AN IMPROVED PILL ROUNDING AND FINISHING MACHINE
Year: 1884

page_text: I, GILBERT WILLIAM NIBLETT, of 22 Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
London, W.C., Engineer, do hereby declaro the nature of my invention for
"AN IMPROVED PILL ROUNDING AND FINISHING MACHINE," to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is the production of a machine by which pills can be
rounded and finished much more rapidly than by the well known hand method.
Up to the present time the usual method of making pills has been to form the
pill mass into rods, which are then broken up into lumps of the required weight
and being gathered on a flat surface and under an inverted flat saucer, are
compelled, by a circular motion given to the saucer by hand, to assume a spherical
form.
In carrying out my invention, I dispense with hand work altogether, but retain
the motion which experience in the art of pill making has proved to be the proper
one.for producing a spherical pill.
I provide a shallow circular tray, preferably of metal, to receive the unformed
pills, and fitted with exchangeable rings proportioned in point of depth to the
different diameters of the pills to be made. This tray has two arms, of the same, or
different, length, opposite to each other. The outer extremities of these arms are
expanded and bored, to drop on to vertical pins projecting from two discs, geared
so as to be capable of being revolved by any convenient mechanism. Or, the pins
may depend from the said extremities, to fit into corresponding holes in the discs.
This pair of discs and pins or holes thus operate as eccentrics, and regulate the
travel of the circular tray. And I may by having several pairs of pins and holes
vary the degree of eccentricity as may be required.
At the ends of the transverse diameter of the circular tray, and outside it, I fix
two uprights in the base of the machine, up and down which a second disc is
capable of moving. This disc is depressed by any suitable device, according to the
size of the machine, e. g. a cam and lever, or a wheel and screw, upon the unfinished
pills lying on the circular tray, and the latter being actuated by the two eccentrics,
the pills are rapidly finished and rounded by being rolled between the surfaces of
the disc and tray.
The circular tray is pressed upwards by metal springs, or elastic balls, of any
suitable kind, bearing directly upon its under face, or through an intermediate flat

page_text: plate. The upper disc is likewise pressed upwards by spring pressure suitably
applied, so that the varying degree of pressure required during the formation of
the pills, may be easily and instantaneously obtained by the operator.
I sometimes introduce a reversing motion into the gearing of my improved
machine, so that the motion of the tray may be reversed as often as may be
desired.
The unformed pills are fed into the pill tray in any convenient way, either by
band or otherwise, and are removed by hand, after removing the top disc, or expelled
by centrifugal force along a duct of a proper sectional area for passing only
perfected pills.
The whole of the above described mechanism is mounted on a suitable base, so
as to be conveniently operated by hand or power.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
or
I, GILBERT WILLIAM NIBLETT, of 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane,
London, W.C., Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my inventic
"AN IMPROVED PILL ROUNDING AND FINISHING MACHINE" and in what manne
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and b
following statement:-
he
The object of my invention is the production of a machine by which pills can be
rounded and finished much more rapidly, than by the well known land method.
Up to the present time the usual method of making pills has been to form the
pill inass into rods which, are then broken up into lumps of the required weight,
and, after being gathered on a flat surface under an inverted flat saucer, are
compelled by a circular motion imparted to the saucer by hand, to assume a spherical
form.
1
•
In carrying out my invention, I dispense altogether with manual labour as
heretofore known, while retaining the general motion which experience in this art
has proved to be the proper one, for producing a spherical pill.
In order that my invention and the means by which the same is to be put into.
practical effect may be thoroughly understood, I will proceed to describe the same.
in detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawings which are to be taken
as part of this specification and read therewith, and in which like parts are
marked throughout the figures in which they occur with the same reference letter.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation, and Fig. 2 a plan, of my improved machine. Figs. 3
and 4 are, respectively, front and side elevation of the bearings, F¹, of the first
motion shaft, F. Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation of the lever stop device.
Fig. 6 is a sectional side elevation of the machine taken at the line ab on Fig. 2.
Figs. 7 and 8 are, respectively, plan and sectional elevation of a lining E¹, and
Figs. 9 and 10, the like of the circular tray, E.
A is the under frame, of any suitable construction, and carrying at a suitable
height the base or table of the machine, B, from which spring two pillars C..
These latter with the cross bar, D, constitute the upper frame of the machine.
É is a shallow circular tray, preferably of metal, to receive the unformed pills..
The area of this tray is of course proportioned to the quantity of pills to be
rounded and finished at once, while it is its depth that decides the diameter of the
pills. And as these are required of different diameters,, I may provide for a suitable:
adjustment of the tray E, in this respect, by fitting it with rings or linings, E', of
various depths. Each lining is conveniently made with a tab, or tabs, f, which
drop into a recess, e, in the side of the tray E, being thereby incorporated with and
incapable of turning. independently of said tray.
Any other equivalent device to effect this purpose may be used with. these.
linings, e. g. a projection, f¹, entering the tray, E as shewn by the dotted lines in
Fig. 6.
+
*11%
37°
is the first motion shaft, driven either by hand or power,, and carried in,
suitable bearings,, F. In, the figures, the machine is shewn as driven by a fly-
wheel G, and handle, H, Hare a pair of mitre wheels, gearing into, pinions, H, the
axes of which are prolonged to carry the discs, L. The tray, E, above mentioned bas

page_text: two arms or tabs, e¹, opposite each other. Each tab has a pin, j, depending from
it and entering a corresponding perforation, j¹, in each disc, I. The perforations in
the discs are placed at any required degree of eccentricity, or the relative positions
of pin and perforation may be reversed, the pins projecting from the discs and'
entering the tabs. It is clear that by having more than one hole-see Fig. 2-
and a moveable pin to each tab and disc, the degree of eccentricity may be varied.
The orbit of the tray is capable of being made either circular or elliptical, and by.
making the eccentricity of one disc and pin considerably greater than that of the
other, the tray may be made to make, approximately, a to-and-fro rectilinear
motion.
K is a disc carried by the lower end of the connecting rod, L, which slides
freely through the cross bar D. This disc is expanded at two opposite points into
socketted tabs, K¹, which embrace the pillars C, up and down- which it is capable of
freely moving, while it is at the same time prevented by said tabs from being
carried round by the motion of the tray, E. M is a loose weight which, resting
upon the disc K, exerts, in part, the necessary. degree of pressure upon the pills in
the tray E. It may be either solid and single, as drawn, or divided into graduated
portions for the more ready application of the necessary pressure. To facilitate
removal, these solid weights may be made in halves which can be held together,
when upon the disc, by any convenient device.
•
N is a hand lever having its fulcrum conveniently at the end of a pillar, N¹. 'It
is connected to the rod L by means of the fork and bolt, L'.
By means of this lever, not only is the effect of the weight M, in exerting
pressure upon the pills in process of rounding and finishing, rendered capable of
being supplemented and regulated by the attendant, but it serves also as a means
'for raising the disc K. when it is required to remove the finished pills or to fill the
ay with unformed pills.
In order that the lever N shall not be brought down too low when the proper
amount of pressure and distance between the working surfaces of the tray E and
disc K have been ascertained, I provide the double stop device illustrated in
Figure 5. O is a bracket springing.from the cross bar D. Through its outer end
works a screw, 01, fitted with tightening wheel 02, lock nut O³, and a cap O', upon
which the end of the lever N will rest when pulled down by the attendant. When
he has ascertained how far it is necessary for the lever to be pulled down, the
screw is raised or lowered accordingly, and fixed by screwing up the wheel and
locknut as shewn in the figure. A second stop. device, to be used when the
diameter of the pill is too large to admit of the cap, O, being raised sufficiently
high to serve as a rest for the end of the lever, is a stout screw and 'lock nut, P,
working in the bracket at a point between the last described device and the rod L.
but nearer the latter.
Q is a link by means of which the lever N, and consequently the disc K, may be
kept up while the pills are being removed from the tray E, or the latter is being
replenished.
I do not confine myself to the above described device for raising and lowering
the disc K, as any other suitable device, such as a cam and lever, or a wheel and
screw, may be applied to produce a corresponding effect.
I may if desirable use metal springs, or elastic balls, of any suitable kind and
bearing upon the under face, directly or indirectly, of the tray E, to press the
lattor upwards, but for general pill rounding and finishing, I consider that such a
device is not necessary. I have not, therefore, introduced it into the accompanying
figures.
Spiral springs, in or around the pillars and under the disc K, may be used either
in lieu of the device Q, or to assist the attendant in varying the degree of pressure
under which the pills are being rounded and finished. **
I sometimes introduce a reversing motion into the gearing of my improved
machine, so that the motion of.the tray, E, may be reversed as often as may be
desired.

page_text: The unformed pills may be fed into the pill tray in any convenient way, either
by hand or otherwise, and the finished pills may be either removed by hand, or
expelled by centrifugal force along a duct of a proper sectional area for passing only
finished pills.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is in a machine for rounding and finishing pills
1. The combination of tray, E, capable of being revolved in a circular or other
direction; disc K, capable of being raised and lowered; tabs, e; and sockets K¹;
substantially as described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
2. The combination of discs I; pins j; perforations j¹; and tabs, e', of the tray E;
with any suitable motor gearing, substantially as described.with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
3. The use of linings, E', with the tray, E, substantially as described with
reference to the accompanying drawings.