Patent ID: 7677016

Claim:
A capsule filling machine for producing hard gelatin capsules of a type with lid and body containing a quantity of pharmaceutical material, the machine comprising a rotary turret or carousel which defines at least one capsule handling line and on which the following are positioned, one after the other: at least one station for feeding empty capsules; at least one opening station where capsule bodies are separated from lids to form two separate rows of capsule bodies and lids; at least one station for feeding and dosing the quantities of pharmaceutical material to be filled into the capsule bodies; and at least one station for closing the capsules by placing a lid over each respective body; wherein the machine further comprises volume transducer element configured to generate a signal representative of a height of the pharmaceutical material placed in a dosing chamber, said signal being elaborated by a control and processing unit configured to calculate a volume of the quantity of pharmaceutical material into the dosing chamber and to be inserted into the capsule bodies.