IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORK STOPPERS, AND IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF LIFE BUOYS AND BUFFERS OF CORK."
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Anton Bruno Seithen, of 6, Alpha Place, Caledonian
(
Road, London, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORK STOPPERS, AND IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF LIFE BUOYS AND BUFFERS OF CORK."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Anton Bruno Scithen at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th September 1859.
I, ANTON BRUNO SEITHEN, of 6, Alpha Place, Caledonian Road, London, in
the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORK STOPPERS, AND IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF LIFE BUOYS AND BUFFERS OF CORK," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention consists in the use of grindstones for shaping
or forming cork stoppers instead of cutting them by hand er by machinery as
now practised. The stones which I use may be natural or artificial stones in
one block, or formed of segments or pieces joined together and secured by
means of iron hoops or otherwise. I propose to flute such stones by cutting
or turning grooves of various dimensions on the periphery, or on the sides of
the said stones to suit the various diameters of the cork stoppers to be formed.
I also intend to inake grindstones of segments of the shape of a ring, and to

page_text: form grooves on the inside of such hoops, so as to be able to work both
inside and outside of such a stone. The grindstones may be set in motion
in the ordinary way, and they may be placed and used either vertically or
horizontally.
The second part of my Invention relates to forming or cutting bungs and
similar stoppers. Bungs or similar stoppers formed of thin cork, can likewise
be shaped on the grindstone, but I also propose to use an apparatus of the
following description:-It consists of two mandrils placed on the same axis,
either vertically or horizontally. One mandril is fixed, and the other moveable
in the direction of its axis, and that end of the fixed mandril next the
moveable one is convex whilst the corresponding end of the moveable one is
concave or vice versa. The
The pieces of cork are placed between the two ends,
and the moveable mandril being pressed towards the other causes the cork to
bend down on the outside. The edge of the cork projecting over the mandril
is then cut off by means of a suitable cutter, when on the pressure being
released, the bung or stopper will have the required conical shape, which can
be varied the more or less rounding off of the ends of the mandrils.
The third part of my Invention relates to the manufacture of life buoys and
buffers from cork, and consists in placing the pieces of cork of which such life
buoys are composed, over or round a thin disc or discs of tinned iron or other
metal, or of gutta percha, or round a hoop made of cable or rope, in order to
prevent such buoys from breaking.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Anton Bruno Seithen in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th March 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTON
BRUNO SEITHEN, of 6, Alpha Place, Caledonian Road, London, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of September in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Anton Bruno Seithen, Her special licence that I, the said Anton
Bruno Seithen, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Anton Bruno Seithen, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all

page_text: 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS FOR SHAPING CORK STOPPERS, AND IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
LIFE BUOYS AND BUFFERS OF CORK," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Anton Bruno Seithen, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Anton Bruno Seithen, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
My Invention relates, in the first place, to a novel, expeditious, and most
efficient apparatus, method or methods of shaping cork stoppers or bungs; and
secondly, to a novel construction of life buoys and buffers of cork, by which
peculiar construction life buoys are rendered far less liable to injury and decay
than life buoys of the kind now generally in use. Instead of cutting the cork
stoppers either by hand or by machinery, as hitherto practised, I subject the
pieces of cork which are intended to be converted into stoppers, to the operation
of a grindstone. This grindstone, which may consist either of natural stone, or
of a material artificially produced, may be made either of one solid block, or of a
number of segments or pieces joined together, and united into a compact body,
capable of resisting the centrifugal force resulting from its motion of rotation,
by means of iron hoops or otherwise. In order that the pieces of cork on
being acted upon by the grindstone may become properly rounded, without the
necessity of confiding too much to the skill of the operator, grooves of various
sizes or dimensions to suit the various diameters of the stoppers to be shaped,
are cut or turned into the stone, on its periphery, or on its sides. And as it
is of importance that the curve of the stone shall have no perceptible influence
upon the shape of the stopper when completed, and that the operation of
grinding shall leave no unsightly marks upon it, it is necessary that the stone
should be very large in diameter in proportion to the length of the stoppers to
be formed upon it. The stone may be placed either horizontally or vertically,
and set in motion in the ordinary way; but as the horizontal position is pre-
ferable, owing to the convenience it affords of admitting a greater number of
persons being engaged in shaping stoppers at one and the same time. I prefer

page_text: to place the stone horizontally. I also prefer to form the stone in the shape
of a ring, composed of a number of segments, which ring being placed in a
framework of angle iron, rests upon any desirable number of arms or brackets
suitably connected with each other, and fixed to an upright spindle or shaft.
In this case, I consider it most convenient and advantageous to make the
segments which form the grindstone in their vertical section of a shape
approaching to a triangle with the diagonal plane, in which the grooves are
cut, turned inwards. When using a stone similar in construction to the one
just described, the attendants or operatives of which, according to the diameter
of the stone, there may be as many as thirty at work at the same time, stand
or are placed round and near to the outer circumference of the stone; each
attendant having a certain quantity of pieces of cork to be converted into
stoppers placed before him, within easy reach on a table or tables, or shelves
suspended from above, or otherwise held, and occupying the space between
the stone and the upright shaft. And as the surface of the stone is intended
to move at a great velocity, a very slight pressure of the piece of cork against
the revolving stone will remove the superfluous material, and cause the stopper
in a very short space of time to assume its desired shape.
Instead of the attendants or operatives being placed outside or round the
circumference of the grindstone, they may be stationed within the circle upon
an independant floor or table suspended from above. In this case the ring
constituting the grindstone would have to be raised to such an extent above
the level of the suspended table or floor as to place it within convenient reach
of the operatives; and the tables or shelves containing the requisite supply of
pieces to be shaped would then have to be placed around the outer circum-
ference of the stone. Such an arrangement at the same time offers a greater
degree of security to the operatives in case the grindstone should give way:
Straight pieces or slabs of stone, furnished with the requisite grooves, and
having a reciprocating motion; may also be used to effect the same purpose,
instead of rotary stones as above described.
Bungs and similar stoppers of a larger than the ordinary size, formed of
thin cork, may likewise be shaped on grindstones of the above-mentioned
construction; but in some cases it may be cheaper and more convenient to
make use for this purpose of an apparatus such as I am now going to describe.
This apparatus consists of two mandrils, the axes of which lie in the same line
either horizontally or vertically. One of these mandrils is fixed, whilst the
other is moveable in the direction of its axis, that end of the fixed mandril
contiguous to the moveable one being convex, and the corresponding end of
the moveable one concave, or vice versa. The piece of cork to be transformed

page_text: into a bung or stopper, is placed between the two mandrils, and on the move-
able mandril being pressed towards the other, the piece of cork becomes bent
down on the outside. The edges projecting beyond the mandril are then cut
off by means of a suitable cutter or knife; and when the pressure is removed,
and the bung or stopper released, it will be found to have the desired conical
shape. It is evident that by rounding off the ends of the mandrils, more or
less, the bung or stopper can be rendered more or less conical at pleasure.
This apparatus may be so contrived as to be worked by hand or power, the
connexion between the cutter or knife, and the mandrils being such as to cause
either the mandril or the cutter to revolve whilst the latter is in action.
Hitherto life buoys have been constructed of pieces of cork, simply held
together by nails or pegs of wood, and subsequently surrounded for protection
and solidity by canvass tightly stretched over the body of cork and sown
together. Life buoys so made are liable in a comparatively short time to
become unsafe, as the canvass gets worn and rotten, and there is not sufficient
strength in the cork alone to resist the strain that may be brought to bear
upon them, and the accidents to which they are inevitably exposed.
Now my improved life buoys consist of a core, disc, or ring of tinned iron
or other metal, to which the pieces or segments of cork are cemented on each
side, as well as to each other by a powerful cement, until the whole disc is
covered with a body of cork, after which nothing remains to be done, but to
reduce the whole to the required shape by paring or cutting. Instead of the
disc or ring of iron or other metal, a hoop of gutta percha, cable, or rope may
also be used as a core for such life buoys; the segments of cork surrounding
such hoop being cemented together in such a manner as to cover the joints.
Life buoys made in this manner may either be enveloped in canvass like those
of the ordinary construction, or simply painted. Buffers of cork can be con-
structed in a similar manner of discs composed of segments; each pair of discs
having a plate of tinned iron or other metal placed between them, and the
segments being united to each other as well as to the plate of metal by tho
cement already referred to.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same may be carried into effect, I wish it to be understood that what
I claim, as the Invention intended to be secured to me by the above in part
recited Letters is,-
Firstly, the application and use of gridstones for the purpose of shaping
cork stoppers or bungs as herein-before described.
Secondly, the application and use of mandrils for the purpose of giving

page_text: bungs or similar stoppers formed of thin cork a conical shape as herein-before
described.
And, thirdly, the peculiar mode of constructing life buoys as herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Anton Bruno Seithen, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
A. B. SEITHEN. (L.s.)