Claims for Patent: 7,832,351
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Summary for Patent: 7,832,351
| Title: | Actuation indicator for a dispensing device |
| Abstract: | An actuation indicator which includes a drums sub-assembly including a rotatable actuation indicator wheel, a rocking ratchet pawl for rotating the indicator wheel in a set direction and a rocking mechanism for the pawl driven by a slipping clutch arrangement, wherein the slipping clutch arrangement includes a slipping clutch spring engaged at one end to a pinion of a rack and pinion assembly and at a second end to the ratchet pawl is described. |
| Inventor(s): | Bonney; Stanley George (Ware, GB), Brand; Peter John (Ware, GB), Godfrey; James William (Ware, GB), Rand; Paul Kenneth (Ware, GB) |
| Assignee: | Glaxo Group Limited (Greenford, Middlesex, GB) |
| Application Number: | 12/333,420 |
| Patent Litigation and PTAB cases: | See patent lawsuits and PTAB cases for patent 7,832,351 |
| Patent Claims: |
1. An assembly for an actuation indicator comprising: (a) an indicator wheel for indicating actuation of a device with which the indicator is to be associated, (b) a
rotatable element of the actuation indicator with which the indicator wheel is engaged, and (c) an axle spring comprising: (i) a first axle on which the indicator wheel is rotatably mounted, (ii) a second axle which extends parallel to the first axle and
on which the rotatable element is rotatably mounted, and (iii) a biasing section connecting the first and second axles to bias them together to bias the indicator member towards the rotatable element.
2. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the indicator wheel is one of at least two indicator wheels rotatably mounted on the first axle. 3. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the rotatable element is a knock gear. 4. The assembly of claim 3 comprising three indicator wheels rotatably mounted on the first axle and two knock gears rotatably mounted on the second axle. 5. The assembly of claim 4, wherein the indicator wheels are for indicating a dose count and are respectively a units wheel, a tens wheel and a hundreds wheel. 6. The assembly of claim 2, wherein the indicator wheels are for indicating a dose count. 7. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the biasing section is U-shaped. 8. The assembly of claim 7, wherein the biasing section has substantially parallel sides. 9. The assembly of claim 7, wherein the biasing section is oriented substantially perpendicularly to the first and second axles. 10. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the indicator wheel is for indicating at least part of a count of the number of doses of a substance left in, or dispensed from, a dispensing device with which the actuation indicator is associable. 11. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the biasing section extends in a first plane, the first and second axles extend in a second plane and the first plane is oriented transversely to the second plane. 12. The assembly of claim 1, wherein the first and second axles extend in a plane and the biasing section is not co-planar with the first and second axles. 13. An actuation indicator comprising the assembly of claim 1. 14. A dispensing device having an actuation indicator comprising the assembly of claim 1. 15. The dispensing device of claim 14 which is a pressurised metered dose inhaler. |
