PROCESS FOR MANUFACTURING A COMPRESSED PRODUCT

Abstract

A process is disclosed for the manufacture of a compressed product consisting of a multilayer tablet formed in a single compression operation.

Claims

1-5. (canceled)

6. A process for the preparation of a multilayer tablet which comprises: a) filling the upper surface of a mould having recesses designed to form a tablet with layers not having the same surface area, said mould sliding in the compression chamber of a tablet press, with a first particulate material; b) raising the mould until the layer of material is conveyed to the upper extremity of the compression chamber; c) removing the excess particulate material by scraping with a suitable device; d) lowering the mould into the compression chamber and filling with a second particulate material; e) repeating steps b), c) and d) for a number of times corresponding to the number of desired layers of the finished tablet; compressing and ejecting the formed tablet.

7. A process according to claim 6 wherein at least one layer has a weight ratio of less than 25% of the weight of the finished product.

8. A process according to claim 7 wherein the layers having different surface areas have a weight ratio of the single layer to the total weight of the product of less than 2%.

9. A product obtained by the process according to claim 6, characterized by layers not having the same surface area and having different active ingredients.

Description

[0035] The invention is illustrated in greater detail in the following example.

Example 1

[0036] A mould characterised by the presence of grooves/recesses is used in a tablet press commonly used for tablet production in the pharmaceutical and food industries. Said mould and the recesses/grooves are designed to produce specific layers which may, if necessary, be small and/or of a particular shape, and in particular those layers that define the eyes and muzzle of a cow's head (FIG. 2).

[0037] Mould (7) falls into compression chamber (6) of the tablet press to the desired depth (8) of 0 mm, and the hollows are filled with 70 mg of a mixture of powdered sorbitol, aspartame, flavouring, magnesium stearate and blue colouring. At this stage only the mouth and eyes of the future cow are filled.

[0038] Mould (7) remains at the 0 mm level (9), and scraper device (10) is activated to remove the excess powder (11) on the upper part of the flat surface of the mould.

[0039] When the mould is subsequently filled, it falls back into compression chamber (6) of the tablet press to the desired depth (12) of 6 mm, and the compression chamber is filled with 630 mg of a mixture of powdered sorbitol, aspartame, flavouring and magnesium stearate.

[0040] Upper punch (13) falls into compression chamber (6), applying a pressure of 15 Pa to form the 700 mg tablet, wherein the cow's eyes and mouth are coloured and the rest of the tablet is white.

[0041] Upper punch (13) rises to the original position, mould (7) rises to floor level (9), and the tablet is ejected.