IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES AND IN MODES OF PURIFYING AND PROTECTING THE SAME, WHICH ATWYLD ADMTAT ZO MODES OF CLEANSING ARE ALSO A APPLICAD VICABLE TO OT CEWEAR ADAT DO PRO
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Urban Catlow, of Birkenhead, in the County of
Chester, and Robert Hoyle, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR
BOTTLES AND IN MODES OF PURIFYING AND PROTECTING THE SAME, WHICH
ATWYLD ADMTAT ZO
MODES OF CLEANSING ARE ALSO A
APPLICAD
VICABLE TO OT
CEWEAR ADAT DO
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Urban Catlow and
Robert Hoyle at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 15th July 1875.
'
We, URBAN CATLOW, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, and
ROBERT HOYLE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS
FOR BOTTLES AND IN MODES OF PURIFYING AND PROTECTING THE SAME, WHICH
MODES OF CLEANSING ARE ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as

page_text: trouble, and the same stopper used again and again without material
deterioration. It consists,-
1st. In Making a stopper of glass, earthenware, or other suitable hard
material having a cylindrical shank considerably smaller in diameter than
the neck of the bottle, but with a beading or other swelling at one end
more nearly the diameter of the neck. The swelled cud is made concave
-
and its surface is pitted with holes or indentations of any desirable
fashion. India-rubber is cast on the swelled end, completely covering
it, and is firmly held to it by its substance dovetailing itself into the
indentations in the structure. The whole is now pressed into the
bottle. When the latter is filled with effervescing liquid the shank
of the stopper is allowed to enter the neck-of-the-bottle, and the
imprisoned gases pressing the india-rubber head (d) against the glass of
the bottle entirely closes the same. To open the bottle it only requires
one to sharply strike the protruding shank of the stopper, and the latter
falls into the bottle leaving the contents free to escape.
2nd. All india-rubbor stoppers as at present constructed become foul
after a short period of use and give out an unpleasant odour. To
prevent this we wash the india-rubber while on the stem in a boiling
aqueous solution of alkali, preferably a combination of Canadian black
ash and ordinary washing soda. This extracts all the free sulphur in
the skin of the india-rubber. This mode of purifying is applicable in
all cases almost where india-rubber articles are brought into intimate
contact with moist articles of food and commerce where the odour of
the rubber would cause a depreciation in the value of the article.
3rd. Great objection is made to the variety of stopper that is contrived
to fall into the bottle on the ground that by frequent handling, et cetera,
it contracts dirt, and may thus contaminate the liquor. To obviate this
we put over the stopper and neck a paper capsule which is pasted,
gummed, or tied down on to the neck of the bottle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Urban Catlow and Robert Hoyle in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 14th January 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, URBAN
CATLOW, of Birkenhead, in the County of Chester, and ROBERT HOYLE,
of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the thirty-
cighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Urban Catlow and Robert Hoyle, Her
special licence that we, the said Urban Catlow and Robert Hoyle, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
Urban Catlow and Robert Hoyle, our executors, administrators, and
assigns, 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 mught 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 IN STOPPERS FOR
BOTTLES AND IN MODES OF PURIFYING AND PROTECTING THE SAME, WHICH MODES
OF CLEANSING ARE ALSO APLLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Urban Catlow and Robert
Hoyle, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Urban Catlow and Robert Hoyle,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked
thereon.

page_text: .
1
without the trouble of employing a corkscrew, and the same stopper
used again and again without material deterioration. It consists,―
1st. In making a stopper of glass, earthenware, or other suitable
material having a cylindrical shank considerably smaller in diameter
than the neck of the bottle, but with a beading in the middle (as in
Fig. 1), or other swelling at one end (as in Fig. 2), more nearly the
diameter of the neck. The swelled end (or the central beading A, Fig 1,
and shank on one side of it, A, Fig. 2, as the case may be), is pitted with
holes or indentations of any desirable fashion. Round this pitted part
we mould india-rubber, completely covering it, so as to leave no opening
for¯the gas-to-escape through the india-rubber and between it and the
shank. When the swelling is at one end of the shank the swelled end
is usually made concave the better to retain the india-rubber. Some-
times wc entirely cover the earthenware or glass core with india-rubber,
as shown in Fig. 1, but usually do not, the exposed end being useful to
the the stopper firmly in the neck. For this purpose a hole is made
through the naked end, and a string of porpoise hide or any other
convenient material is passed through and tied over the top of the
bottle. This is always donc when our stopper is used for beer, porter,
or mineral water, with not sufficient strength of gas to hold the stopper
in the neck. The string is generally useful even in soda water bottles
to more easily get hold of the stopper and lift it to the neck when
bottling mouth upwards. For this purpose we usually attach to the
string a ring too big to enter the bottle, or a cork or disc of india-rubber
or other secondary stopper, to be placed in the mouth of the bottle above
the patent stopper to keep out dust and dirt. This we prefer to a
capsule.
2nd. As india-rubber has an unpleasant smell we eliminate this from
the india-rubber by washing the same in a boiling solution of caustic
alkalı, almost any caustic alkalı will do, but we prefɑi to boil it first in
a strong solution of Canadian black ash, and then in one of ordinary
washing soda. This extracts all the free sulphur and leaves the skin of
the india-rubber perfectly inodorous and incapable of giving a taste to

page_text: Fig. 2, single shanked stopper with concave swelled end and a hole in
shank to tic it with string round the neck of the bottle, or as shown
with a cork (india-rubber disc or ring) attached, the cork with a
washer above to hold the string, being used in lieu of the capsule
described in Provisional Specification to keep out the dirt
Having now described our Invention, and the best mode of carrying
it into effect, we wish it to be understood that we are well aware that,
internal stoppers somewhat similar to those we have described have long
been in use and are well known, but what we consider as new and desire
to claim as our Invention is,-
1st. Covering clongated or oblong internal stoppers by casting or
moulding india-rubber all over that portion of the stopper exposed to
the fluids in the bottle when the stopper is in position, so that no liquid
or gaseous matter can escape between the rubber and the core of
the stopper.
2nd. The particular mode of cleaning and deodorizing the india-
rubber of stoppers, and other similar articles with alkali as described.
3rd. Covering the internally stoppered bottle with an outside covering
or stopper to keep it clean, substantially as described.
4th. The application of stoppers substantially as herein described to
all kinds of bottles to which they are adaptable, and this being effected
with non-aerated liquors by tying the internal stopper in position in the
manner described.
In witness whereof, J, the said Robert Hoyle, on behalf of the said
Urban Catlow and myself, have hereunto set my hand and seal,
this Thirteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord 1876.
Witness,
ROBERT MARK EVANS,
Apprentice to W. P. Thompson,
Patent Agent,
6, Lord St.,
Liverpool.
ROBERT HOYLE. (L.S.)