aprovements in Apparatus for Holding and Dipping Pills in the Operation of Coating them with Sugar or Gelatine.
Year: 1893

page_text: 44th Mar 1893-Accepted, 15th Apr.,
1000
44th Mar 1893-Accepted, 15th Apr.,
Του
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
aprovements in Apparatus for Holding and Dipping Pills in the
Operation of Coating them with Sugar or Gelatine.
communication by FREDERICK STEARNS & COMPANY, of Detroit, in the
County of Wayne, and State of Michigan, United States of America,
Manufacturing Pharmacists.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON, F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
oreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool & 6, Bank Street, Man-
hester both in the County of Lancaster & 323 High Holborn in the County of
fiddlesex, Civil Engineer do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
hat manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
scertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to certain improvements in an apparatus for holding and
lipping pills in the operation of coating them with sugar or gelatine, and it consists
of the devices and appliances, their construction, combination and arrangement, as
hereinafter described and claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawings,
in which:-
Figure 1 is a side elevation, showing the removing bar retracted against the
stationary cross bar.
Figure 2 is a similar view, but showing the removing bar thrown upward.
Figure 3 is a cross section on the line a-, Figure 1.
Figure 4 is an enlarged section on the line y-y, Figure 1, the union D being
omitted.
The object of the invention is to provide a simple, economical and efficient
apparatus of this nature, whereby the pills are held, in dipping, by suction or
atmospheric pressure, produced by a suitable exhaustion of the air beneath the
pills when in position to be dipped.
In carrying out the invention, A represents a suitable frame provided with a
stationary cross bar. A' forming a portion of the frame, said cross bar engaged by
connecting end pieces A2 A3 upon a lower cross bar of the frame A. The
stationary cross bar A¹ is perforated to receive a series of tubes B, which project
outward therefrom, and which, toward the cross bar A', are preferably grouped
together and passed through a suitable orifice at a, their grouped ends being
surrounded by a ferrule C, upon which is engaged a removable union D, to the
outer end of which is attached a suction hose E, to which any suitable apparatus
O may be attached to exhaust the air in the tubes simultaneously when the pills are
engaged thereupon. When the apparatus is in the position shown in Figure 1
projecting above the apparatus, and, the ai
pills are engaged upon the tubes
being exhausted beneath the pills, the apparatus may be inverted to dip the pills
F denotes a removing bar perforated as indicated at for the passage of the tubes B
35 Said removing bar has a reciprocatory engagement upon the frame A and upo
the outer ends of the tubes B. This allows the removing bar F to be raised int
the position shown in Figure 2, to lift the pills off from the adjacent ends of th
tubes B. The bar F is held in engagement with the frame A in any suitabl
manner, as by means of metal bands G G' engaged therewith and extended ove
the bar A', the latter bar being recessed as shown at a¹ upon its edges, throug
The bands are made
which recesses the bands G Glare passed. Said bands may be made of a sing
strip of metal, having its adjacent ends united to a block
such length as to permit the desired reciprocation of the bar F. Intermediate t
ends of the bands which embrace the bar A' the bar F is preferably engag
45 therewith, so as to be readily removed therefrom, as by means of screws H.
40
g.
By making the bar F removable, different bars of a similar nature may

page_text: engaged with the apparatus. This will permit the apparatus to be used for dipping
pills of different sizes, as bars of suitable sized perforations may be used inter-
changeably to remove the pills from the tubes.
be seen,
The feature of making the removing bar F reciprocatory and removable, it will
is an important one, and makes the apparatus of superior efficiency. By
making said bar removable also in any suitable manner, a series of said bars may
be employed, so that, after the dipping process has been effected, the bar may be
removed with the pills held in place seated upon the perforations thereof for drying,
and another bar be applied to the apparatus for a successive operation.
It will be observed that, should any individual pills become unseated on the ends
of the individual tubes, the breakage of the suction through the corresponding tube
would not affect the exhaustion of the air through the remaining tubes so as to
prevent the adhesion of the remaining pills upon the corresponding tubes, as would
be liable to be the case where a series of tubes was not employed.
It must be understood that the invention is not limited exclusively to passing the
collected tubes through the bar A', as they may be passed through either of the
end pieces A² or A³, or otherwise assembled and held in proper position, as may
be desired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :—
1. In an apparatus for holding and dipping pills, the combination of an open
frame provided with a cross bar, of a series of tubes engaged with said cross bar
and led individually to a point of assemblage at their opposite ends, a union
engaging the assembled ends of the individual tubes and a suction tube engaging
said union, substantially as described.
2. In an apparatus for holding and dipping pills, the combination of a frame
provided with a cross bar A', a series of tubes engaged with said cross bar,
a suction tube engaging said series of tubes, and a perforated bar F having a
reciprocatory engagement with said frame and tubes, substantially as described.
3. In an apparatus for holding and dipping pills, the combination of a frame
constructed with a cross bar A' and a cross bar A', of a series of tubes engaged
with the bar A¹ and spaced therein one from another, said tubes assembled at the
opposite extremities and passed through the bar A, and a suction tube engaging
the assembled ends of said tubes, substantially as described.
4. In an apparatus for holding and dipping pills, the combination of a frame, a
series of tubes engaged with said frame forming seats for the pills at one end, a
suction device connected with the opposite ends of said tubes, and a perforated
reciprocatory removing bar engaged with said frame and with said tubes, said frame
and tubes having a removable engagement with said suction device, substantially
as described.
5. In an apparatus for holding and dipping pills, a series of individual tubes,
each tube forming a seat for a pill at one end, and means for individually exhausting
said tubes, substantially as described.
Dated this 13th day of March 1893.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.