Improvements in Bottle Stoppering Machines.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 14th June, 1898-Accepted, 16th July, 1898
COMPLETE, SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bottle Stoppering Machines.
I, BENJAMIN BERNARD FRIEDENWALD, of 216, North Holliday Street, Baltimore,
State of Maryland, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of this 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 is an improvement on certain parts of the construction of the
invention made the subject of British Letters Patent No. 24761 granted to me
October 26, 1897. Crown bottle stoppers composed of sheet metal having a
crimped or corrugated flange with a thin disk of cork or similar material located
in the recessed side of the crown and adapted to be fixed to the head of a bottle
by having the corrugations of the flange forced into contact with a shoulder or
groove in the bottle head are well known, and the device for applying these crowns
and sold to the users of the crown stoppers, consists of a stand for the bottle to
be crowned and a casing located directly above the position of the bottle and
adapted to be depressed by suitable means, said casing containing a throat made of
conical or tapering shape with a plunger above it so that when the casing is
depressed the crown is applied to the head of the bottle and the corrugated flange
is forced inwardly by the conical walls of the throat to engage the groove or
shoulder of the bottle head. These machines are not adapted to supply crowns
to the crowning device automatically, but these crowns are slipped in by hand
one at a time, and are caught by spring dogs which hold the crown in position
to engage the bottle head on the descent of the crowning casing. In applying an
automatic feed to such a machine by which the crowns are fed in succession into
proper position to be held upon the bottle head in each descent of the crown casing
as in my British patent aforesaid, it was found that the spring dogs used for hand
operation and as modified in my patent, as above, were not reliable and in place
of the spring dogs it was proposed to provide a holder beneath the crowning
throat adapted to receive the crowns from the feeding chute, this holder having
an opening through it of less diameter than the crown when its flange was
extended, but of greater size than the bottle head with the crown affixed thereto
after the corrugated flange has been forced inwardly by the crowning throat.
This construction was found to answer admirably for a certain class of bottles
namely, where the bottle necks were straight, which permitted the crowning
throat and crown holder to descend over the bottle neck and the head of the
bottle to reach the crowning point without contact with the walls of the crown
holder, but in the use of the device with differently shaped bottles, namely, where
the neck of the bottle bulged outwardly directly below the head, the distance of
travel between the lower edge of the crown holder and the crowning point was
so great that the opening through the crown holder being of less diameter than
the diameter of the bottle neck at the bulged point, the result was that in the
descent of the crowning device the bulged portion of the bottle neck received the
impact of the blow and the fracture of the bottle followed and its contents was

page_text: wasted. To overcome this serious defect it was not possible to enlarge the opening
in the crown holder as this opening was necessarily of such a size as to leave a
ledge for the support of the crown and if made larger the crown would drop
through. The crowning throat in the standard, which has been the sole device
used up to my present invention, I found it necessary to discard and to substitute
for it a throat bringing the crowning point to a lower level so that even in the
use of bottles having the greatest bulge in the neck thereof the head of the bottle
will not penetrate into the crowning device sufficient to render liable the fracture
of the bottle by contact with the walls of the crown holder.
In the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 shows the crowning device and the end of the chute leading thereto
from the hopper or reservoir.
Figure 2 is an enlarged view of the crowning device.
Figure 3 shows the throat of the standard machine as heretofore made and used
exclusively, this view showing a standard make of bottle in the crowning position.
Figure 4 is a like view showing a bottle with a bulged neck and indicating how
it is prevented from reaching the crowning point by the size of the opening in the
crown holder, fracture resulting from the downward movement of the crowning
device and before the crowning point is reached..
Figure 5 shows the same kind of bottle as in Figure 4 but with the throat piece
made of less height and brought down into such relative position to the opening
through the crown holder as to permit the entrance of any shape of bottle to the
crowning point.
The crowns pass from the hopper (not shown) down the chute B and are fed
bottom side downward to a support beneath the crowning device described here-
inafter.
The ordinary construction of this device is shown in Figures 3 and 4 and
includes a ring or cylinder having a plain lower portion 1 with the tapering
crowning part above it as at 2. The lower end of the chute forms.a crown holder
and while with an ordinary shape of bottle such, as is indicated in crowning
position in Figure 3, this construction of crowning ring was sufficient, with a
bottle of the shape shown in Figure 4, the crowning position could not be reached
without fracture of the bottle and the consequent loss of contents. To remedy
this defect is the main object of my invention and Figure 5 shows the change in
construction by which I render the device capable of use with any shape of
bottle neck without danger of fracture. I accomplish my object by making the
ring without the lower plain portion 1 of Figures 3 and 4 thus bringing the
crowning throat nearer the crown support and lessening the amount of penetration
of the bottle and thus the crowning point is reached and any bulge on the bottle
is prevented from contact with the wall of the crown holder.
As these automatic feeds are used with the standard machine made by the
manufacturers of the crown corks it is of course very essential that they shall
be adapted to be readily applied to such machines with as little change as possible.
To this end in order to make up for the difference in the height of my improved
throat piece as compared with the old style as shown in Figures 3 and 4 I use a
ring 4 placed above the throat piece as shown in Figures 1 and 2 and adapted to
fill the space which would otherwise be left within the casing 12 containing the
crowning devices. It is also necessary to limit the upward movement of the
supplemental plunger 13 as this plunger is now made for the standard machine,
as with the form of throat shown in Figures 3 and 4 it will be seen that its
upward throw must be sufficient to allow the crowning point to be reached, but
as in my improved construction the crowning point is lower in relation to the
crown holder I provide for a corresponding decrease in the amount of movement
of the plunger and secure this in a very simple manner by the use of a ring
washer 5 placed above the shouldered end 14 of the plunger and this limits the
extent of the movement in relation to the main plunger 15 and causes the crowning

page_text: action to take place at the proper time and earlier than when the old form of throat
was used.
The supplemental plunger 13 is in the hand fed machines provided with a very
light spring at 6 so as not to tire the workman in placing the crowns within the
holder but in the automatic feeding of the crowns the weight of the column in
the chute has a tendency to force up the plunger 13 and crowd the edge of one
crown under the other. To prevent this I use a stiff spring at 6 and this prevents
displacement and allows but one crown at a time to occupy the space beneath
the plunger, the flange of the crown being supported upon the ledge 7 around
the opening 8. The lower part of the chute has a pivoted section 9 held by a
spring catch 10.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
1-In a machine for crowning bottles, a crown support having an opening for
the entrance of the bottle head, a seat above said support and a crowning ing
fitted to said seat having, a conical portion extending from its lower edge so as to
bring the crowning point in proximity to the holder and enable the crowning
of bottles with enlarged necks without liability of fracture, substantially as
described.
2-in a machine for crowning bottles, a crown support, a feed chute directing
the crowns thereto, a crowning ring directly above the support having a conical
portion in proximity to the crown holder, a plunger located within the crowning
ring and extending below the lower edge to act as an extension of the chute
passage and a stiff spring back of the plunger to resist the pressure from the
column of crowns in the feed chute, substantially as described.
3-In a machine for crowning bottles, a crown support, a casing 12, a feed
chute having its end fitted to said casing, a crowning ring seated within the end
of the casing, a ring or washer 4 filling the space above the crowning ring, a
plunger 13 having a head 14 and a ring or washer above the head and adapted to
limit its upward movement, substantially as described.
TAL
1011 1
C T
1000
SLOAN & LLOYD BARNES,
Castle Chambers, 26, Castle Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.