AN IM- PROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lumley and Edwin Lumley, both of Kirk
Hammerton, in the County of York, for the Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS."
with their Petition, on the 18th June 1868.
We, JOHN LUMLEY and EDWIN LUMLEY, both of Kirk Hammerton, in
the County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS," to be as
follows:-
The novelty of this Invention consists of an improved mechanical
combination of parts into a machine adapted for making pills in a more.
speedy and certain manner than by the machines at present employed
for that purpose.

page_text: The following is an example of the construction of the machine :- A
suitable framing supports three rotating cylinders having grooves formed
around their peripheries. Two of the aforesaid cylinders are employed
to conduct the mass of ingredients into the machine and partly divide
it lengthwise, the said cylinders being of equal diameters, the mass then
passes under a knife which is worked by the third cylinder, the diameter
of which is about four times that of the aforesaid smaller cylinders. An
adjustable curved guide piece is also adapted to the larger cylinder,
grooves being formed in the said guide piece corresponding with the
grooves in the cylinder. The knife after having entirely divided the
mass crosswise conducts it between the guide and the cylinder, and thus
ensures its being taken hold of thereby and rolled into pills which fall
into a receptacle. Combs are adapted to the grooves of the cylinders for
preventing clogging thereof, and the spindle of the larger cylinder may
have a fly wheel fixed thereon, into which a handle may be fixed for
imparting rotatory motion to the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Lumley and Edwin Lumley in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 18th December 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
LUMLEY and EDWIN LUMLEY, both of Kirk Hammerton, in the County
of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said John Lumley and Edwin Lumley, Her special
licence that we, the said John Lumley and Edwin Lumley, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Lumley
and Edwin Lumley, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter, during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS,"

page_text: upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Lumley
and Edwin Lumley, our executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Lumley and Edwin Lumley,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say :-
The novelty of this Invention consists of an improved mechanical
combination of parts into a machine adapted for making pills in a more
speedy and certain manner than' by the machines at present employed
for that
purpose.
The following is an example of the construction of the machine :-A
suitable framing supports three rotating cylinders having grooves formed
around their peripheries. Two of the aforesaid cylinders are employed
to conduct the mass of ingredients into the machine and partly divide
it lengthwise, the said cylinders being of equal diameters, the mass then
passes under a knife which is worked by the third cylinder, the diameter
of which is about double that of the aforesaid smaller cylinders. An
adjustable curved guide piece is also adapted to the larger cylinder,
grooves being formed in the said guide piece corresponding with the
grooves in the cylinder. The knife after having entirely divided the
mass crosswise conducts it between the guide and the cylinder, and
ensures its being taken hold of thercby and rolled into pills which fall
into a receptacle. Combs are adapted to the grooves of the cylinders for
preventing clogging thereof, and the spindle of the larger cylinder may
have a fly wheel fixed thereon, into which a handle may be fixed for
imparting rotatory motion to the machine.
And in order to explain our said Invention more completely we now
proceed to describe the best means we are acquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative
Sheet of Drawings accompanying these Presents, and to numeral
figures and letters of reference marked thereon respectively, as follows:-

page_text: Figure 1 represents an elevation of the front of the machine without
the fly wheel; Figure 2, an elevation of the back of the said machine;
Figure 3, a top plan view thereof; Figure 4, a longitudinal and vertical
section through the line A, B, at Figure 3; Figures 5 to 12 inclusive
represent detached views of parts herein-after particularly described and
referred to. At each of the foregoing Figures we employ similar letters
of reference to denote corresponding parts in so far as such parts appear
or can be seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
A, A, marks the stand of the machine, to which are fixed the
standards B supporting the following parts or pieces :-C, D, E, are
three cylinders having grooves formed around them and axes working
in holes, and adjustable bearings a formed in and fitted to the
standards B. The cylinders C and D are of the same diameter and
have toothed wheels b, b, fixed on their respective axes for imparting
rotatory motion thereto in opposite directions by means of the
stud c, toothed wheel G (fixed on the axis 1), and fly wheel H, as
hereafter described. The stud c is fixed on one end of the axis d
of the cylinder E, and upon the opposite end of the axis d a toothed
wheel I is fixed, into which a pin e is fixed which takes into a
hole formed in a piece of metal K connected at its upper end to a
pin f fixed in one end of a short lever g, whose fulcrum is a pin or
screw at h fixed in the standard B. The opposite end of this lever
is acted upon by studs i fixed in a wheel L; this wheel works loosely
upon the axis 1, and has teeth formed upon its edge, as at Figures 1
and 5, the studs i in the wheel L coming into contact with the
lever g and part 2 of the piece K produce alternate circular move-
ment of the cylinder E after the teeth in the wheel L have become
disengaged from the teeth of the wheel I, as shewn at Figures 1
and 5, the wheel L being moved in the direction denoted by the
arrow's flight. At these Figures M marks a double comb, shewn
detached at Figure 12. This comb is held in position by the
standards B, and is intended to take into the grooves of the cylinders
C, D, to prevent clogging thereof with the ingredients of which the
pills are to be made; N is a strap of metal pivoted by a pin 3 fixed
in a recess formed in the standard B. The opposite standard is also
similarly fitted so as to leave the straps N flush with the face of

page_text: the standards; the axis d has cam-shaped pieces 4 fixed thereon,
the pieces 4 taking into the straps N, as at Figure 4, raise and lower
the straps N and knife connected thereto, as at 5, by its ends.
The shape of this knife is shewn at Figure 11. O is a curved
piece of metal with grooves formed on its inner surface and with
pivots 1, 1, as shewn at Figure 10, which take into holes in the
standards B; and P is an adjusting screw passing through a screwed
hole in the piece m, which is pivoted by its ends in holes in the
standards B. The use of the screw P is to cause the spring 6 to
press slightly against the piece O. Q are screws and nuts for raising
and lowering the bearings a, so as to adjust the cylinder C at
any desired distance from the cylinder D to prevent the complete
separation of the prepared sheet of ingredients as it passes between
them. The fly wheel H has a handle at R fixed into one of its arms
for imparting rotatory motion to the several parts of the machine.
The boss of the fly wheel fits on to a square formed on the outside of
the boss 7 of the wheel L, which boss is formed on the said wheel, as at
Figure 6, and the hole through the centre of the boss 7 fits loosely upon
the axis 1 of the wheel D as before stated; S is a table to receive the
sheet of ingredients from which the pills are to be made.
OPERATIONS OF THE MACHINE.
The prepared sheet of ingredients being pressed against the cylinders
C, D, upon motion being imparted to the wheel H these cylinders
will receive rotatory motion through the medium of the wheels I
and L, studs i and c, and wheels G and b, b, thereby advancing the
sheet between the said cylinders and squeezing or rolling it into the
shape exhibited at Figure 8 in cross section, and by the time the edge
of the sheet has reached the cylinder E the knife k by the action of the
cams 4 on the straps N will descend and cut or divide the sheet, as
denoted by the dotted line at Figure 9, and the piece thus cut off
will be taken hold of and drawn between the cylinder E and piece O,
which will have the effect of entirely dividing or cutting the strip across,
leaving each piece in its respective grooves in the cylinder E and
piece O, and by this time the teeth of the wheel L being out of gear
with the teeth of the wheel I the cylinder E will be moved in an
opposite direction by the studs i coming against the lever g and lifting
the piece K, thus tuning the cylinder E partly round in an opposite
direction, and when this stud comes into contact with the part 2 of

page_text: the piece K it will depress it and move the wheel I in a reverse
direction, and in this manner each stud will produce alternate circular
motion of the cylinder E, producing a rubbing motion upon the partly
shaped pills and rubbing them into a spherical form, after which the
teeth of the wheel L gearing into the wheel I will cause the cylinder E
to rotate as before, and simultaneously with such movement the knife k
is raised, the sheet advanced, cut off, and made into perfect pills as
before, and so on in succession, the operator powdering the sheet to
prevent adhesion thereof to the cylinders and other parts of the machine.
The cylinder E should have a flat filed on it, as at 8, Figure 4, to allow
the sheet to come close against it whilst it is being cut or divided by the
knife, and to ensure the divided strip being taken hold of by the
cylinder E and advanced between it and the piece O..
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of
our said Invention for "An Improved Machine for the Manufacture
of Pills," together with the best means we are acquainted with for
carrying the same into practical effect, we would remark in conclusion
that we hereby declare our Invention to consist in and we claim, the
mechanical arrangements and combinations of parts above described with
reference to the accompanying Drawing as constituting "An Improved
Machine for the Manufacture of Pills."
In witness whereof, we, the said John Lumley and Edwin
Lumley, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fifteenth
day of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand cight
hundred and sixty-eight.