A NEW OR IMPROVED MODE AND MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR PACKING AND CONVEYING OR HOLDING EGGS
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Halley at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 21st July 1880.
JOHN HALLEY, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"
A NEW
OR IMPROVED MODE AND MEANS OF AND APPLIANCES FOR PACKING AND
CONVEYING OR HOLDING EGGS."
This Invention has reference to the packing and transit of eggs in special new or
improved constructions of boxes or cases, and which besides being more safe and
cleanly, as regards the risk of breakage and delivery in a fresh state, over the
modes and means heretofore employed, would also save much time and expense in
the packing and unpacking of the eggs.
An important object of the Invention is the packing of the eggs at the different
farms in the separate boxes in which they are to be conveyed and delivered to the
wholesale or retail customer or consumer, so that when desired the boxes may have
address or name cards or plates on them, and so show exactly where and from
whom the eggs are supplied and sent, and thus give additional security to the
genuine freshness or quality of the eggs.
To effect the said purposes and objects the new or improved boxes in which the
eggs are packed and conveyed are made with an outer, preferably close, box case
or frame, with an opening top or front hinged or sliding lid or door, fitted with a
set of horizontal trays over each other, and rather more than the length or depth of
an egg apart, resting on feathers or sliding grooves at their ends or edges. The
trays would each be formed with rows of holes for receiving, and rather larger than,
the eggs to be packed in them, and the rows might be in sets of 12 in one direction
for convenience of counting in dozens, and 6 or 12 in the other direction, and
so give a half or whole gross of eggs in each tray. Should the trays or holders be
made of wood, wire, or other hard material, each hole would be fitted with an
india-rubber or other soft or elastic cup of a single, or it might be double, thickness
secured by flanges round the upper surfaces of the holes, for receiving the egg and
gripping it all round, preferably near the middle, by elasticity of the upper edgo
or rim of the cup, or by the partial vacuum caused by the displacement of the air
from the cup under the egg, or by both, so as hold the eggs firmly when so
inserted or packed in these cups as to prevent their falling out, even if the
box of eggs were turned over. The cup may be made with a rim or lip formed

page_text: of a rubber tube attached to the lower cup part, or with a rim or ring of solid
rubber, in which case the ring part may be cut across at one or more parts of its
circumference to give sufficient elasticity and admit of the egg being easily inserted
or withdrawn, and when preferred the cup portion of the egg holders may be
dispensed with, and each hole or opening in the tray fitted with an elastic rubber
ring or tube both above and below, so that the eggs could be inserted at either side
of the tray, and would be held at their middle parts between the pairs of rings or
tubes. Or otherwise when the trays are made of or covered with soft material,
such as felt, or made with felt recessed cups, simple holes, or thin elastic bands or
other equivalent might be stretched over the rows of eggs, and passed under a wire
or other fixture between the eggs, so as to hold them securely in the cups, which
would preferably be made elliptical in this case, so that the eggs might be laid on
their sides.