AN IMPROVED PILL-MAKING MACHINE.
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert McTaggart and Joseph Holdforth, both of
Bradford, in the County of York, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
PILL-MAKING MACHINE.".
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert McTaggart and
Joseph Holdforth at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 3rd November 1866.
5.
We, ROBERT MCTAGGART and JOSEPH HOLDFORTH, both of Bradford, in the
County of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED PILL-MAKING MACHINE," to be as follows:
The object of our Invention is to make pills from the pasty material
when it is in the state of "máss." For this purpose on convenient side
frames we mount a pair of rollers with longitudinal grooves extending from
frame to frame, and of the diameter of, say one inch and three-quarters,
more or less; within the same framework we also have a larger pair of
rollers these latter having their grooves at right angles to the before-mentioned
ones, both the two sets of rollers. being actuated by winches with ordinary
pinion gear (the two sets having no connection with each other).
The operation is as follows:-The "mass is supplied to the longitudinally
fluted rollers, and by them cut into rolls; after that it is passed through the
other set of rollers, being laid transversely on the same, and there cut and
formed into pills the required.size, the width and depth of the grooves

page_text: necessarily determining the size of the pills, which on passing through the
second or latter set of rollers are allowed to drop upon a receiving sieve placed
in connection with a receiving drawer in the lower part of the machine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert McTaggart and Joseph Holdforth in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 3rd May 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
MTAGGART and JOSEPH HOLDFORTH, both of Bradford, in the County of
York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
Robert McTaggart and Joseph Holdforth, Her especial. licence that we, the
said Robert McTaggart and Joseph Holdforth, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert McTaggart and Joseph
Holdforth, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any times
.agree with, and 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 PILL-MAKING
MACHINE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Robert
MoTaggart and Joseph Holdforth, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand
and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 I, the said Joseph Holdforth, on behalf of myself
and the said Robert McTaggart, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
that is to say :-
The object of our Invention is to make pills from the pasty material when
it is in the state of "mass." For this purpose on convenient side frames

page_text: we mount a pair of rollers with longitudinal grooves extending from frame to
frame, and of the diameter of, say, one inch and three quarters, more or less;
within the same framework we also have a larger pair of rollers, these latter
having their grooves at right angles to the before-mentioned ones, both the
two sets of rollers being actuated by..winches with ordinary pinion gear (the
two sets having no connection with each other).
The operation is as follows:-The "mass " is supplied to the longitudinally
fluted rollers, and by them cut into "pipings" or rolls. After that it is passed.
through the other set of rollers, being laid transversely on the same, and there
cut and formed into pills the required size, the width and depth of the grooves
necessarily determining the size of the pills, which, on passing through the
second or latter set of rollers are allowed to drop upon a receiving sieve placeḍ
in connection with a receiving drawer in the lower part of the machine.
. Having now described the nature of our Invention' we will proceed to
describe the manner in which the same is to be performed, reference being:
had to the accompanying Drawing and to the letters and figures of reference.
marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a pill-making, machine
constructed according to our Invention; and Figure 2 represents a detail of
the said machine herein-after referred to.
A is the frame, and B is the base of the machine; C, C³, are cylindrical
rollers, having semicircular flutes (indicated in dotted lines) on their peripheries
in a direction parallel to the axes c', c, of the said rollers, these axes turn in
bearings in the frame of the machine, and are geared together by toothed
wheels, c; motion is communicated to the axes c³, cs, by means either of a
handle c or of a band pulley affixed to one of the said axes. D¹, D', are
cylindrical rollers, having semicircular grooves formed around them, as
indicated by dotted lines, that is to say, the direction of the said grooves is at
right angles to the axes d', d', of the said rollers. The axes d', &, turn in
bearings in the frame of the machine, and carry respectively a toothed wheel d³
and pinion d, which are geared together by means of an intermediate toothed
wheel E, mounted on an axis e turning in bearings in the frame of the machine;
motion is communicated to the axes d', d³, and e, by means either of a
handle d' or of a band pulley affixed to the axis d¹. F is an inclined sieve
or guide, down which the pills when made pass from the machine; B' is a
drawer, in which the manufactured pills may be received; f is a bar (shown
separately in Figure 2), the upper surface of which corresponds in shape with
grooves in the roller D' so as to clear them from any adhering
pill mass."
The action of the machine is as follows:-"Pill mass" of a stiff con-
the

page_text: sistency is first passed between the röllers C, C³, and is by them formed into
cylindrical bars or "pipings;" these bars or", pipings" are then dropped one by
one between the rollers.D', 'D³, (as: indicated by the dotted. circle); the said
bars as they are dropped. being parallel to the axes of the said rollers; as the
said bars pass between the grooved surfaces of the said rollers the edges of the
grooves cut and form the said bars into pills, which drop on: to the inclined
sieve or guide, and pass down it either out of the machine, and are received in
the drawer B, or in. any other receptacles. Instead of.mounting the rollers
C, C, as shown, they may be mounted over the rollers D', D., so that the
bars or pipings.cut 'by the former: may drop directly thereupon between the
latter, the respective speeds of the two sets of rollers being adjusted as required
by means of suitable gearing.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we do
not limit ourselves to the precise details herein-before described and illustrated,
as the same may be varied without departing from the nature of our said
Invention; but we claim as our Invention an improved pill-making machine
in which the pills are first cut into bars or pipings by two pairs of rollers, one
of which forms the pill. mass into bars or pipings, and the other forms the said
bars or pipings into pills, essentially in the manner herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Holdforth, have hereunto set my.
hand and seal, this Third day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
H. H. MURDOCH,
7, Staple Inn.'
JOSEPH HOLD FORTII. (L.S.)