US3756402A
Expired / Lapsed
US
⏱️ 0.0 years remaining
Capsule inspection apparatus and method
Assignee: Eli Lilly and Co
•
Filing: 1971-01-11
•
Granted: 1973-09-04
•
Expires: 1991-01-11
Abstract
Abstract Apparatus for handling medicinal capsules at high rates, e.g. 900 per minute, to present them in succession, in uniform orientaton, at an inspection position and there spin them on their axes to expose their entire surfaces for inspection as by optical means. Bulk capsules are loaded from a hopper into the cavities of a chain conveyor running up an incline. A pair of spaced rolls define a feed slot from the hopper to the conveyor along the line of cavity travel. The rolls rotate outward to move misaligned capsules away, induced air flow urges aligned capsules through the slot and into the cavities, and an agitator bar dislodges capsules from double-filled cavities. To rectify body-forward capsules to cap-forward position, each cavity has a bottom slot between side ribs which will pass the body but retain the cap of the capsule. As the cavity moves off the end of a capsule-supporting rail, a forward capsule body is swung downward by gravity and induced airflow through the slot to tilt the capsule to an upright position. A brush then tilts the upright capsule forward, and a camming belt moves it to a capforward position in its cavity. Pick-up transfer fingers in the upper conveyor sprocket wheel are advanced through the cavities to lift the capsules therefrom on suction seats and transfer them to an inspection head at a loading station. The inspection head has a ring of parallel rolls, each pair of which forms a groove in which a capsule is retained by air flow. The head indexes to carry capsules from the loading station to an inspection station where rotation of the rolls spins each capsule on its axis to expose its entire surface for optical inspection. The capsules are discharged at a reject or accept station, depending on the inspection result.
Inventors
- 👤 W Wagers
- 👤 W Vandenberg
- 👤 D Swisher
- 👤 J Taylor
- 👤 R Bollman
- 👤 R Ramsey
Bibliographic Details
Application Number
—
Jurisdiction
US
Data Source
google_patents
Last Synchronized
2026-10-28 07:27
CPC Classifications
G; G01; G01N; G01N21/00; G01N21/84; G01N21/88; G01N21/95; G01N21/9508; A; A61; A61J; A61J3/00; A61J3/07; A61J3/071; A61J3/074; B; B65; B65G; B65G47/00; B65G47/02; B65G47/04; B65G47/12; B65G47/14; B65G47/1407; B65G47/1442; B65G47/1471; Y; Y10; Y10S; Y10S209/00; Y10S209/905; Y10S209/914
Claims Analysis
Total Claims: 47
Claim 1
Independent Claim
139 words
Apparatus for presenting a succession of medicinal capsules and the like in a predetermined position and orientation for processing, comprising conveyor means forming a series of elongated capsule-receiving cavities disposed endwise in a conveyor path for conveying a series of individual capsules endwise along said path, loading means at a first station along said path for loading capsules in said conveyor in random endwise orientation in said cavities, rectifying means at a second station along said path for turning to a predetermined endwise orientation those capsules which do not have that orientation, transfer means at a third station along said path for transferring the oriented capsules from the conveyor means to processing means, and processing means having a series of capsule-receiving means and operative to present the same in succession for reception of oriented capsules from the transfer means.
Claim 2
Dependent Claim
139 words
Apparatus for presenting a succession of medicinal capsules and the like in a predetermined position and orientation for processing, comprising conveyor means forming a series of elongated capsule-receiving cavities disposed endwise in a conveyor path for conveying a series of individual capsules endwise along said path, loading means at a first station along said path for loading capsules in said conveyor in random endwise orientation in said cavities, rectifying means at a second station along said path for turning to a predetermined endwise orientation those capsules which do not have that orientation, transfer means at a third station along said path for transferring the oriented capsules from the conveyor means to processing means, and processing means having a series of capsule-receiving means and operative to present the same in succession for reception of oriented capsules from the transfer means.
Claim 3
Dependent Claim
76 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said conveyor means comprises a chain conveyor including a series of interconnected buckets, each defining an elongated capsule-receiving cavity having side and end walls to confine a capsule therein disposed endwise in the direction of conveyor movement, and spaced sprockets over which the chain conveyor is trained to dispose the same in an upper operative stretch, said loading means being located adjacent the beginning of said operative stretch.
Claim 4
Dependent Claim
65 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 wherein said sprockets include upper and lower sprockets and said conveyor operating stretch runs in an upward inclination therebetween, the loading means being disposed adjacent the lower end of the operative stretch, and the transfer means comprises pick-up fingers mounted internally of thE conveyor path and for movement outward through the conveyor cavities to lift the capsules therefrom.
Claim 5
Dependent Claim
21 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 3 wherein said pick-up fingers are mounted radially about the axis of the upper sprocket.
Claim 6
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 2 in which the bucket cavities have bottom open slots, and which includes a rail on which the operative stretch of the conveyor rides and which supports the capsules in the cavities over at least a portion of the operative stretch.
Claim 7
Dependent Claim
40 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 5 in which said rail includes air passages disposed to communicate with the bottoms of the conveyor buckets, and means to apply suction to said air passages to induce air flow into said cavities.
Claim 8
Dependent Claim
68 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 wherein said processing means comprises a rotatable inspection head, means forming a circular series of circumferentially spaced capsule-receiving grooves about said head, means to index the head to position the grooves in successive stations about the carrier, said transfer means being operative to transfer capsules to the grooves at one station, said means to inspect the capsules at a subsequent station.
Claim 9
Dependent Claim
144 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said processing means comprises a rotatable inspection head, a circular series of parallel rolls rotatably mounted on said head in pairs of closely-spaced rolls to define a groove between each pair to receive a capsule in supported relation against the surfaces of the rolls, means to rotate the head to carry the grooves through successive stations about the head, said transfer means being operative to transfer capsules to the grooves at a loading position about the axis of the head, means to rotate the groove-forming rolls at a subsequent position to spin the capsule on its axis in the groove at that position to expose the capsule surface for inspection, and means to cause the capsules to be retained in the grooves as the same are carried from the loading position to the capsule spinning position.
Claim 10
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 8 wherein said head rotating means indexes the head to stop its grooves at successive angularly spaced stations, the transfer means transfers capsules to the grooves at one station, and the rolls are rotated for capsule inspection at a subsequent station.
Claim 11
Dependent Claim
166 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 1, wherein said transfer means comprises a transfer wheel, a series of angularly spaced fingers on said wheel, each having a capsule-receiving seat at its end, said fingers being moved successively to a receiving position wherein the seat of the finger is disposed opposite a cavity of the conveyor in position to receive a capsule therefrom, and being moved from said receiving position to a transfer position wherein the seat is disposed adjacent said processing means to transfer the capsule from the seat to the processing means, an air passage in each finger for connecting the seat thereof to a source of vacuum to cause the seat to attract and hold a capsule on the seat, and means to connect the air passages to a source of vacuum when the fingers are in said receiving position, to maintain the vacuum thereon during movement of the fingers to the transfer position, and to cut off the vacuum at said transfer position.
Claim 12
Dependent Claim
106 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 10 wherein said processing means comprises a head having a peripheral series of capsule-receiving slots and means to index said head to present said slots in succession at a loading station, the transfer wheel being operative to locate said finger seats in transfer position at said loading station in timed sequence with the indexing of said head, and means for creating suction at the slots of said head at said loading station as the vacuum is cut off from said transfer finger seats and thereby to cause the capsules to be transferred from the finger seats to the head slots.
Claim 13
Dependent Claim
264 words
Apparatus as set forth in Claim 1 which includes elongated conveyor cavities shaped to loosely confine individual capsules therein, as they are conveyed through a rectifying zone, each cavity being open at one side for purposes of rectification, means forming a rectifying slot at said one side defined by spaced side edges, the slot width and edge spacing being such as to pass the body of a capsule but retain the cap thereof, a rail along which the cavities move as they enter the rectifying zone, disposed at the rectifying-slot side of the cavities in position to hold the capsules therein away from the side edges, said rail forming a shoulder across which the capsules are carried, whereby at an intermediate position a loosely-confined body-forward capsule will have its rearward cap end supported by the rail adjacent the shoulder and its forward body end projecting unsupported beyond the shoulder, means to induce airflow through the rectifying slot and against the unsupported end of the capsule in said intermediate position to positively urge the capsule to tilt about said shoulder to a partially rectified position wherein the capsule body will project through said slot but the capsule will be retained by engagement of its cap with said ribs, tilting means beyond the shoulder along the conveyor path for further tilting the partially-rectified capsule to a leaning position, leaning toward a cap-forward position in the cavity, and camming means acting on the body end of the leaning capsule as it is conveyed by the conveyor for camming the capsule to a cap-forward position in the cavity.
Claim 14
Dependent Claim
60 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 12 in which the rectifying slot is an open slot adapted to pass loose capsule bodies and other scagg, and said means to induce airflow through the rectifying slot comprises a conduit adapted to convey such scagg to remove the same from the conveyor, and scagg collection means to which said conduit is connected.
Claim 15
Dependent Claim
166 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 1 in which said first station comprises an elongated loading zone in which a plurality of conveyor cavities are simultaneously exposed for loading along a linear portion of the conveyor path, each cavity being freely open at a loading side to receive a capsule from that side and having an opening at another side at which air flow through the cavity may be induced, means forming a feed slot along the exposed cavities, a hopper disposed to supply capsules to the feed slot, an agitator bar disposed longitudinally above the feed slot and having resilient fingers extending through the slot into proximity with the open loading sides of the conveyor, and means to reciprocate the agitator bar longitudinally to cause said fingers to dislodge upstanding capsules in the cavities, means to induce air flow through said feed slot and the cavities opposite the same to positively urge properly aligned capsules to pass through the feed slot and into the cavities.
Claim 16
Dependent Claim
72 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 14 which includes a pair of friction rolls disposed in laterally spaced relation opposite the open loading side of the cavities in the loading zone at opposite sides of the feed slot to form a portion of said slot, and means to rotate said rolls to move their slot-forming surfaces away and outward from said cavities, whereby to urge mis-aligned cavities away from said feed slot.
Claim 17
Dependent Claim
143 words
Apparatus for handling medicinal capsules and the like for inspection, comprising conveyor means forming a series of capsule-receiving cavities for conveying a series of individual capsules along a predetermined path, loading means at a first station along said path for loading capsules to said conveyor means, rectifying means at a second station along said path for turning to a predetermined orientation in the conveyor cavities those capsules which do not have that orientation, transfer means at a third station along said path for transferring the oriented capsules from the conveyor caviTies, an inspection head having capsule-spinning means to which capsules are transferred by said transfer means, said spinning means being operative to spin each capsule on its axis in an inspection position to expose its surface for inspection, and means for inspecting the capsule surface as it is spun in said inspection position.
Claim 18
Dependent Claim
143 words
Apparatus for handling medicinal capsules and the like for inspection, comprising conveyor means forming a series of capsule-receiving cavities for conveying a series of individual capsules along a predetermined path, loading means at a first station along said path for loading capsules to said conveyor means, rectifying means at a second station along said path for turning to a predetermined orientation in the conveyor cavities those capsules which do not have that orientation, transfer means at a third station along said path for transferring the oriented capsules from the conveyor caviTies, an inspection head having capsule-spinning means to which capsules are transferred by said transfer means, said spinning means being operative to spin each capsule on its axis in an inspection position to expose its surface for inspection, and means for inspecting the capsule surface as it is spun in said inspection position.
Claim 19
Dependent Claim
66 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 16, wherein said inspection head comprises, at least one set of closely spaced parallel rolls defining a groove therebetween to receive a capsule in supported relation against the roll surfaces, means to induce air flow inward in said groove to retain the capsule therein, and means to rotate the rolls for spinning the capsule on its axis in said groove.
Claim 20
Dependent Claim
128 words
Apparatus for handling medicinal capsules and the like for inspection or other processing, comprising a rotatable inspection head, means forming a series of circumferentially-spaced capsule-receiving means about said head, in the form of grooves each adapted to receive a capsule in supported relation against the groove-defining surfaces, means to index the head to move the capsule-receiving grooves between, and stop the same at, successive stations about the axis of the head, transfer means to load capsules in the receiving means at a loading station, spinning means to spin the capsules on an axis at a subsequent inspection station, and means to cause normal capsules to be retained in their receiving means as the head is indexed to carry the capsules from the loading station to the inspection station.
Claim 21
Dependent Claim
128 words
Apparatus for handling medicinal capsules and the like for inspection or other processing, comprising a rotatable inspection head, means forming a series of circumferentially-spaced capsule-receiving means about said head, in the form of grooves each adapted to receive a capsule in supported relation against the groove-defining surfaces, means to index the head to move the capsule-receiving grooves between, and stop the same at, successive stations about the axis of the head, transfer means to load capsules in the receiving means at a loading station, spinning means to spin the capsules on an axis at a subsequent inspection station, and means to cause normal capsules to be retained in their receiving means as the head is indexed to carry the capsules from the loading station to the inspection station.
Claim 22
Dependent Claim
29 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 18 in which said means to retain the capsules comprises means to induce airflow inward through each groove to retain a capsule therein.
Claim 23
Dependent Claim
42 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 19 which includes means at a station subsequent to the inspection station to selectively induce inward or outward air flow through the grooves to selectively retain or eject the capsule in the groove at such station.
Claim 24
Dependent Claim
64 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 19, further comprising a separate air passage in the head connected with each capsule-receiving groove and extending to a surface of revolution on said head, and a valve block disposed against said surface and defining a suction chamber in position to communicate with said air passages when the grooves connected thereto are in selected stations about the head.
Claim 25
Dependent Claim
38 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 21, in which the suction chamber communicates continuously with the air passages to the grooves from the time the grooves reach the loading station to the time they leave the inspection station.
Claim 26
Dependent Claim
58 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 21 in which the valve block defines a second chamber in position to communicate with the air passage to a groove at a selection station, and means to supply vacuum or air pressure selectively to said second chamber for selectively retaining or ejecting a capsule in the groove at said selection station.
Claim 27
Dependent Claim
47 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 23 in which the valve block defines an air pressure chamber in position to communicate with the air passage to the groove at a subsequent station for applying air pressure to eject a capsule in the groove at that subsequent station.
Claim 28
Dependent Claim
51 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 19 further comprising a separate air passage in the head leading to each capsule-receiving groove, and valve means for supplying vacuum to the air passages to the grooves in certain stations to induce inward air flow for retaining capsules in the grooves at those stations.
Claim 29
Dependent Claim
33 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 25 which includes means for supplying air pressure to the air passage to the groove at at least one subsequent station for ejecting capsules at that station.
Claim 30
Dependent Claim
66 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 18 in which said capsule-receiving means comprise a circular series of rolls rotatably mounted on the head in pairs of closely-spaced rolls to define a groove between each pair to reCeive a capsule in supported relation against the surfaces of the rolls defining the groove, and said spinning means comprises means to rotate the groove-forming rolls at said subsequent station.
Claim 31
Dependent Claim
49 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 27 which includes roll spinning drive means for driving the rolls continuously at a plurality of stations about the head, including the inspection station, and actuating means to continuously drive said drive means for simultaneously rotating the rolls at said plurality of stations.
Claim 32
Dependent Claim
51 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 28 in which said actuating means drives the drive means in the same direction about the head axis as the indexing movement, whereby such indexing movement reduces the relative movement of the head and drive means and thereby reduces the roll spinning movement during indexing.
Claim 33
Dependent Claim
53 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 27 which includes a roll gear on the axis of each roll for spinning the same, a roll-spinning gear rotatable on the axis of the head and meshing with said roll gears, and actuating means for rotating said roll-spinning gear for spinning the rolls on the head.
Claim 34
Dependent Claim
53 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 30, wherein the roll-spinning gear is continuously driven in the same direction of rotation as the indexing of the carrier, the relative rotation between the carrier and the roll-spinning gear being thereby reduced during indexing and increased when the carrier is stopped in its successive stationary positions.
Claim 35
Dependent Claim
38 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 27 in which the rolls of said series are equally spaced and each roll is paired with each of its adjacent rolls to form capsule-receiving grooves at opposite sides of each roll.
Claim 36
Dependent Claim
40 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 27 wherein each capsule-supporting roll comprises an axial section of relatively large diameter for engaging the body of the capsule and an axial section of smaller diameter for engaging the cap of the capsule.
Claim 37
Dependent Claim
48 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 33 in which at least one of each groove-forming pair of rolls has an annular shoulder between the two roll sections in position to be engaged by the cut end of the capsule cap for locating the capsule axially in the groove.
Claim 38
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 34, wherein the means to retain the capsules in the grooves includes means to induce air flow in the capsule-receiving groove in a pattern which urges the capsule endwise toward engagement of said cut end against said shoulder.
Claim 39
Dependent Claim
65 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 34, wherein the inspection head is on an upstanding axis and the rolls are disposed to present the shoulders thereof downward, and the means to retain the capsules in the grooves includes means to induce air flow in the capsule-receiving grooves in a pattern which lifts the capsules to hold the cut edges of their caps against said shoulders.
Claim 40
Dependent Claim
44 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 36 which includes a suction passage communicating with the bottom of the capsule-receiving groove below the center of the capsule position therein, and means to apply suction to said passage to induce air flow in such capsule-lifting pattern.
Claim 41
Dependent Claim
46 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 34 wherein the capsule-receiving grooves are in an upstanding position, and said means to retain the capsules in the grooves includes means to induce air flow in the capsule-receiving grooves in a pattern which lifts the capsules in the grooves.
Claim 42
Dependent Claim
74 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 27 wherein each capsule supporting roll comprises a first axial section for engaging the body of the capsule and a second axial section for engaging the cap of the capsule, said cap-engaging section having a frusto-conical shape with its smaller end toward the body-engaging section and having sufficient taper to cause the cap to engage the same at a point spaced from the cut end of the cap.
Claim 43
Dependent Claim
26 words
Apparatus as set forth in claim 39 wherein the taper of the frusto-conical section is greater than that of the cap and not over about 4*.
Claim 44
Dependent Claim
17 words
Apparatus As set forth in claim 39 wherein the taper of the frusto-conical section is approximately 2*.
Claim 45
Independent Claim
117 words
The method of presenting a succession of medicinal capsules in uniform endwise orientation for inspection or other processing, which comprises loading the capsules in random orientation in loosely-confining cavities in a conveyor, turning the mis-oriented capsules in the cavities end for end therein to a uniform orientation the pick-up the other capsules in the cavities, transferring the uniformly oriented capsules to one of a plurality of capsule-receiving means of a processing head, at a loading station for said head, indexing the head to present its plurality of capsule-receiving means in succession at said loading station in timed sequence with the movement of the capsules by the conveyor, and to move the loaded capsules to a processing position.
Claim 46
Independent Claim
117 words
The method of presenting a succession of medicinal capsules in uniform endwise orientation for inspection or other processing, which comprises loading the capsules in random orientation in loosely-confining cavities in a conveyor, turning the mis-oriented capsules in the cavities end for end therein to a uniform orientation the pick-up the other capsules in the cavities, transferring the uniformly oriented capsules to one of a plurality of capsule-receiving means of a processing head, at a loading station for said head, indexing the head to present its plurality of capsule-receiving means in succession at said loading station in timed sequence with the movement of the capsules by the conveyor, and to move the loaded capsules to a processing position.
Claim 47
Dependent Claim
27 words
The method set forth in claim 42 with the addition of rotating the capules on a fixed axis at said processing position for inspection or other processing.
References Cited (Backward Citations)
US3217877A
Cited
US3528544A
Cited
USPTO Annuity & Maintenance Windows
| Annuity Stage | Window Opens | Payment Deadline | Surcharge Period Until | Estimated Fee | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3.5 Years (Year 4) | 1976-09-03 | 1977-03-05 | 1977-09-04 | $2000.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 7.5 Years (Year 8) | 1980-09-03 | 1981-03-05 | 1981-09-04 | $3760.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |
| 11.5 Years (Year 12) | 1984-09-03 | 1985-03-05 | 1985-09-04 | $7700.00 | Window Closed / Lapsed |