JPH0588145B2 - - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION <Object of the Invention><Industrial Application Field> The present invention relates to a capsule take-out device in a gelatin capsule manufacturing apparatus.

<Prior art and problems> This type of gelatin capsule manufacturing equipment feeds gelatin sheets formed into sheet-like sheets into a state between a pair of die rolls, and injects the stock solution from above during that time to prevent the action of the molding protrusions on the die rolls. The capsule containing the stock solution is molded using the following process. Some gelatin capsules molded in this way fall naturally and are taken out after molding, but if they cannot be separated from the gelatin sheet sufficiently or are wedged, for example, they may fall into the molding protrusion of the die roll. In some cases, it remains wedged in, or remains attached to the blank sheet that has been punched out.
For this reason, conventionally, a die roll scraping brush that contacts the die roll and a blank sheet scraping brush that contacts the blank sheet are provided to remove these. However, in the past, these brushes and the like shared a die roll and its driving source, so they could not be adjusted or inspected independently, and there was room for improvement in manufacturing management.

<Problems with which the development was attempted> The present invention has been made in view of the problems of the prior art, and is designed to enable the member for taking out the manufactured capsules to be driven independently of the die roll. This is what I did.

<Structure of the Invention><Means for Achieving the Object> That is, the capsule ejecting device in the gelatin capsule manufacturing apparatus of the present invention supplies two gelatin sheets between a pair of die rolls, injects the stock solution from above, and In an apparatus for molding gelatin capsules containing a stock solution by the action of molding protrusions, the gelatin sheet feeding side of the die roll includes a die roll scraping brush that contacts the die roll and a blank that contacts the gelatin blank sheet that has been punched out of the capsule. The present invention is characterized in that it is provided with a sheet scraping brush and a blank sheet feed roll that serves to sandwich and pull out the blank sheet, and these are driven by a drive system independent of the die roll, and the above-mentioned It is an attempt to achieve a goal.

<Examples> The present invention will be specifically described below based on illustrated examples. The present invention is constructed by being incorporated into a gelatin capsule manufacturing apparatus 1 described below, and these apparatuses will be described in detail below.
This gelatin capsule manufacturing apparatus 1 is roughly divided into a sheet molding section 2 and a capsule molding section 3, and these members are assembled to a frame F. First, to explain the sheet molding section 2, the capsule molding section 3 has two
Several sheets of gelatin are supplied in a pile,
Since it is molded into a spindle shape in the capsule molding section 3, a pair of sheet molding sections 2 in front and behind the capsule molding section 2 are provided on the left and right sides of the frame F. However, it is not necessarily limited to such a configuration, and for example, one sheet molding unit 2 may be used.
An appropriate method may be used, such as forming a gelatin sheet, cutting it into two pieces while reaching the capsule molding section 3, and feeding them oppositely. First, a gelatin tank 5 is provided above the sheet molding section 2. This device stores molten gelatin, and this embodiment is a relatively compact device suitable for relatively small-quantity production or experimental production, so gelatin is stored in the gelatin tank 5. It is possible to use it for practical purposes even when it is supplied, but if you want to make it more suitable for mass production, you can replace it with this gelatin tank 5.
A gelatin hopper or the like, which can be supplied as needed, may be suspended above the processing plant using a hoist crane or the like to supply gelatin. A supply hose 6 is drawn out downward from the gelatin tank 5 and is provided with a valve 7 in the middle. A heater 8 is provided in the gelatin tank 5 to ensure that the gelatin is in a molten state. Gelatin is supplied from the supply hose 6 of the gelatin tank 5 to a spreader box 10 located below it, and this spreader box 10 will be described in detail below. As shown in FIGS. 4, 5, and 6, this device has a substantially wedge-shaped side surface, and consists of a main body 11 and an adjustment dam plate 12 movably attached to the front surface of the main body 11. It is configured to be fixed to the frame F by a fixing bracket 13. A float valve 14 is provided within this main body 11. This device consists of a valve installed between a float and the connecting end of the supply hose 6 according to the conventional method.
When sufficient gelatin is supplied into the spreader box 10, the float in the float valve 14 rises to close the valve, so that a certain amount of gelatin is always stored in the spreader box 10. Incidentally, the main body 11 and the adjusting weir plate 12 are each provided with a heater 15 for ensuring that the gelatin is in a molten state. A slit-shaped discharge hole 16 is formed between the lower end of the main body 11 and the lower end of the adjustment dam plate 12.
The molten gelatin in the spreader box 10 is discharged from here. Next, the opening adjustment mechanism of this adjustment dam plate 12, etc. will be explained. First, reference numeral 18 is an adjustment rod having a thread formed around its periphery, and this rod is screwed into a female threaded portion 19 that is integrally attached to the adjustment dam plate 12.
The upper end of the adjustment rod 18 is provided with a dial 20 for rotating it, and the lower end thereof forms an abutting end 21 and is connected to the main body 11.
It maintains a state of contact with the reference end 22 fixed to the side. Incidentally, reference numeral 23 is a set spring, which acts to constantly press the adjustment weir plate 12 downward. Further, reference numeral 24 is a rod guide formed on the main body 11 side. A dial gauge 26 is provided between the adjustment dam plate 12 and the main body 11 so that the adjustment state can be visually checked. The plunger 27 of the dial gauge 26 is in contact with a detection protrusion 28 that moves together with the adjustment dam plate 12. Therefore, the dial gauge 26 is, for example, the discharge hole 1.
When the reference position is adjusted to 0 as appropriate, such as in the fully closed state or the most frequently used open state,
It is configured to represent the open state or fully closed state as a constant value. Incidentally, in this embodiment, since the amount of gelatin to be discharged requires extremely delicate adjustment, and even the slightest inclination of the adjustment dam plate 12 is not allowed, dial gauges 26 are provided on the left and right sides of the adjustment dam plate 12, respectively. However, when adjusting the mechanism in which the adjustment dam plate 12 hardly tilts, or even if it does, the degree of inclination is not a problem, one dial gauge 26 or one adjustment rod 18 may be used. Of course, there is no problem in adjusting it by providing it only in the center. A cooling drum 30 faces below the spreader box 10, and as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8, this drum is rotatably supported by a frame F at a shaft 31 and driven by an appropriate motor. Therefore, it is driven. And this axis 31
A cooling medium supply means is formed for the cooling medium supplying means, and reference numeral 32 denotes a cooling medium supply hose, and 33
is the cooling medium recovery hose. These hoses are connected to a coupling ring 34, which connects to the shaft 31.
The cooling medium is fitted onto the outside of the cooling medium and is configured to be able to supply and recover the cooling medium. and axis 3
A cooling medium discharge pipe 35 and a cooling medium recovery pipe 36 are formed to extend into the cooling drum 30 from each opening. Such a cooling medium is supplied or recovered from the refrigerator unit 38. Note that a general refrigerator unit can be applied to the refrigerator unit 38, so a detailed explanation will be omitted. The device described above becomes the sheet molding section 2, and the capsule molding section 3 is provided at the subsequent stage, that is, the side where the gelatin sheet S is fed, and a feed roll 40 and A reversal guide 41 is formed. That is, the gelatin sheet S, which has been cooled by circulating around the cooling drum 30, passes between the plurality of feed rolls 40 in a zigzag pattern, reaches the reversing guide 41, and is fed into the capsule molding section 3. Next, the capsule molding section 3 will be explained with reference to FIGS. 9, 10 and 11. First, reference numeral 42 is a die head which is a main component of the capsule molding section 3, and this head is made up of a die roll frame 43 and a pair of die rolls 44. Note that one of the pair of die rolls 44 is fixed and the other is configured to be freely accessible to the fixed die roll 44, and if it is necessary to distinguish between the two and explain, one of them will be referred to as the fixed die roll. 44a and the other die roll 44b will be described as an adjustable die roll 44b. Each die roll 44 has an appropriate molding protrusion 45 formed on its surface. For example, when forming a gelatin capsule A that is approximately spindle-shaped, the die roll 44 has an elliptic shape with a concave center. It is something. Next, the adjustment mechanism for the contact pressure of this die roll 44 will be explained. The bearing part 46 of the adjustable die roll 44b is formed to be slidable on the other fixed die roll 44a side with respect to the die roll frame 43. A pair of front and rear leaf springs 47 and 48 for pressing act on this bearing portion 46. That is, the pair of leaf springs 47 and 48 come into contact with each other through the central contact part 49 whose center protrudes, and the leaf spring 47 on the side closer to the bearing part 46 contacts the bearing part 46 with both ends thereof. Fixed side die roll 44
It acts to push it toward the a side. Adjustment push rods 51 are attached to both ends of the other leaf spring 48.
This adjustment push rod 51 is configured to be screwed into the die roll frame 43, and has an adjustment dial 52 at its operating end, so that when the adjustment push rod 51 is screwed in tightly, Constructed so that stronger contact pressure can be obtained. This contact pressure is configured to be numerically detected by a pressing force gauge 53. Next, the stock solution supply device 55 will be explained. First, a stock solution hopper 56 is provided at the top of the stock solution supply device 55, and the stock solution is stored inside the stock solution hopper 56. A pump unit 57 is provided below the pump unit 57, which combines a large number of appropriate plunger pumps, etc., and sends out the stock solution from a plurality of routes at a predetermined timing, reaches the stock solution nozzle 59 from the delivery pipe 58, and discharges it. Configure it to do so.
The tip of this stock solution nozzle 59 is connected to the die roll 4.
It has a protruding shape so that it can fully fit between the holes 4 and 4. Next, each member provided below the die roll 44 that contributes to taking out the gelatin capsule A, which is a product, will be explained. First, reference numeral 61 is a take-out trough for gelatin capsules A, which is configured to be pulled out from below the die roll 44 to the front of the apparatus. The molding protrusions 45 of the die roll 44 are respectively attached to the die roll 44.
A die roll scraping brush 63 for removing the gelatin capsule A that remains stuck in between is brought into contact with the die roll. Furthermore, gelatin capsule A is a blank sheet with gelatin capsule A punched out.
It is expected that the gelatin capsules A will remain on the blank sheet S', and a blank sheet scraping brush 64 for removing the gelatin capsules A from the blank sheet S' is provided oppositely so as to sandwich the blank sheet S' from both sides. Furthermore, a blank sheet feed roll 65 is provided below it to actively draw the blank sheet S' downward. In this apparatus, the die roll scraping brush 63, the blank sheet scraping brush 64, and the blank sheet feed roll 65 are driven by a separate system from the other drive systems. This drive system will be explained below. Reference numeral M is a take-out motor, and rotation is transmitted from its output gear 67 to a blank sheet feed roll gear 69 via an idle gear 68. The blank sheet feed roll gear 69 is configured such that a pair of left and right blank sheet feed rolls 65 are provided and rotated in opposite directions so that the gears mesh with each other and are driven in a reversed state. Furthermore, an output sprocket 70 is provided that shares the same axis as the output gear 67, and a chain 71 is suspended from the output sprocket 70, and rotation is transmitted to the relay reduction section 72 via the chain 71. . Similar to the blank sheet feed roll gear 69, this relay speed reducer 72 is configured to change the direction of rotation in a pair of left and right gears using a gear, and further drives a blank sheet scraping brush 64 through a chain 73. The rotation is transmitted to the sprocket 74 that rotates. Furthermore, the rotation is transmitted to a sprocket 77 attached to the die roll scraping brush 63 through another chain 76. It should be noted that each of these transmission systems is appropriately provided with a chain tension mechanism, etc., but a description thereof will be omitted.

The present invention is embodied as a device as described above, and its operating state will be explained below.

Forming of Gelatin Sheet S To form gelatin sheet S, first, sufficiently melted gelatin in gelatin tank 5 is supplied to spreader box 10 by opening valve 7 of supply hose 6. be. At this time, if gelatin is not stored in the spreader box 10, the float valve 14 is in an open state, so the spreader box 1 is
Melted gelatin flows in so as to fill the inside of the tube with gelatin. When a certain amount of gelatin flows in, the float valve 14 is closed and the spreader box 10 is filled with a certain level of liquid. When the adjustment weir plate 12 is adjusted to an appropriate position in this state, the discharge hole 16 formed between the lower end of the adjustment weir plate 12 and the lower end of the main body 11 opens.
The molten gelatin flows out with a constant curtain pressure, and the gelatin is applied to the surface of the cooling drum 30 facing there. At this time, it is extremely important to set the thickness of the gelatin, and for this purpose, rotate the adjustment rod 18 using the dial 20.
Thereby, the set height of the adjustment weir plate 12 relative to the main body 11 is adjusted, and the opening size of the discharge hole 16 is set. That is, the adjustment rod 18 is in a state in which the contact end 21 at its lower end is in contact with the reference end 22 on the main body 11 side, and by screwing it in, the adjustment dam plate 12
The side female screw portion 19 moves up and down to set the adjustment dam plate 12. This set quantity is then expressed as a numerical value by the dial gauge 26. Therefore, if various numerical data are provided, the curtain pressure of the gelatin sheet S can be set depending on the numerical values, and even a non-skilled operator can perform the setting, which is preferable.
After the gelatin sheet S discharged onto the surface of the cooling drum 30 in this manner sufficiently contacts the surface of the rotating cooling drum 30, it is cooled and sent to the feed roll 40. The cooling in this cooling drum 30 is performed using a cooling medium from the refrigerator unit 38.
For example, a refrigerant such as a refrigerant or a fluorocarbon gas is discharged from the refrigerant supply hose 32 through the coupling 34 into the refrigerant drum 30 from the refrigerant discharge pipe 35 in the cooling drum 30, and is then recovered to form the cooling drum. 30 is sufficiently cooled. The sheet-shaped gelatin discharged onto the surface of this cooling drum 30 undergoes heat exchange there.
It is sufficiently cooled and supplied to the capsule molding section 3 in a desired viscosity state.

Capsule Molding Process In this embodiment, the gelatin sheet S supplied in this way is placed in the reversing guide 41 as an example
The direction is reversed by almost 90 degrees and reaches the capsule molding section 3. That is, as shown in FIG. 11, a pair of die rolls 4 in the capsule molding section 3
The gelatin sheet S is supplied so as to be sandwiched between the sheets 4 and 4. On the other hand, the stock solution nozzle 5 is inserted into this sandwiched part.
9 is facing and from there the stock solution is two gelatin sheets S
A fixed amount is discharged during this period. The timing of this discharge is naturally set in accordance with the state in which the molding protrusions 45 of the die roll 44 are brought into contact with each other, whereby a capsule is formed on the inner periphery of the molding protrusion 45, and the inside thereof is further filled with the stock solution. Incidentally, such a configuration itself is conventionally known. At this time, when bringing the pair of molding protrusions 45 of the die rolls 44 into contact with each other, setting the contact pressure is an extremely important adjustment operation, and this is accomplished by the following means. That is, the operator makes the adjustment by rotating each adjustment dial 52, and when the adjustment dial 52 is screwed in, for example, the adjustment push rod 51 presses both ends of the leaf spring 48, and the pressure is further increased. from the center contact portion 49 of the leaf spring 48 to the center contact portion 49 of the other leaf spring 47, and then the pressure of the leaf spring 47 is transferred from both ends to the bearing portion 4 of the adjustable die roll 44b.
6. This pressing force is displayed as a numerical value by a pressing force gauge 53 that is integrally attached to the adjustment dial 52.
Therefore, by compiling this numerical data, ideal settings can be made even by non-experts.

Recovery of gelatin capsule A Gelatin capsule A molded in this way
is recovered from a take-out trough 61 provided below the die roll 44. At this time, the molded gelatin capsules A may not necessarily be completely removed from the die roll 44 or the gelatin blank sheet S', and the following operation is performed to recover them. First, the die roll scraping brush 63 is driven by the take-out motor M to rotate to the side opposite to the die rolls 44 in contact with each other, and successively scrape off the gelatin capsules A that have been fitted into the molded protrusions 45. I will continue to do so. Then a blank sheet
The gelatin capsules A remaining on S' are thrown up by the blank sheet scraping brush 64 in the direction opposite to the running direction (downward in this embodiment) of the blank sheet', and as a result, the blank sheet is The molded gelatin capsule A is removed from the sheet S'. At this time, in order to more reliably take out the blank sheet S', the blank sheet S' is sandwiched between the blank sheet feed rolls 65 and is actively drawn downward. Furthermore, such a gelatin capsule A
a scraping brush 63 for the die roll on the take-out side of the
When driving the blank sheet scraping brush 64 and the blank sheet feed roll 65, other driven members such as the die roll 44 and the cooling drum 3 are used.
This is done completely independently of the drive source such as 0, etc., and when doing so, it is possible to independently adjust and inspect only the various devices of the extraction section, and more preferable adjustment work can be performed.

<<Effects of the Invention>> As described above, the present invention has a die roll scraping brush, a blank sheet scraping brush, and a blank sheet feed roll that are formed independently of the die roll, so that they are independent of the operation of the die roll. This made it possible to make these adjustments, making it possible to manage manufacturing more accurately.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing an apparatus for manufacturing gelatin capsules according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a side view of the same, FIG. 3 is a front view of the same, and FIG. 5 is a front view of the same as above, FIG. 6 is a plan view of same as above, FIG. 7 is a sectional view of the cooling drum in this device, FIG. 8 is a side view of same as above, and FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing the die head portion of this device. , Fig. 10 is a plan view of the die head, Fig. 11 is an operating state diagram schematically showing the capsule molding state by the die roll, Fig. 12 is a front view showing various devices of the ejecting section, and Fig. 13 is the same driving state. FIG. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1... Gelatin capsule manufacturing device, 2... Sheet molding section, 3... Capsule molding section, 5... Gelatin tank, 10... Spreader box, 11
... Main body, 12 ... Adjustment weir plate, 16 ... Discharge hole,
18... Adjustment rod, 21... Contact end, 22...
... Reference end, 26 ... Dial gauge, 27 ... Plunger, 28 ... Detection protrusion, 30 ... Cooling drum, 32 ... Cooling medium supply hose, 33 ... Cooling medium recovery hose, 34 ... Coupling, 35
...Cooling medium discharge pipe, 36...Cooling medium recovery pipe,
38... Refrigerator unit, 42... Die head,
44... Die roll, 44a... Fixed side die roll, 44b... Adjustable side die roll, 45... Molded protrusion, 46... Bearing part, 47, 48... Leaf spring,
51... Adjustment push rod, 52... Adjustment dial, 53... Pressure gauge, 55... Stock solution supply device, 56... Stock solution hopper, 57... Pump unit, 58... Delivery pipe, 59... Stock solution nozzle, 63...Die roll scraping brush, 64
...Blank sheet scraping brush, 65...Blank sheet feed roll, A...Gelatin capsule, F...Frame, M...Take-out motor, S...
...Gelatin sheet, S'...Blank sheet.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1 In an apparatus that supplies two gelatin sheets between a pair of die rolls, injects a stock solution from above, and molds gelatin capsules containing the stock solution by the action of molding protrusions on the die rolls, the gelatin sheet feeding side of the die rolls. is provided with a die roll scraping brush that contacts the die roll, a blank sheet scraping brush that contacts the gelatin blank sheet from which capsules have been punched, and a blank sheet feed roll that pinches and pulls out the blank sheet. A capsule ejecting device in a gelatin capsule manufacturing device, characterized in that the device is driven by a drive system independent of a die roll.