Claims
- 1. A tablet cutting apparatus comprising:
a conveyor means for conveying a tablet in a horizontal transport direction; a cutter, disposed above said conveyor means, for cutting a notch in the tablet disposed on said conveyor means; a divider roller, disposed downstream of said cutter and above said conveyor means, for dividing the tablet into two halves along the notch formed by said cutter; and a collecting means for collecting halves of the tablets that have been divided by said divider roller.
- 2. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
a tablet presser unit, located at said cutter, for positioning the tablet at a predetermined position relative to said cutter.
- 3. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said tablet presser unit has inclined surfaces for contacting the tablet from opposite sides, and said inclined surfaces of said tablet presser unit are movable along a direction that is perpendicular relative to the horizontal transport direction so that, when said inclined surfaces contact the tablet, the tablet is pressed downward.
- 4. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 3, wherein said tablet presser unit includes at least one solenoid having a plunger that is capable of retractably projecting out of one of said inclined surfaces to position the tablet at the predetermined position by moving said plunger relative to the inclined surface.
- 5. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 2, wherein said conveyor means is a conveyor belt having an upper run, and wherein said tablet presser unit comprises a cutter table, positioned below the upper run of said conveyor belt, and a pair of pressing members disposed on opposite sides of said conveyor belt.
- 6. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 5, wherein each of said pressing members has a tapered surface for contacting and pressing the tablet against said cutter table.
- 7. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 6, wherein the tapered surfaces of said pressing members are opposed to each other, said pressing members are movable toward and away from each other, and each of the tapered surfaces is inclined upwardly in a direction toward the opposing tapered surface.
- 8. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 5, further comprising a divider roller, disposed downstream of said cutter and below said conveyor means, for supporting the tablet received from said cutter, wherein the tablet is held between said divider roller and said receiver plate when dividing the tablet.
- 9. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 8, wherein said divider roller is formed with an escape groove located centrally in the outer periphery of said divider roller so that the escape groove can oppose the notch formed by said cutter.
- 10. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a cleaning device that includes a hood for covering said cutter and said divider roller, wherein said cleaning device is operable to suck powder generated from the tablet.
- 11. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising a split guide plate for guiding halves of the tablets that have been divided by said divider roller, wherein each half of a divided tablet is guided to different collecting means by said split guide plate.
- 12. The tablet cutting apparatus as claimed in claim 1, further comprising:
a memory for storing a cutting condition according to the kind of tablet; and a controller for reading the cutting condition corresponding to the kind of the tablet to be cut from the memory and controlling operation of the cutter according to the cutting condition.
Priority Claims (1)
Number |
Date |
Country |
Kind |
9-290800 |
Oct 1997 |
JP |
|
Parent Case Info
[0001] This is a divisional application of Ser. No. 09/531,590, filed Mar. 20, 2000, which is divisional application of Ser. No. 09/295,353, now U.S. Pat. No. 6,050,064.
Divisions (2)
|
Number |
Date |
Country |
Parent |
09531590 |
Mar 2000 |
US |
Child |
10230261 |
Aug 2002 |
US |
Parent |
09295353 |
Apr 1999 |
US |
Child |
09531590 |
Mar 2000 |
US |