In particular, although not necessarily exclusively, the present invention concerns an improved blister package and method of manufacturing thereof suitable for packaging medicinal/nutritional pills, tablets, capsules and the like.

Background to the Invention At one time or another virtually all of us will have used blister packs of medicinal pills or tablets and will be familiar with the fact that these are formed of a flat thermoplastic base web with pockets/recesses in the web opening onto one face of the web and protruding from the other face of the web. These pockets/recesses hold the pills/tablets and their openings are collectively closed over by an aluminium foil or other sheet material overflying the base web and bonded to it. Generally the packs are configured with the pills or tablets having their flattest faces lying substantially plane parallel with the main plane of the blister pack base web. Such a conventional blister pack is illustrated in Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings.

This arrangement is not optimal in packaging efficiency and is particularly vulnerable to breakage of tablets as the tablets are being pressed from the packaging.

Furthermore, the tablets are vulnerable to breakage even in storage or transit.

It is a general objection of the present invention to provide an improved blister pack that has benefits over existing blister packs of helping to reduce tablet damage and which suitably also helps to minimise packaging material usage and package volume for a given number of pills or tablets.

It is a further general object of the present invention provide an improved blister pack that is substantially more versatile than conventional blister packs in the size of the tablets that it is adapted to accommodate in the pockets. Most (90-95%) of tablets for oral use are round and either flat or biconvex and between 5 and 14mm in diameter. To manufacture blister packs with pocket sizes to accommodate this

range of tablet diameter it is normally necessary to provide four or five different tool heads to cover the full range. Increasing the ability of the pockets of a blister pack to accommodate a wider range of tablet sizes will reduce the number of machine tools required to cover a full range of sizes and will, furthermore, reduce the number of changes of machine tool required, greatly reducing machine down time-which in a production environment leads to great savings in cost and efficiency.

Summary of the Invention According to a first aspect of the present invention there is provided an improved blister pack having a substantially flat base web with a plurality of pockets therein each to receive a respective tablet, pill or capsule or the like wherein the major axis (longest dimension) of each pocket lies in a plane substantially perpendicular to the plane of the base web of the blister pack, whereby each pill or tablet may be accommodated with its longest dimension substantially perpendicular to the base web and wherein the opposing end walls of each pocket, being those walls that face the end edge (s) of the pill or tablet, are inclined to converge toward each other towards the floor of the pocket, whereby the pocket will, in use, support the pill or tablet or the like therein against the narrowing together end walls above the floor of the pocket.

With this configuration it is firstly possible to locate the pockets much closer to each other on the web and thereby not only to use less material but also reduce the overall volume of the blister pack which may in turn reduce the size of carton in which the blister pack is subsequently housed and further reduce the shelf space taken up.

The configuration also allows for easier removal of each pill, tablet or the like from the blister pack since the force to expel each pill or tablet is applied to an end/edge of the pill/tablet being less vulnerable to fracture and allowing a greater distance of travel of the pill/tablet relative to the plane of the base web to break through the encasing foil.

By inclining the end walls of the pockets toward each other towards the floor of the pocket so that each pill or tablet seats in the respective pocket against the

narrowing together end walls spaced above the floor of the pocket, the pill or tablet is protected from damage from below and is easier to squeeze from the pocket.

The opposing end walls of each pocket preferably converge toward each other at an angle therebetween of greater than 15° and preferably of the order of 20 to 40° with an angle of about 30° being particularly preferred.

The convergence of the walls of each pocket confer the ability to accommodate the wide range of tablet sizes sufficient to reduce the number of different machine tools to cover the full range of conventional tablet sizes and thereby providing considerable savings in manufacturing plant and running costs.

The side walls of the pocket, which face the major faces of the pill, tablet or the like, in use, are preferably also inclined toward each other towards the floor of the pocket. This may further enhance the ease of squeezing of the pill/tablet from each pocket.

Indeed, although we talk of the pocket having side walls and end walls, it is not necessarily intended that these be discrete and the scope of the invention as claimed is intended to cover conical or fristo-conical shapes of pocket in which the side walls and end walls are essentially one and the same wall, as well as covering the illustrated embodiment of figure 2.

The inclination of the side walls and end walls enable efficient nesting together of the blister packs underside-to-underside with the pockets of one pack space- efficiently inter digitating or"inter-locking"with the pockets of the other pack when one pack is slightly displaced axially or laterally of the other pack.

In accordance with a second aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of manufacturing a blister pack of the first aspect of the invention which comprises depositing a plurality of pills, tablets or capsules on a conveyor to be delivered through a reorientation station to orient the pills, tablets or capsules to lie at an angle to the conveyor. Preferably the reorientation station has a row of baffles transverse to the conveyor travel axis and with the baffles extending longitudinally of the conveyor travel axis, each baffle being progressively angled along the direction

of travel of the conveyor to tilt each pill, tablet or capsule to a position that is vertical or at least angled to or substantially perpendicular to the plane of the conveyor to then deposit the pills, tablets or capsules in this orientation into the respective pockets of a blister pack of the first aspect of the invention.

In a yet further aspect of the present invention there is provided an apparatus for manufacture of a blister pack of the first aspect of the invention and which comprises a conveyor and reorientation station of the second aspect of the invention.

Brief description of the drawings A preferred embodiment of the present invention will now be more particularly described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein: Figures 2A and 2B are, respectively, a top plan view and side elevation view of a blister pack of the preferred embodiment ; Figures 2C and 2D are, respectively, a top plan view of a blister pack similar to that of Figure 2A but comprising three linked strips and with the foil cover removed-and an end elevation view thereof.

Figures 2E and 2F are, respectively, a side elevation view of two blister packs of the invention being nested underside-to-underside with one slightly longitudinally displaced relative to the other-and an end elevation view of two blister packs of the invention being nested underside-to-underside with one slightly laterally displaced relative to the other; Figure 3 is a plan view of a manufacturing system for filling and sealing of the blister packs;

Figures 4A and 4B are respective vertical sectional views of a baffle for tilting a pill or tablet upright, Figure 4A being taken along the line X-X in Figure 3 and Figure 4B taking them along the line Y-Y in Figure 3.

Description of the Preferred Embodiment The tablets used in the preferred embodiment of blister pack illustrated in Figures 2-4 are shown as being of generally discoidal shape, i. e. circular in plan view and somewhat flattened.

In the illustration of the preferred embodiment of blister pack in Figures 2A to 2G, it will further be seen that the pockets 2 of the blister pack 1 all extend with their major axis/longest dimension substantially perpendicular to the plane of the blister pack base 1.

As with the conventional blister pack, the base 1 is suitably thermoformed of a thermoplastic material such as PVC to provide the pockets 2, and with the pockets 2 projecting wholly beneath the major plane of the base 1 so that the blister pack presents a substantially completely flat upper face over which the covering layer of aluminium foil or any other suitable material is laid once the tablets have been deposited into the pockets of the blister pack. As will be seen, the configuration of the pockets is greater in depth than width and each holds the tablet substantially perpendicular to the base 1.

Each of the pockets 2 has a pair or opposing end walls 3, a pair of opposing side walls 4 and a floor 5, as can best be seen in Figures 2C and 2D. Each opposing pair of walls is convergent. The opposing end walls 3 are inclined to converge toward each other in the direction of the floor 5 of the pocket 2 and at an angle of convergence of the order of 30°.

Similarly, the side walls 4 are inclined to converge towards each other in the direction of the floor 5 of the pocket 2 and at an angle of convergence of the order of 15°.

As can be seen by reference to Figure 2D, a substantial angle of convergence of the end walls 3 serves to catch the tablet 6 between the end walls 3 at a position in the pocket 2 that is spaced above the floor 5 of the pocket 2. This has the important effect of providing a buffer zone between the lower edge of the tablet 6 and the floor 5 of the pocket 2, protecting the tablets from damage from below.

Furthermore, the convergence of the end walls 3 assists in space efficient inter digitation/interlocking of the pockets 2 when the blister packs are stacked underside-to-underside with slight lateral displacements of the upper relative to the lower blister pack (see Figure 2F). Similarly, the convergence of the side walls 4 assists in space efficient inter-digitation of the pockets 2 when stacked underside-to- underside by slight longitudinal displacement of the upper relative to the lower blister pack.

Accordingly, by having both the opposing side walls 4 and end walls 3 convergent, pairs of blister packs may be nested together in an optimally compact manner in either longitudinal or lateral displacement relative to each other giving maximum flexibility in compact packaging arrangements.

A further notable benefit that arises from the convergence of the walls 3,4 of the pockets 2 is that they enable accommodation for a wide range of different sizes of tablet/pill, a facility not provided by conventional blister packs where the blister pack is generally capable of properly accommodating only one size of pill/tablet or a very narrow size range and necessitating many tool changes to cover the conventional range of tablet/pill sizes.

The size of range of tablet/pill that may be accommodated by the innovative pocket configuration of the present invention is wide and only limited by needing to ensure that the tablet/pill is not oversize relative to the pocket whereby it would risk being damaged in transit, and not so small that it seats so low in the pocket that it may not be so easily expelled through the foil web.

By the present invention, dispensing of the tablets from the package without breakage has been significantly improved together with an increase in the efficiency of the packaging.

A further advantage can be obtained from this where the pockets are substantially transparent to enable viewing of their contents. The orientation of the tablets enables viewing of both major faces thereof improving the ability to check manually or automatically that the tablets are present and that they are not defective.

The methods of packaging the pills/tablets of the present invention will now be discussed.

A conventional method of delivery of these tablets for packaging is simply to allow them to lie on one of their substantially circular major faces and be dropped directly into corresponding circular recesses/pockets to lie substantially on the same face or alternate face, substantially plane parallel to the base web of the blister pack.

By contrast in the present invention the packaging system incorporates a reorientation stage in the filling system which serves to reorient the tablets to be substantially upright, standing on the circumferential edge rather than resting upon one of the two circular major faces.

In the embodiment illustrated in Figure 3, the tablets are carried along the conveyor 10 in the direction of the large arrows A to be fed into the reorientation station 11.

The reorientation station 11 comprises a plurality of baffles 12a-g that are angled progressively more steeply downstream along the direction of travel A of the conveyor 10.

The baffles 12a-g are not only progressively steeper downstream but they also progressively converge toward each other as viewed in plan. The increasing vertical angle of the baffles 12a-g serves to tilt the tablets upright onto their circumferential edges against the constraint of the next adjacent baffle 12a-g and with the convergence of the baffles serving to ensure that the tablets are unable to slip away from their increasingly upright orientation.

Suitably, as the tablets emerge from the reorientation station 11 they are not only uniformly oriented upright but also spaced apart laterally across the travel path by appropriate spacing that corresponds to the spacing of pockets 2 in the blister pack.

Although logically the optimal configuration of the orientation and filling station is with the whole assembly including the conveyor 10 in the horizontal plane so that the tablets are oriented into an upright position and can then drop by gravity feed into the underlying empty blister pack base, the assembly may alternatively by configured at an angle to horizontal or even vertical subject to there being provided walls to constrain the tablets in place and provision of some means in addition to or in replacement of gravity to ensure that the tablets are delivered appropriately to the pockets of the blister pack base.