Apparatus for metering powdered filling material

#1. Field of the Invention

#The invention relates to an apparatus for metering powdered filling material and more particularly for dispensing such materials for filling capsules or the like.

#2. Description of the Prior Art

#DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

#The apparatus 10 for metering powdered filling material shown in the figure is used in the pharmaceutical industry to produce drug-filled hard gelatin capsules. The apparatus 10 has a filling material container 11 for the filling material, which has an essentially disk-shaped bottom 12 and an outer, vertically extending boundary wall 13. At uniform angular intervals, the bottom 12 contains bores 15 or groups of bores, which cooperate with tamping plungers 17 and transfer plungers 18. The tamping plungers 17 and the transfer plungers 18 are supported in spring-loaded tamping plunger supports 19 and transfer plunger supports 20, which are in turn jointly attached to a lateral cross bar 22. The lateral cross bar 22 is supported on columns 23, 24 and can move up and down in the direction of the arrow 25.

#Underneath the bottom 12 of the filling material container 11, in its outer region, a stop ring 26 is disposed on the tabletop 14 of the apparatus 10; between the underside of the bottom 12 and the associated top of the stop ring 26, there is a gap 27 in the neighborhood of a few tenths of a millimeter in size. In the vicinity of the transfer plungers 18, the stop ring 26 has a recess 28, which permits the capsule part carrier 30, which is only partially depicted in the figure, to pivot into place.