| 摘要 |
An inhaler comprising a housing (11A) defining a chamber to receive a strip having a plurality of blisters each containing a dose of medicament for inhalation by a user is disclosed. It is common for dry powder formulations to be pre-packaged in individual doses, usually in the form of capsules or blisters which each contain a single dose of the powder which has been accurately and consistently measured. It is advantageous for the inhaler to be capable of holding a number of doses. Therefore, many conventional devices include means for storing a number of blisters each containing an individual dose of medicament. When a dose is to be inhaled, an indexing mechanism moves a previously emptied blister away from the opening mechanism so that a fresh one is moved into a position ready to be opened for inhalation of its contents. The empty blister now takes up space in the inhaler making it bulkier than necessary. The inhaler has an actuating lever (14) and a blister strip drive member rotatably mounted in the chamber to sequentially move each blister into a blister opening position. The blister strip drive member and the actuating lever comprise a drive gear (16) and a drive gear element (28), cooperate to effect rotation of the blister strip drive member in response to rotation of the actuating lever. The drive gear and drive gear element are disposed on the outside of the housing remote from the chamber. The blister strip drive member is positioned relative to a wall such that the distance between the hub and the wall is less than the height of a blister cavity such that onward rotation of a blister strip drive wheel causes a blister cavity to be at least partially squashed or sandwiched between the hub and said wall. The advantage of at least partially crushing the empty blister cavities is that they then take up less space when coiled within the used blister chamber of the device as the coiled strip has a smaller diameter. Furthermore, a natural curvature is imparted to the strip, both as a result of being fed around the blister drive wheel and also as a result of the crushing of the blister cavities. This encourages the used portion of the strip to coil more readily. |
