18th and early 19th century suppositories were made by hand from a liquid mass poured into forms shaped from oiled paper to form rolled suppositories.  By the mid-19th century metallic molds were introduced to accept a molten liquid to produce formed suppositories.  The earliest form consisting of a tin tray and perforated removable lid to accommodate individual pewter molds.  In 1865 Wm. Chapman, a pharmacist, constructed the first solid metal mold.  Suppositories formed in these molds were very difficult to remove. Charles Bullock and Edmund Crenshaw solved this problem in 1867 with the introduction of a two-part, brass mold, hinged at one end and held together by a metallic band.  By 1875 about twenty different forms became available that employed this so-called fusion method of production whereby a molten mass was poured into molds a process suitable only for heat-stable ingredients.  Thus, heat intolerant ingredients required the hand made method prior to the development of cold compression suppositories formed by a machine.  The first patented cold compression machine, Archibald’s Suppository Machine, was produced by Henry Archibald in 1879, and its success stimulated the production of numerous other forms.   - Richardson, The Pill Rollers