Patent GB-1483594-A (GB)
Title: Hard-gelatin capsule filling machines
IPC: A61J3/07
Filed: 1973-09-11
Abstract: 1483594 Capsule filling machines; metering granular material discharging hoppers MANESTY MACHINES Ltd 29 Aug 1974 [11 Sept 1973] 42616/73 Headings B8C B8N and B8S In a hard gelatin capsule filling machine in which the fill is compressed into a soft slug, the capsules are uncapped, filled with the soft slugs, re-capped and ejected from the machine while the machine continuously rotates. The machine comprises a rotatable turret 5 having 33 capsule filling sections, each section including a tube 8 which delivers a capsule from a hopper 4. Material feed, metering and compression.- Granular material drops from a hopper into a paddle casing (72) and from thence into a feed frame (76) sitting within a trough 70 on a die table 25. Each section has a die 26 in the table and an upper and lower punch 6, 7. As a die 26 passes under the feed frame the lower punch 6 is lowered allowing material to enter within the die and is then slightly raised by a replaceable, volume adjustment cam. A scraper (75) removes surplus material from the die table as it leaves the feed frame. The lower punch 6 is slightly lowered and then the upper punch is lowered to compress the material into a slug. The capsule hopper comprises a cone 91 and base plate 90 rotatable with the turret in a stationary housing. There is an elongate aperture 92 in the base plate over each capsule delivery tube 8 of a size to locate a horizontal capsule. A disc 95 is positioned in the base of each aperture and has an elongate aperture dimensioned to permit the passage of the base portion of a capsule at either end but the passage of the larger cap of the capsule only at the centre of the aperture so that the capsule falls base first through the aperture. A stationary timing plate 101 is located beneath the apertures and is cut-away around part of its periphery to permit a capsule to fall through each disc into a funnel-shaped end 98 of a tube 99 leading to the respective tube 8. Before the apertures reach the cut-away portion they pass under a rotating cylindrical brush (111) which removes surplus capsules from around the apertures. A suction duct removes faulty capsules which do not fall through the apertures. In an alternative embodiment of the hopper (Figs. 28-30, not shown), a rotatable, annular, base plate of the hopper has a plurality of slots (152), each inclined to a radius and sized to contain a row of capsules leading to a discharge aperture. A depending blade (180) enters each slot adjacent the cut-away portion of the timing plate to prevent the following capsules from falling with the leading capsule into the respective tube 8. Deflectors having rubber fingers (159) are secured to the fixed hopper wall and encourage capsules to enter the slots. Separate capsule bodies or caps are removed from the end of the slot by a suction device (196-200). Capsule feed and filling.-The tube 8 which is reciprocated with the upper punch 6 through a spring connection 16, 17 is lowered on to a cap retaining cup 27 located above a capsule body transfer slide 32. Suction is applied through an aperture 47 in a dust ring 45, and through the slide 32 and cup 27 to the tube 8 to draw a capsule rapidly down the tube into the cup where the cap is retained while the body passes into the slide. The slide is reciprocated inwardly by a cam 38 to locate the capsule body under the die 26 for the upper punch 6 to push the slug into the body. When the body is returned to beneath its cap compressed air is applied through the aperture 47 to force the body into the cap, the cup 27 having passed beneath a closing plate to prevent upward movement of the cap. The plate is stepped to permit the capsule to accelerate upwardly against the raised surface to ensure complete closure. The capsule is then ejected by compressed air from the cup 27 into a discharge shoot.