IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Morgan Richards, of Great Russell Street Buildings,
Great Russell St., (Bloomsbury), London, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
Sealed the 20th March 1877, and dated the 21st September 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Morgan Richards at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 21st September 1876.
JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS, of Great Russell Street Buildings, Great Russell Street,
Bloomsbury, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS AND IN
THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
The exhibition or administration of medicines in the form of pills offers so many
advantages that it is desirable to adopt means to ensure the proper action of
the medicinal substances of which the pill is composed. There is no doubt that
ordinary pills, being hard, solid spherical substances, often pass through the body
unchanged, owing to the difficulty their spherical form offers to a ready and proper
solution of their ingredients.
The object of the present Invention is to remedy this defect, and this is effected
by perforating the pill so as to admit the gastric juice to its interior, and by thus
ensuring a proper and ready solution of its ingredients to enable the medicine to
produce the desired effect.
Although the perforation of the pills may at first sight appear to be a very simple
matter it has been found in practice to require special instruments or apparatus to
effect the operation in a satisfactory and economical manner. In carrying out my
Invention the pills are first produced in the spherical form in the ordinary manner,
and when in this state they are supplied to the perforating apparatus, which consists
mainly of a pair of dies having hemispherical recesses made in them, and which
when brought together form a spherical hole or holes in which the pills are clamped
or held while the perforations are being made.
The perforations are made by means of vertical punches which work up and
down through holes in the hemispherical recesses in the dies, the upper one of

page_text: which is made movable vertically, so that the pills may be placed in the recesses
and subsequently removed therefrom when perforated. It will of course be under-
stood that the punches have a motion independent of the dies, as it is preferred
that the pills should be properly clamped and held in the dies before the punches
are brought down for the purpose of perforating them.
If desired the pills may receive more than one perforation, and several pills may
be operated upon at one time.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Morgan Richards in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th March 1877.
"
JOHN MORGAN RICHARDS, of Great Russell Street Buildings, Great Russell Street,
Bloomsbury, London. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILLS, AND IN
THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."
The exhibition or administration of medicines in the form of pills offers so many
advantages that it is desirable to adopt means to ensure the proper action of the
medicinal substances of which the pill is composed. There is no doubt that ordinary
pills, being hard, solid spherical substances, often pass through the body unchanged,
owing to the difficulty their spherical form offers to a ready and proper solution of
their ingredients.
The object of the present Invention is to remedy this defect, and this is effected
by perforating the pill so as to admit the gastric juice to its interior, and by thus
ensuring a proper and ready solution of its ingredients to enable the medicine to
produce the desired effect.
Although the perforation of the pills may at first sight appear to be a very simple
matter it has been found in practice to required special instruments or apparatus to
effect the operation in a satisfactory and economical manner. In carrying out my
Invention the pills are first produced in the spherical form in the ordinary manner,
and when in this state they are supplied to the perforating apparatus, which consists
mainly of a pair of dies having hemispherical recesses made in them, and which dies
when brought together form a spherical hole or holes in which the pills are clamped
or held while the perforations are being made.
The perforations are made by means of vertical punches which work up and down
through holes in the hemispherical recesses in the dies, the upper one of which is
made moveable vertically, so that the pills may be placed in the recesses and
subsequently removed therefrom when perforated. It will of course be understood
that the punches have a motion independent of the dies, as it is preferred that the
pills should be properly clamped and held in the dies before the punches are brought
down for the purpose of perforating them.
If desired the pills may receive more than one perforation, and several pills may
be operated upon at one time.
In the accompanying Drawings Fig. 1 is a back elevation of the machine I employ
for perforating the pills. In this Figure is shown the haud lever A and segment
wheel B (a few only of the teeth being shown) by which the machine is worked.
C is a balance weight. A, B, and C are rigidly connected together and turn on a
pin D.
Fig. 2 is a similar back elevation to Fig. 1, but with the hand lever A, the segment
wheel B, and balance weight C omitted.
Fig. 6 is the front elevation of the other side of the machine, and with the parts
in the position corresponding to Fig. 2.
Fig. 3 is a back elevation showing the parts in the position they would ass um
when the hand lever is partly depressed.
Fig. 4 is a back elevation of the machine when the lever is fully depressed.
Fig. 5 is a side or end elevation of Fig. 4, seen from the E șide of it. .

page_text: Figures 7 and 8 are partial horizontal sectional views from underneath and from
above respectively taken through a, b, of Fig. 6.
Figures 9 and 10 are similar partial sectional views from underneath and from
above respectively, taken through c, d, of Fig. 6. F, F, (Figures 1 to 6) is a cam
wheel having two slots in it f, f, and f¹, f¹ H, H, is the frame of the machine and
has two slide pieces rigidly united to it, as seen in Figures 5 to 10. Between these
pieces the slides I and J work; the slide I carries a punch M (firmly held in the
slide by set screws as seen in Figures 6 and 7) and the slide J a half chamber K to
hold a pill; L is a piece of metal firmly fixed to H, and has in it a half chamber
corresponding to K; N is a pin firmly fixed to the slide J and with its free end
working in the slot f, f; O is a pin firmly fixed to the slide I and with its free end
working in the slot f¹, f¹. The frame H, H, has openings in it (shown in Fig. 2 as
seen through F, F,) to allow for the up-and-down motions of N and O. E is a boss
attached to the frame H, and has screwed into it the pin D, Fig. 1, on which the
segment wheel B works; G is a small toothed wheel (shewn with a few of its teeth
only in Fig. 1, and by line in Figures 2 to 5,) rigidly united to F. The parts G, F,
turn freely on a pin P (Figures 1 to 5) fixed in H, and the wheel G gears with the
segment wheel B. of Fig. 1.
As this cam
The action of the machine is as follows:-A pill is placed in the half chamber K
(Fig. 6) and the lover A (Fig. 1) is depressed. This (by means of the segment
wheel B) turns the small wheel G and with it the cam wheel F. F.
wheel turns the pin N rises by the action on it of the part f, N, of the slot f,f,
until it attains the position shown in Fig. 3, the slide J to which it is fixed rising
with it until the K part of the slide meets the piece L, and the pill is firmly held in
the two half chambers. The position is shown by the dotted lines of Fig. 3. Of
course during this motion of F, F, the slot f¹, f¹, has moved round through f¹, O.
By this motion of f¹, ¹, however, the pin O has not been acted upon because the
f1, O, part of f¹, f¹, has its centre in the axis of motion of F, F. Then as the
turning continues the pin O is depressed by the action on it of the further part
O,f1, of the slot f¹, f¹, until it attains the position shown in Fig. 4, the slide I to
which it is fixed being depressed with it until the lower end of I meets the top side
of L (thereby arresting further motion of the lever A) and then the punch M will
have pierced the pill. The position is shown by the dotted lines of Fig. 4. Of course
during this further motion of F, F, the slot f, f, also has moved round. By the
motion of this part off, f, however, the pin N has not been further acted upon,
because this part of f, f, has its centre in the axis of motion. The pressure put upon
the pill by the rising of J to the position shown in Fig. 3 has been merely retained.
The lever A being now raised, the order of the work of the slots of F, F, is reversed.
First the punch M is lifted out of the pill, this being all the while firmly held
between K and L, then J with K is lowered and the pill can be removed. The
balance weight C holds the lever in its raised position. If more than one perforation
is desired it can be obtained by replacing the pill in the chamber K in such position
that the punch will have another diameter of the pill to act upon. It is not however
an essential part of my Invention that perforations should be in the lines of diameters,
although the above machine represents the perforations as so made.
Figures 11 and 12 represent a pill having two perforations through it, neither of
which is in the line of à diameter, Fig. 11 being a longitudinal section through one
of the perforations, and Fig. 12 a section through the line a, b, of Fig. 11.
If desired the part K may be furnished with two or more half chambers, tho
piece L being made to correspond and the slide I being furnished with the requisite
punches. By this arrangement more than one pill can be operated upon at a time.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my Invention,
and having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would observo
that I do not mean to confine myself to the method of or apparatus above described
for carrying out my Invention, but I claim as the Invention secured to me by Letters
Patent as aforesaid,―
First. Perforating pills as and for the purpose herein set forth.

page_text: Second. I claim the machine or apparatus above shown and described for per-
forating pills.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Morgan Richards, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twentieth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.
JOHN M. RICHARDS. (L.S.)