AN IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CORKING. BOTTLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Armand Gilbee, of No. 4, South Street,
Finsbury, London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
MACHINE FOR CORKING. BOTTLES."-A communication.
Sealed the 30th September 1858, and dated the 7th April 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Armand Gilbee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 7th April 1858.
I, WILLIAM ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London,
5 Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "AN
IMPROVED MACHINE FOR CORKING BOTTLES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The improved machine for corking bottles is composed of an iron or other
metal frame provided with a screw, so that the machine may be fixed to a
table or other suitable place. By means of a lever or levers, a plunger in
connection is brought down upon the cork, which is forced through a tube
with a funnel head into the neck of the bottle in which the tube is placed.
To the plunger is attached a small pin, which when descending presses down
a rod to enable the corks to be placed at the same depth in the bottle.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Armand Gilbee in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 6th October 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ARMAND GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Patent Agent,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
William Armand Gilbee, Her special licence that I, the said William Armand
Gilbee, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Armand Gilbee, my 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 might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention of "AN IM-
PROVED MACHINE POR CORKING BOTTLES," a communication from a foreigner
residing abroad, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Armand Gilbee, 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 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 I, the said William Armand Gilbee, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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 Drawing hereto annexed,
and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention communicated to me consists in the construction of a
machine for corking bottles, in which a conical mouthed tube or funnel is
employed, through which the cork is made to pass into the neck of the bottle
by means of a plunger actuated by a lever. The machine is made portable,
and may be fixed to a table or other support:
In order that the Invention may be better understood, I will proceed to
describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, in which Figure 1 represents a side

page_text: elevation of the machine; Figure 2 a sectional elevation of the same, shewing
the cork placed in the conical mouthed tube or funnel ready to be forced by
the plunger into the neck of the bottle; Figure 3 is also a sectional elevation
of the machine or apparatus representing the cork in the neck of the bottle.
The same letters represent the same parts in all the Figures of the Drawing..
The machine or apparatus is composed of a small standard A, formed of
cast iron or other metal, which may be fixed to a table by means of a pressure
screw B. The standard is cast with a vertical guide B', in which works the
plunger E, composed of steel or other metal. The head of the plunger is
attached to the lever G by a centre pin E¹, and in order to give the plunger
a direct vertical stroke, the end of the lever is connected by a pin G¹ to a
strong rod F, fixed at the lower part by a pin F¹ to the bracket Fs of the
standard. e is a small rod placed parallel to the plunger in a suitable guide.
The lower part of the rod is formed with a head c¹, which presses on the edge
of the neck of the bottle T, when made to descend by the small stud pin a,
fixed to the head of the plunger. The upper part of the rod is furnished with
a tubular cap a', in which is placed a helical spring a², for raising the tube to
its original position.
MODE OF USING THE MACHINE FOR CORKING WINE, BEER, AND OTHER BOTTLES.
When fixed to the table or other support, I raise the lever G as shewn in
Figure 2, and then place the cork D in the conical mouthed tube or funnel C.
I take hold of the handle M with the right hand, and by means of the lever G
bring down the plunger E, so as to press the cork until it projects out of the
tube I. The superfluous water which adheres to the cork being wiped off, I
introduce the tube I into the neck of the bottle by lifting the latter to it with
the left hand, as represented in Figure 2, and hold it there against the standard,
whilst with the right hand I give the cork successive and rapid blows with the
plunger, until the cork is in the position shewn in Figure 3. In order to
place the corks at the same depth, I employ the small rod e, which by means
of the pin a is driven downwards, as shewn in Figure 3.
The following are the advantages of the improved machine over those at
present employed:-First, preventing the breakage of the bottle in corking,
inasmuch as no pressure is exerted upon it; secondly, preventing the entrance
into the bottle of pieces of cork or water dropping therefrom; thirdly, not
compressing the air, which still remains in the neck of the bottle; fourthly,
preventing the breakage of fragile bottles when they are too full of liquid, as
by this mode of corking the excess of liquid overflows before the cork is

page_text: placed; fifthly, its portability and easy application to a table or other support;
sixthly, not injuring the upper part of the neck of the bottle, as is the case
with all other machines..
Having thus described the nature of the Invention communicated to me,
and the manner of performing the same; I would have it understood that I do
not confine myself to the dimensions or details or form of construction of the
machine, so long as the principle or main feature of the Invention be retained;
what I claim as the Invention communicated to me, and desire to be protected
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the general arrangement and construction of the corking machine
or apparatus, as herein-before described and represented in the annexed
Drawing.
Secondly, the construction and employment of the conical mouthed tube or
funnel C, I, for the purpose and in the manner berein-before described and
shewn in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Armand Gilbee, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
W. A. GILBEE. (L.S.)