Apparat til orientering og placering af en aflang genstand til uddeling

摘要

Apparatus for orienting elongate objects, for example capsules of medicament (8), comprises a passage (9) for receiving an individual capsule in a preferred orientation, a container (12) for holding a bulk supply of capsules, and a ramp surface (13) which directs a capsule towards the passage (9) when the device is positioned such that the passage extends vertically downwardly from the container. It has been found that by appropriate choice of ramp angle, passage diameter and container diameter there is a high probability that a single capsule will be loaded into the dispensing passage when the apparatus is inverted to place the dispensing passage below the bulk supply. The apparatus is particularly useful in a dry medicament dispensing apparatus comprising, in addition to the orienting apparatus, a chamber (7) for receiving capsules from the dispensing passage (9), means for piercing the ends of the capsule, and a mouthpiece (M) for drawing air through the capsule to entrain the medicament.