IMPROVEMENTS IN PILL-MAKING MACHINES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Bushby, of the City of Manchester; in the
County of Lancaster, Chemist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PILL-MAKING MACHINES."
Sealed the 11th February 1868, and dated the 15th August 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Bushby at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
August 1867.
I, THOMAS BUSHBY, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN PILL-MAKING MACHINES," to be as follows:-
I employ a vessel of any required length according to the lengths of the
bars from which the pills are to be made. The mass is passed into the top of
the vessel and descends to and passes between two plain rollers at the distance
apart to form the sheet, which sheet passes onwards and is acted upon by
grooved rollers so as to be formed into bars, which then fall upon a number
of circular grooved cutters, the grooves of which are at right angles to the
grooves of the before-mentioned rollers. At a portion of the circumference of
each grooved cutter there is a stationary grooved cutter, the grooves being
opposite each other forming a circle in transverse section, so that when
revolving motion is given to the plain rollers, the grooved rollers, and the
circular cutters, the mass shall first be formed into a sheet, then into bars, and
be cut and shaped-into pills by the circular and stationary cutters. For

page_text: enabling the mass to be gradually, fed to the rollers I place on the top a board
or slab, and act upon it by one or more screws caused to revolve by a band
or gearing from a spindle of one of the rollers; or racks and pinions may be
employed for the same purpose.
SPECIFICATION.in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed.
by the said Thomas Bushby in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th
February 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BUSHBY, of the City of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Chemist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty, Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
'said Thomas Bushby, 'Her special license that I, the said Thomas Bushby, my-
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Bushby, my 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN PILL-MAKING
MACHINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I," the said Thomas
Bushby, my exécutors or administrators, 'by an instrument in writing
under my, 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.
1454
"
'NOW KNOW YE,' that 'I, the said Thomas Bushby, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by 'the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Figures on the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon' (that is to
say:-
.
I pass the mass from which the pills are to be made between two. plain
rollers at the distance apart to form the sheet, which 'sheet is'.formed into

page_text: strips or bars by means of a self-acting 'knife or grooved rollers, and the bárs
one after the other fall upon a number of circular grooved cutters. At a
portion of the circumference of each grooved cutter there is a stationary
grooved cutter, the grooves being opposite each other forming a' circle in
transverse section, so that when revolving motion is given to the circular
grooved cutters the bars shall be cut and shaped into pills.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Fig. 1 is a 'side elevation of the
apparatus for forming the mass into sheets, and Fig. 2 a' cross section of the
rollers; Figs. 3 and 4 are longitudinal and front elevations," and "Fig. 5 ä
longitudinal section of the machine for forming each sheet first into bars and
then into pills.
In Fig. 1a represents the table on which the mass is placed, to each side
of which table are fixed small frames b, each having a stationary bearing and
an adjustable bearing d for carrying the plain rollers e, f, Figs. 1 and 2, fixed
to the shafts g, h, which rollers can be adjusted to any required distance apart
by adjusting screws i. To one end of both shafts are fixed toothed wheels j, k,
and at one end of one shaft the driving handle l, and when the mass is pushed
against the rollers, and the rollers turned, the mass is formed into a sheet of
uniform thickness.
In Figs. 3, 4, and 5, m represents' the side frames of the machine, each
frame having at the top a slot or groove n in which is placed the knife o, and
to the frames is fixed the table p, on which is placed the sheet to be formed
into pills. The frames carry the grooved roller q-fixed on the shaft r, the
grooves being of a semicircular form for the purpose of acting as revolving
cutters and shapers, and to the frames is fixed the segment or shell s, having
as many semicircular grooves t as there are grooves in the roller, the grooves
in the segment being opposite to and corresponding with the grooves in the
roller for acting as stationary grooved cutters and shapers. On the shaft r there
are two eccentrics u connected by eccentric rods v to a pin wat each end of the
knife o, so that when the shaft is turned by the handle a the knife will move
up and down. For feeding the sheet to the knife I employ a bar y bolted to
levers, each having one end placed in supports a fixed to the side frames,
and carrying at the other end two bowls b¹ and a projecting plate c'; and on
the shaft outside each side frame there are two cams d', e', for giving upward
and to-and-fro motions to the levers and bar, the downward motion being
given by the springs f¹ when the bowls and plates are free of the cams.
When the machines are worked conjointly a continuous sheet is formed and
advanced to the knife, but when they are worked separately (which is
preferred) the sheets one after the other are placed on the table p of the

page_text: second machine, and as the shaft r revolves the feeding bar y moves upwards,
backwards, and downwards; and, then by a forward movement intermittently
advances the sheet under the knife o, which descends and cuts off a bar or
strip which falls between the stationary and revolving grooved cutters, and is
while entering and rolling between them cut and shaped into pills, there
being a toothed doctor g¹ placed across the face of the roller q to remove any
pills that may remain in the grooves after leaving the segment.
When desired instead of using the roller and shell with their corresponding
grooved cutters as before described I employ two grooved rollers in com-
bination with a knife.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Bushby, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twelfth day of February, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-eight.
Signed; sealed, and delivered by
the within-named Thomas
Bushby, in the presence of*
G. SEPTIMUS HUGHES,
Patent Agent,
THOMAS BUSHBY.
.Manchester..
+
(L.S.)