US3885703A

US3885703A - Pill dispenser with movable trap chamber and agitator

Info

Publication number: US3885703A
Application number: US375826A
Authority: US
Inventors: William T Neavin
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1973-07-02
Filing date: 1973-07-02
Publication date: 1975-05-27
Anticipated expiration: 1992-05-27

Abstract

A pill dispensing device for dispensing pills one at a time, including a rotatable plate having a pair of orifices therein positioned adjacent the bottom portion of the pill dispenser, the plate being rotatable through 180* of arc in either direction; in one extreme, the plate accepts a pill from a container when one of the holes in the plate registers with a hole in the bottom of the container, and in the other extreme, the pill is ejected through an orifice in the bottom of the pill dispenser. Thus a reciprocating motion of a lever connected to the plate through an arc of 180* accepts a pill in one of a pair of orifices while simultaneously ejecting a pill through the other orifice.

Description

[ May 27, 1975 Primary ExaminerAllen N. Knowles Assistant ExaminerFrancis J. Bartuska Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Fraser and Bogucki [57] ABSTRACT A pill dispensing device for dispensing pills one at a time, including a rotatable plate having a pair of orifices therein positioned adjacent the bottom portion of the pill dispenser, the plate being rotatable through 180 of arc in either direction; in one extreme, the plate accepts a pill from a container when one of the holes in the plate registers with a hole in the bottom of the container, and in the other extreme, the pill is ejected through an orifice in the bottom of the pill dispenser. Thus a reciprocating motion of a lever connected to the plate through an arc of 180 accepts a CHAMBER AND AGITATOR William T. Neavin, 3736 Berry Dr., Studio City, Calif. 91604 July 2, 1973 221/202; 221/265 Int. B65d 83/04 221/202, 203, 263, 264, 221/265; 222/370 References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS United States Patent Neavin PILL DISPENSER WITH MOVABLE TRAP [76] Inventor:

22 Filed:

21 Appl.No.: 375,826

[58] Field of Search pill in one of a pair of orifices while simultaneously ejecting a pill through the other orifice.

13 Claims, 6 Drawing Figures 2,176,232 10/1939 Warren et al........... 2,330,256

3,246,806 McBride 3 327,897 Weitzman......... 3,730,387 McConnell et a1.

PILL DISPENSER WITH MOVABLE TRAP CHAMBER AND AGITATOR BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention is in the field of pill dispensing devices for distributing medicinal pills and the like, one at a time, out of a container.

Pill dispensing devices are numerous in the prior art. However, the need exists for a pill dispensing device that does not jam or crush or misshape a pill prior to ejection from a pill dispenser.

2. Description of the Prior Art The prior art discloses for the most part many variations of pill dispensing devices. Most of the prior art devices dispense pills or capsules one at a time out of a container. U.S. Pat. No. 2,330,256 discloses a tablet dispenser which has a spring-loaded pawl having semicircular notches equi-distantly spaced around its periphery positioned adjacent the bottom of the dispenser and a plate suspended above the pawl which allows a single pill to drop down and register with one of the notches or cogs of the pawl. Actuation of the lever at the base of the plate dispenser aligns the pawl with an orifice in the bottom of the dispenser, thereby releasing the pill from the dispenser. Release of the lever allows the spring to return the pawl back to its original position, thereby accepting another pill for subsequent ejection from the dispenser.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,176,232 utilizes a similar principle wherein a circular plate contains a multiplicity of equidistantly spaced holes designed to accept pills therein. Actuation of a lever arm attached to the base of the dispenser body positions a cleat on the lever in line with a cog in the peripheral edge of the rotatable wheel which rotates the place containing the plurality of pills in registering alignment with a hole in the base of the dispenser housing, thus allowing one of the pills to drop from the housing. Return of the lever moves the cleat on the lever into engagement with another cog in the peripheral edge of the wheel, thus subsequent-actuation of the lever moves the next in line pill in registering alignment with the opening at the base of the dispenser.

U.S. Pat. No. 2,649,994 discloses a pill dispensing device that has a rotatable plate on the bottom of the dispenser, the plate having a multiplicity of openings to accept pills therein. The dispenser has an extending tab that protrudes over the exit hole, the lip (or tab) being between the bottom of the dispenser and the plate, so that as the knob is rotated the plate containing the pills is rotated. One of the pills slides under the tab extending over the opening, which allows the pill to be dropped from the container. The tab prevents other pills loosely dispersed above the rotatable plate from dropping out of the dispenser.

All of the foregoing patents suffer from a common disadvantage in that a. pill may become lodged in the openings designed to accept the pill, thus jamming the pill dispensing apparatus. This occurance results in broken pills or deformed tablets, resulting in an inoperative device in most cases. Hence, there is a need for a pill dispenser that will not jam or break up the pills if the pills are not in true registering alignment with their respective receptacles. There is still another need in the pill dispensing art for a means to continually jostle or agitate the pills so that they can better align themselves with their respective receptacles in a rotating member so that there can be no misaligning tofore described.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION I have invented a pill dispensing device that is capable of simultaneously stirring or agitating the pills within a container housing while accepting in registering alignment a single pill within one of a pair of orifices or receptacles positioned in a rotatable disc adjacent the base of the dispenser. A handle is attached to the rotating disc which rotates through of are which transports a pill nested within a first orifice (receptacle) in the disc, thus rotating the pill around and into registering alignment with an exiting orifice in the base of the dispenser. While simultaneously rotating the disc, an agitator affixed to the disc stirs up the pills, thereby urging a second pill to fall within a special bowl-shaped guideway or hopper and thus into registering alignment with the second hole or receptacle in the rotating disc so that when the lever is reversed through the 180 arc in a direction opposite the first direction, the pill now nesting in the second receptacle is transported within registering alignment with the exit hole in the bottom of the dispenser, thereby subsequently ejecting a second pill. The reciprocating action thus dispenses pills from the container at each stop through an arc regardless of the direction of movement of the agitator and rotating disc.

Accordingly, it is an object of this invention to provide a pill dispensing device which will not jam or crush pills to be dispensed therefrom.

More specifically, it is an object of this invention to provide a pill dispensing apparatus which both agitates and dispenses the pills contained within the container urging a single pill within registering alignment with one of a pair of holes in a rotating disc while simultaneously dropping a pill from the other of the pair of receptacles lined up with an exiting orifice in the base of the dispenser.

The pill dispensing device is basically a housing adapted to contain a plurality of pills of uniform size. The housing has an orifice located toward one edge of the bottom base plate to dispense pills therethrough. The first bottom end of the housing further defines a wall parallel to and spaced from the bottom end of the housing forming an annular chamber thereby. The wall defines an orifice positioned on an opposite side of the wall from the orifice in the bottom base plate which is slightly larger than the size of the uniform pills. The wall further contains a slot which extends part way through the floor of the wall towards the center of the housing. An annular pill dispensing device rotatably fits within the annular chamber which is adapted to rotate through 180 of arc. The annular disc further defines a pair of orifice receptacles, the orifices being 180 opposed, each of the orifices having their openings slightly larger than the size of the uniform pills. When the rotating disc has rotated through 180 of are, one of the holes is aligned with the hole in the aforementioned wall so that a pill can drop through both the registering holes, thereby nesting a pill within a receptacle in the rotating disc. An agitating blade is positioned above the disc which extends through the slot in the wall, the agitating blade, being rotatable with the disc, serves to agitate the pills within the container, thus assuring that the pills gravitationally descend the dispenser and fall into the receptacle in the disc. When the orjamming, as heredisc is rotated through 180 of arc, the pill within the first orifice of the disc is transported into registering alignment with the opening in the bottom or base of the dispenser, thus allowing the transported pill to drop through the opening when the lever arm attached to the disc comes in contact with a stop at the end of the 180 arc. At the same time that the pill is being dropped from the dispenser, a second or subsequent pill is falling through the opening being agitated by the agitating blade into the second receptacle or opening in the disc, thus rotating the disc in an opposite direction through the 180 arc, causing the second pill to be transported towards the opening at the base of the dispenser, thereby releasing the second pill therefrom.

Therefore an advantage over the prior art is the ability to agitate or stir up the pills while at the same time transporting one of the pills through an arc towards an opening at the base of the dispenser so that when the receptacle or hole containing the pill is in registering alignment with the opening at the base of the dispenser, the pills drop out.

Still another advantage is the ability to dispense pills from a pill dispensing device without injuring or crushing the pills prior to dropping them from the device.

Yet another advantage is the non-clogging aspect whereby the device will not jam up from misshapen or crushed pills.

The above noted objects and advantages of the present invention will be more fully understood upon a study of the following detailed description in conjunction with the detailed drawings, in which:

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partially cutaway perspective view looking up from the bottom, illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a perspective view looking down from the top of the agitating blade and the bowl-shaped pill guideway or hopper, illustrating how the agitating blade stirs up the pills and assures that they are guided into registering alignment with a receptacle in a disc;

FIG. 3 is a bottom view illustrating the outlet hole at the base of the dispenser and the 180 slot in the base of the dispenser;

FIG. 4 is a side elevational view partially cutaway, illustrating how all of the components within the preferred embodiment of the invention interact together;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the rotatable disc, the actuating handle and the agitating blade attached thereto; and

FIG. 6 is a side elevational view partially cutaway, of another embodiment of the agitating blade attached to the rotatable disc.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring to FIG. 1, the pill dispenser generally designated as 10 is comprised of a basic housing 12, a support bracket 14, and an intermediate base plate 16. Connected to the base plate 16 is an inclined, bowlshaped, pill guideway or hopper 18 which extends above the base plate 16. The concave wall 19 of the extending guideway 18 leads down towards an orifice, generally designated as 20, through the base plate 16. A slot 22 opposite the orifice 20 extends through the floor 16 and partially through one side of guideway 18. The reason for the slot 22 is described in detail below.

A rotatable annular disc 26 is nested on the opposite side of the floor or plate 16, slidable within an annular chamber 17. The rotatable disc has attached to its upper surface a pill-agitating blade generally designed as 28 which is affixed to the disc at base 29. The pillagitating blade is extended above the floor 16, through access slot 22. The rotatable annular disc has a handle 30 affixed at its base portion which extends through the bottom 36 of the dispenser 10. The bottom plate 36 further defines an annular slot 38 through which the handle 30 extends, the handle being rotatable through an arc of through the plate 36.

In addition, the rotatable disc 26 defines a first and a

second orifice

32 and 34 extending through the plate, the orifices having their axes aligned with the axis of the plate. Each orifice in the plate is located on opposite sides, 180 opposed. When the handle 30 is rotated through the 180 arc defined by the slot 38 in base plate 36, one of the orifices 32 is in registering alignment with the orifice 20 in plate 16, the other of the orifices 34 being aligned with a pill-ejection hole 40 in plate 36 which is surrounded by an extending skirt 42 that serves to guide the pills (54) out of the dispensing device 10. It is preferred, but not required that the blade 28 and the handle 30 lie along the same imaginary radius of the disc 26. If this is not the case, the slot 38 may be located such that the rotation of handle 30 through 180 causes the proper rotation of the disc 26 and blade 28 through 180.

Affixed to the housing 12 is an upper pill-containing cylinder 44 which engages with the main body 12. This cylinder 44 may be an inverted pill containing bottle of appropriate size. At the base of the cyliner 48 is a neckdown or throat portion 50 which mates with the inclined bowl or pill guideway 18 so as to effect a smooth transition between the inner wall 45 of cylinder 44 with the pill guideway 18. Throat portion 50 smoothly tapers in with the concave wall 19 of guideway 18 thus assuring that the agitated or stirred pills 54 will slide into the guideway through opening 20. At the opposite end of the cylinder 44 is a removable lid 52.

Turning now to FIG. 2, the perspective view is more clearly illustrative of the relationship of the agitating blade 28 which is affixed at 29 to the rotating disc generally designated as 26. At the opposite end from base 29 is the handle 30 which is connected to the rotating plate 26. It can be seen that it is necessary for a slot 24 in intermediate plate 16 so that when the handle 30 rotates the disc, the base supporting the agitating blade 28 can move freely within the slot 24 through an arc of 180. In addition, it can be seen that in order to assemble the rotating disc 26 into engagement with plate 16, the blade 28 is aligned with the slot 22 within the bowl 18 so that the leading edge of the blade can be guided through the slot, thus engaging the agitating blade in the concave bowl area defined by wall 19. This view clearly shows that the inclined surface 19 of bowl l8 smoothly directs the pills 54 towards opening 20 through plate 16. As the disc 26 is rotated, the agitating blade 28 sweeps in the concave wall portion 19, thereby moving and loosening up the pills impacted above the blade so that they more easily slide into registering engagement with opening 20.

It can be seen, in FIG. 3, that the rotating disc 26 moves through 180 of arc in the annular slot 38. The lever 30 attached to the rotating disc 26 hits stop 31, thereby aligning opening 34 with the pill-dispensing opening 40 in the position shown, while aligning the op posite opening 32 in alignment with the opening 20 (FIG. 2) so that opening 20 can guide a pill into registering engagement with opening or receptacle 32. When the lever 30 is manually rotated through 180 of are against stop 33, the pill 54 nested within opening 32 is then subsequently moved into registering alignment with opening 40 so that the pill can be dispersed therefrom. Thus it can be seen that a reciprocating motion will alternately align

openings

32 and 34 with registering engagement with opening 40 in the base of the dispenser so that each of the openings will alternately transport a pill towards opening 40, while the other opening accepts another pill being-helped along by the agitating blade 28 (FIG. 2), thus assuring that each time the lever 30 is actuated through 180 of are a pill will be dispensed through opening 40 of the dispenser 10.v

FIG. 4 further illustrates the relationships of the rotating disc 26 and how each of the

holes

32 and 34 can be alternately aligned with opening 40 in base 36. This view clearly shows how the container 44 smoothly merges with the bowl 18 so that the pills will be guided towards opening 20 within base 16, the agitating blade 28 serving to keep the pills loose, assuring that the pill will nest through opening 22 .into engagement with opening or receptacle 32 so that when the lever 30 is rotated towards stop 33 (not shown) the pill will be then in alignment with opening 40 to be dropped through the skirt 42 of the dispenser. In addition, the view clearly shows the slot 24 which allows blade 28 affixed to the rotating plate 26 to move through 180 of arc in much the same manner as lever 30 is rotated through the slot 38. In addition, slot 22 is shown to I allow access of blade 28 during the assembly operation,

the blade being passed through plate 16, thus facilitating assembly of the device.

It should be pointed out here that the pills 54 may be left within their container as bought from the store, the dispenser being so designed to engage with the bottle thus removing the necessity to dump the pills from their bottle. As noted above the container 44 may be made removable so that the housing 12 can accept a bottle neck.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the rotatable disc alone clearly illustrating how the agitating blade 28 is connected to the disc 26 through support leg 29 and the relationship of the

pill transporting holes

32 and 34 positioned through the disc. In addition it can be seen that the handle 30 connected to the disc moves the disc thus moving the pill agitating blade 28, thereby stirring up the pills within cylinder 44 (FIG. 2).

FIG. 6 is an alternative embodiment illustrating an agitating blade 60 which has a series of scallops along the upper surface thereof. The purpose of the different shaped agitating blade is to accommodate different shapes of pills 54 so that they are more easily urged within registering engagement with transporting

holes

32, 34 within the rotating disc 26. The depth of the scallops depends on the size and shape of the pill.

Thus, the just described preferred embodiment of the invention will dispense pills one at a time, while simultaneously accepting another pill for subsequent dispersal from the device without causing the apparatus to jam, facilitating a smoothly operating, efficient pill dispensing device.

It should be noted that the preferred material of construction for the assembly consisting of the rotatable angular disc 26, blade 28 and handle 30; as well as the assembly containing the guideway 18 is a plastic material. Although many modern plastic type materials are suitable, it is particularly preferred to fabricate these parts, from such materials as polypropylene which have some lubrisity on the surface. Thus, there will always be easy movement of the blade 28 over the concave surface 19. Although the device has been generally described with reference to its use as a pill dispenser, it is apparent that by changes in the basic size of the device it may be used as well for dispensing other spherical objects, or ellipsoidal objects. These include golf balls, tennis balls and other similar materials whether or not they be perfectly shaped spheres. In fact the device is applicable to such other solid materials as hard candy so long as the objectto be dispensed has no sharp corners or squared edges.

1 claim:

1. A pill dispensing apparatus comprising:

a housing having a first bottom end and a second top end adapted to retain a plurality of pills of uniform size, said bottom end further defining a first opening slightly larger than said pills positioned between the center of said bottom and an edge thereof,

an interior wall element adjacent said bottom end of said housing and defining an intermediate wall parallel to and spaced from said housing bottom end, said wall element further defining a downwardly opening orifice therethrough slightly larger than said pills positioned between the center and a side of said housing opposite from said first opening in said housing bottom end and further defining a horizontal arcuate slot extending through said wall,

a pill discharge device rotatably positioned between said interior wall element and said bottom wall and rotatable in a horizontal plane substantially through of are, said pill discharge device further defining a pair of opposed openings slightly larger than said pills therein having their axes parallel to the axis of said pill discharge device so that when said device is rotated through said 180 of are I in one direction, one of said pair of openings registers with said orifice in said wall in said housing while the other opening registers with said opening in said bottom end, and

rotatable pill agitating means connected to said discharge device, said agitating means extending into said pill-containing housing through said slot in said interior wall element to sweep over the opposed openings to agitate said uniform pills, thereby urging one of said pills to drop through said orifice in said wall element when one of said pair of openings is said pill discharging element registers therewith when at an extreme end of said 180 of arc.

2. The invention as set forth in claim 1 wherein said interior wall element comprises annular pill guideway means on the side away from said housing bottom end, said pill guideway means including concave wall portions leading into said orifice in said interior wall element to guide said pills into said orifice as they gravitationally descend said pill dispensing apparatus.

3. The invention as set forth in claim 2 wherein the first end of said housing fits over said pill guideway means, the the inner wall of said housing forming a throat portion that tapers into said concave portion of said guideway means to effect a smooth transition into said orifice in said interior wall element as the pills gravitationally descend within said housing.

4. The invention as set forth in claim 3 wherein said pill containing housing is the original bottle the pills are contained in, said pill dispenser being adapted to accept said bottle, the opening of the bottle being adjacent said pill guideway means.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 4 wherein said pill agitating means rotatably connected to saidpill discharge device is a blade having its top edge substantially parallel to said wall, the bottom edge being shaped to conform to the concave walls of said pill guideway means, said pill agitating blade extending through said slot in said interior wall element so that said blade rotates above said pill guideway means.

6. The invention as set forth in claim 5 wherein said top edge of said pill agitating blade is scalloped to enable said blade to more efficiently agitate differently shaped pills of uniform size.

7. A pill dispenser mechanism for dispensing standard sized pills from the open end of an inverted pill container comprising:

a base member having a central upstanding portion registrable within the open end of the pill container and an upper surface defining an eccentric funnel thereon, terminating in a lower discharge orifice, said base member including a lateral aperture in a side of the eccentric funnel portion;

pill discharge means including at least one pill receiving orifice, disposed below said base member and movable arcuately between pill receiving and pill discharge positions relative to the discharge orifice; and

pill agitating means mounted on said pill receiving means and extending through the lateral aperture of said base member, and comprising an elongated arm member extending substantially in a lateral plane across the eccentric funnel portion of the base member, and sweeping over the discharge orifice therein during arcuate movement of the pill discharge means.

8. The invention as set forth in claim 7 above, including a bottom member below said pill discharge means and coupled in fixed space relation to the base member, the spacing therebetween being sufficient to receive the vertical dimension of an individual pill, and including a discharge opening in alignment with the pill discharge position of said pill discharge means.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 8 above, wherein said pill discharge means comprises a planar disk element rotatable about a central axis and includes a pair of pill receiving openings equally spaced at opposite sides of a given radius, and wherein said pill agitating arm extends substantially parallel to the given ra- 8. dius.

10. A pill dispenser for dispensing standard sized pills from the open end of an inverted pill container comprising:

a cylindrical base member having a bottom wall with an off-center bottom opening for passing pills therethrough, and a top opening in which the open end of a pill container may be received;

a pill guiding element interiorly disposed within said cylindrical member and spaced apart from the bottom wall thereof, said pill guiding member including a concave upwardly facing surface terminating in a bottom orifice permitting pills to pass therethrough in a downward direction, said bottom orifice being disposed ofi-center on a side opposite the bottom opening in said cylindrical member, said pill guiding member further including a second orifice therein spaced from the bottom orifice;

and a pivotable member disposed between said pill guiding member and said bottom wall of said cylindrical member, said pivotable member comprising a substantially planar disk element and an agitator arm element extending through the second orifice of said pill guiding element to span the bottom orifice therein when in appropriate radial position, said disk element including a pair of pill receiving orifices extending downwardly therethrough, each of said pill receiving orifices being in an angular position to be in alignment with either the bottom orifice in said pill guiding member or the bottom opening of said cylindrical member, when the other orifice is in alignment with said opening or said orifice.

11. The invention as set forth in claim 10 above, wherein said cylindrical base member includes an arcuate slot in a segment of the periphery of the bottom wall thereof, and wherein handle means coupled to said pivotable member extends through the slot in said bottom wall of said base member to permit manual pivoting of said pivotable member through a selected are of movement.

12. The invention as set forth in claim 11 above, wherein said agitator arm element is an elongated element having a lower surface which passes above the concave surface of said pill guiding element with sufficient clearance to permit a pill to pass thereunder into said bottom orifice, said arm element further having relatively low height.

13. The invention as set forth in claim 12 above, wherein said concave upwardly facing surface of said pill guiding means is eccentrically disposed relative to the bottom orifice, and wherein the bottom surface of said agitator arm element substantially registers with the sides of said concave surface at each limit of the arc of movement of said pivotable member.

Claims

1. A pill dispensing apparatus comprising: a housing having a first bottom end and a second top end adapted to retain a plurality of pills of uniform size, said bottom end further defining a first opening slightly larger than said pills positioned between the center of said bottom and an Edge thereof, an interior wall element adjacent said bottom end of said housing and defining an intermediate wall parallel to and spaced from said housing bottom end, said wall element further defining a downwardly opening orifice therethrough slightly larger than said pills positioned between the center and a side of said housing opposite from said first opening in said housing bottom end and further defining a horizontal arcuate slot extending through said wall, a pill discharge device rotatably positioned between said interior wall element and said bottom wall and rotatable in a horizontal plane substantially through 180* of arc, said pill discharge device further defining a pair of opposed openings slightly larger than said pills therein having their axes parallel to the axis of said pill discharge device so that when said device is rotated through said 180* of arc in one direction, one of said pair of openings registers with said orifice in said wall in said housing while the other opening registers with said opening in said bottom end, and rotatable pill agitating means connected to said discharge device, said agitating means extending into said pill-containing housing through said slot in said interior wall element to sweep over the opposed openings to agitate said uniform pills, thereby urging one of said pills to drop through said orifice in said wall element when one of said pair of openings is said pill discharging element registers therewith when at an extreme end of said 180* of arc.

5. The invention as set forth in claim 4 wherein said pill agitating means rotatably connected to said pill discharge device is a blade having its top edge substantially parallel to said wall, the bottom edge being shaped to conform to the concave walls of said pill guideway means, said pill agitating blade extending through said slot in said interior wall element so that said blade rotates above said pill guideway means.

7. A pill dispenser mechanism for dispensing standard sized pills from the open end of an inverted pill container comprising: a base member having a central upstanding portion registrable within the open end of the pill container and an upper surface defining an eccentric funnel thereon, terminating in a lower discharge orifice, said base member including a lateral aperture in a side of the eccentric funnel portion; pill discharge means including at least one pill receiving orifice, disposed below said base member and movable arcuately between pill receiving and pill discharge positions relative to the discharge orifice; and pill agitating means mounted on said pill receiving means and extending through the lateral aperture of said base member, and comprising an elongated arm member extending substantially in a lateral plane across the eccentric funnel portion of the base member, and sweeping over the discharge orifice therein during arcuate movement of the pill discharge means.

9. The invention as set forth in claim 8 above, wherein said pill discharge means comprises a planar disk element rotatable about a central axis and includes a pair of pill receiving openings equally spaced at opposite sides of a given radius, and wherein said pill agitating arm extends substantially parallel to the given radius.

10. A pill dispenser for dispensing standard sized pills from the open end of an inverted pill container comprising: a cylindrical base member having a bottom wall with an off-center bottom opening for passing pills therethrough, and a top opening in which the open end of a pill container may be received; a pill guiding element interiorly disposed within said cylindrical member and spaced apart from the bottom wall thereof, said pill guiding member including a concave upwardly facing surface terminating in a bottom orifice permitting pills to pass therethrough in a downward direction, said bottom orifice being disposed off-center on a side opposite the bottom opening in said cylindrical member, said pill guiding member further including a second orifice therein spaced from the bottom orifice; and a pivotable member disposed between said pill guiding member and said bottom wall of said cylindrical member, said pivotable member comprising a substantially planar disk element and an agitator arm element extending through the second orifice of said pill guiding element to span the bottom orifice therein when in appropriate radial position, said disk element including a pair of pill receiving orifices extending downwardly therethrough, each of said pill receiving orifices being in an angular position to be in alignment with either the bottom orifice in said pill guiding member or the bottom opening of said cylindrical member, when the other orifice is in alignment with said opening or said orifice.

11. The invention as set forth in claim 10 above, wherein said cylindrical base member includes an arcuate slot in a segment of the periphery of the bottom wall thereof, and wherein handle means coupled to said pivotable member extends through the slot in said bottom wall of said base member to permit manual pivoting of said pivotable member through a selected arc of movement.