Package making – Apparatus for forming or partially forming receptacle and... – Forming a pocket – depression – or hollow compartment by...
Utility Patent
1999-01-29
2001-01-02
Kim, Eugene (Department: 3721)
Package making
Apparatus for forming or partially forming receptacle and...
Forming a pocket, depression, or hollow compartment by...
C053S559000
Utility Patent
active
06167684
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to tablet or preform feeding apparatus for delivering tablets or preforms to a processing machine, in particular, to a machine for encapsulating or covering the tablets and preforms.
Over the years, a number of machines have been developed for forming and processing tablets or preforms. Incomplete pills or tablets can be moved along a suitable chute or passageway for further processing or completion. A well known final step in the production of many pharmaceutical pills is that of encapsulating or covering the pills with a layer of a protective material such as soft gelatin. This gelatin may be delivered to an encapsulating machine in the form of a strip formed on a casting drum.
One well known machine for encapsulating medicine tablets is taught in recent U.S. Pat. No. 5,146,730 issued Sep. 15, 1992 to Banner Gelatin Products Corp. In this patent specification, several possible ways for feeding tablets or preforms to a machine for encapsulating these tablets in a gelatin layer are shown and described. According to one preferred apparatus, the tablets are fed to a nip of two rotary dies by means of a vertical passageway extending through the centre of a core feed horn that extends into the region of the nip. An alternative method shown in this patent specification for feeding preforms to the rotary dies involves the use of a plurality of preform magazines formed in a downwardly extending strip of material, these magazines metering preforms to respective recesses in a rotary preform transfer device. The latter device in turn moves individual preforms to an adjacent surface of a gelatin film and places the preforms on this surface in places on the film corresponding to respective die recesses.
In a more recent U.S. Pat. No. 5,682,733 issued Nov. 4, 1997 to the present applicant, there is described another preform feeding apparatus wherein preforms are fed in separate rows down sloping chutes. There is a timing device for releasing one whole tablet or preform at a time from each chute. A mechanism for dropping individual whole tablets onto the gelatin web is connected to the bottom ends of the chutes. It has a tablet supporting bottom in the form of a flat plate having one aperture for each of the chutes. The apertures are sized to permit a single tablet or preform to drop through each. The dropping mechanism includes a sliding feed member and a drive device capable of sliding this member at timed intervals in a direction transverse to the moving gelatin web.
In applicant's co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/059,144 filed Apr. 13, 1998 entitled “MACHINE FOR ENROBING TABLETS WITH GELATIN”, another feeding system for transferring tablets or preforms from vertically extending chutes to the surface of a moving gelatin web is taught. In this tablet dispensing mechanism, vacuum applying members are used to pick up individual tablets located at the bottom ends of the chutes. Each vacuum applying member is mounted to a plenum chamber that is evacuated by a vacuum line. The vacuum applying members can be moved both vertically and horizontally in order to transfer individual tablets to the moving gelatin web which, at this stage, is located on a rotating sealing die roll. The disclosure of this pending U.S. application is hereby incorporated herein by reference.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a feeding apparatus for delivering tablets or preforms to a processing machine, which is reliable and which can transfer the tablets or preforms rapidly, thereby permitting the tablets or preforms to be processed quickly.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an efficient feeding apparatus for delivering tablets or preforms to a moving web of material such as gelatin, this apparatus including a vertically extending chute and a rotatable feed roll located adjacent a bottom end section of the chute, as well as a timed tablet holding and releasing mechanism capable of releasing a single tablet in the chute so that it can descend by force of gravity to the feed roll.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
According to one aspect of the invention, a tablet feeding apparatus for use in the manufacture of pills includes a chute adapted to hold and transfer a row of tablets arranged along the chute, this chute extending vertically during use thereof. A rotatable feed roll is capable of moving the tablets from a bottom end of the chute onto a top surface of a single moving web of material. This feed roll is located adjacent a bottom end section of the chute and has a number of tablet cavities each capable of holding an individual tablet. The cavities are distributed about the circumference of the feed roll. A timed tablet holding and releasing mechanism capable of releasing a bottom tablet in the chute so that it can descend by force of gravity into an empty one of the cavities is also provided. This mechanism holds back other tablets in the chute and includes a movable holding member for temporarily preventing all tablets located in the bottom tablet in the chute from descending in the chute when the bottom tablet is released.
Preferably the feed roll is coated with tetrafluoroethylene polymer (Trade Mark—Teflon).
According to a further aspect of the invention, a feeding apparatus for delivering pills and the like to a machine for encapsulating or covering the pills in a layer of protective material, such as gelatin, includes at least one elongate pill chute with each chute capable of holding a number of pills aligned in a row along the respective chutes and capable of feeding the pills by force of gravity to a moving web of the protective material. A plunger mechanism capable of temporarily engaging one of the pills into each chute is also provided. This mechanism prevents downward movement of the pill and all pills located above it in the respective chute. The apparatus includes a rotatable feed roll with a circular circumference located adjacent a bottom end section of the at least one pill chute. The feed roll has a number of pill cavities each capable of holding an individual pill and these cavities are distributed around the circumference of the feed roll. In addition, there is a stop mechanism for preventing temporarily downward movement of a bottom pill of the row of pills in the or each chute, this bottom pill being located downstream of the plunger mechanism. The stop mechanism moves to a pill releasing position when the plunger mechanism is engaging one of the pills in the respective chute, the engaged pill being located directly above the bottom pill in the chute, and when the feed roll has rotated to a position where it can receive the bottom pill in an empty one of the cavities. The stop mechanism prevents downward movement of the row of pills in the or each chute past the stop mechanism when the plunger mechanism is moved to a position of disengagement from any pill in the chute or chutes.
In the preferred apparatus, there are a number of pill chutes arranged in side-by-side fashion and extending downwardly at a steep angle to the horizontal plane. Preferably the feed roll is generally cylindrical in shape and has a number of circumferential rows of pill cavities.
According to still another aspect of the invention, a tablet feeding apparatus for delivering tablets to the moving web of a covering material such as gelatin, includes two or more chutes, each sized to hold and transfer a number of tablets arranged in a row along the chute by force of gravity. The chutes extend vertically during use thereof. A contact mechanism is used to temporarily engage one of the tablets in each chute so as to prevent downward movement of the one tablet and all tablets located above this one tablet in the respective chute. A rotatable feed roll is located adjacent the bottom end section of the chutes, this feed roll having a number of tablet cavities, each capable of holding an individual tablet. The cavities are distributed around the circumference of the feed roll and form one circumferential row of cavities for ea
Kim Eugene
Lipsitz Barry R.
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