SUPPORT FOR EMPTY HARD GELATINE CAPSULES, AND UTILIZATION OF SAID SUPPORT WITH THE CAPSULES INSERTED

Abstract: The support is comprised of a laminar surface consisting of a flexible sheet provided with a plurality of holes having a diameter which corresponds to the sizes of capsules from 000 to 5, said holes being made in the sheet and in an arrangement corresponding to the surface of a manual filling machine. The invention also relates to the use of said lamellar surface with capsules inserted into the orifices in order to position the capsules on the filling surface of the corresponding machine. Industrial application as an aid for the encapsulation using small encapsulating machines.

Description: The present invention relates to a surface holding empty hard gelatine capsules and the use of said surface with the capsules inserted. The technical sector involved in this patent is pharmaceutical practice, that of filling hard gelatine capsules, of the type that contain an amount of specific for each of the ones that go to form a treatment, and in particular the ones based on a master formula. Referring to a statement of the previous state of the art, in the pharmaceutical industry industrial techniques are used by means of which products are packed in the corresponding capsules by complex industrial processes. Through needing large-scale production to be profitable, said techniques lie outside the scope of this invention patent. For smaller scale production runs, what is known as the "Capsunorm loader" is used at chemists', this consisting of a device which positions the capsules of sizes 00 to 2, for inserting the capsules in the filling surface of a device for filling capsules. Said device is no use for sizes 3, 4 and 5 of the capsules, which are the smallest ones and most difficult ones to handle, apart from the difficulty of handling the aforementioned "loader" accurately. Said loader is intended to be used by a different device made by the same company. ES U 278428 for a "device for automatically filling capsules" also commercially known as the "Capsunorm capsule fitter" which consists of at least one plate with holes in which to fit the capsules intended to be filled. There is a prior case, ES U 262629, for an "improved device for filling medicine capsules" consisting of an assembly with an arrangement and application similar to the one already described. The use of said "loader" is for arranging the capsules in the capsule-filling machines, in which these are secured, aligned on its surface, filled with the powder form specific and then closed. Nevertheless, as has been stated above, said capsule fitter is not widely used for the smaller-sized gelatine capsules, which means that these have to be placed in the filling machine by hand. This also leads to the situation of the capsule fitter in practice also being discarded for the use of larger capsules, since these are the easiest ones to handle by hand, apart from the fact of it being rather awkward to use. This invention covers a surface for holding empty hard gelatine capsules, and the use of said surfaces with the capsules inserted, meaning that this includes the arrangement of the capsules in the surface with holes, and using these capsules for filling in a small conventional machine. In order to make the following explanation clearer, a drawing sheet is enclosed, representing the essence of this invention in two figures. Figure 1 shows a top view of the capsule-holding surface. Figure 2 shows a view of said surface corresponding to a plate of a capsule-fitting machine. In said Figures 1 indicates the laminar surface, 2 the holes made in said laminar surface, 3 the distance between the columns, 4 the distance between rows, 5 the base of the capsule, 6 the top of the capsule, 7 the base of the capsule-filling machine, 8 each of the holes made in the surface of the capsule-filling machine, 9 being the surface of the manual filling machine, 10 the diameter of the holes in the laminar surface. The laminar surface 1 has the holes 2 set out in such a way that these coincide with the holes 8 in the surface 9 of the base 7 of the filler. Said holes 2 have diameters 10 coinciding with the capsules, so that the latter are held in them, and also arranged in such a way that these coincide with each corresponding hole in the base of the filling machine. The filling machines have, according to the size of the capsules, distances between holes which coincide with the distances between columns and rows 3 and 4 of the holes in the laminar surface 1. This means that to put the capsules in the holes 8 in the base of the filling machine, the operation simply involves placing the set of capsules inserted in the laminar surface over this, removing the laminar support by means of applying pressure through a card or suitable smooth surface. It is obvious that each size of capsule has a corresponding size of laminar surface 1, and also of the base of the machine 7, so that this correspondence avoids the need to manually insert the capsules in the holes in the base 7. An embodiment of this can be deduced from the explanation given in the two previous paragraphs. To sum up, we wish to state that the protection applied for is to be made material in a surface according to claim 1, the surface being used according to claim 2. This is for industrial application to assist with capsule-filling by means of small capsule-filling machines.

Claims: Surface holding empty hard gelatine capsules to be placed on a base (7) of a manual machine for filling capsules, said capsules to be inserted in the holes (8) existing in said base (7) of a manual machine for filling capsules, the surface being formed by a laminar portion made of flexible material (1) which has holes (2) in all or part of said surface, said holes (2) being arranged in a regular pattern and with an uniform diameter identical to that of the capsules (5, 6) which it holds, said holes (2) being of sizes corresponding to each of the diameters of capsules available, these being sizes 000 to 5. Use of the capsule-holding surface according to claim 1, characterised by including the following stages: inserting the capsules (5, 6) in the laminar surface (1). placing the surface (1) on a base of a machine for filling capsules such that the capsules are inserted in the surface (9) of holes (8) in the base (7) of a capsule-filling machine; in such a way that each capsule is left facing the hole in which it has to be housed, with said capsules being housed by means of direct manual pressure on each capsule or by means of a surface suitable for exerting said pressure, to be inserted in said holes (8) of the filling machine.

Inventors: LLORCA CHULIA FRANCISCO JAVIER, SISTEMAS DE TRABAJO SIMPLIFICA, LLORCA CHULIA, FRANCISCO JAVIER, SISTEMAS DE TRABAJO SIMPLIFICADOS S.L.
Applicants: LLORCA CHULIA FRANCISCO JAVIER, SISTEMAS DE TRABAJO SIMPLIFICA, LLORCA CHULIA, FRANCISCO JAVIER, SISTEMAS DE TRABAJO SIMPLIFICADOS S.L.
Application year: 1999
Main classification: A61J1
IPC codes: A61J3