JP7619922B2 - Pill container - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a tablet container.

A known tablet container of this type is one that consists of a vertically long, cylindrical container body that is open at the top and a lid body that is connected to the top end of the container body via a hinge, and a coil-shaped spring element that cushions the tablets is attached to the underside of the top plate of the lid body, allowing multiple tablets to be held between the spring element and the bottom plate of the container body (see Figure 1 of Patent Document 1).

Patent Publication 2009-196717

For example, tablets that are dissolved and taken orally, such as oral rehydration tablets, are prone to crumbling when subjected to external impact.
In the container of Patent Document 1, when the container is full and the space between the spring element and the bottom plate is filled with tablets with no gaps, the tablets are held down by the force of the spring. However, when the number of tablets in the container decreases, a gap appears above the group of tablets, and the spring element cannot reach the tablets, so the pressure is no longer effective.
As a result, when the tablet container is carried around, the tablets move inside the container in the axial direction, causing the tablets to collide with each other and with the inner surface of the container, resulting in the tablets being damaged and crumbling.

A first object of the present invention is to provide a tablet container capable of preventing a plurality of tablets inside the container from being damaged due to collision with other objects.
A second object of the present invention is to provide a tablet container which can be switched, by a simple operation, between a state in which a group of tablets is held and a state in which the holding of the group of tablets is released so that the tablets can be ejected.

The first means includes a cylindrical member 2 having a bottom and an opening 24 at the upper end side, and defining therein a tablet storage chamber R for storing a row of tablets T arranged in a vertical direction;
and a lid body 50 for closing the opening 24.
The cylindrical member 2 is configured by fitting a substantially cylindrical tablet container 20 surrounding the row of tablets T into a vertically oriented cylindrical sleeve 4 so as to be rotatable therein.
The cylindrical member 2 is provided with a tablet holding means B that holds a row of tablets T accommodated in the tablet accommodation chamber R by pressing the row of tablets T from the outside in the cylindrical radial direction at a plurality of points in the circumferential direction,
The tablet holding means B is configured to press the row of tablets T when the tablet container 20 is rotated from a first rotation position P1 to a second rotation position P2 by an operation of rotating the tablet container 20 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4, and to release the pressure when the tablet container 20 returns from the second rotation position P2 to the first rotation position P1 .
The tablet holding means B consists of a pressing portion 8 attached to the inner surface of the cylindrical sleeve 4 and an elastic pressure piece 36 formed as part of the tablet container 20 and extending over almost the entire height direction of the tablet container chamber R.

As shown in FIG. 1(A), this means comprises a cylindrical member 2 defining therein a tablet storage chamber R for storing a row of tablets T arranged in the vertical direction.
As shown in FIG. 5(A), the cylindrical member 2 is configured by fitting a substantially cylindrical tablet container 20 surrounding a row of tablets T rotatably into a vertically oriented cylindrical sleeve 4 .
As shown in FIG. 5B, the cylindrical member 2 has tablet holding means B for holding the row of tablets T by pressing the row of tablets T from the outside in the cylindrical radial direction at a plurality of points in the circumferential direction.
With this structure, when the tablet storage chamber R is not full as shown in Figure 6 (D), it is possible to prevent tablets from colliding with each other or with the inner surface of the tablet container, thereby preventing the tablets from chipping or crumbling.
In addition, the tablet holding means B is configured to press the tablet group T when the tablet container 20 rotates from the first rotational position P1 shown in Figure 5 (A) to the second rotational position P2 shown in Figure 5 (B), and to release the pressure when the tablet container 20 returns from the second rotational position P2 to the first rotational position P1.
According to this structure, the tablet group can be released by a single action of rotating the tablet container 20 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4, and the tablet group can be easily switched between a pressed state and a non-pressurized state.
In this means, the tablet holding means B consists of a pressing portion 8 attached to the inner surface of the cylindrical sleeve 4 and an elastic pressure piece 36 formed as part of the tablet container 20, and this elastic pressure piece 36 is provided over almost the entire length of the tablet container chamber R in the height direction.
With this structure, despite its simple configuration, by rotating the tablet container 20, the elastic pressure piece 36 can simultaneously hold each of the multiple tablets arranged in the tablet container chamber R, thereby preventing the tablets from crumbling or cracking regardless of the number of tablets.

The second means has the first means, and an upper portion of the tablet container 20 extends upwardly of the cylindrical sleeve 4 as a neck portion 22a,
The opening 24 is formed at the upper end of the mouth/neck portion 22a.
The lid 50 is screwed to the outer surface of the mouth/neck portion 22a.
By screwing the lid body 50 onto the mouth -neck portion 22a, the tablet container 20 rotates relative to the tubular sleeve 4 from a first rotation position P1 to a second rotation position P2, and by unscrewing the lid body 50 from the mouth-neck portion 22a, the tablet container 20 returns from the second rotation position P2 to the first rotation position P1.

In this means, as shown in FIG. 1(A), the upper part of the tablet container 20 extends upward from the cylindrical sleeve 4 as a neck portion 22a, and a lid 50 is screwed onto the outer surface of the neck portion 22a.
By screwing and unscrewing the lid body 50 onto the neck portion 22a, the tablet container 20 rotates together with the lid body 50 and is displaced between a first rotation position P1 and a second rotation position P2 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4.
According to this structure, the operation of removing the lid body 50 and the operation of releasing the retained tablets can be achieved in a single action, further simplifying the operation.

The third means includes the second means and also includes opening direction braking means Q1 for stopping the tablet container 20 at the first rotation position P1 when the lid body 50 is rotated in the opening direction W1.

This means has an opening direction braking means Q1 that stops the tablet container 20 at a first rotation position P1 shown in Figure 5 (A) when the lid body 50 is rotated in the opening direction W1 as shown in Figure 5 (B).
This structure can prevent excessive rotation of the tablet container 20 when the lid is unscrewed.

The fourth means has the second means or the third means, and also has a closing direction braking means Q2 that stops the tablet container 20 at the second rotation position P2 when the lid body 50 is rotated in the closing direction W2.

As shown in Figure 5 (A), this means has a closing direction braking means Q2 that stops the tablet container 20 at a second rotation position P2 shown in Figure 5 (B) when the lid body 50 is rotated in the closing direction W2 (see Figure 1 (B)).
According to this structure, when the tablet container 20 rotates to the second rotation position P2, it cannot be rotated any further, thereby preventing over-tightening of the screw portions of the lid body 50 and the mouth-neck portion 22a due to excessive rotation operation.

According to the present invention, it is possible to prevent a plurality of tablets in a container from being damaged due to collision with other objects (collisions between the tablets and with the inner surface of the container).
This device is easy to use because it can be easily switched between a state in which the tablet group is held for protection of the tablets and a state in which the holding of the tablet group is released for ejection of the tablets.

This figure shows the structure of a tablet container according to an embodiment of the present invention when tablets are contained therein, with (A) being a cross-sectional view from the side, and (B) being a cross-sectional view from the I(B)-I(B) direction of (A). This figure shows the structure of the cylindrical sleeve of the tablet container in Figure 1, where (A) is a plan view of the cylindrical sleeve, (B) is a cross-sectional view seen from the direction II(B)-II(B) of (A), and (C) is a side view seen from the direction II(C)-II(C) of (A). This shows the structure of the tablet container of the tablet container in Figure 1, where (A) is a plan view of the tablet container, (B) is a side view seen from the III(B)-III(B) direction of (A), and (C) is a side view seen from the III(C)-III(C) direction of (A). FIG. 4 shows the structure in which the tablet holder of FIG. 3 is fitted into the cylindrical sleeve of FIG. 2, with FIG. 4(A) being a cross-sectional view seen from a direction slightly shifted from the side (the same as the VI(A)-VI(A) direction of FIG. 1(B)), and FIG. 4(B) being a cross-sectional view seen from IV(B)-IV(B) of FIG. 4(A). 5A and 5B are explanatory diagrams of the effect of holding a group of tablets in the tablet container of Figure 1, where Figure 5(A) is a cross-sectional view of the state before the group of tablets is held, as seen from the V(A)-V(A) direction of Figure 4(A), and Figure 5(B) is a cross-sectional view of the state after the group of tablets is held, as seen from the V(B)-V(B) direction of Figure 1(A). FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the process of removing the lid from the tablet container shown in FIG. 1 and removing the tablets, in which (A) shows the stage before the lid is removed as viewed from the direction VI(A)-VI(A) of FIG. 1(B), (B) shows the stage after the lid has been unscrewed, (C) shows the stage in the middle of tilting the container body to eject a single tablet, and (D) shows the stage after the tablet has been ejected and the container body has been returned to an upright position and the lid has been reattached.

1 to 6 show a tablet container according to an embodiment of the present invention.
As shown in Fig. 1(A), this tablet container comprises a cylindrical member 2 and a lid 50. Each of these members can be made of, for example, a synthetic resin material.

The cylindrical member 2 is a container having a bottom and an opening 24 at the upper end.
A tablet storage chamber R is defined inside the container body.
The tablet storage chamber R is designed to store a plurality of disk-shaped tablets arranged in a vertically oriented stack. In this specification, a plurality of tablets arranged in a vertically oriented stack is referred to as a "tablet group" and represented by the symbol T.
The cylindrical member 2 is formed of two bodies: an inner container (tablet container 20) and an outer container (cylindrical sleeve 4) rotatably fitted onto the outer circumferential surface of the inner container.
The tablet container 20 is formed to be rotatable relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4 between the position shown in Figure 4 (A) (first rotation position P1) and the position shown in Figure 1 (A) (second rotation position P2).
In this embodiment, as described later, the tablet container 20 is arranged to be rotatable relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4 in conjunction with the operation of screwing and unscrewing the lid 50 .

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2B, the cylindrical sleeve 4 has an outer peripheral wall portion 6 that is cylindrical and has an open upper end, and a bottom portion 12 that closes the lower end of the outer peripheral wall portion.
However, this structure can be modified as appropriate. For example, the bottom 12 may be omitted from the cylindrical sleeve configuration, and the tablet container may be formed to have a bottom.
In the illustrated example, the bottom portion 12 is molded integrally with the outer peripheral wall portion 6, but it may be formed as a separate body.

In this embodiment, the outer peripheral wall portion 6 is formed in a vertically long straight cylindrical shape having a substantially constant diameter over the entire length in the cylindrical length direction, although the shape can be appropriately changed.
In this embodiment, the outer peripheral wall 6 is made of a transparent material, and as shown in Fig. 2C, a plurality of vertically elongated rectangular opaque labels L (two in the illustrated example) are attached to the outer surface of the outer peripheral wall 6. In this way, viewing windows 7 for viewing marks 34 (described later) are formed between the labels. However, this structure can be omitted.
In this embodiment, a ring-shaped anti-pullout groove 10 is provided around the inner peripheral surface of the outer wall portion 6 at an appropriate position (the upper end in the illustrated example) for engaging an anti-pullout protrusion 28 on the tablet container 20 described later, as shown in Figure 1 (A).

As shown in FIG. 2A, a pressing portion 8 is formed on the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall portion 6 for pressing inwardly an elastic pressure contact piece 36, which will be described later.
The pressing portion 8 and the elastic pressure contact piece 36 constitute a means (tablet holding means B) for holding the group of tablets T inside the tablet storage chamber R, for example, to prevent the tablets from colliding with each other. This will be described in detail later.
In the present embodiment, the outer peripheral wall portion 6 has a plurality of pressing portions 8 (a pair of front and rear pressing portions in the illustrated example) arranged equiangularly.
The shape and arrangement of the multiple pressing portions 8 are designed so as to ensure rotational symmetry of these pressing portions 8 with respect to the cylindrical axis A1 of the cylindrical sleeve 4 (two-fold symmetry in the illustrated example), as shown in FIG. 2(A).
The number of these pressing portions 8 can be changed as appropriate.
In the illustrated example, each pressing portion 8 is formed into an approximately trapezoidal shape when viewed from above, and has an inclined surface portion 9A located on one side in the circumferential direction, a stepped surface portion 9B located on the opposite circumferential side, and a flat top surface portion 9c located on the radially inner side.
In the state shown in FIG. 1A, the inclined surface portion 9A is arranged opposite the tip end 38 of the elastic pressure-contact piece 36 described below (see FIG. 5A), and serves as a sliding contact surface that comes into sliding contact with the tip end 38 through a rotation operation described below.
Then, as the tip portion 38 slides on the inclined surface portion 9A, the elastic pressure contact piece 36 is pressed inward as shown in FIG. 5(B).
The top surface portion 9c means a surface corresponding to the top side of the trapezoid, and serves as a contact surface that abuts against the elastic pressure contact piece 36 pressed inward as described above.
This contact maintains the pressed-in state of the elastic pressure contact piece 36 (see FIG. 5(B)).
As shown in FIG. 5(A), the stepped surface portion 9B serves as an engagement surface for engaging with an end surface (a side end surface 31) of a base plate portion 30 of a tablet container 20 described later.
These roles are discussed further below.
The shape of the pressing portion 8 can be changed as appropriate.
In this embodiment, the pressing portion 8 is formed as a pressing protrusion extending vertically on the inner peripheral surface of the outer peripheral wall portion 6, as shown in FIG. 2(B).
In the illustrated example, the pressing portion 8 is formed over the entire length of the outer peripheral wall portion 6 excluding the portion where the retaining groove 10 is formed, but the arrangement thereof can be changed as appropriate.

In this embodiment, the bottom portion 12 has a hollowed-out portion 13 and an engagement groove portion 14 as shown in FIG. 2(B).
The hollow portion 13 is formed on the lower surface side of the center portion of the bottom portion 12 .
The engaging groove portion 14 is a portion for loosely fitting an engaging protrusion portion 32 (described later) provided on the tablet container 20 which is rotatable relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4 .
2A, the engagement groove 14 is formed on the upper surface side of the outer periphery of the bottom 12 so as to extend in an arc shape along the outer periphery wall 6. However, the structure and arrangement of the engagement groove 14 can be appropriately changed.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2A, a plurality of (two in the illustrated example) engagement grooves 14 are formed.
Each engagement groove portion 14 has a first groove end portion (opening direction groove end portion) 14a and a second groove end portion (closing direction groove end portion) 14b on both circumferential sides.
In this specification, the direction in which the tablet container 20 rotates in conjunction with the opening operation of the lid body 50 as shown in Figure 5 (B) is referred to as the opening direction W1, and the direction in which the tablet container 20 rotates in conjunction with the closing operation of the lid body 50 as shown in Figure 5 (A) is referred to as the closing direction W2.

As shown in FIG. 5(A), the tablet container 20 is a substantially cylindrical member surrounding the row of tablets T.
In this embodiment, the tablet container 20 has a cylindrical peripheral wall 22 which is open at both the top and bottom ends as shown in FIG. 1(A), and defines the above-mentioned tablet container chamber R inside this peripheral wall 22.
The cylindrical peripheral wall 22 rests on the bottom 12 of the cylindrical sleeve 4 .
An engaging protrusion 32 for insertion into the engaging groove 14 is provided on the lower end side of the cylindrical peripheral wall 22 .

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1(A), an upper portion of the cylindrical peripheral wall 22 projects upward from the outer peripheral wall portion 6 as a mouth/neck portion 22a.
The remaining cylindrical wall portion (inner wall portion 22b) is disposed concentrically inside the outer wall portion 6 with a certain gap g therebetween, as shown in FIG. 5(B).
The inner peripheral wall portion 22b is a holding wall that holds the tablet group T in an embracing manner, has an inner diameter slightly larger than the outer diameter of the cylindrical tablet group, and is provided with an elastic pressing piece 36 described below as tablet holding means.
As shown in FIG. 1A, a male thread portion 26 that meshes with a female thread portion 58, which will be described later, is formed on the outer surface of the mouth/neck portion 22a.
As shown in FIG. 2B, a retaining projection 28 that rotatably fits into the retaining groove 10 is provided around the outer surface of the upper end of the inner peripheral wall portion 22b.
The retaining grooves 10 and the retaining ridges 28 form a retaining means F that vertically engages the tablet container 20 with respect to the cylindrical sleeve 4 in a rotatable state.
This structure can be modified as appropriate. For example, a retaining protrusion may be formed on the inner surface of the outer peripheral wall portion 6, and a retaining groove 10 may be formed on the outer surface of the inner peripheral wall portion 22b.

In this embodiment, as shown in Figure 3 (B), a pair of groove-shaped notches 40 which are roughly U-shaped when viewed from the outside are drilled in the inner wall portion 22b, positioned below the anti-pullout protrusion 28, and an elastic pressure piece 36 which holds the tablet group T is formed inside this notch 40.
As shown in Figure 3 (A), the illustrated tablet container 20 has a pair of elastic pressure pieces 36 located on opposite sides in the cylindrical diameter direction, and a pair of base portions 30 are formed in the cylindrical wall portion between the elastic pressure pieces 36.
However, the number of elastic pressure contact pieces 36 and the number of base plate portions 30 can be changed as appropriate.
The shapes and arrangements of the elastic pressing pieces 36 and the base plate portion 30 are designed so as to ensure rotational symmetry (two-fold symmetry in the illustrated example) with respect to the cylindrical axis A2 of the tablet container shown in FIG. 3(A).
In the illustrated example, the base portion 30 is positioned slightly offset to the side (in a direction perpendicular to the paper surface of FIG. 1(A)) when the tablet container 20 is in the second rotation position shown in FIG. 1(A) (see FIG. 5(B)), but the position can be changed as appropriate.

In this embodiment, the base plate portion 30 is formed as a curved plate (gutter-shaped plate) having an arc-like shape in a plan view.
As shown in Figure 3 (B), the lower ends of these base plate portions 30 are located below the elastic pressure contact pieces 36 and serve as legs for placing them on the bottom portion 12 and as engaging protrusions 32 for loosely fitting into the engaging groove portions 14.
As shown in FIG. 1B, when viewed from above, the engaging protrusion 32 is formed in an arc shape corresponding to the engaging groove 14, and has an opening direction protrusion 32a and a closing direction protrusion 32b on both circumferential sides.
3C, the end face (side end face 31) of the base end portion 37 opposite the elastic pressure contact piece 36 is formed into a vertical surface. This side end face 31 is provided so as to be able to come into contact with the stepped surface portion 9B of the pressing portion 8, as described later.
In the illustrated example, a mark 34, which is a logo such as a letter or symbol indicating a closed state ("CLOSE" in the illustrated example), is formed on the outer surface of the substrate portion 30, and is formed so that the mark 34 can be seen from the outside through the observation window 7 when the tablet container 20 is in the second rotation position P2 with respect to the cylindrical sleeve 4. This allows the user to confirm that the tablet container is securely closed.
The mark 34 may be displayed, for example, by printing or engraving.

In this embodiment, the notch 40 is composed of a vertical groove portion 40a extending in the vertical direction, an upper groove portion 40b continuing to the upper end of the vertical groove portion 40a, and a horizontally elongated lower cutout portion 40c continuing to the lower end of the vertical groove portion 40a.
The upper groove portion 40b extends along the lower edge of the retaining ridge 28, and the lower cutout portion 40c opens to the lower edge of the inner circumferential wall portion 22b.
However, the shape and arrangement of the notches 40 can be changed as appropriate.
In the illustrated example, two notches 40 are drilled in the inner peripheral wall portion 22b to form a pair of elastic pressure contact pieces 36 and two base portions 30 are formed between the elastic pressure contact pieces 36.

As shown in FIG. 3B, the elastic pressure contact piece 36 has a base end 37 remote from the vertical groove 40a and a tip end 38 close to the vertical groove.
The base end 37 is a support end that is continuous with the surrounding cylindrical wall portion (the base plate portion 30 in the illustrated example), and the elastic pressure contact piece 36 is supported in a cantilever manner via this base end 37.
The tip portion 38 is a free end, and serves as a pressure contact end portion for pressing the elastic pressure contact piece 36 against the group of tablets T when the elastic pressure contact piece 36 is pressed inward.
The tip portion 38 in the illustrated example has a plurality of horizontal slits 42 formed at equal intervals.
The elastic pressure contact piece 36 is formed so as to be elastically bendable by being pressed inward by the pressing part 8. That is, the elastic pressure contact piece 36 has such elasticity that the tip part 38 can ride up and overcome the inclined surface part 9A of the pressing part 8 as shown in Fig. 5(A) by rotating the tablet container 20.
The elastic pressure contact piece 36 is provided over almost the entire length in the height direction of the tablet storage chamber R. "Over almost the entire length" means that it is possible to hold all the tablets arranged in the tablet storage chamber R. This makes it possible to avoid the risk of the tablets crumbling or cracking, regardless of the number of tablets.
The elastic pressure contact piece 36 in the illustrated example is formed in a vertically elongated shape.

In this embodiment, the elastic pressure contact piece 36 and the pressing portion 8 form a tablet holding means B.
The function of this tablet holding means B is to hold a row of tablets T contained in the tablet storage chamber R by pressing the row of tablets T from the outside in the cylindrical radial direction at multiple points in the circumferential direction.
Here, in this specification, "holding" refers to supporting the cylindrical member 2 so that it does not move in the cylindrical axis direction and cylindrical diameter direction.
The tablet holding means B is configured so that, by rotating the tablet container 20 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4 from a first rotational position P1 shown in Figure 5 (A) to a second rotational position P2 shown in Figure 5 (B), it presses against the row of tablets T, and that the pressure is released when the tablet container 20 returns from the second rotational position P2 to the first rotational position P1.

In this embodiment, in order to regulate the rotation range of the tablet container 20 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4, an opening direction braking means Q1 and a closing direction braking means Q2 are provided.
The opening direction braking means Q1 also serves as a positioning means for the first rotation position P1, and in this embodiment, is made up of a stepped surface portion 9B of the pressing portion 8 and a side end surface 31 of the base portion 30, as shown in FIG.
The closing direction braking means Q2 also serves as a positioning means for the second rotation position P2, and in this embodiment, as shown in Figure 1 (B), is composed of the closing direction groove end portion 14b of the engagement groove portion 14 and the closing direction convex end 32b of the engagement convex portion 32.
However, these structures can be modified as appropriate.

The lid body 50 closes the opening 24. In this embodiment, as shown in Fig. 1A, the lid body 50 is composed of a lid main body 52, a desiccant storage section 62, and a desiccant 66. However, the desiccant storage section 62 and the desiccant 66 may be omitted.
The lid body 52 has a lid peripheral wall 56 extending vertically from the peripheral edge of a top plate 54, and a female thread 58 is formed on the inner surface of the lid peripheral wall 56 and is screwed into the outer surface of the mouth/neck portion 22a.
In the illustrated example, a seal tube 60 is suspended from the rear surface of the top plate 54 to fit liquid-tightly into the upper end of the inner surface of the mouth/neck portion 22a.
The desiccant storage section 62 is attached to the rear surface of the top plate 54, and holds therein a desiccant 66. In the illustrated example, an upper end 63 of the desiccant storage section 62 is fitted into the inner surface of the sealing tube 60.
The desiccant storage section 62 has a plurality of elastic claws 64 extending downward from the top plate 54 , and these elastic claws 64 are arranged so as to surround a desiccant 66 .
The elastic claw portion 64 in the illustrated example is formed in an approximately J-shape when viewed from the circumferential direction, as shown in Figure 1 (A), and also serves as a buffer spring that elastically abuts against the upper surface of the group of tablets T that is fully contained in the tablet storage chamber R.
However, these structures can be modified as appropriate.

In addition, in this embodiment, by screwing and unscrewing the lid body 50 onto the neck portion 22a, the tablet container 20 rotates together with the lid body 50 due to the frictional resistance acting at the screwing point with the lid body (in the illustrated example, the neck portion 22a and the lid peripheral wall 56), and as a result, it is configured to be displaced between a first rotation position P1 and a second rotation position P2 relative to the tubular sleeve 4.
That is, when the lid body 50 is screwed onto the tablet container 20 side, the tablet container 20 rotates from a first rotation position P1 to a second rotation position P2 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4. Similarly, when the lid body 50 is screwed off from the tablet container 20 side, the tablet container 20 rotates from the second rotation position P2 to the first rotation position P1.
These structures can be modified as appropriate, and the tablet container 20 may be rotated relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4 regardless of whether the lid 50 is attached or detached.

In the above-described configuration, when filling the tablet container with tablets, first, the tablet container 20 shown in FIG. 3(B) is inserted into the outer peripheral wall portion 6 from the upper end opening of the cylindrical sleeve 4 shown in FIG. 2(B).
During this insertion operation, the posture of the tablet container 20 is adjusted so that the side end surface 31 of the base portion 30 of the tablet container 20 abuts against the step surface portion 9B of the pressing portion 8 of the tubular sleeve 4, thereby positioning the tablet container 20 at the first rotation position P1 relative to the tubular sleeve 4.
Next, a plurality of tablets are placed in the tablet container 20 so that they are arranged in a layered configuration as shown in FIG. 1(A).
In this state, the cylindrical sleeve 4 is gripped, the mouth-neck portion 22a is covered with the lid body 50, and the lid body 50 is rotated in the closing direction W2 relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4. Then, the tablet container 20 rotates together with the lid body 50 due to the frictional force between the lid peripheral wall 56 and the mouth-neck portion 22a.
When the tablet container 20 rotates to the second rotation position P2, as shown in Fig. 5(A), the pressing portion 8 presses the elastic pressure piece 36 inward and presses the tip portion 38 against the outer circumferential surface of the tablet group T, thereby holding the tablet group T. At the same time, the closing direction convex end 32b of the engaging convex portion 32 shown in Fig. 1(B) abuts against the closing direction groove end portion 14b of the engaging groove portion 14, and the rotation of the tablet container 20 stops.
When the lid body 50 is further rotated in the closing direction from this state, the lid body 50 rotates relative to the mouth and neck portion 22a and the lid peripheral wall 56 is screwed to the outer surface of the mouth and neck portion 22a, resulting in the closed lid state shown in FIG. 1(A).

Next, when the tablets are to be removed from the tablet container, the cylindrical sleeve 4 is grasped and the cover 50 is rotated in the opening direction W1 (see FIG. 6(A)).
Then, the tablet container 20 rotates together with the lid 50, and reaches the first rotation position P1 from the second rotation position P2. As a result, the elastic pressure piece 36 is released from the pressing portion 8, the tip portion 38 is separated from the group of tablets T, and the pressure contact state is released. At the same time, the side end surface 31 of the base portion 30 shown in FIG. 5(A) abuts against the step surface portion 9B of the pressing portion 8, and the rotation of the tablet container 20 stops.
When the lid 50 is further rotated in the opening direction from this state, the lid 50 is unscrewed from the mouth/neck portion 22a as shown in FIG. 6(B).
Next, as shown in FIG. 6(C), the cylindrical member 2 is tilted and the tablet is taken out from the opening 24.
After the required number of tablets has been removed, the tubular member 2 is returned to its upright position and the lid body 50 is again screwed onto the neck portion 22a of the tablet container 20. The pressing portion 8 again pushes the elastic pressure-contact piece 36 inward, and its tip portion 38 is pressed against the outer peripheral surface of the tablet group T, thereby retaining the tablet group T.
In this state, as shown in Fig. 6(D) , inside the tablet storage chamber R, a gap exists between the tablet group T and the lid body 50, but since the tablet group T is held, the tablets do not move up and down. This prevents the tablets from colliding with each other or with the inner surface of the tablet container, causing the tablets to break apart.

According to the above-described configuration and action, a tablet storage chamber R is defined within the cylindrical member 2 in which a group of tablets T is arranged in a vertical row, and a tablet holding means B is provided which holds the tablet group T by pressing the group of tablets T from the outside in the radial direction of the cylinder at multiple points around the circumference, thereby preventing the tablets from being damaged.
Furthermore, by rotating the tablet container 20 of the cylindrical member relative to the cylindrical sleeve 4, the tablet group T can be switched between a pressed state and a non-pressurized state, making the switching operation simple.
In addition, the tablet holding means B consists of a pressing portion 8 attached to the cylindrical sleeve 4 and an elastic pressure piece 36 which is part of the tablet container 20 and extends over almost the entire length of the tablet container chamber R in the height direction, so that the function of holding each of the multiple tablets arranged in the tablet container chamber can be achieved with a simple structure.
In addition, the lid body 50 is screwed onto the mouth-neck portion 22a, which is the upper part of the tablet container 20, and by screwing the lid body onto the mouth-neck portion 22a, the tablet container 20 rotates from the first rotation position P1 to the second rotation position P2, so that the lid body can be removed and the tablet retention can be released in a single action.
In addition, since the lid body 50 has an opening direction braking means Q1 that stops the tablet container 20 at the first rotation position P1 when the lid body 50 is rotated in the opening direction W1, the tablet container 20 can be prevented from rotating excessively in the opening direction.
In addition, since the device has a closing direction braking means Q2 that stops the tablet container 20 at the second rotation position P2 when the lid body 50 is rotated in the closing direction W2, it is possible to avoid excessive rotation of the tablet container 20 in the closing direction and over-tightening of the screw portions of the lid body 50 and the mouth-neck portion 22a.

Reference Signs List 2: Cylindrical member 4: Cylindrical sleeve 6: Outer peripheral wall portion 7: Viewport 8: Pressing portion (pressing protrusion) 9A: Inclined surface portion 9B: Step surface portion 9C: Top surface portion 10: Receiving groove for preventing removal 12: Bottom portion 13: Hollowed-out portion 14: Engagement groove portion 14a: First groove end portion (groove end in opening direction) 14b: Second groove end portion (groove end in closing direction)
20: tablet container 22: cylinder peripheral wall 22a: neck portion 22b: inner peripheral wall portion
24...Opening 26...Male thread portion 28...Pulling-out prevention protrusion 30...Base portion 31...Side end surface 32...Engagement protrusion (leg portion) 32a...Opening direction protrusion 32b...Closing direction protrusion 34...Mark 36...Elastic pressure-contact piece 37...Base end portion 38...Tip portion 40...Notch 40a...Vertical groove portion 40b...Upper groove portion 40c...Lower cut-out portion 42...Slit 50...Cover body 52...Cover main body 54...Top plate 56...Cover peripheral wall 58...Female thread portion 60...Seal tube 62...Desiccant storage portion 63...Upper end portion 64...Elastic claw portion 66...Desiccant A1...Cylindrical axis of cylindrical sleeve A2...Cylindrical axis of tablet container B...Tablet holding means F...Pulling-out prevention means g...Gap L...Label
P1: First rotation position (pre-rotation position) P2: Second rotation position (post-rotation position)
Q1: Opening direction braking means Q2: Closing direction braking means R: Tablet storage chamber T: Tablet group W1: Opening direction W2: Closing direction

Claims (4)

a cylindrical member (2) having a bottom and an opening (24) at its upper end, and defining therein a tablet storage chamber (R) for storing a row of tablets (T) arranged in a vertical direction;
and a lid (50) for closing the opening (24),
The cylindrical member (2) is configured by fitting a substantially cylindrical tablet container (20) surrounding the row of tablets (T) rotatably into a vertically oriented cylindrical sleeve (4),
The cylindrical member (2) is provided with a tablet holding means ( B ) for holding the row of tablets (T) contained in the tablet storage chamber (R) by pressing the row of tablets (T) from the outside in the cylindrical radial direction at a plurality of points in the circumferential direction,
This tablet holding means (B) is configured to press against the row of tablets (T) when the tablet container (20) is rotated from a first rotation position (P1) to a second rotation position (P2) by an operation of rotating the tablet container (20) relative to the cylindrical sleeve (4) , and to release the pressure when the tablet container (20) returns from the second rotation position (P2) to the first rotation position (P1).
A tablet container characterized in that the tablet holding means (B) comprises a pressing portion (8) attached to the inner surface of the cylindrical sleeve (4) and an elastic pressure piece (36) formed as part of the tablet container (20) and extending over almost the entire height direction of the tablet container chamber (R) . The upper portion of the tablet container (20) extends upward from the cylindrical sleeve (4) as a neck portion (22a),
The opening (24) is formed at the upper end of the mouth and neck portion (22a),
The lid body (50) is screwed to the outer surface of the mouth neck portion (22a),
2. The tablet container according to claim 1 , characterized in that by screwing the lid body (50) onto the neck portion (22a), the tablet container (20) rotates from a first rotation position (P1) to a second rotation position (P2) relative to the tubular sleeve (4), and by unscrewing the lid body (50) from the neck portion (22a), the tablet container (20) returns from the second rotation position (P2) to the first rotation position (P1). 3. The tablet container according to claim 2, further comprising an opening direction braking means (Q1) for stopping the tablet container ( 20 ) at a first rotation position (P1) when the lid body (50) is rotated in the opening direction (W1). The tablet container according to claim 2 or 3, further comprising a closing direction braking means (Q2) for stopping the tablet container ( 20 ) at a second rotation position (P2) when the lid body (50) is rotated in the closing direction ( W2 ).

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