in the market, making it therefore improbable to apply to any bottle given at the pharmacy and impossible to use with a box. Most of such containers violate the legal requirement that medications must be stored in a properly labeled container, they lack child safety features and may mix doses and or medicines. Those inventions are structurally different and are either complicated, with multiples parts, impractical to carry in a purse or pocket, harder to manipulate, difficult and expensive to mass produce, no able to be manufactured cheaply enough to be included or purchase with every prescription or lacking other essential elements which the present invention effectively solves. Some have a different purpose, as to adjust the amount of the dose or to track expiration date or to provide a tactile help, not a visual one. Some are to be attach to the body of the medicine bottle, covering essential information. None of the earlier inventions mentioned have the versatility to be applied to any bottle size or even boxes or surfaces that the present invention inherently possesses and to record the last day and dose of a taken medicine with only three pieces. The data in most of the mentioned inventions is arrange in a confuse way and the size is small, making it hard to read and understand. The present invention provides a simple and economical solution to the problem since it can be made and sold at a nominal cost in comparison with other devices for a similar or equal purpose of the present invention. The Pill Reminder Wheel can be offer included on the prescription or for a very small addiction to the cost of a medicine or vitamin or supplement helping for a little cost to save very expensive complications, treatments, hospitalization and lives.

[0003] The present invention preferably comprises a device designed to assist users in recording their medication, pills, capsules, caplets, vitamin doses or similar and keeping track of the day and dose the last medication was taken. The design is comprised of wheel with three components, one base disk, one top disk and one dial. The base disk preferably has adhesive protected by a backing that once removed will expose the adhesive. This will allow the invention to be attached to the lid of any medicine bottle, a box or a surface of the choice of the consumer. The top wheel has a window cut out to show the first or first two initials of each day of the week. Each initial is mark on the base disk. Each initial will be underlined to avoid confusions. The cover disk also has a central recess to houses the dial and to facilitate it turning. The base disk has a central pin with a slighter bigger conical head flat on the top. The cover disk has a central aperture where the pin of the base disk pass though before the head of the pin clasps on the dial cylindrical aperture, securely attaching all parts. The cover disk has a set of circular apertures for the dial's half-ball. The dial will be for the dosage. The dial can be turned from 1 to 4, where 1 denotes the first dose and 4 is the last dose. If more than 4 doses are required the dial can be turned again to 1, 2, 3, 4, or as needed. One end of the dial preferable has a triangular shape to point to the doses. The top of the triangle may be painted on top in a contrasting color. The dial has a half-ball on the base surface of the arrow to secure it in place when it clasps inside the circular apertures of the cover disk. The cover disk may ratchet around the base disk to avoid being turned counter clock-wising. There may be different sizes available to adapt to different drugs, pills, capsules, caplets or vitamin bottles and boxes sizes but one size will fit most. The exact specifications may vary.

[0004] The foregoing and other objects and advantages will appear from the description to follow. In the description references is made to the accompanying drawings, which form a part hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specifies embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. These embodiments will be described in sufficient detail to enable those skilled in the art to practice the invention and it is to be understood that other embodiments may be utilized and that structural changes may be made without departing from the scope of the invention. In the accompanying drawings, like reference characters designate the same or similar parts throughout the several views. The following detailed description is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense and the scope of the present invention is defined by the pending claims.

[0010] Referring now to the drawings, in particular to FIGS. 1 and 2, show the Pill Reminder Wheel 10 of the present invention comprising a cover disk 14, indicia for the number of dose 40 dispose equally distribute circumferentially around half the top surface of the cover disk 14 and close to the perimeter of the circular recess 32, a window 30 and a wedge tooth 38 that engages with the set of teeth 26 of the base disk 12 and allows rotation in only one direction. The base disk 12 has indicia for the days of the week 18 viewable through the window 30. The cover disk 14 rotates clockwise and stops when the corresponding day of the week 18 is display though the window 30. One end of the dial 16 ends in a triangular shape 42 and has paint 44 of a contrasting color, preferably red. The dial 16 has a half-ball protuberance 50 on the base of the triangle 42. The half-ball 50 engages in the circular apertures 34 of the cover disk 14 securing the dial 16 pointing towards a dose number 40. The indicia for the days of the week 18 has a line 20 under it. The pin 22 acts as an axis for the cover disk 14 allowing it to rotate around the base disk 12. The pin 22 holds the cover disk 14 and the base disk 12 together when it head 24 clasp in in the head 48 of the cylindrical aperture 46. In FIG. 2. are show hidden structures of the dial 16: the half-ball 50, the cylindrical aperture 48 and it head 46.

[0011] FIG. 3 shows a view of the line A-A of FIG. 1. The dial 16 is inside the circular recess 32. The head 24 of the pin 22 clasp inside the larger head 48 of the cylindrical aperture 46 of the dial 16 securing the base disk 12, the cover disk 14 and the dial 16 together. The half-ball 50 on the base of the triangular end 42 is inside one of the four circular apertures 34 securing the dial 16 in the desirable position.

[0012] FIG. 4 shows a side exploded view of the pill reminder wheel of FIG. 1. The pin 22 is centrally located and in alignment with the central aperture 36 and the cylindrical aperture 46 of the dial 16. The size of the head of the aperture 48 is slightly bigger than the head of the pin 24 means for a secure clasp. The notched triangular shape of the head of the pin 24 means for easy passing though the central aperture 36 of cover disk 14. The head of the dial 42 has paint 44 for easier understanding of the direction pointed. The bottom of the base disk 12 has a self adhesive material 28 protected by a removable layer 29.

[0013] The cover disk 14 rotates around the base disk 12 using the pin 22 as an axis. Though the window 30 of the cover disk 14 are visible the different initial/s indicia 18 corresponding to each day of the week marked on the base disk 12. When the edge of the cover disk 14 is held with two fingers and rotated the visible initial/s of the day 18 changes. The dial 14 can be rotated being held with two fingers inside a circular recess 32 of the cover disk 14 pointing with its triangular end 42 to the dose number indicia 40 of the cover dial 14. The half-ball 50 of the dial 16 clasps inside the circular apertures 34 of the cover disk 14 securing the dial 16 in position. The three pieces 12, 14 and 16 are held together by the pin 22 wherein the pin 22 and its head 24 pass though the central aperture 36 of the cover disk 14 and the cylindrical aperture 46 of dial 16, and its head 24 clasps inside the aperture 48 of the dial 16. The wedge tooth 38 passes over the diagonal wall 52 of the teeth 26 and is stop by the horizontal straight wall 54, allowing rotation in only one direction.

[0014] Since certain changes may be made in the foregoing disclosure without departing from the scope of the invention, herein involved, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description and depicted in the accompanying drawings be constructed in an illustrative and not in a limiting sense. They are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the present invention to the precise forms disclosed and obviously many modifications, rearrangements, substitutions of parts and elements and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The exemplary embodiment was chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the present invention, The Pill Reminder Wheel, and its practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the present invention and various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. The invention as described is susceptible to modification without departing from the concept and right is herein reserved to such modifications as fall within the scope and equivalence of the appended claims.