A NEW OB IMPROVED D APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIRMS FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Denzil Thomson, of Haverstock Hill, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "A NEW OB IMPROVED
D
APPARATUS FOR MAKING PIRMS FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Denzil Thomson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th September 1874.
I, DENZIL THOMSON, of Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "A NEW OR
IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILLS FOR MEDICINAL PURPOSES," to be as
follows:-
The improvements forming the subject of this Invention may be
classed under three heads, the whole of which are designed for the
purpose of facilitating and expediting the process of making pills for
medicinal purposes.

page_text: The first of these improvements relates to additions and appliances
to the present construction of pill-making apparatus; and consists,
first, in the application of a roller for spreading the pill mass pre-
paratory to its subsequent formation into pills; and, secondly, in the
application and formation of guages that will enable the pill mass
to be rolled out so as to assume an uniform thickness, the dimensions
of which will be suitable for a quantity of pills of a given number
of grains weight. According to this first portion of the Invention
the table or slab on which the pill mass is spread out by the roller
is provided with a framing or sides, the height of which from the
surface of the table forms a guage for the thickness of the pill mass,
as the upper surface of the frame is the lowest level to which the
roller can flatten the mass. The depth or thickness of the mass can
be increased or diminished by supporting the table or slab upon an
under foundation which can be raised or lowered by the introduction
of packing plates, so that when it is necessary to roll a certain
thickness of pill mass the height of the table, with respect to its
side frame, can be regulated by the withdrawal or introduction of
such plates, the whole being secured in position by the sliding end
piece of the framing. Or as an equivalent for the framing acting
as a guage the spreading. roller may be provided with rings or collars,
the depth of which will determine the thickness of the mass when
the same is being rolled out on a flat table or slab. When the " mass
is rolled out it is necessary that the quantity required for a given
weight of a number of pills shall form a shape having square or
rectangular sides. To accomplish this the table on its upper surface
between the framing is supplied with adjustable stops or packing
pieces that will enable its capacity to be increased or diminished;
these stops or packing pieces are arranged in two parts, and connected
together by cross levers similar to a "lazy tong" or other equivalent
that will admit of one piece being moved out from the other in a
parallel line. The moveable sliding piece, by preference, is forced
outwards by springs, and is provided with stop pins or other equi-
valent that will enable it to be fixed in any position or distance of
its movement. When the mixture has been rolled out so as to fill the
space prepared for it, as described, it is placed upon the fluted surface
ог 'quirks" ordinarily employed, where it undergoes the operation
of "piping" and cross cutting usual in the process of pill making.
tr
tr
"
"

page_text: According to the second improvements under this Invention the
table or slab is constructed so as to rest in a framing upon inclined
bearing blocks actuated to slide in or out by means of a pusher
handle, which, when fully pushed in, will raise the table up to a
level with the top of the framing. It will therefore readily be seen.
that according to the distance the blocks are withdrawn so the depth.
of the table from the upper surface of the framing will be regulated..
The handle giving movement to the blocks is provided with indicating
lines, thereby enabling the greatest accuracy to be attained in the
adjustment of the rise or fall of the table. The upper surface of the
framing is also provided with indicating marks that will enable the
pill mass when rolled out to a guage thickness to be cut by the operator
to a size that will suffice for the production of pills therefrom of a
certain and required weight, after which the mass is placed upon the
fluted "quirks" to undergo the process of being formed into pills.
Lastly, for larger machines or apparatus I employ a similar table or
slab to the last in which the raising or lowering inclined bearing
blocks are actuated by a central screw through the medium of sliding
nuts and levers, the raising or lowering of the table, together with the
flattening of the pill mass, being in every respect similar and for a like
purpose as before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Denzil Thomson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 10th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DENZIL
THOMSON, of Haverstock Hill, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said :Denzil Thomson, Her
special licence that I, the said Denzil Thomson, my executors,.admi.

page_text: nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Denzil Thomson,
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
" A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR MAKING PILLS FOR MEDICINAL
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Denzil
Thomson, my executors 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Denzil Thomson, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :—
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the manufacture of a
given number of pills from a given quantity of material, and to adjust
the size or weight of the pills to varied requirements. To this end I
propose to gauge the size and depth of the sheet of medicated dough
preparatory to cutting it up into pipes, and after having rolled out
these pipes to a given length to ensure the cutting off of their ends,
so that pills may not be formed as at present from the waste or end
pieces.
.
In the accompanying Drawing I have shewn the means which I
employ for attaining the above-named objects.
Fig. 1 shews a plan view of the bed of a pill machine fitted according
to the first part of my Invention, and Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section
of the same.
Fig. 3 is a plan view; Fig. 4, a longitudinal section in the line 1, 2,
of Fig. 3; and Fig. 5, a cross section (in the line 3, 4, Figures 3 and 4,)

page_text: "
of a sliding frame provided with a grooved cutting roller, which, when
applied to the bed of the machine and traversed over the " quirk
thereof, will sever the sheet of medicated dough into pipes of equal
diameter.
In Figures 1 and 2. A is a marble or other suitable slab on which the
dough to be converted into pills is first rolled into a sheet of uniform
thickness. This slab rests in a frame B, the sides of which stand up
above the slab and form a gauge for the thickness of the sheet to be
rolled; O is a plate of metal formed with parallel half round grooves
which terminate in cutting edges; this plate is commonly called the
"quirk." In advance of the "quirk" C is a trough or receptacle D
into which the pills are run as they are formed. To the slab A an
adjustable gauge plate E is applied for regulating the space which the
sheet of dough is intended to fill; this plate is free to slide upon the
slab A when roughly adjusted, and it is retained in position by means
of friction springs e which bear against the sides of the frame. When
however the mass of dough is more than sufficient to fill the space
designed to receive it, the pressure put on the dough by the roller will
force back the gauge plate, and thereby show that an undue amount
has been supplied to the table. The raised sides of the frame form a
race on which the roller, such as that shewn at Fig. 6, used for rolling
out the dough runs; and these sides are graduated to facilitate the
adjustment of the gauge plate E. A transverse rib c on the "quirk ” O
serves to prevent the dough from spreading forward when under the
action of the roller, and the gauge plate E checks the spreading of the
dough (to the extent above explained) in the opposite direction. It
will now be understood that by rolling the dough in a confined space
on the slab it will be brought to a sheet of uniform thickness with
parallel edges. The sheet thus formed I next lay over the " quirk "O
preparatory to cutting it up into pipes, for which purpose I employ the
grooved roller F, Figures 3, 4, and 5, mounted loosely in a rectangular
frame G. This roller is furnished with circular grooves corresponding
in gauge and section with those of the “ quirk "C. The frame G is
fitted with handles H, H, and it is also provided with flanges g, g, which
serve as side guides to the frame. By means of the handles the roller
frame is traversed to and fro over the quirk O on which lies the sheet of
dough, and the same is thereby severed into pipes.
"

page_text: To allow of the vertical adjustment of the slab A. for the purpose of
increasing or diminishing, as desired, the thickness of the sheet of dough,
I propose to place beneath the slab a packing of thin sheet metal, or
equivalent substance, so that the same may be withdrawn when the slab
is required to be lowered, or added to when the slab is required to be
raised. This is illustrated at Figures 1' and 1°, where the frame B is
fitted with a rebated end piece B₁ which, when lifted out of place, will
allow of the withdrawal, or the insertion, or replacement of packing
sheets a below the slab A.
By reference to Fig. 1 it will be seen that on the opposite sides of the 1
quirk, externally of the half round grooves, a channel is formed as
at c¹, c¹. These channels are intended to receive the waste or parings
in the piping and balling operations, and thereby to prevent the accumu-
lation of dough between the bearing surfaces, and the throwing of the
machine out of gear. The pipes thus produced are removed from the
quirk and laid transversely on the slab A, where they are to be rolled
out to a definite length by means of a travelling quirk, as usual,
paratory to cutting them up and converting them into pills.
pre-
Instead of using the ordinary travelling quirk I use by preference
that shewn in plan and edge views at Figures 7 and 8, which is provided?
at its back with guide rollers I, I, similar to those commonly applied
to the front; K is the grooved cutting plate of the quirk, and L, the
handles for operating the same. When the quirk is applied to the bed,
Fig. 1, the guide rollers I will ensure its moving smoothly over the same.
The pipes laid transversely on the slab A are rolled out by the back of 2
the travelling quirk, being pressed on to and passed rapidly over them
until they have become elongated to the full width of the slab; they
are then to be placed on the quirk C parallel to each other, and trans-
versely of the grooves, and the travelling quirk with its face downwards
is placed over the bed and traversed rapidly to and fro. The pipes
will thus be divided into equal portions, any waste or end pieces
falling into the grooves C, and these portions will be rolled into the
form of pills.
To prevent the pills being discharged into the trough D before they
are properly formed, a bead c² is fitted to the forward end of the quirk C, a
and a stop plate or rih ⁄ is attached to the front of the plate K which

page_text: rib, by closing the half round grooves of the plate K, will, with the aid
of the bead c, prevent the pills from rolling prematurely into the
receptacle D. When however the pills are properly shaped the operator
removes the travelling quirk, and by tipping the bed of the machine
runs the pills forward into the trough.
Figures 9 and 10 show in partial plan and longitudinal section the
bed of a pill machine constructed to raise and lower the slab by means
of inclines. In these Figures M is a rectangular metal sliding frame
formed with inclines M¹ upon which rests the slab A. This slab is made
with inclined recesses on its under side to receive the inclines M¹. A
rear extension N of the frame M is formed with holes or notches to
receive a stop pin O, which when dropped into one or other of the holes
or notches, as shown at Fig. 10°, will fix the frame in position. When
the slab is required to be adjusted the stop pin is raised and the frame M
is slidden forwards or backwards as required, and its position is then
secured by the stop pin.
Figures 11 and 12 show in plan view and in cross section another
arrangement for effecting the raising and lowering of the slab. In this
case two pairs of movable inclines P, P, are used, the same working in
inclined recesses cut in the under side of the slab. These inclines are
connected by links to travelling nuts Q, which work on a screwed
shaft mounted in suitable bearings in the bed of the machine. The
end of this screwed shaft is squared to receive a key, by turning which
the nuts are traversed, and the inclines P of the respective nuts are
thereby caused to recede from or advance towards each other. This
arrangement it will be seen provides for a very nice adjustment of the
slab. As an equivalent for the adjustable bed, in combination with the
frame which acts as a gauge for determining the thickness of the
sheets of dough, the spreading roller may be provided with removable
bearing rings or collars, the depth of which will determine the thickness
of the mass when the same is being rolled out on an ordinary fixed table
or slab.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of a new or im-
proved apparatus for making pills for medicinal purposes, and explained
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood
that under the above in part recited Letters Patent I claim, the means

page_text: above described for adjusting the size and thickness of sheets of
medicated dough, and for determining the weight of the pipes and
pills produced therefrom.
In witness whereof, I, the said Denzil Thomson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of March, in the year of 5
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.