IMPROVE- MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES FOR STOPPING OR COVERING BOTTLES, JARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Archibald Brooman, of 166, Fleet Street,
in the City of London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES FOR STOPPING OR COVERING BOTTLES,
JARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
_A communication.
Sealed the 7th August 1855, and dated the 19th February 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Archibald
Brooman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition. on the 19th February 1855.
I, RICHARD ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES FOR STOPPING OR COVERING
BOTTLES, JARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED
THEREIN," (communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad,) to be as
follows:-
The Invention consists, firstly, in the adaptation or addition to vertical
and horizontal capsule-making machines of a pressing plate, which, being
placed at the head of the set of punches, holds the metallic disc at its edges,
and facilitates the stamping thereof into shape, whereby part of the ordinary
operation may be dispensed with and the number of stamps or punches used
diminished.
Secondly, in combining a compound tubular stamp or punch with the afore-

page_text: said pressing plate, in order to effect the complete stamping out of the capsules
at one and the same operation by the joint or combined successive action of
the concentric parts of the compound stamp or punch.
Thirdly, the dividing of an ordinary machine (provided with a set of
successive stamps, into two separate machines, which allows of one single
attendant to work them instead of two attendants as heretofore. The person
in charge feeds a metallic disc (first with one hand, then with the other)
into the two machines alternately, one being placed on her right hand and the
other on her left.
Fourthly, in coloring or polishing the capsules before they are stamped out.
Fifthly, in making at one and the same operation two capsules out of the
same piece of metal, and separating these two capsules after the operation.
Sixthly, in making capsules of two different metals, the one hard and
the other soft, in order to produce a capsule in two different and inseparable
metals.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Archibald Broomau in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 16th August 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
ARCHIBALD BROOMAN, of 166, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Richard Archibald Brooman, Her special licence, that I, the said
Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CAPSULES FOR
STOPPING OR COVERING BOTTLES, JARS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS, AND IN THE
MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN," communicated by a foreigner residing abroad,
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Richard Archibald

page_text: Brooman, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Richard lo hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to
be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to
say:
This Invention consists, firstly, in the adaptation or addition to vertical and
horizontal capsule-making machines of a pressing plate, which being placed
at the head of the set of punches holds the metallic disc or blank from which
the capsule is to be formed at its edges, and facilitates the stamping of it into
shape, whereby part of the ordinary operation may be dispensed with, and the
number of punches used diminished, for by the use of this pressure plate the
stamping operation is as much advanced as it would have been if five or six
punches had been employed as in the ordinary machines.
Secondly, the Invention consists in the employment of a compound tubular
stamp or punch together with the pressing plate, in order to effect the complete
stamping into shape of the capsules at one and the same operation.
Thirdly, the Invention consists in the application of one or both of the
preceding arrangements to a horizontal capsule machine in order to obtain a
double service or yield from the machine. This is effected by employing as the
head of the set of punches either or both of the foregoing arrangements,
whereby the number of punches may be diminished. In order to avoid
stopping the punches, I divide the ordinary horizontal machine into two
machines by employing at the head of the set of stamps or punches at the
right and left ends of the machine respectively one or other of the two
arrangements of punches just described, whereby one machine is made to form
two machines, and a double amount of work is obtained. By this first arrange-
ment an attendant is to take charge of the machine at each end, the metallic
discs or blanks from which the capsules are to be formed being placed at cach
of the heads of the two sets of punches. In this instance the passages for the
discs or blanks decrease from each end of the machine towards the centre,
where the capsules when completed are received in two separate channels; a
disconnecting apparatus must be placed within reach of each attendant of the
machine. Or, instead of the punches decreasing from the ends of the machine
towards the middle, I place the tops of the sets of stamps or punches towards

page_text: the middle, and make them decrease towards each end of the machine, a
disconnecting apparatus being employed. In this arrangement a single
attendant may feed the discs into the top of each set of punches alternately
on the right and left hand, whereby not only the number of capsules
produced is doubled, but moveover one attendant may take charge of two
machines.
Fourthly, the Invention consists in applying polish and color before the
capsules are stamped into shape, that is to say, in applying the color and
polish to the sheet or strip of tin or to the disc or blank from which the
capsule is to be made. The Inventor has found by experience that the disc
or blank when colored may be submitted to the subsequent stamping out
operation without any injury to its color; and if any effect at all is produced,
an agreeable shading is imparted to it.
Fifthly, the Invention consists in making simultaneously two capsules by the
same punch and at one and the same stroke, the two capsules being separated
after the operation.
Sixthly, the Invention consists in manufacturing capsules lined on the
inside or coated on the outside or both lined and coated by stamping together
a disc or blank of a hard metal combined with a disc or blank of soft metal,
such, for example, as tin and lead.
Seventhly, the Invention consists in a new arrangement of connecting in
pairs machines provided with successive punches, whereby the transmission
of motion is simplified and the work accelerated and facilitated.
The Drawings annexed shew the manner in which I carry the improvements
into effect.
Figure 1, Sheet 1, is a horizontal section of the head of a set of punches or
stamps with the pressure plate applied thereto. a is the pressure plate; c, the
punch or stamp; b, the disc or blank from which the capsule is to be formed.
The disc or blank 6 is first inserted in a rim or frame as usual and in a vertical
position; the pressure plate a presses on the edge of the blank, and keeps it
steady while the punch c comes on to it to stamp it into shape. The disc or
capsule blank b, shewn in Figure 2, is held fast or freed by bringing the
pressure plate nearer to or further from it by means of an inclined plane d,
provided with a lever and connected to the handle of the punch c, as shewn in
the detached view Figure 2; or this may be effected by any other suitable
contrivance. Figure 3 represents the compound tubular punch which consists
of a series of concentric tubes worked by excentrics. The stamping out
process is thus effected:-The disc or blank b, being held tightly at its edges by
the pressure plate a, as in the preceding case, the outermost tube c¹¹, worked

page_text: by the excentric e, (Figure 4,) first descends on to the blank, and gives the first
stamping out stroke; the second punch c", moved by the excentric f. (Figure 4.)
then comes down and gives another stroke; the third punch c', moved by the
excentric g, Figure 4, then descends and gives a third stroke; and finally the
central or innermost punch c, actuated by the excentric h, Figure 5, descends
and strikes a fourth stroke. The capsule is now entirely completed, or more
or less so, according to its size, and the purpose for which it is intended; but
whatever be the size or purpose, the plan of holding the blank steady at the
edge allows of the formation of the capsule being so far advanced as to
dispense with the first five or six strokes of the common horizontal capsule
machine. Therefore if, as shewn in Figures 4 and 5, one of these arrangements
of punches is placed at the head of the left and right hand series of the same
machine, and the other stamps used as finishing punches, a double number
may be produced on the same machine without stopping the punches.
Figure 4 represents an arrangement for disconnecting, consisting of a double
or bent rod i, placed within reach of each of the attendants at each end of
the machine; the capsules when finished fall on to the receptacles; in the
middle of the machine. Figure 5 shews a double machine worked by a single
attendant, who must be seated between the two corresponding parts of the
machine; is the seat of the person in charge, who presents alternately a disc
or capsule blank to the head of each set of punches, first to that on the right
then to that on the left, and she has also within her reach a disconnecting
arrangement, shewn detached in Figure 6, so that she may suspend at pleasure
the working of either machine, by bringing together or separating the toothed
ratchet clutches or connecting gear, Figure 5. It is necessary that the left-
hand machine should be acting in one direction while the right-hand machine
works in another, so that the attendant may regularly supply the punches with
each hand alternately.
Figure 7, Sheet 2, is a side elevation, and Figure 8 a front elevation, of an
arrangement which I adopt for steadying the edges of the capsule while being
stamped into shape. a, a, are forks which embrace the two pins b, b'; these
forks a, a', enter like wedges between the heads c of these pins and a stationary
piece d, and bring a piece e against the edges of the blank, and holds it while
the punch stamps it out. When the capsule has received the blow of the
punch, the forks a, a', are moved away, but still remain connected to the pins
at one end, and the piece e being acted on by the springs f, returns to its former
position and leaves the capsule free. The backward and forward movement of
the forks a, a', may be effected in the following manner (though other methods,
which I reserve the right of adopting, may be employed) :-B is a lever, with

page_text: its fulcrum at A, which raises and lowers the rod C; by the up and down
movement of this rod C in its guide E, the connecting links D, D', are made
to rise and fall, whereby the arms of the forks a, a', being centred at K, K',
are caused to advance towards or recede from each other. A strong hold is
obtained by this arrangement, never exceeding the limit desired, which is not
the case in the ordinary plans, in which the pressure on the edges of the
capsule is always increasing while the stamping out proceeds. F, F, are
weights for regulating the degree of pressure to be applied; and G is a curved
piece raised or lowered at pleasure by screws k, k', and worked by the friction
roller L, for increasing or diminishing the stroke. Figure 9 is a section,
shewing the moveable guide to keep the blanks exactly below the stamping
punches. This guide lies at the end of the stationary guide. The improve-
ment herein consists in making this piece moveable; the straight piece i is fixed
by screws j,j', but may be moved nearer to or further from the disc or blank,
according to the size of the capsule, by means of the slots 1, l'; on the other
side, the disc or blank is held by the curved piece m fixed to the guide lever n.
If any waste remains, the guide o should be raised, and the curved piece m
tilted, when the waste will fall, and the work may be resumed without loss of
time. Motion may be imparted to the guides in any other manner.
I merely describe the foregoing method as an example, but do not restrict
myself thereto. Figure 10 shews the combination of micans employed for
imparting a sharp or swift motion to the two supporting guides p,p¹. I do
not, however, restrict myself to this method, but reserve to myself, as before,
the right of moving the two parts of the guide or guides in any other manner.
Hitherto, from there not having been any arrangement for holding the capsule
at the last stroke of the punch, there has been a great waste of material. The
two guides p, p', are fixed to the arms of the lever q, q', which oscillate on
fixed supports r, ¹, and are connected to the rod ƒ by the two links t, t'. This
rod f receives a to and fro movement from the lever a, which has at one end a
friction roller moving on the inclined plane v, which may be raised or lowered
by means of screws w, w¹. The coloring and polishing of the capsules may be
effected before their formation into capsules is completed, either by coloring or
polishing the sheet of tin from which they are afterwards cut out, or by
polishing or coloring the dises or blanks when cut out and before being formed
into capsules. If it is desired to polish the sheet of tin, I pass the strip over
rollers, and finally over a felted cylinder.
Double capsules may be formed by using two tin blanks or discs. The
operation of forming the capsule is in other respects the same as with regard
to single capsules; and when completed the two capsules may be easily detached

page_text: from each other, by which means very thin capsules may be produced, and
waste thereby diminished, as there is much less chance of splitting a double
thickness of tin than a single thickness.
Capsules lined on the inside or coated on the outside, or both lined on the
inside and coated on the outside, are manufactured as follows:-For this
purpose blanks or discs are cut from some soft metal, such as lead, for
example, which is united to the tin by the punching operation itself, the lead
blank being put either over or under the tin blank, or the tin being placed
between two lead blanks. Capsules thus produced are as strong as if of a
single piece of metal. The same operation may be pursued for uniting any two
metals, the one being a soft and the other a hard metal.
I now proceed to describe a new arrangement of four apparatuses provided
with successive punches, represented in Figure 11 of the Drawings annexed,
the object being to allow of their action being combined or separated, and to
prevent frequent stoppages. M, M', O, O', are four machines working in pairs,
that is to say, actuated in pairs by the same motive machinery. Figure 12
represents the excentric for working the guide carriers. Figure 13 shews the
excentric for imparting the right and left hand motion; it is so arranged as to
allow of one of the machines (M, for example) being stopped, while the other
M' is still kept at work. Thus, in case of repairs or damage it would be
sufficient to stop two of the machines M, M¹, and each of the attendants
placed at Q, Q, would still have one machine to feed, viz, one could feed the
machine O, and the other the machine O¹, but one machine of each pair might
be put out of gear by removing the lever from the pin y, (Figure 13,) and
withdrawing one of the pins a or x³, from the corresponding arm j²,. or j³
(Figure 12), whereby the machine to be repaired would be the only one not in
work, and the other machines M, M', O, or O, O¹, M, as the case might be,
would be at work together. In order to effect the same object in respect to
the machines M' and 0¹, two excentrics might be added to each pair of
machines to work the guides. By this arrangement any one of the four
machines might be stopped, without stopping or impeding the other three.
I now propose to describe an arrangement for dividing a single machine into
two parts, one working in a right-hand and the other in a left-hand direction.
For this purpose I take (for example) one of the large machines, with twelve or
thirteen punches; I cut the guide carrier into two parts m, m³, as shewn in
Figure 14, and I add to the part B, which I call the right-hand machine,
two inclined planes f, f', similar to the two inclined planes g, g¹, on the left-
hand side of the machine, whereby the guide carrier is raised or lowered, as
shewn in Figures 15 and 16; the left-hand guide carrier m, Figure 15, being

page_text: Thus, in order to
horizontal, while the right hand m³, (Figure 16,) is inclined. This arrange-
ment allows of the right-hand machine being at work, while the left-hand
machine is at rest, and vice versâ; or if it be desired to work the two machines
simultaneously as a single machine, with twelve or thirteen punches in the
same direction, the inclined planes f, f¹, and g, g³, have to be changed, and a
single guide carrier substituted for the two guide carriers m, m', and the keying
of the excentrics h, h¹, and i, 2, Figures 17, 18, and 19, must be altered.
By this arrangement a machine with twelve punches will give six, twelve, or
eighteen strokes, according to the length of the capsules.
give a blank six strokes, without stopping either of the two parts of the
machine, the excentrics of the corresponding parts of the machine should be
keyed in a reverse direction, so that one side of the machine might come
forward while the other receded, and each would punch out alternately its
metal blank. If it should be desired to give the capsule twelve strokes, the
excentrics are to be keyed in the same direction, so as to make both parts of
the machine work parallel, so as to form, as it were, a single machine. If it
be desired to give eighteen strokes, the blank is first made to receive twelve
from the two machines combined when working as a single machine, and
then it receives the other six strokes from the machine divided, the excentrics
being keyed in a reverse direction.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, the pressing plate and compound punch herein-before described,
whether used separately or combined.
Second, I claim the coloring and polishing of the metal from which capsules
are to be made prior to their complete formation.
Third, I claim the lining and coating of a hard metal with one or two soft
metals in the process of making capsules in the manner herein-before
described.
And, fourth, I claim the general combination and arrangement of parts of
capsule-making machines and the means of working them separately, in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Archibald Brooman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-five.