Slat Fillers

Slats are narrow strips of plastic approximately 1-1/4 square inches and custom drilled for each product. The drilled holes are usually a combination of cuts, and the finished hole is referred to as the "cavity". The cavities are drilled across the length of slat in distances and patterns to achieve proper counts. These slats are then assembled on the machine. The machine rotates these slats through the primary hopper located on the back of the machine where the tablets in the hopper fill the cavities in the slats. When the slats continue to rotate toward the front of the machine, gravity pulls the tablets out of the slat cavities and guides them through a manifold. The manifold guides the tablets to the bottles waiting on the machine's conveyor. The filling area of the conveyor has a double row, which allows one group of bottles to be filled while another group exits.

Merrill slat fillers are designed to eliminate blind corners, steps or ledges that trap products. Interiors are open, uncluttered and easily accessible, so tablets have no place to hide. Fillers do not have painted surfaces near the filling areas, so no danger exists of paint falling into the containers. (Merrill only uses anodized aluminum, stainless steel and other non-contaminating materials). Our slat fillers are easy to clean and service-without the need for special tools-since we place drive mechanisms completely outside of the machines.

Accuracy depends on the design and fabrication of the slats. We work from actual samples of each customer's product to machine slats to exact size and contour to ensure the slat fits precisely-whether the product be flat, round or tapered.

Our slat fillers can be changed over quickly. Slats and critical components can be removed and reinstalled within thirty-five minutes. Merrill slats are also easily positioned as changes of manifold and single adjustments can adapt machines to different bottle sizes. Changeover is sped utilizing our special quick disconnect fasteners resulting in minimal downtime.

Merrill slat fillers achieve high production. An exclusive patented double-channel system maintains continuous fill for more bottles per minute eliminating intermittent stops and the need to accumulate product while waiting for a new set of bottles to come into position. Easy switchover to a single channel filling for small counts, small bottles or extra-large bottles is possible.

Our slat fillers are matched to your production needs regardless of the size of your operations. All Merrill machines are equipped with a control panel, upper manifold, adjustable conveyor and can be adapted for a built-in dust collection. Our slat fillers all package unusual shapes and soft gelatins as well as conventional tablets and capsules.

DT Industries, 1949 East Sunshine, Suite 2-300, Springfield, MO 65804. Tel: 417-890-0102; Fax: 417-890-0525.