Medical nebulizing apparatus

Claim 1

A portable medical nebulising apparatus capable of being accommodated in a pocket or handbag and comprising a housing defining a chamber having first and second end walls bound by a generally circular peripheral side wall defining a generally circular cross-section, said chamber forming a reservoir for material to be nebulised, air inlet means in one of said end walls of the housing and communicating with the interior of the chamber, a rotatable shaft extending through one of said end walls generally perpendicular to the cross-section of said chamber and extending into said chamber, nebulising means in the form of a disc mounted on said shaft, electrical drive means connected to said shaft to rotate said disc in a path passing at least in part through the reservoir to pick up material in the reservoir and fling particles of the material from the disc, said generally circular peripheral side wall extending around the periphery of the disc, an outlet port in said generally circular peripheral side wall, an outlet passage in communication with said outlet port extending from the peripheral side wall of the chamber outwardly away from the chamber for conveying nebulised particles, a mouthpiece in communication with said outlet passage, the axial dimension of the chamber being narrow relative to the radial dimension, said rotating disc producing an air stream which entrains the nebulised particles picked up by the disc, said air stream being flung outwardly of said outlet port through said outlet passage to said mouthpiece and baffle means provided between said outlet port and said mouthpiece to restrict the passage of particles above a selected predetermined size and to assist the return of larger particles to the chamber, so as to control the size of particles delivered to the mouthpiece by said air stream.