VACUUM OPERATED MEDICINE DISPENSER

摘要

A vacuum operated system (100) for individually dispensing items of oral solid medicine from bulk storage to a user, where the medicine is dispensed under computer control, and the quantity and type of medicine is selected by the user. The invention includes medicine dispensing equipment (104) and a computer (106) for user interface. A plurality of storage containers (210) arranged in a rotatable carousel (206) or a rectilinear array may contain various pharmaceutical articles. The storage containers (210) may be easily refilled by inserting modular refill cartridges (212) into the storage containers (210). After user enters data into computer (106), a universal vacuum probe (1001) is aligned with the storage container (210) that contains the desired items. The universal vacuum probe (1001) is lowered to the desired storage container (210) and engaged with a container probe (614) exclusive to that storage container (210) and is placed into a cup (108) or an envelope (2300).