64 
bushby's  pill  machine. 
same  time,  and  hj  one  motive  power,  has  been  most  completely 
overcome. 
The  "pill  mass"  is  first  passed  betT^een  two  plain  rollers, 
fitted  with  adjusting  screws,  to  form  it  into  a  sheet  of  the  thick- 
ness required  for  the  size  of  pill  to  be  made,  the  thickness  of 
the  sheet  necessarily  determining  the  size  of  the  pills.  The 
sheet  then  passes  to  the  table  of  the  Pill-machine,  where  it  is 
caught  by  a  self-acting  feeding  apparatus,  bringing  a  portion 
under  the  edge  of  a  knife,  which  cuts  off  a  strip  or  bar,  such 
strip  falling  or  being  carried  by  the  knife  between  semicircular 
grooves,  which,  revolving  rapidly,  cut  and  form  the  strip  into 
pills.  The  great  economy  of  time  will  be  apparent.  The  sheet 
being  unintermittently  advanced  as  each  strip  is  cut  off  and 
formed  into  pills,  another  instantly  follows,  the  shower  of  pills 
being  continuous  as  long  as  the  necessary  sheet  is  supplied. 
The  pills  formed  are  spherically  rounded,  and  by  care  in  forming 
the  mass  into  sheets  of  the  required  width,  which  is  provided  for 
on  the  plain  rollers,  a  great  quantity  may  be  made  without  the 
waste  attending  the  old  process  by  hand.  About  one  thousand 
pills  per  minute  may  be  made  by  the  machine.  It  can,  how- 
ever, be  made  capable  of  making  much  greater  quantities  if  re- 
required.  The  machine  is  not  liable  to  get  out  of  order,  the 
v/orkmanship  being  good  and  the  mechanism  simple — ^its  great 
merit. 
Pill-making  will  be,  with  this  apparatus,  no  longer  a  disagree- 
able part  of  the  pharmaceutist's  duty,  but  a  pleasant  recreation, 
and  if  he  has  any  young  children,  the  working  off  of  a  two  or 
three  pound  mass  into  pills  could  hardly  fail  to  prove  "  a  con- 
stant source  of  amusement,"  as  the  toy-dealers  would  remark, 
the  only  drawback  being  that,  like  fireworks,  the  fun  would  be 
all  over  in  a  few  minutes.  We  commend  his  machine  because 
it  appears  to  us  excellently  adapted  for  the  purpose,  and  we 
should  like  our  practical  readers  to  take  the  first  occasion  which 
presents  itself  of  examining  the  merits  of  the  invention.  Several 
testimonials  which  Mr.  Bushby  has  already  received  from  com- 
petent judges  confirm  the  favorable  opinion  we  have  expressed. 
— Editor  Chemist  and  Druggist^  London^  Novemher  14,  1868. 
