IMPROVEMENTS IN CORKING MACHINES to bo as follows:
Year: 1884

page_text: DEMOTIVATION.
I, JAMES FERGUSON GOWANS of 172 and 174 West Regent Street, Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of my said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORKING MACHINES to bo as
follows:-
"J
My said Invention has principally for its object to diminish the labor and time
required in working corking machines.
In my improved machine the operation of corking bottles is effected by means
of parts like those in use in existing machines but actuated in a different manner.
There is a vertically moving main slide working in guides and having a rod or
plunger fixed to it for forcing each cork down through a guide nozzle into the
neck of the bottle, whilst an oppositely moving slide raises the bottle holder or
cradle so as to lift the bottle up to and hold it against the guide nozzle when the
cork is being forced in. When the bottle holder is raised it is held up as long as
is necessary by a wedgo which becomes gripped on the corking pressure beginning
to act on the bottle, and which is released at the proper time by a tappet on the
main slide.
The main slide is at its lower end connected to a lever having a fixed centre and
a spring is applied to assist in raising the parts. The lever is connected by a rod
to a crank on a rotating shaft having on it a spurwheel which is in gear with a
pinion on a first-motion shaft having also on it fast and loose pulleys for a driving
belt. An eccentric or cam may be used instead of a crank to act on the lever.
The bottle holder or cradle is raised by the front end of a lever connected at the
opposite side of its centre by a rod to the lever which works the vertically moving
slide.
The guide nozzle for the cocks has its upper side formed with a laterally
extended feeding channel and an attendant worker puts a number of corks in this
channel and pushes them towards a position at the inner side of the guide nozzle.
A horizontally moving slide worked by a suitably curved cam slot in the main
vertically moving slide moves forwards at the proper time and pushes the cork at
the inner end of the feed channel forwards into the guide nozzle just before the
corking rod or plunger descends to force it down through the nozzle.
With this improved machine the attendant worker has simply to place the
bottles into and remove them from the bottle holder or cradle and to keep the
feed channel supplied with corks, and the speed of the machine is only limited by
the worker's dexterity and quickness, whilst he has not to supply the force
required for the corking operation as in existing machines.
Dated this twenty-second day of April 1884.

page_text: •
I, JAMES FERGUSON GOWANS, of 172 and 174 West Regent Street, Glasgow, in
the County of Lanark, North Britain, Engineer do hereby declare the nature of
my said invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CORKING MACHINES" and in what
manner the same is to be perforined, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement that is to say :-
My said Invention has principally for its object to diminish the labor and time
required in working corking machines.
In my improved machine the operation of corking bottles is effected by means
of parts like those in use in existing machines but actuated in a different manner.
The main vertically moving slide by means of which the cork is forced into the
bottle, is at its lower end connected to a lever having a fixed centre and which is
connected by a rod to a crank on a rotating shaft having on it a spurwheel which
is in gear with a pinion on a first-motion shaft having also on it fast and loose
pulleys for a driving belt. An eccentric or cam may be used instead of a crank to
act on the lever. The bottle holder or cradle is raised by the front end of a lever
connected at the opposite side of its centre to a lever which is acted on by a spring
and by the lover which works the vertically moving slide.
The guide nozzle for the corks has its upper side formed with a laterally
extended feeding channel and an attendant worker puts a number of corks in this
channel and pushes them towards a position at the inner side of the guide nozzle.
A horizontally moving slide worked by the main vertically moving slide moves
forwards at the proper time and pushes the cork at the inner end of the feed
channel forwards into the guide nozzle just before the corking rod or plunger
descends to force it down through the nozzle.
With this improved machine the attendant worker has simply to place the
bottles upon and remove them from the bottle holder or cradle and to keep the
feed channel supplied with corks; and the speed of the machino is only limited by
the worker's dexterity and quickness, whilst he has not to supply the force required
for the corking operation as in existing machines.
Aud in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood I hereunto append a sheet of explanatory drawings to
be hereinafter referred to and representing a bottle corking machine as made with
my improvements. Figure, 1, is a vertical section of the machine, and figures, 2
and 3, are a plan and front clevation of the cork feeding channel and nozzle.
The working parts of the machine are carried by a hollow pillar, 4, having three
legs, 5, which are bolted down to a sole plate, G. The corking plunger, 7, is
formed on or fixed to a rod, 8, which works vertically in guides formed for it in a
casting, 9, fixed to the upper part of the pillar, 4. The plunger rod, 8, is connected
to a vertically moving slide, 10, which is itself connected by a rod, 11, to the front
end of a lever, 12, (consisting of two side pieces) centered at its back end on a pin
fixed in one of the frame legs, 5. The lever, 12, is connected by a forked or
double-sided connecting rod, 13, to a crank, 14, on a shaft carried in brackets, 15,
formed on or fixed to the main frame, and having on it a spurwheel, 16, with
which there gears a pinion on a first-motion shaft, 17, carried by the same
brackets, 15, and having on it fast and loose pulleys for a driving belt.
The holder or cradle, 18, which supports the bottle, 19, whilst being corked is
fixed on a vertical rod, 20, which works in guides formed for it in a casting, 21,
fixed to the lower part of the pillar, 4. On the rod, 20, there is adjustably fixed, a
small block, 22, which is acted on for raising the bottle by the front part of a

page_text: curved lever, 23, centered on a stud fixed to the pillar, 4; and the back end of this
lover, 23, is connected by a link, 24, to a lever, 25, lying nearly parallel to the
lover, 12, connected to the main vertically moving slide, 10. A spring, 26, is
connected to the lever, 25, to act on it in a manner to raise up the bottle
holder, 18, when not prevented from doing so by the lever, 12, which carries a
part, 27, shaped to act on the lever, 25, this part, 27, being on the joint piece
connecting the rod, 11, to the lover, 12. When the lever, 12, descends, the
spring, 26, causes the holder, 18, to raise the bottle, 19, up against the underside
of the guide nozzle, 28, down through which the cork is about to be forcer, and
when the bottle holder has been raised in this way it is temporarily prevented
from descending again when the corking pressure acts upon it by a wedge, 29,
which drops into a wedge-shaped slot in the curved lever, 23. When, after the
cork has been forced into the bottle, 19, by the plunger, 7, the lover, 12, rises again
together with the rod, 11, and slido, 10, a small bracket, 30, adjustably fixed on
the rod, 11, lifts up the wedge, 29, so as to set free the curved lover, 23, and then
the lever, 12, continuing to rise acts by the part, 27, on the lever, 25, so as to
make it turn the curved lever, 23, in a manner to let the bottle, 19, descend clear
of the guide nozzle, 28, so that it can be easily romoved.
The piece in which the guide nozzle, 28, is formed is made with a lateral
channel, 31, in which a number of corks can be put, and the inner end of which
communicates with a short channel, 32, leading forwards into the guide nozzle, 28.
In this channel, 32, there works the front end of a pusher plate, 33, which is acted
on by an inclined flange, 34, of the slide, 10, the front of this flange, 34, moving
forward the pusher plate, 33, when the slide descends and the back of it moving it
back when the slide rises by acting on two snugs, 35, formed on the inner sides of
a forked part of the plate, 33. When this plate, 33, is moved back a cork from
the lateral channel, 31, is pushed in front of it, and at its next forward movement
this cork is pushed forward into the guide nozzle, 28, to be forced down by tho
plunger, 7, into the bottle.
I do not restrict myself to the preciso details herein described or delineated
provided that the distinctive features of my Invention are retained; those being, 1,
the combining of the driving gearing with the other parts of the machine, and 2,
the improved construction of the cork-feeding mechanism.
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. The combination of the driving gearing with the other parts of the machine
substantially as hereinbefore described.
2. The improved construction of the cork-feeding mechanism as hereinbefore
described.