Improvements in Pill Making Machines
Year: 1894

page_text: Improvements in Pill Making Machines.
A communication by ARTHUR COLTON, of 800, Champlain Street, Detroit, in
the County of Wayne and State of Michigan, United States of America,
Manufacturer of Pharmaceutical Machinery.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of The Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6 Lord Street, Liverpool and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester both in the County of Lancaster and 323 High Holborn in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer do hereby declare he nature of this
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The object of this invention is to produce a perfected pill or pilloid from the pill
dough, the operations being entirely completed by machinery, and in carrying out
the invention a machine is employed which first rolls the dough into long pipes or
Ocylinders, after which the cylinders are cut into short pieces, and each piece is
rolled into a pill or pilloid and delivered in the perfected form.
The first part of the invention which makes the pipes from the dough is shown
in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of which,
Figure 1 is a side elevation.
Figure 2 is an elevation of the side opposite to that shown in Figure 1: and
Figure 3 is an end elevation.
The main framework is indicated at 1, and 2 and 3 indicate two rollers over
which an endless belt or apron 4 is carried. This endless belt or apron 4 is
strained or tightened by a tension roll 5, that is journalled in adjustable sliding
boxes 6. Immediately beneath the upper part of the belt 4 is a table 7, and this
table and the belt above it are horizontal or substantially so the tension of the
belt is regulated by a set-screw 8, which regulates the box 6 in its vertical
bearing 9.
Above the framework just described is a second belt 10 that travels around
rolls 11, 12. The journals on which the rolls 11, 12, turn are supported at the ends
of a plate 13, or on arms rising from the plate 13, and the plate 13 is itself
supported on the posts that spring from the main frame 1.
At the front or feed end of the machine, the bearings are in the form of
trunnions 14, 15, which turn in holes in the ears 16, 17. At the rear end of the
support is a round bar 18 with eccentric journals at its ends. These journals 19
and 20 turn in holes 21, 22, that are pierced through lugs rising upward from the
main frame. The larger body of the bar 18 turns in the slot 23 that is cut through
the arms 24 that rise from the plate 13.
25 indicates a tension roll supported on brackets 26, 27, extending from the
plate 13. The tension of the belt 10 is regulated by this roll by means of the
adjusting screws 28, 29. The roll 2 of the lower set of rolls is geared to the roll 12
of the upper set of rolls by a sprocket chain 30, and one of these rolls receives
motion from any convenient source of power through a belt 31.
The contiguous faces of the belts 4 and 10 move in opposite directions, and the
lower belt 4, with its underlying table, extends at the front or feed end beyond
the upper belt and its driving roll.
At the rear end is a short table 32, upon which the rolled pipes are received.
At the front end of the machine is an automatic feeding device consisting of a
cylinder 33, within which the mass of dough is stored. Within the cylinder and
above the mass is a follower 34, provided with a screw stem 35, and driven by a
revolving nut 36, which nut is geared on its periphery and meshes with a pinion

page_text: that is connected with and receives motion from the shaft of the roll 12. At the
lower end of the cylinder 33 is a cut-off knife 37 that cuts off a piece of mass at
each revolution of the shaft 38. The shaft 38 is vertical, and at its summit is a
crown friction wheel 39, and it is driven by a friction wheel 40 on horizontal
shaft 41. The shaft 41 is driven by a gear wheel 42 that meshes with the pinion 43
on the shaft that drives the nut 36. The gear 42 is held to its shaft by a feather,
which allows the shaft to move axially through it, thus permitting the friction
wheel, which is carried at its end, to be adjusted radially over the surface of the
crown friction wheel 39, thus regulating the relative speed of the belts and the
cut-off knife.
The mass rolled into pipes between the belts of this machine is delivered in
pipe form to the finishing machine, which forms the second part of this invention
and which is shown in the drawings in Figures 4, 5 and 6, 7, 8 and 9.
Figure 4 is a plan view of this part of the invention.
Figure 5 is a longitudinal view in section on the line y y of Figure 4.
Figure 6 is an end view partially in section and partially in elevation, the section
being at the line of Figure 5.
Figure 7 and Figure 8 are details of the cap by which the upper plate is held to
the runner.
Figure 9 is a section across the machine at the line 2 z of Figure 7.
The main frame of this part of the invention is indicated at 45, and at one end
of the frame is a crank shaft 46, on the outer end of which is the main driving
wheel 47. Near the opposite end of the framework, and lying across it, is a rock-
shaft 48, having a winch 49 on one end of it; on the other end of the rock-shaft is
a rock-arm 50, employed to raise the lower table. In the main frame just above
the main bed-piece 51, on each side of the machine, is a pair of Y's providing
bearings for the pivots 52 and 53 of two pairs of parallel bars 54, 55. The upper
ends of the parallel bars on each side are pivotted to a frame 56. This frame
Bwings on the parallel support and has a short movement lengthwise of the frame
and a short vertical movement; one end of it engages with the arm 50, and the
entire frame can be pushed by the arm 50 lengthwise of its axis, and at the same
time lifted. On the upper side of the frame 56 is a vibratory plate 57, this is a
fluted plate, and to that end of it which is farthest removed from the rock-shaft 48
are hinged two draw bars 58, 59; these draw bars constitute links, and are hinged
to a rock-arm 60 on the shaft 48. The two draw bars are used in place of a single
central draw bar in order that they may be placed at the side and outside of the
machine. Above the plate 57 and at the sides of the machine are tracks 61, on
which rest the side flanges of a grooved plate 62. Above the track 61, spaced by
a distance sufficient to permit of the introduction under them of the two side
flanges of the plate 62, are two cap pieces 63. Each of these consists of a cap
piece proper 63 and a fillet piece 64. The cap piece 63 is hinged to the main
framework at that end of it which lies nearest to the crank-shaft 46, and is held
in place at the opposite end by a button 65.
The fillet 64 lies loosely under the concave side of the cap 63, from which it is
held from escaping by the pin 66; it is pressed downward against the upper
surface of the plate 62 by the light spring 67. The object of the fillet is to hold
the plate 62 firmly against the track, and at the same time to furnish a bearing
surface that compensates for wear of either the upper or lower surface of the
plate 62.
On the back part of the plate 62 are two lugs 68, 69, between which is
a trunnion rod 70, and from the trummon rod 70 a pitman 71 extends to the crank
shaft 46. The rotation of the main driving wheel 47, acting through the crank
and pitinan, reciprocates the upper plate 62 over the lower plate 57, and the
operator, during the time of this reciprocation, slowly raises the lower plate 57
toward the upper plate until the edges between the fluting meet. The pipe of pill
material previously prepared in the pipe rolling part of this invention has been
interposed between the plates, ard is cut by the operation just described into short
pieces which are delivered in the form of completed pills.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. In a pill-making machine having trumbling belts with their faces parallel to
each other, and arranged to travel in opposite directions and also having
reciprocating fluted plates with the flutings opposite to each other, and being
arranged to receive a cylinder of pipe mass rolled by the travelling belts and cut
and roll the same into pills as shown and specified.
2. In a pill-making machine, the oppositely moving supported belts arranged to
roll the mass into a pipe, substantially as shown and specified.
3. In a pill-making machine, the oppositely moving supported belts, and the
mass hopper and cutting off knife and follower working in unison substantially as
shown and specified.
4. In a pill machine, the opposed fluted plates, of which one is arranged to
reciprocate, and the two are arranged to close together during the reciprocation,
substantially as shown and specified.
Dated this 3rd day of September 1894
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents.