Abstract: The present invention provides a device for fixedly securing a cap and body of a capsule together to thereby render the capsule tamper evident. In one form of the invention, the capsules are conveyed at spaced intervals along a predetermined path of travel through a treatment zone which is generally perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the capsule. An elongated bar having a tapered edge and positioned within the treatment zone engages the side of the capsule to produce an indentation in the side of the capsule which increases in depth from the entry and to the exit end of the treatment zone. This indentation around the capsule hermetically seals the cap and body of the capsule together so that the cap and body cannot be separated without destruction of the capsule. In another form of the invention, the bar is increasingly heated along its length so that, in addition to forming an indentation circumferentially around the capsule, simultaneously hermetically seals the capsule cap and body together.

Abstract: A method and apparatus for drying gelatin in the manufacture of hard shell gelatin capsules. Pins on pin bars are dipped into the liquid gelatin and the pins are then irradiated with microwave energy until the gelatin dries. Thereafter, the pins are gradually cooled to ambient temperature and the gelatin capsule halves are then stripped from the pins in the conventional fashion.

Abstract: A method for sealing an assembled gelatine capsule of the type used to contain and dispense medication is disclosed. An assembled capsule the axis of which is oriented perpendicular to the axis of a thin elongated bar is moved along and in contact with a thin edge of the elongated bar. The surface of the assembled capsule, at a point where the cap and body of the capsule overlie each other, is initially in contact with the thin edge of one end of the bar and the capsule is moved along the length of said bar so that the axis of the capsule moves closer to the edge of the bar. The bar is heated so as to be at a first temperature at a first point between its ends that will melt the gelatine, and the remainder of the bar is at a temperature that will heat plasticize the gelatine. As the capsule is moved along the heated bar it is rotated either by friction between the bar and the capsule or by mechanical means.