Package making – Methods – Forming or partial forming a receptacle and subsequent filling
Reexamination Certificate
1999-02-08
2001-07-17
Kim, Eugene (Department: 3721)
Package making
Methods
Forming or partial forming a receptacle and subsequent filling
C053S560000, C053S900000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06260332
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an apparatus for and a method of manufacturing soft capsules wherein a filing material such as liquid medicine is encapsulated by two pieces of gelatin sheet.
2. Description of Related Art
Soft capsules are generally manufactured by a manufacturing apparatus as illustrated in FIG.
7
.
The manufacturing apparatus includes a pair of die rolls
10
,
10
that are close to and confront each other, a nozzle segment
20
that supplies a filling material and is formed of an inverse mountain-like projection
21
having curved faces that are positioned in confronting relation with each other at right and left sides about the lower end central portion thereof, wherein the projection
21
confront and is engaged in a curved recess S
1
that is formed by surrounding curved peripheral surfaces of the die rolls
10
,
10
at the upper sides thereof, and a supply hopper
30
located at the uppermost end thereof.
There are a distributor (dispersion plate)
41
for distributing the filling material, a slide valve mechanism
42
for controlling the supply of the filling material by sliding operation, a tube assembly plate
43
on which pipes for connection with a plurality of tubes are provided upright, and a plunger type pump
50
(hereinafter referred to simply as a pump
50
) having a plurality of cylinders, that are respectively interposed between the nozzle segment
20
and the supply hopper
30
in the ascending order, and wherein the plurality of tubes (hoses)
61
for supplying the filling material threrethrough that are provided between the plurality of cylinders of the pump
50
and the tube assembly plate
43
. Further, there are provided a return tube (hose)
62
that is interposed between the distributor
41
, the slide valve mechanism
42
and the supply hopper
30
, for returning the filling material that becomes useless, strip rolls
71
,
71
for separating a pair of soft capsules that are provided under and appropriately away from the die rolls
10
,
10
, and a pair of mangle rolls
72
,
72
which draws the pair of gelatin sheets.
When manufacturing the soft capsules, two gelatin sheets
100
,
100
are supplied between the pair of rotating die rolls
10
,
10
from the upper side thereof at the right and left sides thereof, and the filling material such as liquid medicine is filled in the supply hopper
30
, wherein the filling material is supplied to a plurality of nozzle holes
22
that are arranged in one row in a longitudinal direction of the right and left curved faces of the inverse mountain-like projection
21
of the nozzle segment
20
at portions close to the lower end edge (or at the lowermost end edge) through the tubes
61
, the tube assembly plate
43
, the slide valve mechanism
42
and the distributor
41
when the pump
50
is actuated.
As a result, a plurality of capsule pockets
11
that are provided on the outer peripheral surfaces of the die rolls
10
,
10
and arranged axially in a row occupy the nozzle holes
22
of the nozzle segment
20
while they are rotated, and hence the filling material is temporarily stored inside two gelatin sheets
100
,
100
, and they are conveyed downward with the rotation of the die rolls
10
,
10
. The gelatin sheets
100
,
100
are brought into intimate contact with each other in a moment when the filling material passed through the narrowest part between the die rolls
10
,
10
, and they are cut and brought into intimate contact with each other under pressure at the same time when the annular blades that are formed at the peripheries of the capsule pockets
11
of the die rolls
10
,
10
mesh with each other, so that intended soft capsules
200
are formed.
The thus formed soft capsules
200
that remain stuck to the capsule pockets
11
of the die rolls
10
,
10
are stripped off by a brush or the like while the soft capsules
200
that remain stuck to a remaining gelatin sheet
101
formed by bonding two gelatin sheets
100
,
100
are separated by the pair of strip rolls
71
,
71
, and also the remaining gelatin sheet
101
is drawn downward by the pair of mangle rolls
72
,
72
.
The soft capsules are instantaneously manufactured in practice, wherein the setting of the discharging accuracy of the filling material from the nozzle holes
22
of the nozzle segment
20
and of the timing such as rotation of the die rolls
10
,
10
become very important If the discharging accuracy and the timing such as rotation are poorly set, the amount of the filling material filled in the soft capsules
200
is varied or the gelatin sheets
100
,
100
are poorly bonded to each other or there occurs the deformation of the shape of the soft capsules
200
.
Accordingly, there has been generally employed a pump as the pump
50
shown in
FIG. 8
, wherein the pump includes a plurality of cylinders
51
a
,
51
b
(respectively five cylinders in this example) that are arranged symmetrically at right and left. Either of the cylinders
51
a
,
51
b
corresponds to each nozzle hole
22
of the nozzle segment
20
so as to secure the discharging accuracy, and a timing between the actuating or driving speed of the pump
50
and the rotational speed of the die rolls
10
,
10
is accurately provided or set using a timing gear or the like.
For example, a concrete filling state is explained with reference to a case using the pumpor plunger
50
shown in
FIG. 8
, the typical nozzle segment
20
having five nozzle holes
22
a
to
22
e
as shown in
FIGS. 9 and 10
, and a typical right die roll
10
(left die roll
10
is omitted in
FIG. 10
) having three capsule pockets
11
a
,
11
b
and
11
c
that are arranged along the row denoted by the line A—A and two capsule pockets
11
a
and
11
b
are arranged along the row denoted by the line B—B wherein these capsule pockets are repeatedly provided in the circumferential direction.
When the filing material is filled in the three capsule pockets
11
a
,
11
b
and
11
c
that are arranged in the row denoted by the line A—A, all the cylinders
51
b
provided at the right side of the pump
50
are actuated, while when the filling material is discharged, the nozzle holes
22
a
,
22
c
and
22
e
of the nozzle segment
20
corresponding to the capsule pockets
11
a
,
11
b
and
11
c
are used, whereas the filling material corresponding to the nozzle holes
22
b
and
22
d
is returned to the supply hopper
30
through the distributor
41
, the slide valve mechanism
42
and the return tube
62
.
Meanwhile, when the filling material is filled in the next two capsule pockets
11
a
and
11
b
that are arranged in the row denoted by the line B—B, all the cylinders
51
b
provided at the right side of the pump
50
are actuated, while when the filing material is discharged, the nozzle holes
22
b
and
22
d
of the nozzle segment
20
corresponding to the two capsule pockets
11
a
and
11
b
are used, whereas the filling material corresponding to the nozzle holes
22
a
,
22
c
and
22
e
are returned to the supply hopper
30
through the distributor
41
, the slide valve mechanism
42
and the return tube
62
. Such a filling operation is simultaneously operated at the left side of the die roll
10
.
Such a discharging process is sequentially repeated by the rotation of the die rolls
10
,
10
so as to form intended soft capsules
200
.
However, there are following problems in the conventional apparatus for and a method of manufacturing soft capsules.
First, it is necessary to increase the rotational speed of each die roll
10
to increase the volume of production. However, the driving speed of the pump
50
interlocked with the die roll
10
should be increased to increase the rotational speed of the die roll
10
. Since the pump
50
is a plunger type having many mechanical parts, it has a natural problem or limits in the speeding up thereof.
Particularly, since the capsule pockets
11
are formed and arranged at an equal interval in the circumferential direction of each die roll
10
, the number of capsule pocke
Flynn ,Thiel, Boutell & Tanis, P.C.
Kabushiki Kaisha Kamata
Kim Eugene
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