GB1267272A - Improvements relating to the packaging of liquids - Google Patents

Abstract

1,267,272. Moulding capsules. BRITISHAMERICAN TOBACCO CO., Ltd. 16 March, 1970 [24 March, 1969], No. 15318/69. Heading B5A. [Also in Divisions B8 and F4] Liquid-containing capsules are produced by feeding the liquid portion-wise through cooling means to produce frozen solid entities which are transferred to apparatus which evenly coats the entities with a material which is then caused to solidify and the frozen contents to melt. Water from a tank 6 is injected in drops through a nozzle 5 at the base of a column 1 containing a cooled liquid mixture (see Division F4) of higher density than the water whereby the drops rise and become frozen into balls 12 and pass via a pipe 13 and valve 19 to a pan 21 from which they are transferred to a deep freeze cabinet. To assist the flow of the balls in the column a cooled liquid mixture in a tank 14 is injected at 18 into the column by a pump 16. The balls are fed to the apparatus of Fig. 2 where they are wax coated. Such apparatus includes a tank 23 containing molten wax into which a roller 22 with axial grooves dips. A helically grooved roller 24, rotated in the same direction as roller 22, receives the balls which are fed singly into the roll bight from a hopper 29 and feed tube 31, and under the control of a camactuated reciprocatory rod 32 which pushes each ball against a baffle plate, not shown, ensuring that it falls into the starting point of the helical groove. Each ball is carried along the bight during which it is evenly coated with wax drawn up from the tank by the roll 22. The coated ball falls into a trough 37 of cold water and passes via a further trough 391 to a shoot 41<SP>1</SP> for collection. In a modified apparatus for the feeding of the balls singly to the roller bight, each ball is fed from a tube into one of a ring of holes provided in a rotating disc above the bight, and is prevented from falling through the disc until it reaches an appropriate position.