Improvements in Apparatus for Use in the Closing of Bottles and other Vessels containing Food Products.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd May, 1896--Accepted, 4th July, 1896
[Communicated from abroad by VACUUM CAN AND JAR COMPANY, a corporation
organized under the laws of the State of New Jersey and having its principal
office in Jersey City, State of New Jersey, United States of America.]
Improvements in Apparatus for Use in the Closing of Bottles and
other Vessels containing Food Products.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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 :-
This improvement relates to the packing of food products of various kinds.
The object of the improvement is to retain the covers of the packages in place
during cooking, in such manner that they may open more or less to permit the
escape of gases.
The improvement is also advantageous for retaining the covers in place during the
exhaustion of air and gases by other means, when it is intended that the covers shall
be secured in place by external air pressure.
An apparatus embodying the improvement will be described, and its novel features
afterwards pointed out in a claim.
Figure 1 is a plan or top view of an apparatus embodying the improvement.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of the same, at the plane of the dotted line 2-2,
Fig. 1.
Figure 3 is an enlarged vertical section at the plane of the line 3-3, Fig. 1.
Figure 4 is a view similar to Fig. 3, but it illustrates a modification of certain
parts.
Similar letters of reference designate corresponding parts in all the figures.
A designates a support for cans or jars B. This support may be of any suitable
form. As here shown, it is made in the form of a tray with recesses for separately
holding the cans or jars. It may be made of wood or any other suitable material.
With the support A are combined means C for retaining the covers B" of the cans
or jars in place during cooking resulting in the removal of air and gases. These
means Care wholly unconnected with the cans or jars, and wholly unconnected with
the covers of the cans or jars; and, as here shown, they consist of bars c¹² connected
by cross-pieces c³, so as to form a frame, and provided with springs cc. As here
shown, the springs are secured to the bars c' c² and are of helical form. The
springs are arranged within the upper portions of the springs e, and also secured to
the bars c¹ c².
The springs may consist of blocks of india-rubber, as shown more particularly in
Fig. 3; or they may be of helical form, as shown in Fig. 4.
As
The frame, consisting of the means C for securing the can or jar covers in place,
is combined with devices for adjusting it towards and from the support A.
here shown, these adjusting devices consist of screw-rods D rising from the
support A, and thumb nuts D' overlapping portions of the means C and engaging
with the screw rods.
It is the practice to subject some food products to a single cooking, and others to
two cookings; the latter being, however, the common course with all, as repeated
cookings at suitable intervals, say of twelve hours, will destroy not only germs, but
spores. Additionally, it is necessary, with some food products, to exhaust air and
gases from the packages, by producing a vacuum outside of the same.
The apparatus
Avhich has been described is adapted for all these operations.

page_text: Ordinarily, cans or jars filled with food products and having their covers in place,
will be arranged upon the support A beneath the means C for retaining the covers in
place; and the means C will be secured in suitable position to enable its springs c* to
bear upon the covers of the cans or jars. These springs being of slight force, will
permit of the opening of the covers with a valve-like action to permit the escape of
air and gases during cooking, and yet will preclude a movement sufficiently great to
allow the covers to be entirely displaced. Before the second cooking, the means C
will be adjusted so that the other springs c will act upon the covers of the cans or
jars, and the latter will then be held more forcibly in place, as they will then be held
down by the force of the two sets of springs c c. This is desirable, as it is then
necessary to more forcibly oppose the opening of the covers. In the modification
shown in Fig. 4, the spring c will not directly bear upon the covers of the cans or
jars, because the springs have discs c across their ends, and these discs will come
into contact with the springs when the means Care adjusted downwardly
sufficiently far.
If it shall be necessary to exhaust air or gases otherwise than by cooking, the
apparatus described, with the cans, jars and covers in place, will be introduced
into a receiver, where air will be exhausted by a pump or other contrivance. Then
the springs will permit of the opening of the covers to such an extent as to allow
of the egress of the air and gases, and yet will retain the covers in position so
that upon the admission of air to the receiver, the air pressure external to the cans
and jars will retain the covers in place.
Obviously, it will not be absolutely necessary to apply springs as a part of the
means C for holding the covers in place, for it will be possible, if all the cans
and jars are the same size, to move down the said means C to the proper position,
providing slightly yielding surfaces for bearing upon the covers of the cans and
jars are employed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondents, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The combination with a support for cans or jars having removable covers, of
means unconnected with the cans or jars or covers, for retaining said covers tem-
porarily in place, substantially as specified.
2. The combination with a support for cans or jars having removable covers, of
means unconnected with the cans or jars or covers, for retaining said covers tem-
porarily in place, and devices for adjusting the same, substantially as specified.
3. The combination with a support for cans or jars having removable covers, of
means comprising self-adjusting parts, unconnected with the cans or jars or covers,
for retaining said covers temporarily in place, substantially as specified.
4. The combination with a support for cans or jars having removable covers, of
means comprising springs, unconnected with the cans or jars or covers, for retain-
ing said covers temporarily in place, substantially as specified.
5. The combination with a support for cans or jars having removable covers, of
means unconnected with the cans or jars or covers, for retaining said covers tem-
porarily in place, and screws or their equivalents, for adjusting said means, sub-
stantially as specified.
6. The combination with a support for cans or jars having removable covers, of
means comprising two sets of springs of different lengths, unconnected with the
cans or jars or covers, for retaining said covers temporarily in place, substantially
as specified.
Dated this 2.
J
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45 Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.