US1579947A - Capsule-filling machine - Google Patents

Description

April 6 1926. 1,579,947

R. T. KILPATRICK CAPSULE FILLING MACHINE Filed May 2, 1924 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Hal HTTORNEY Patented Apr. 6, 1926.

UNITED STATES isms-47 FATENT QFFIQE.

CAPSULE-FILLING MACHINE.

Application filed May 2,

W to make and use the same.

My invention relates to improvements in capsule filling machines, which provide for the mechanical separation of a material which is desired to put into capsules, into a desired number of parts, for discharging these separated parts into the same number of individual capsules and for packing the separated parts into these capsules simultaneously.

The objects of my invention, are- First, to provide means whereby a material to be filled into capsules may be divided into a number of parts.

Second, to provide means whereby the number of parts into which the material is to be divided may be varied.

Third, to provide means for holding a number of capsules corresponding to the number of parts into which the material has been divided.

Fourth, to provide means for supporting these capsules against distortion where it is desired to pack the material tightly into the same.

Fifth, to provide means for guiding each part of the separated material into the corresponding capsule placed therefor.

Sixtlnto provide means for forcing these various separated parts of the material simultaneously each into its proper capsule and simultaneously packing the material into the capsule.

Seventh, to provide means for holding the filled ends of the capsules while the lateral supporting means for the capsules is removed.

Eighth, to provide means for adapting the machine to various sizes of capsules, and

Ninth, to improve the details of construction of the machine.

I accomplish these obje ts as will be more 1924. Serial No. 710,491.

fully hereinafter set out in the drawings, specification and claims.

In the drawings;

Fig. 1 is a side elevation and partial section of the machine taken on the line II of Fig. 2 with the machine empty.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of the machine.

Fig. 3 isa side elevation and partial section taken on the line II of Fig. 2, with the male ends of the capsules in place showing the lateral'supporting means for these male ends raised to thereafter permit the said ends of the capsules to remain supported so that they may be in position to be readily capped when the filling plungers are withdrawn.

Fig. 4; is a plan view of the dividing and filling plate.

FFig. 5 is a section on the lineVV of Fig. 6 is a plan view of the distributing box showing means employed to divide this box so that in this particular instance selectively either or capsules may be filled at one time. i i

Fig. 7 is a section on the line VII-VII of Fig. 6.

, Fig. 8 is an inverted plan view of' a portion of a cover plate for holding the female ends of the capsules.

Fig. 9 is a section through one line of holes of a modified form of capsule holding plate showing means for forcing the capsules out. I

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the same plate- Referring now to the drawings in which the various part-s are designatedby the same numerals in all the'views, 1 is a supporting base from one side of which a bracket 2 preferably integral with the said base projects vertically upward. "3 is an operating arm or lever, one end of which is pivoted in the upper end of the bracket 2, on a pin 4:. The base 1 is provided with a seat 5 on which rests a removable capsule supportingplate 6 which plate is preferably rectangular incross sec tion and is surrounded andheld against lateral displacement by means of'aledge 7 which surrounds the outer edge of the plate 6. Normally resting on the supporting plate 6 is a removable plate 8, which plate is adapted to surround and support the sides of the capsules while they are being filled. These two plates forming a separable hold ing and supporting means for-the maletends of the capsules. Immediately above and resting on the supporting plate 8 is a removable hopper plate 9 and immediately above and resting on this hopper plate is a distributing box 10. The hopper plate 9 as will-be more readily seen by reference to Figs. land is divided into a plurality of equal sized, hoppers 11. These hoppers are rectangular in cross section at their upper ends changing to a circular section at theirlower ends. The walls 12 dividing the hopper plate 9 into hoppers 11 preferably come-to a. knife edge flush with the upper surface of the plate 9, and divide the hopper plate into hoppers arranged in rows at right angles to each other. The plate 8 on which this plate 9 normally rests, is provided with the same number of cylindrical holes 18 which cylindrical holes are adapted to register with the opening in the bottom of the hoppers 11 and likewise the plate 6 .is provided with the same number of closed bottom holes 1.4, which are adapted to register with the openings 13 in the plate 8. These various plates are provided with some means of making them register exactly one with the other, such for instance as the dowel pins 15 'projecting from the lower side of the plate 8 and the corresponding dowel holes 16 in the plate 6, (Fig. 3). Similarly the plate 10 (Fig. 7)' is provided with dowel pins 17 which engage the dowel holes 18 in the plate 9 (Fig. i), and similarly pins 19 projecting from the lower surface of the plate 9 engage corresponding holes, notshown, in the upper portion of the plate 8. The :holes 13 in the plate 8 pass entirely therethrough and are of a size adapted to closely fit, Without building the male ends of some particular size of capsule. The holes '14 in the plate 6 extend downward from the top but do not pass through that plate and are likewise adapted to closely fit the same size capsule ends, the depth of these holes being slightly more than one-half the diameter of the capsule ends which are to be held therein. The distributing box 10 has the lower portion of one side cut away to form in connection with the top of the hopper plate 9, a slot 20 through which a slide 21, (Figs. 6 and 7) may be inserted to separate it from the hopper plate 9. This distributing box also has a plurality of oppositely disposed slots i32*22, 223 in a pair of which slots a dividing plate 24- may be inserted to separate olt various numbers of holes. The plate 24L- shown used by itself divides this box into two sections, one covering ten holes in the hopper plate below and the other covering twenty holes in the same plate. A similar plate of greater length inserted in the slots 22, with the plate 2st in place would divide the box into -tour sections, one covering two holes in the hopper plate, one covering four holes, one covering 8 holes and one covering )lun 'ers-26 fastened thereto and de endin b U therefrom, these plunger-s correspondingin number to the number of hoppers 11 and being adapted to pass entirely through these hoppers and partially through the corresponding holes inthe-supporting-plate 8 when the same is 'in lowered position, (Fig. 1) and entirely therethrough when in raised position. (Fig. 3). The plunger plate 25 is provided with an upwardly extending bracket 27 to which side plates 28 are secured by means of a pin 29 and these plates in turn are pivoted to the operating arm 3 by means'of a pin 30 so that the plunger plate 25 may be raisedor lowered when the operating arm 3 is raised, and may be entirely disconnected by removing either the pin 29 or the pin 30. 31 is-a rod pivoted to the operating arm 3 by means of a pin 32 which rod acts as a stop to limit the downward motion of the arm 3. The lower end of this and Y31 is adapted to come against either the block 33 as shown, the upper surface 3%. ofthe'base flange, or into the recess 35, the latter positionpreventing material being forced below the top f the capsules.

To use the machine the-operating arm 3 is raised, entirely removing the plunger plate 25 and the plunger-s .26 from their bottom position in the machine, if desired being turned back 180 degrees. The distributing box 10 and the hopper plate 9 are also removed and a holding plate (3 and supporting plate 8, conforming to the size ot capsules which it is desired to fill, are put in place in the machine. The male ends of the number of capsules corresponding to the number of parts into which it is desired to divide a particular batch of material are placed in a compact group in the supporting-and holding plates and the hopper plate and distributing box are then placed thereover. The slide 21 is inserted in the groove 20 and a section of the distributing box ,10 isdivided off by the proper division plates corresponding to the number of capsules placed in the supporting and holding plates. The material to be divided and filled into the capsules is then placed in that portiomof the measuring box which has been divided oil, is properly leveled up and the slide 21 withdrawn, allowing the material to drop into the hoppers 11, thus dividing the mixture into equal parts; The opcrating arm 3 is now turned to bring the plungers 26 over the hoppers and they are pushed downward therethrough carrying the material downward into the male ends of the capsules. If all this material is not pushed into the capsules by the first clownward stroke the operating arm is raised and again depressed and this is repeated until all the material in the hoppers 11 is carried into and packed in the capsules. During this process the plate 8 supports the male end of the capsules against lateral distortion whereas the plate 6 holds them up as well as supports their lower ends.

When all the material is in the capsules the operating arm 3 is held down and the plate 8 carrying with it thehopper plate 9 and distributing box 10 is raised until it comes above the top of the capsules, on which it may thereafter rest while the plungers are being withdrawn so that the supporting plate, hopper plate and distributing box maybe removed to permit the capping of the capsules and thereafter the removal of the same. This operation is of course repeated for each prescription which is filled.

This capping may be done by hand, or should it be desired a cover plate 36 shown in Fig. 8 practically identical in form witl the holding plate 6, except that the holes 37 therein being for the female ends of the cap, sules would be larger than the corresponding holes 14 in the holding plate 6, may be used and the caps or female ends of the capsules be placed therein and the entire set of caps turned over and placed over the corresponding male ends of the capsules at one time. Should there be a tendency for the caps to drop out of the cover plate 36 the holding plate 6 with the caps therein may be removed from the base 1 and be turned up edgeways, the cover plate being complementary turned until the male ends and the female ends of the capsules are in substantially horizontal position, when the two sets are brought together to complete the capping of the capsules.

In some cases I find that there is a tendency for the capsules to hang in the capsule supporting plate 6 and in such case I prefer to use a modified form of such plate such as is shown in Fig. 9. In this modification the holes 14: which are normally formed with a closed bottom having a much smaller hole 38 from the lowest points of their bottoms through the plate 6. 39 is a rectangular plate provided with a number of projections a0 corresponding to the number of capsule holes 1% fitting within the holes 38, the said plate 39 either being entirely independent or being adapted to rest on projections ll from the base 1.

In use, this plate 39 is normally inoperati e n il a t the c p u e have been filled place and forces these capsules out of the holes 14-. c

It will be seen that this plate 39 even though supported by the projections 41 of the base, may be removed by removing the plate 6 and in such case it may be used in connection with the cover plate 36 shown in Fig. 8. In that case this plate may be provided with holes 43 corresponding with the hole 38 in the plate 6.

While I have herein shown and described the preferred embodiment of the present invention, it is nevertheless to be understood that minor changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed. This is specifically true as to the aligning means for the various plates, which may be aligned one with the other as the plate 6 is aligned on the base 1, by the dowel pins and holes, or by other suitable means.

It will also be readily seen that by using a square block adapted to cover a single capsule space and of length equal to the depth of the distributing box 1.0 that any particular number of divisions blocked off may be reduced one in number thereby, as for instance an eight space division blocked off may be reduced to seven.

Having now fully described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, is c 1. In a capsule filling machine, a supporting base, a capsule holding plate having a plurality of closed end openings therein, a capsule supporting plate adapted to rest on and be aligned with said holding plate and having a corresponding number of aligned openings therethrough, a hopper plate adapted to be registered with said supporting plate and having a plurality of hoppers each registering with a corresponding opening in the supporting plate, a divisible distributing box adapted to rest on and be registered with said hopper plate, a removable slide for separating said distributing box from said hopper plate, a plunger for each of said hoppers, a plate carrying said plungers, an operating arm hinged to said plate, a plurality of stops on said supporting base, and a rod hinged to and depending from said operating arm, and adapted to engage selectively any oneof said stops to limit the downward movement of said arm and the plungers carried thereby.

2. In a capsule filling machine, a support- 1 ing base, a capsule holding plate having a plurality of closed end openings therein, a capsule supporting plate adapted to rest on and be aligned with said holding plate and having a Corresponding number of aligned openings therethrough, a hopper plate adaptedto be registered with said supporting plate and having a plurality of hoppers each registering with a corresponding opening in the supporting plate, a divisible distributing box adapted to rest on and be registered with said hopper plate, a removable slide for separating said: distributing box from said hopper plate, a plunger for each of said hoppers, a plate carrying said 10 plungers, and an operating arni hinged to said plate, said supporting plate, hopper plate, and distributing box being vertically raisable from said holding plate, with said plungers depressed.

In testimony whereol I have hereunto set my name.

ROBERT T. KILPATRICK.

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