Pharmacy equipment- Pill machines
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The Christopher Pharmacy at Bradford on Avon Museum, Wiltshire
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The word pill is now used loosely of almost every solid form of medicine, but it really refers to a spherical object. The usual modern flat “pill” is more correctly called a tablet.
Pills were made in the pharmacy with a pill machine. The medicine in powder form was mixed with flavourings and sweetening and a binder such as glycerine or gum tragacanth and rolled out into a “sausage” of a certain length. Formerly the roll was cut with a knife into individual pills according to measurements on a ceramic tile. The machine was used to make pills of the correct size for the dose with one action. The correct quantity of ingredients divided into the right number meant each was of the right dose. After cutting, the pills were rounded and sometimes were coated with a sugar crust or even, for prestigious customers, with silver or gold leaf. The pills were then packed into cylindrical card pill-boxes.
The Museum has several machines of various sizes that were used to cut pills of different doses.