Improvements in Bottling Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: opan
Date of Application (in United Kingdom), 23rd Sept., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 17th June, 1891-Accepted, 1st Aug., 1891
PROVISIONAL DE MOTIVATION
Improvements in Bottling Machines.
I, CLAUDIUS GRAEPEL of Serrano 82, 2° Madrid in the Kingdom of Spain,
Machinery Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
In bottling aërated waters or liquids under pressure alternate communication is
established between the receptacle containing the liquid and the bottle syphon or
vessel to be filled and between the said bottle or vessel and the atmosphere,
repeating the communication as often as may be necessary to introduce into the
bottle or vessel the desired quantity of liquid.
The object of this invention is to provide a machine simple and economical in
construction and not requiring a skilled operator for preventing gas being lost and
the liquid being badly bottled. In a machine constructed according to my invention
there is a rotary part provided with means for holding as many bottles or syphons
as may be desired these being all filled by a single revolution of the said part the
necessary communications being established with and cut off from the bottles by
means of orifices that traverse the said rotary part and lead into the bottles. Other
orifices are made through the substance of the stationary hollow axle of the
machine and lead into grooves on the outer surface of said axle as hereinafter
described.
The aforesaid rotary part consists of a ring or short tube traversed by
radial orifices in number corresponding to the number of bottles carried by the
machine.
The hollow axle has orifices through its substance which are connected with pipes
or tubes supplying the liquid to be bottled. Each of these tubes is provided with
a valve cock whereby the passage of the liquid may be regulated. I shall call these
orifices "filling holes." The axle is also provided with orifices which communicate
with the atmosphere and I shall call these orifices "snifting holes."
The grooves above mentioned into which these holes lead are so arranged that
one filling hole and one air displacement hole suffices for all the necessary repetitions
of alternate communication being carried round the cylindrical surface of the axle
and provided with bends or enlargements at the points where communication with
the bottles is to take place. When the rotary ring or short tube revolves one set of
orifices therein may pass in one circumferential line and another set of orifices may
pass in another circumferential line in a machine for filling two sets of bottles
combined as hereinafter explained.
The hollow axle at the end on which the revolving ring or short tube is placed is
slightly conical and the inner part of the ring or short tube fits this conical part.
The object of this is to take up any slackness between the axle and the ring by
means of a nut which is screwed on the projecting smaller end of the axle, this nut
is separated from the revolving ring or short tube by a washer keyed on the hollow
axle to prevent the motion of the ring or short tube being transmitted to the nut.
On tightening this nut the orifices in the revolving part have their position varied

page_text: f
or are liable to be displaced in the direction of the axis of rotation relatively to the
holes or grooves in the axle, and in order that this may not cause any obstruction
of the passage the said grooves are provided with enlargements as hereinbefore
described.
If syphons are being filled they may be secured in position by a spring bearing
on the bottom part or a plate against which it bears and at the upper end by a
spring ring which is attached to spokes or projections from the revolving ring or
short tube by means of a connecting link, or toggle, and is provided with a cap or
bearing piece adapted to the shape of the syphon head so as to hold it, by reason of
the ring being pressed out of its circular form. By these means whilst the valve is
kept open the spout of the syphon is pushed towards the interior of its corresponding
mouth piece which may be of the form usually employed for filling syphons. I take
the lowest position as a convenient point to replace the filled syphons by empty ones.
Whilst this replacement is going on another of the syphons is in communication
with the groove, which corresponds to one of the filling holes and another syphon
corresponds with a groove, which also corresponds to the said filling hole.
When
the empty syphon is placed in position, a fourth part of a revolution is given to the
revolving part of the machine (in the case of a machine constructed to carry four
bottles). By this movement the empty syphon is transferred to the position occupied
by the syphon previously placed in the machine, each bottle in the machine being
forwarded or advanced to the same extent so that a full bottle is removed and
replaced by an empty bottle at each movement of the rotary part. At the same
time the orifices in the rotary part in moving over the cylindrical or conical surface
of the hollow axle place the bottles alternately and successively in communication
with the filling holes, and with the snifting holes through the grooves in the said
surface.
In a machine carrying four siphons, for example, the grooves and enlargements
are so arranged that the communication is established firstly with a filling hole,
secondly with a snifting hole, thirdly with the filling hole, fourthly with the snifting
hole, and fifthly and lastly with the filling hole. In order to control or check the
escape of air, a tap is screwed into the air displacement hole on the inside of the
hollow axle.
By suitably modifying the arrangement of the grooves or ports in the hollow
axle, analogous arrangements are employed for filling internally stoppered bottles,
and by employing a separate set of filling and snifting holes, the machine may be
arranged for working with either siphon or internally stoppered bottles. The latter
are retained in position by a spring which presses them against a mouthpiece of the
form usually employed to exclude the air, said mouthpiece being traversed by an
orifice which forms a prolongation of the orifice in the short tube of the rotary part.
With these bottles, the machine preferably revolves in the opposite direction to that
in which it revolves when filling the siphon bottles; the place occupied by the
bottle at the end of the operation being the one where the filled bottle is replaced
by an empty one which in its turn is filled in making the revolution. With this
arrangement the internally stoppered bottle being filled communicates firstly with
the groove which corresponds to a filling hole, then with a groove connected with
the snifting hole, then with with the groove of the same filling hole and finally
with an air displacement hole which closes the bottle.
This system of constructing bottling machines admits of many different combina-
tions, for, aided by the possibility of revolving the machine in one direction or the
other, the problem is reduced to establishing the communications in suitable
positions whereby I mean to say that the air discharges or snifting should take
place with the bottle or other vessel in such a position that on the communication
being established the air and not the liquid will be discharged and by suitably
modifying the communications the bottles may be filled in one or more revolutions
or in part of one revolution as may be desired, and to accomplish this one may
adapt to necessity or convenience the position of the bottles, the arrangement,
position, size, number and shape of the holes and grooves or other passages that may

page_text: be made to substitute them, varying the external and internal diameter of the axle
if the surface necessary for the communications should so require it, and if desired
the grooves may be suppressed and direct communication may be established from the
holes in the axle to the orifices in the revolving part also instead of having one
single bottle at a time communicate with each one of the orifices of the ring, the
communication may be established for several placed side by side, and, instead of
using the axle as one of the two parts that form the communication, another piece
or pieces may be adopted and placed wherever it may be desirable in communication
with the ring, or the axle may be made the conductor of the liquid closing its two
ends, and the air discharges may be realised from between the ring and the axle, or
by means of the ring and other piece or pieces that may be applied, or the air may
be discharged towards the inside of the axle and the liquid introduced between the
axle and the ring or by means of the ring and other piece or pieces adapted
thereto.
The angle or inclination at which the orifices traverse the revolving ring is
regulated on the inner surface of the ring by the position of the grooves, and on the
outer surface of the ring by the position which is best adapted for making the
connection with the bottles or vessels to be filled.
For greater uniformity in the working of the machine it is desirable that
the bottles or other vessels be placed in the ring at equal distances one from
another, and therefore that the orifices which traverse the ring be also at equal
distances.
If desired, one may provide in any convenient part of the machine an adequate
number of stops or other means to ensure that the machine shall stop whenever a
bottle arrives at the point where it should be replaced by another.
The capacity of the machine is practically unlimited, for the lengths of the axle
and of the ring may be extended as required, nor is there anything to prevent
the repetition in them of the orifices, holes, and grooves described, for, although
the rim and the mode of fixing the bottles or other vessels might be an
inconvenience, yet these are points of no importance and they can be modified at
wish.
Dated this 23rd day of September 1890.
J. H. JOHNSON & Co.,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, Agents.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bottling Machines.
I CLAUDIUS GRAEPEL of Serrano 82, 2° Madrid in the Kingdom of Spain
Machinery Merchant do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement:-
My invention relates to apparatus for bottling acrated waters or liquids under
pressure and it consists in certain improvements in the arrangement and construction
of the parts of such apparatus as hereinafter described by means of which arrange-
ment and construction considerable economy is effected in the manufacture of
the apparatus and the operations of introducing the liquid and discharging the
air during the bottling operation can be performed with great rapidity and without
requiring any special dexterity on the part of the person using the apparatus.
When filling a bottle with liquid the air contained in the bottle is displaced by
the liquid. This air may be allowed to escape simultaneously with the entry of
the liquid into the bottle or in the case of liquid entering the bottle under
pressure alternate communications may be established one being a communication
between the receptacle containing the liquid to be bottled and the bottle, for the
admission of the liquid into the bottle and the other being a communication between
the bottle and the outside atmosphere for the escape of the air compressed in the

page_text: bottle by the entry of the liquid. These communications may be alternately
repeated as often as necessary for the introduction into the bottle of the quantity
of liquid desired.
A bottling machine constructed according to my invention is adapted for
bottling by means of the aforesaid alternate communications. The said machine
is capable of being employed for introducing aërated waters and other liquids into
syphon bottles or into internal stoppered bottles or other forms of bottles.
The principal parts of this machine are a shaft or axle which is fixed, and a
tube or ring which revolves on the said shaft or axle. These two parts are
preferably made of gun metal and are provided with orifices or passages which at
one extremity terminate in such positions that on rotating the tube or ring the
passages therein coincide in the proper order with those in the shaft or axle. The
said rotating tube or ring is connected to a frame which revolves with it and
carries a series of bottles so mounted that the passages in the tube or ring
communicate with the bottles. I connect the receptacle containing the liquid to
be bottled with a passage or passages in the fixed shaft or axle. Another passage
or other passages in the said shaft alternating with those for the supply of liquid
communicate or communicates with the atmosphere.
By means of this arrangement when rotary motion is given to the tube or ring
the bottles are successively and separately connected with the supply of liquid
and with the atmosphere alternately.
The point or points at which the outside extremities of the passages or orifices
in the fixed shaft are situated at the circumference or external surface of the
same is regulated according to the order in which the communications with the
liquid supply and the atmosphere are respectively to be established and on
the liquid supply pipes stop cocks may be employed to regulate the flow of
liquid to the bottles.
The fixed shaft may be provided with any number of series of passages enabling
the same shaft to be employed for filling several series of bottles of the same or
different descriptions simultaneously or otherwise for example, one series may be
arranged for internally stoppered bottles and another series for syphon bottles.
The extremities of the passages in the rotating tube or ring and in the shaft or
axle are preferably all in one circumferential line that is to say in a plane
perpendicular to the axis of the shaft but if desired they may be in different planes
provided that each bottle or bottles is or are enabled to make the communications
at the times requisite for its or their filling.
The positions of the bottles in relation to the rotating tube or ring and the
appliances for retaining them in position thereon, may be regulated according to
convenience but I prefer for the better working of the machine to place the bottles
symmetrically or at equal distances apart and the same is preferably the case with
the passages in the tube or ring.
The fixed shaft or axle on which the tube or ring revolves is placed preferably in
a horizontal position.
It is preferably taper or conical at the part where it receives the tube or ring
and the inner surface of the said tube or ring fits on to this taper or conical part of
the shaft.
The frictional surface or surfaces of contact between the fixed shaft or axle and
the rotating tube or ring are of sufficient extension or area to enable the desired
communications to be established without risk of the liquid escaping from between
the axle and the ring or passing from one passage in the shaft to another.
other respects the said tube or ring may be of any form that is most convenient for
holding the bottles and securing them in position.
In
At the smaller end of the shaft a proper elastic bearing is provided which may
consist of a nut or a flanged plug screwed in or on the end between which nut or
plug and the end of the ring or tube three washers are placed one being of elastic
substance arranged between the two others which are preferably of gun-metal.
These washers are keyed on the axle to prevent their revolving with the-ring and

page_text: interfering with the functions of the nut or plug. By tightening up the said nut or
plug the tube or ring is forced towards the thicker part of the coned or taper part
of the shaft or axle whereby any slackness between the said tube or ring and the
shaft or axle is taken up.
And in order that my said invention may be fully understood I shall now
proceed more particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to
the several figures on the annexed sheet of drawings, the same letters of reference
indicating corresponding parts in all the figures.
Figure 1 of the drawings represents in vertical section a machine constructed
according to my invention shewing the arrangement for filling syphon bottles and
internally stoppered bottles.
Figure 2 represents the machine in front elevation partly in section on the
line 1-2 Figure 1 being arranged for filling syphon bottles, and Figure 3 is a
similar view partly in section on the line 3-4 Figure 1 illustrating the arrangement
for filling internally stoppered bottles.
Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the arrangement of the ports or channels in
the stationary shaft or axle. The machine is constructed with a circular frame or
wheel A. (or its equivalent such as a disc or plate attached to the ring or short
tube) provided with spring clamping devices of any suitable construction according
to the description of bottles to be secured thereon. The heads of the syphon
bottles illustrated in Figure 2 may be secured by means of a cap piece a connected
by a spring ring a¹ to an arm a² pivotted on the frame. By compressing the
ring a' the cap piece a can be released as shown on the left hand side of Figure 2
and by placing the cap piece on the syphon head and forcing it against the lever
until the ring a¹ and arm a spring over with a toggle action and the arm bears
against a pin at on the frame (as represented on the right hand in Figure 2) the
head of the syphon bottle is secured and the lever thereof is at the same time held
down so as to open the valve.
The rotary frame A is provided with a short tube or ring B in which are formed
radial passages into which are inserted in the case of syphon bottles the spouts
of the bottles mounted on the frame. This ring or boss B revolves upon a fixed
hollow shaft C carried by a suitable stationary support or pillar not shewn in the
drawing. Passages c and d are formed in the shaft C, their outer ends communi-
cating with pipes provided with stop cocks by which the liquid under pressure is
supplied, the inner ends of the said passages communicating with grooves or
channels and f formed in the outer periphery of the shaft C (Figure 4). Two
other passages g and h (acting as snifting holes) formed in the shaft C communicate
with grooves or channels ik also in the outer periphery of the shaft and connect
these channels with the atmosphere. The liquid supply channel e communicates
with branch channels or grooves el e² e and the liquid supply channel is connected
to branch channels or grooves f1 and 2. The snifting channel i is connected
with branch grooves or channels i 2 and 3 but the snifting channel k is one simple
groove or channel.
The boss or central part B of the wheel or frame A is secured in position on the
fixed shaft C by a nut C₁ (see Figure 1) screwed on the end of the shaft which
is made taper or conical so that by screwing up the nut C' against a washer
interposed between it and the part B the latter can be tightened on the shaft as
required and to admit of this adjustment the channels in the surface of the shaft
are made of such dimensions as to allow for a certain amount of lateral or axial
movement of the tube B upon the shaft C. The washer interposed between the
nut and the boss of the frame may be composed of a rubber or elastic ring placed
between two metal washers x in order to obtain an elastic or yielding pressure.
The said washers are fixed and incapable of rotating on the shaft so that the
rotary motion of the frame is not transmitted to the nut.
The passages b in the ring B arranged for syphons as illustrated in Figure 2
communicate during the rotation of the frame alternately with the branches e¹ ee
of the liquid supply channel e Figure 4 and with the branches of the snifting

page_text: channel and move over these branches in the direction indicated by the arrow
Figure 4. When the apparatus is employed for filling internally stoppered bottles
as illustrated in Figure 3 the passages 6 in this frame move in the direction indicated
by the arrow m Figure 4 and communicate successively with the branches f' and f
of the filling or supply channel and with the snifting branch and snifting
channel k.
The passages in this case communicate with cap pieces a into which the necks
of the bottles are placed as shewn with regard to the bottle K*.
Referring again to Figures 1 and 2 H represents an empty syphon bottle which
is placed in position ready to be secured by means of the cap a and spring ring a¹
and arm a² as hereinbefore described.
By rotating the frame A in the direction indicated by the arrow in Figure 2
the syphon H for example is connected firstly with the filling passage or hole c
through the branch e¹ secondly with the snifting hole g through the branch i¹
thirdly with the filling hole c through the branch e² fourthly with the snifting
hole g through the branch and fifthly and lastly with the filling hole c through
the branch whereby the filling is completed after which the bottle reaches its
original position at H where it is removed and an empty syphon inserted in its
place. In the meantime three other filled syphon bottles have been removed in
like manner and replaced by empty syphon bottles so that the operations proceed
continuously four syphon bottles being filled at each complete revolution of the
frame.
In practice I prefer to so arrange the machine that the bottle stands at an angle
of about 45 degrees on the left hand side of the frame when it is filled and ready
for being exchanged for an empty bottle.
The frame A¹ arranged for filling internally stoppered bottles K Figure 3 is
rotated in the opposite direction to that in which the frame A Figure 2 is rotated
as indicated by the arrows and the radial passages in the frame A' connect the
bottles K in succession firstly with the filling hole d (Figure 4) through the
branch secondly with the snifting hole g through the branch thirdly with
the filling hole d through the branch f2 and fourthly and lastly with the snifting
hole through the recess k so that each bottle as it is carried round in the frame
firstly receives a certain quantity of liquid secondly discharges the displaced air,
thirdly receives the final charge of liquid and fourthly put in communication
with the atmosphere whilst in an inverted position for the purpose of closing the
bottle before it is removed from the machine.
The arrangements Figures 2 and 3 are each shewn as carrying four bottles rotating
in the same plane but it is evident that it may be constructed to carry any other suitable
number arranged in the same plane and that by prolonging the fixed shaft and
prolonging the branches of the filling and snifting channels or providing additional
series of radial filling and snifting holes the frame may be constructed to carry a corre-
sponding number of series of bottles each series rotating in different planes and these
may be arranged so that the different kinds of bottles are filled in each series. The
frame may be rotated by hand or by power and stops may be provided to arrest
the motion of the frame at fixed intervals in order to ensure that the bottles may
be placed in communication with the filling and snifting passages for a sufficient
time to allow for the introduction of the liquid and the escape of the air.
According to the arrangement illustrated in Figure 2 one syphon bottle (H³)
receives its first charge of liquid whilst the bottle at H³ is receiving its second
charge and the bottle at H₁ is receiving its final charge but the channels and
branches in the shaft may be so arranged that three or more bottles receive the
liquid simultaneously or at other convenient relative times.
A good practical arrangement for clamping the syphon bottles in position is
represented in Figure 5. According to this arrangement the head of the bottle 1
is acted on in an oblique direction by a plate 2 faced with rubber inserted in a
dovetail or under cut groove in the face of the plate as represented in Figure 6
which represents the plate in section on the line a-b Figure 5. This plate is

page_text: attached to a rod 3 sliding longitudinally in guides 4 being pressed in the direction
of the syphon head by a spring 5 of sufficient strength to retain the said head
firmly in position against the filling orifice b. The syphons are released from this
clamp by means of a lever 6 acting on a cam 7 connected to the rod 3 and bearing
against the outer guide 4. The valve of the syphon head is held open by a
lever 8 pivoted on the rod 3 and acting on the valve lever being retained in the
required position for depressing the said valve lever and opening the valve by
means of a link or catch 9.
The internally stoppered bottles (Figure 3) are most conveniently placed in the
machine in the horizontal position represented at K* and may be so arranged that
two or more bottles receive charges of liquid simultaneously in the same way as the
syphon bottles.
In place of the grooves ef and i I may make the recesses e¹ e e³ and ƒ¹ ƒª
and each with passages like d and e communicating therewith or otherwise
arrange the passages so that they open to the recesses in the shaft or axle arranged
as described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is.
First. In a machine for bottling liquids a fixed hollow shaft or axle provided
with alternate filling and. snifting passages in combination with a tube or ring
revolvable upon the said shaft or axle and having passages which by the rotation
of the said tube or ring are placed successively in communication with the said
filling and snifting passages and connect them alternately with a series of bottles
revolving with the tube or ring for the purpose of admitting liquid to and discharging
air from the bottles substantially as hereinbefore described.
Second. In a machine for bottling liquids a fixed hollow shaft or axle provided
with alternate filling and snifting passages in combination with a tube or ring
revolvable on the said shaft and having passages two or more of which by the
rotation of the said tube or ring are simultaneously placed in communication with
filling and snifting passages to put them successively in communication with bottles
revolving with the said tube or ring for the purpose of admitting liquid to, or
discharging air from two or more of such bottles simultaneously substantially as
hereinbefore described.
Third. In a machine for bottling liquids a fixed shaft having filling and snifting
passages communicating with circumferential grooves or channels having branches
or enlargements in combination with a revolvable tube or ring provided with corre-
sponding radial passages which by the rotation of the said tube or ring are caused
to coincide successively and separately with the said branches thereby repeatedly
connecting the bottles with the same filling and snifting passages in the course of
one complete revolution of the said tube or ring substantially as hereinbefore
described with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Fourth. The arrangements and combinations of parts constituting the bottling
machines substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to the accompanying
drawings.
D
1
T
1001