Patent 8474448 was granted and assigned to Otsuka Pharmaceutical on July, 2013 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
The present invention provides an improved metered dose inhaler utilizing the property of the aerosol canister. The metered dose inhaler includes: a housing body (2); an aerosol canister (3) including a canister body (3a), a valve stem (3b), and a spring urging the valve stem, wherein the valve stem (3b) is held at a fixed position inside the housing body (2), and wherein the canister body (3a) is supported inside the housing body (2) to be depressible against a spring force of the spring; a dose counter (10) including display members (12) and (13) rotatably supported inside the housing body (2), and a control lever (14) swingably supported inside the housing body (2) to rotate the display member (13); and a control cap (20) including a junction member rotatably joined to the control lever (14), and a cap portion (20b) which sheaths the canister body (3a) from a bottom side of the canister body (3a), wherein the control cap (20) causes the control lever (14) to swing.