Patent ID: 7861493

Claim:
An apparatus for filling tubes with piles of disc-shaped pills, the pills ( 3 ) being in a substantially vertical orientation and released intermittently one after another by at least one supply unit ( 1 ), the apparatus comprising: two functional elements ( 5 h , 5 j ), hinged at a horizontal axis (K) thereof which oscillate, in phase relation, with a release of each pill from the supply unit ( 1 ), between a loading position (C), in which the functional elements ( 5 h , 5 j ) are near to an outlet section (SU) of the at least one supply unit ( 1 ) for receiving a vertically oriented pill therein and are mutually arranged to provide corresponding seat ( 6 ) for receiving and retaining the disk-shaped pill ( 3 ) released by the supply unit ( 1 ) and a disengagement position (D), at which the functional elements ( 5 h , 5 j ) are rotated by a predetermined angle to a position coinciding with respect to the horizontal hinge axis (K), the disk-shaped pill thus moved into a corresponding horizontal orientation, gripping organs ( 11 ) provided for gripping the pill when seated on the functional elements in the disengagement position, the gripping organs holding the pill as at least one functional element rotates back to the loading position, the gripping organs being movable in a predetermined operating direction for depositing the pill ( 3 ) as the functional element moves away from the disengagement position (D), the gripping organs releasing each pill ( 3 ) inside of a corresponding tube ( 10 ) in phase relation with the movement of the functional elements ( 5 h , 5 j ).