IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING PILLS AND BOLUSSES."
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Hawker Cox, of Ship Street, Brighton, in
the County of Sussex, Chemist and Druggist, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING PILLS AND BOLUSSES."
66
IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING PILLS AND BOLUSSES."
Sealed the 13th October 1854, and dated the 18th April 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Hawker Cox at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th April 1854.
I, ARTHUR HAWKER Cox, Chemist & Druggist, Ship Street, Brighton, in.
the County of Sussex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for..
"IMPROVEMENTS IN COATING PILLS AND BOLUSSES" to be as follows:-
Canada balsam, gum thus, frankincense, gutta percha, caoutchouc, gun
cotton, or other gum or resin or material, insoluble in water or saliva, but.
acted on by the stomach, is dissolved in ether, turpentine, alcohol, naptha, or
other volatile solvent.
The pills or bolusses to be coated are covered, rubbed, or washed over with
this solution by immersion therein, or otherwise. The pills are then to be kept™
in motion till the solvent is sufficiently evaporated, to prevent the adhesion of.
the pills to each other.
Another method of applying this covering is to reduce to powder a friable
resin, gum, or material, insoluble in water, as aforesaid, but acted on by the
stomach, and to coat the pills or bolusses with the materials used, either by
174

page_text: first covering them with the powder, and then with a proper solvent, or by
first covering them with the solvent and then with the powder. The solvent
used is then evaporated from the surfaces of the pills or bolusses.
With either method the appearance of the pills or bolusses may be sub-
sequently improved, by dusting them over with powdered French chalk or
other powder.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Arthur Hawker Cox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
13th October 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ARTHUR
HAWKER Cox, of Ship Street, Brighton, in the County of Sussex, Chemist and
Druggist, send greeting...
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight, hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Arthur Hawker Cox, Her special license that I, the said Arthur Hawker
Cox, my executors, adininistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Arthur Hawker Cox, 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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
COATING PILLS AND BOLUSSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Arthur Hawker Cox, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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.
j
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Arthur Hawker Cox, 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 (that is to say):
-
This Invention relates to a novel mode of coating pills and bolusses, and
thereby rendering them tasteless to the palate when taken medicinally.

page_text: .It has heretofore been proposed to obtain this result-by-using a solution.of
gelatine as a coating, .but this has failed, from the fact that on immersing the
pills in the solution a portion of the component parts of the pill becomes:
dissolved, and a combination of the. same with the gelatine takes, place. In
like manner a second immersion of the pill in the gelatine will (instead of
imparting a coat of pure gelatine) again dissolve the surface of. the pill, and
unavoidably produce an adhesion between the pills, which virtually renders the
application of a second coat impracticable. Now, the object of this Invention
is to remedy the defect heretofore experienced in coating pills and bolusses
with a tasteless solution, and effectually to envelope the pill or bolus in a
pellicle or covering, which shall be perfectly tasteless, and yet permit of the
gastric juices of the animal body acting upon the pill: To this end I dissolve
Venice turpentine, Canada balsam, gum thus, or frankincense, mastic, myrrh,
or other gum or resin, insoluble in water or saliva (but capable of being
readily acted upon by the juices of the stomach) in æther, alcohol, or other
proper solvent, and the pills or bolusses to be coated I immerse therein, or
otherwise nioisten their surfaces in any convenient way. The pills or bolusses
when thus coated are to be kept in motion until the solvent is sufficiently
evaporated, to prevent the adhesion of the pills or bolusses to each other. In
applying a second coating of the dissolved gum (which in most cases I deem
desirable) care must be taken that the first coating has already become dry
and hard; in that case the second application will not disturb the first coat,
and consequently the adhesion of the pills to each other, if kept in motion, will
not take place.
Another method of applying this covering is to reduce to powder any one of
the friable resins or gums which are insoluble in water, but capable of being
readily acted upon by the juices of the stomach, as aforesaid, and to coat the
pills or bolusses with the powdered material, and then to immerse them in a
proper solvent; or I first immerse them in the solvent, and while their surface
is still wet roll them in the powdered resin. The solvent contained on the
surface of the pill or bolus will in either case dissolve a portion of the resin, and
form a pellicle of soluble resinous gum around it. The solvent is then to be
evaporated, and the coating is completed. If, however, it is thought desirable,
the pills or bolusses may be subsequently made to take the ordinary appear-
ance of such articles, by dusting over them powdered magnesia or other
innocuous powder.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements in
Coating Pills and Bolusses, "and explained the mode of carrying the same into

page_text: effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim, the coating of pills and bolusses with a gum or resin varnish
insoluble in water, in the manner and for the purpose above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Hawker Cox, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane..
ARTHUR HAWKER COX. (L.S.)