US700806A - Manufacture of capsules. - Google Patents

Description

No. 700,806. Patented May 27. E902 G. H. PAINE. MANUFACTURE OF BAPSULES.

(Application filed Oct. 5, 1901.)

(No Model.)

a NW e ow m UNITED STATES PATENT OFEicE.

GEORGE H. PAINE, OF GERMANTOWN, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO BENJAMIN T. BABBITT HYDE, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MANUFACTUREVOF CAPSULES.-

SPEOIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 700,806, dated May 27, 1902. Original application filed August 22. 1900. Serial No- 27,654. Divided and this application filed October 6, 1901. Serial To all? whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GEORGE H. PAINE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Germantown, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Manufacture of Capsules, of which the following is a specification.

My invention has relation to the manufacture of tubes, cylinders, or other structures to become sealed capsules adapted to contain liquid and volatile substances or preparations.

The present application is a division of the application for patent filed by me under'date of August 22, 1900, Serial No. 27 ,654, in which the product of the present method is claimed.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a comparatively simple, economical, and efiicient method of producing tubes, cylinders, or other structures of gelatinous substances or materials or of paper, fabric; or

other flexible material coated with a gelatinous or other liquid substance or material for becoming capsules when sealed and adapted to contain liquid or volatile preparations for various purposes.

My invention, stated in general terms,

consists of the method of making capsules, substantially as hereinafter described and claimed.

, The nature and scope of my invention will be more fully understood from the following description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, forming part hereof, in which Figure 1 is a view, partly in vertical longitudinal section and partly in elevation, of amachine adapted for carrying certain steps of the method of my present invention into effect. Figs. 2 and 3 are elevational views, partly in broken section, the former of a tube of paper or similar tough material and the latter of a tube of paper or similar tough material provided on the inside with a gelatinous coating given to the same by arranging the tubes in the apparatus in the manner illustrated in Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is an elevational view, partly in broken section, of one of the tubes internally coated and filled and the re- (No model.)

spective ends sealed with a liquid volatile substance or preparation. Fig. 5 is a view of the said tube formed into separate capsules. Fig. 6 is a front elevational view,partly in section, of an apparatus for carrying out certain other steps of the present invention, whereby the capsule-tube may be sealed at either end and intermediate of its ends and then separated at the intermediate sealed portions. Fig. 7 is a top or plan view of an apparatus for carrying out those steps in the method which related to the hardening and fixing of the coating of the tube. Fig. Sis an elevational view, partly in broken section, of a tube composed entirely of a gelatinous substance adapted to be formed in the apparatus of Fig. 1; and Fig. 9 is a cross sectional view of a mold adapted to be placed in connection' with the nozzles of the apparatus of Fig. l for forming the tubing entirely of agelatinous or other similar substance or materials to subsequently become capsules, for example, of the character illustrated in Fig. 6.

Referring to the drawings as an exemplification of an apparatus suitable for the conduct of the method of my invention of producing capsules, A represents a filling-machine comprising upper and lower jacketed tanks a and a, with a hopper a connected with the upper tank. These tanks are provided with inlet and outlet pipes for the introduction of steam,'heated air, or hot water for melting the fluid contained in the inner chamber of each of said tanks or for cooling the liquid, as occasion may require, in either of. them. These tanks are connected with each other by piping a and (1", provided with a pump of, whereby the gelatinous fluid substance dripping into the lower tank from the lar substance to pass through and become coated on the internal surface of the said tubing and of the material body of the tubing being more or less saturated with said coating, so as to render the tubing air and moisture tight and proof.

I; is a hardening, cooling, and drying apparatus provided with a checkerwork floor 11 and with a jacket interposed between the inner perforated wall 15 and the outer casin g I).

This checker-work floor I) is provided with openings in shape or configuration similar to the tubing or siuiilarstructu res formed of paper or other material internally coated with a gelatinous substance and detachably mounted therein, as illustrated in Fig. 2, and the said jacketed apparatus is provided with tubing extending around the same between the outer casing 12' and the inner perforated wall 11 for permitting of a free circulation of air or of a cooling agent in and about the suspended tubes therein.

D is a device for recessing and severing the filled tubing E to form the same into a series of single capsules properly sealed. This device is provided with standards (I, carrying a platform or table d, with a lower die d and an upper die (i held normally away from" each other bya coiled spring d in a plungerhead d operated by a hand-lever d or other instrumentality. The upperdied isrecessed to correspond with the shape or configuration at e given to the tubing E in Fig. 6. The plunger-head d of the said device carrying the upper die (Z provided with a spring-controlled head, carries also a knife or' chisel al held normallyin inoperative position by means of a coiled spring (1 yet in such correlation to each other as that after recessing the tubing in substantially the manner illustrated in Fig. 5 without removing the tubes from the machine in the recessed portion of the tubing in succession each can be severed by the actuation of the knife or chisel d and formed into single capsules,with theircontained substance or materials in liquid and volatile form therein hermetically sealed against extraneous or atmospheric conditions. Between the standards and beneath the same in a perforated chamber f are provideda series of gas or oil jets f, having a pipe f connected with a suitable source of gas or oil supply, whereby in the recessed portion of the same,through the influence of heat from the jets f the tubing is sealed, so that quickly and economically a tubing of paper internally coated with gelatin or other suitable substance or materials, or even a tubing composed entirely of a gelatinousor similar substance, may be formed into individual capsules without loss of material contained in the capsules, the

entrance of air or gas the reinto, or escape of the volatile constituents of the contained liquid or other matter therefrom. This is important, due to the fact that substances or materials placed in capsules are usually of such a nature as to be readily affected by at .cause of the hyd'roscopic nature of such substances or materials.

The tube formation shown in Fig. 8 is provided by mounting the two-part mold g in connection with the two series of nipples of the apparatus of Fig. 1 and permitting the free passage of the gelatinous substance or fiuid from the elevated tank a to pass through the molds in such manner as to cause the formation of a gelatinoustubing, which upon cooling and hardening in the apparatus of Fig. 2 may be brought into the form of capsules of the character illustrated in Fig. 5 by the passing of the same after having been filled and sealed at the respective ends in any suitable manner through the apparatus of Fig. 3 and first recessing the tubing and by the operation sealing the same in the recessed portion and then severing the recessed portion about midway therein by the knife or chisel d of the apparatus D without inter-' fering in any manner with the hermeticallysealed condition of the gelatinous-filled tubing E. This tubing when it becomes hard or rigid assumes a tough condition, and hence, while readily friable or capable of being dissolved, is .impermeable to outside atmospheric conditions.

In the formation of a tubing of gelatinous substances it is preferred to use a mold ob-- long and rectangular in form, in which the two parts are doweled or keyed to each other, and after the formation of the tubing E in such molds the two parts of the molds g can be readily separated from the formed tubing E therein by the removal of the series of the said molds g from the nozzles a of the apparatus A of Fig. l of the drawings.

The principal advantages of making a tubing out of paper or similar tough and stout material is to hold not only the internal coating of gelatinous or other similar substance more firmly to seal the materials which it embraces, as well as to make the packet waterproof, but also to afford means for printing or stamping upon the exterior surface of the capsules directions for using the internal contents of the capsules and to receive thereon advertising matter in respect to the internal contents of the tubing when it has assumed the form of capsules or of a series of linkedtogether capsules adapted to be separated from each other without affecting each other or destroying the usefulness of the capsulelike structure or the uusevered series ofsuch structures to be used as capsules. The heating of the dies during the recessing of the tubing insures a strong seal being formed between capsules formed of the character illustrated in Fig. 5 and prior to their separation from each other, as shown therein.

Having explained the manner of making capsules, the method of my invention of carrying into effect by one preferred form of apparatus, as illustrated, may be briefly described as follows: The apparatus of Fig. 1 being provided with a series of tubing in connection with the nipples connecting the upper tank with the lower tank through-the tubing mounted in connection with said nipples under the due regulation of stop-cocks,the gelatinous substance or material is permitted to pass slowly oi rapidly, as may be desired, through the tubing, and in passage through the tubing to so coat the same as to produce a film-like surface around and about the internal wall of the tubing and any surplus passing through the tubing being liberated into the lower tank, from whence it may be lifted by the pump a and piping a, and a into the elevated tank for use again. The tubing having been internally coated in the manner explained is then removed and arranged in the checker-work of the cooling and hardening apparatus of Fig. 2 to reduce the temperature of the same therein,and'thereby to harden the internal coating of the suspended tubes in the apparatus D. The circulation of a cooling agent or cold air through this apparatus -D is adapted to expedite hardening of the internal coatingof the tubes E, and when sufficiently hard to be removed to retain their shape they are passed through the recessing or severing apparatus of Fig. 6, so as to form the tubing into capsules of the character illustrated in Fig. 5, after first having been filled with a liquid or other suitable substance of a volatile or hydroscopic character, and when the tubing has assumed the condition illustrated in Fig. 5, hermetically sealed and severed into a series of simple capconsists in first providing a tube of tough,

flexible material, impermeable to the atmosphere, and in then hardening said tube by cooling the same.

3. The method of making capsules, which consists in forming a tube of tough, flexible material, -then coating its interior with a gelatinous material applied in a liquid condition, then cooling and hardening the interior coating of said tube and finally subjecting the tube to heat prior to sealingthe same under pressure.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my signature in the presence of two subscrib ing witnesses.

GEORGE H. PAINE.

Witnesses:

J. WALTER DOUGLASS, THOMAS M. SMITH.

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