IMPROVEMENTS IN BOTTLE CORKING MACHINES
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Thomas Willett at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 30th March 1878.
JOHN THOMAS WILLETT, of the Old Kent Road, in the County of Surrey.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BOTTLE CORKING MACHINES."
This Invention has for its object the construction of bottle corking machines in
such a manner as to reduce the number of their parts, and so simplify and diminish
their cost of production.
The Invention consists of a frame or stool, upon which is mounted vertically a
hollow pillar. Within the hollow pillar is a moveable piece of metal having two
projections and a peculiarly formed slot, the lower part of the said piece of metal
being extended through and projecting beyond the bottom of the stool.
Through lugs cast on or fixed near the centre of the pillar passes a spindle, upon
which is fixed a short arm or lever carrying a roller that presses upon the pro-
jections before mentioned.
The spindle is also furnished with a lever or winch handle, and a heavy counter-
poise, by which, in conjuction with a lever and roller, the moveable piece of metal
may be raised or lowered. The moveable piece of metal just referred to has at its
upper extremity a projecting arin, which carries a ram or plunger.
Through a suitable opening in the upper part of the pillar there is a slide
carrying a compressor at one end, and provided at the other with a roller pivotted
to its sides and working within the slot before alluded to.
In front of the pillar there is attached to the stool a metal frame, that passes
through an opening in the stool. Within the opening are placed two moveable
wedges, one of which is furnished with a support for the bottle, which is capable
of being adjusted to any height by means of a screw, while the other, when released
from a support projecting from the lower part of the moveable piece of metal, falls
by its own weight, and fixes, for the time being, the support for the bottle.
Beneath the stool there is a weighted lever, the short end of which presses
against the under side of the bottle-supporting wedge, so as to sustain it until it
is fixed by the fall of the other wedge before alluded to.

page_text: The action of the apparatus is as follows:-A bottle is placed upon the sup-
porting wedge, and adjusted so that its mouth may be received within the hollow
of an inverted cup fixed to the pillar by a piece of metal, which has an indent, and
is fashioned to receive the cork. A cork is then placed in this indent and the
handle turned, when the moveable piece of metal carrying the plunger will descend,
at the same time cause the slide to bring its compressor up to and against the cork;
at the same time also the wedge below will be released, and by its fall will be
brought closely in contact with the bottle-supporting wedge, which will thus
present a firm basis to withstand the pressure from above which is to follow.
A continuance of the action causes the cork to be greatly compressed and reduced
in size, and the plunger or ram then forces it into the bottle. The cork when freed
from the compression of the machine expands within the neck of the bottle and fits
it tightly.
On letting go the handle the action is reversed, being assisted by the weight or
counterpoise before referred to. One of the wedge pieces is then raised by the
moveable piece of metal, which presses it upwards froin its under side, and so frees
the bottle-supporting wedge as to allow of its depression, and consequently the
removal of the corked bottle and the substitution of another uncorcked, when the
operation may be repeated.
Another improvement consists in making the back or raised portion of the stool
adjustable, so as to suit the convenience of the operator.