IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR FILLING AERATED WATER AND OTHER SIMILAR LIQUIDS INTO BOTTLES OR OTHER CONTAINERS."
Year: 1880

page_text: st
LETTERS PATENT to Robert Foote, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster,
for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR
FILLING AERATED WATER AND OTHER SIMILAR LIQUIDS INTO BOTTLES OR
OTHER CONTAINERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Foote at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st June 1880.
ROBERT FOOTE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster.
" IMPROVEMENTS IN
AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR FILLING AËRATED WATER AND OTHER
SIMILAR LIQUIDS INTO BOTTLES OR OTHER CONTAINERS."
This Invention has for its object more especially the improving of the ordinary
filling machines; it is applicable however to other "patent stopper" filling machines
where the bottles are filled neck downward.
I do away with the treadle balance weight, which is frequently a nuisance and
occupies room, and in place thereof put a nut on the end of the vertical rod, and
between the nut and the stationary bearing or other fixed support I place a spring
preferably in compression.
As the tube for taking the air from the bottle is liable to bend and to break the
bottles by coming up forcibly against their bottoms, I make it of much thicker
diameter, and place a rod inside projecting upward through it from the valve. This
rod and the valve are kept up by an adjustable spring, but as the rod strikes the
bottom of the bottle it is pressed down, and thus opens the valve against the force
of the spring.
Instead of a horizontal pump I use a vertical one, and attach either it or its
plunger to the rack or its equivalent, the other being stationary. The working of
the rack up and down thus works the pump, and the latter is worked in exact
proportion to the movement of the tube.
In place of the rack and pinion I prefer to use an arm on the spindle usually
carrying the pinion, and join the arm by links, forks, or otherwise, to the base or
bracket of the sliding tube. By this means I obtain a very rapid motion in filling,
while at the same time the middle of the stroke is more rapid than the commence-
ment and end, and consequently there is less wear and tear on the machine with
equal gross speed.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Robert Foote in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st December
1880.
"
ROBERT FOOTE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster. IMPROVEMENTS
IN AND RELATING TO MACHINERY FOR FILLING AËRATED WATER AND OTHER
SIMILAR LIQUIDS INTO BOTTLES OR OTHER CONTAINERS."
This Invention has for its object more especially the improving of the ordinary
filling machines; it is applicable however to other "patent stopper" filling machines
where the bottles are filled neck downward.
It is represented in the Drawings, in which Fig. shows a general view of
machine; Fig. 2, details of tube arrangement for taking the air from the bottle,
the spring box being shown in section. The Invention is rather a series of improve-
ments on existing machines than a new machine. I will therefore, beyond showing
a general arrangement in Fig. 1, only mention my special improvements.
I do away with the treadle balance weight of existing machines, which is
frequently a nuisance and occupies room, and in place thereof put a nut A on the
end of the vertical rod B, and between the nut and the stationary bearing or other
fixed support I place a spring C preferably in compression.
As the tube D for taking the air from the bottle is liable to bend and to break
the bottles by coming up forcibly against their bottoms, I make it of much thicker
diameter and place a rod E (Fig. 2) inside, projecting upward through it from the
valve F. This rod and valve are kept up by an adjustable spring G, but as the
rod strikes the bottom of the bottle it is pressed down, and thus opens the valve
against the force of the spring.
Instead of a horizontal pump I use a vertical one, and attach either it or its
plunger to the rack or its equivalent at the pin J, the other being stationary. The
working of the rack up and down thus works the pump, and the latter is worked
in exact proportion to the movement of the tube; in the Drawing, it being of an
actual machine, the old form of pump is shown. This alteration to the vertical
position could however be made by any mechanic, so there is no need for Drawings;
the alteration to is a mere improvement of design to cheapen and simplify the
machine, and is not absolutely necessary.
In place of the rack and pinion of existing machines, I prefer to use an
arm H on the spindle K usually carrying the pinion, and join this arm by links L
and pin J, or otherwise, to the base or bracket M of the sliding tube D. By this
means I obtain a very rapid motion in filling, while at the same time the middle of
the stroke is more rapid than the commencement and end, and consequently there
is less wear and tear on the machine with equal gross speed.
Having now described my Invention, and the best mode known to me of carrying
it into effect, I wish it to be understood that what I believe to be new and desire
to protect under the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is, -
First. In machinery for filling aërated water and other similar liquids into
bottles or other containers, the combination of an air tube, such as D, with a pro-
jecting rod so placed as to strike the end of the bottle or container in advance of
the tube, and thus open a valve against the pressure of a spring or other elastic
or counterbalancing medium, and thus let the air out of the bottle through the
tube.
Second. In machinery for the purposes described, constructing the pump so as to
work vertically, and actuated by the same mechanism as that which brings the top
of the tube or its containing rod into contact or nearly so with the end of the
bottle to be filled, so that without complicated mechanism the pump shall be worked
in the same proportion as the filling motion is actuated; also my special mechanism
for doing away with counterweight, substantially as and for the purposes described.

page_text: Third. The arrangement, substantially as described, by which the bottom of the
bottle and the top of the tube are brought in close proximity with each other, the
motion being slow at first, very rapid in the central portion of the stroke, and again
gradually coming to a stand at the last portion of the stroke, by which means
there is less chance of breaking the bottles or of injuring the machine by suddenly
starting or arresting motion, as in the case of a straight rack machine with simple
cylindrical pinion.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Foote, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord 1880.
Witness,
JOHN O. O'BRIEN,
Clerk to Wm. P. Thompson & Co.,
Patent Agents,
Liverpool & London.
ROBERT FOOTE.
(L.S.)