IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO FEEDING BOTTLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Charles Webber, of Midhurst, in the
County of Sussex, England, but at present residing at Mentone, in the
Empire of France, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO
FEEDING BOTTLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES."
Scaled the 1st October 1867, and dated the 4th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Charles Webber
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
4th October 1867.
I, WILLIAM CHARLES WEBBER, of Midhurst, in the County of Sussex,
England, but at present residing at Mentone, in the Empire of France, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS APPLI-
CABLE TO FEEDING BOTTLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER
USEFUL PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements chiefly applicable to feeding
bottles for infants and invalids whereby the temperature of the contents may
be denoted, and thus all risk of administering food in too heated a state may
be avoided. For this purpose I apply a thermometer to the side of the
bottle; the thermometer may be attached to the exterior of the bottle by
means of metallic rings or clips, or it may be partly inserted into an aperturo
formed to receive a portion of the bulb, and the bulb may then be fixed by

page_text: means of fusion of glass by the action of the blowpipe. By these means the
contents of the bottle will act upon the mercury, spirit, or other equivalent
contained in the bulb and tube and thus indicate the temperature; or in some
cases the thermometer may be fixed inside the bottle by means of glass or
metal rings or other fastenings.
The Invention is also applicable to other useful purposes, such as to denote
the temperature of chemical admixtures without the necessity of inserting a
thermometer by hand, and occupying time necessary for the elevation of the
temperature in the thermometer, since the fixed thermometer will constantly
shew the true temperature of the liquid during the time of the experiment or
process.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Charles Webber in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 4th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CHARLES WEBBER, of Midhurst, in the County of Sussex, England, but at
present residing at Mentone, in the Empire of France, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Charles Webber, Her special licence that I, the said William
Charles Webber, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said William Charles Webber, my executors, administrators, and
assigus, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all 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
"IMPROVEMENTS APPLICABLE TO FEEDING BOTTLES, WHICH IMPROVEMENTS ARE ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that 1, the said William Charles Webber, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Charles Webber, 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 to certain improvements chiefly applicable to feeding
bottles for infants and invalids whereby the temperature of the contents inay
be denoted, and thus all risk of administering food in too heated a state may
be avoided, the Invention being also applicable to other useful purposes,
such as to denote the temperature of chemical admixtures without the
necessity of inserting a thermometer by hand.
The improvements consist in the application of a thermometer tube and
scale to the side of the bottle, or of a thermometer only with a scale marked
on the bottle, the bulb or lower end of the thermometer entering the bottle
through a cavity formed therein and coming in contact with the liquid
contained in the bottle. By these means the temperature of the contents is
denoted by the rise of the mercury or spirit in the thermometer.
In order to carry out the Invention the bottle should be blown in a mould
of such pattern as to form in the side of the bottle a sunken space or channel
large enough either to contain the thermometer and scale or only so wide and
deep as to hold the tube, in which case the scale can be marked on the bottlo;
the hole for the admission of the lower extremity of the tube is made either
by boring or in the act of moulding, or by forming a circular depression in
the raised surface of the mould which makes the sunken channel in the bottle;
thus when the bottle is blown in the mould there will be a raised or convex
surface of a circular outline at the bottom of the channel; this surface can
casily be cut away and will leave a hole for the reception of the thermometer
tube, which is bent for about a quarter of an inch of its length to a right
angle, and fixed in the hole by means of a hollow or perforated disc of india-
rubber or cork fitting the hole in the bottle. The tube or tube and scale are
therefore by being embedded in the side of the bottle completely protected
from accident; they may be secured in the channel by means of liquid cement
or metallic bands or clips. The tube should be set in a groove cut in the
index or scale, so that the surface of the tube may be flush with the surface of
the scale.
In order that my Invention may be completely understood I annex the
accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1 shews a bottle with a thermometer
and scale set in a recess formed in the side of the bottle; and Fig. 2 a
thermometer tube in a recess with a scale on the side of the bottle; Fig. 3 is
a section of the bottle, tube, and scale, shewing the sunken surface a of the

page_text: bottle and the thermometer and scale b. The stopper and tubes are not
shewn, as they are the same as heretofore used for feeding bottles; and for
other bottles used for chemical purposes ordinary stoppers may be used
or outlet pipes, as required. Any form of bottle may be used, but by
preference a bottle with flat or perpendicular sides is more suitable for the
application of the thermometer than a bottle with curvilinear sides; in the
latter case the channel could be formed in the mould and a bent thermometer
tube applied. In some cases the thermometer may be conveyed into the
lower part of the bottle by enlarging the diameter of the bottle for a short
distance above its base, and forming an aperture in the upper surface of such
portion in order to insert the thermometer secured by cork or india-rubber
or by cement; the upper part of the thermometer can then be secured by a
metallic band surrounding the bottle and thermometer. Vessels or jars used
by chemists and others may be provided with a thermometer in the same
manner. Numerous methods might be described of applying and attaching
the thermometers to bottles and vessels in order to effect the purposes of this
Invention, but I have mentioned some methods which are the most easy of
application.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be carried into practical effect, I would remark that I do
not limit myself to any particular form of bottles, or to any special means of
applying and attaching thermometers thereto; but what I claim and desire to
be secured to me by the herein in part recited Letters Patent is the application
of a thermometer to a feeding or other bottle, or to chemists' bottles or
vessels, for the purpose of denoting the temperature of the liquid contained
therein, substantially as berein specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Charles Webber, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
Witness,
JOHN ROBINSON,
Midhurst,
Surgeon, &c.
WILLIAM CHARLES WEBBER. (L.S.)