IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON- STRUCTION OF THE NECKS OF BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN MEANS FOR CLOSING OR COVERING THE MOUTHS OF SUCH BOTTLES OR VESSET"
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Howard Busby Fox, of Oxton, in the County of
Chester, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CON-
STRUCTION OF THE NECKS OF BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN MEANS FOR
CLOSING OR COVERING THE MOUTHS OF SUCH BOTTLES OR VESSET"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Howard Busby Fox at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 9th June 1865.
I, HOWARD BUSBY Fox, of Oxton, in the County of Chester, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NECKS OF BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS, AND IN MEANS
FOR CLOSING OR COVERING THE MOUTHS OF SUCH BOTTLES OR VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
I construct the necks of bottles, tins, drums, and other vessels or packages
made of glass, metal, or other material with a screw thread on their outer
surfaces. Over and on each of the screw threads I force, twist, or place a
metal or other cap, lined with cork or other elastic substance or substances.
By the construction and means specified I am enabled to close bottles and
other packages perfectly and permanently air-tight with less breakage than

page_text: under the present system to open the said bottles or packages by hand without
a corkscrew, and to effect economy, for the same cap and its elastic lining may
be used many times.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Howard Busby Fox in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HOWARD
BUSBY Fox, of Oxton, in the County of Chester, Gentleman, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her- heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Howard Busby Fox, Her special license that I, the said Howard
Busby Fox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Howard Busby Fox, 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 for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF THE NECKS OF BOTTLES AND OTHER
VESSELS, AND IN MEANS FOR CLOSING OR COVERING THE MOUTHS OF SUCH BOTTLES
OR VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Howard
Busby Fox, 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 Howard Busby Fox, 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, reference being had to the Sheet of illustrative Drawings
hereto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon (that is to
Bay)-
construct the necks of bottles, tins, drums, and other vessels or packages
-

page_text: made of glass, metal, or other material with a screw thread on their outer
surfaces. Over and on each of the screw threads I force, twist, or place a
metal or other cap, lined with cork or other elastic substance or substances. :
By the construction and means specified I am enabled to close bottles and
other packages perfectly and permanently air-tight with less breakage than
under the present system, to open the said bottles or packages by hand without
a corkscrew, and to effect economy, for the same cap and its elastic lining may
be used many times.
The Sheet of Drawings attached hereto contains views illustrative of the
details of bottles, and means of closing the same, according to my Invention.
In all the views shewn the caps are made of tinn'd iron, "white," or other
metal, and the linings of cork; and although the caps may be made of wood,
ebonite, glass, earthenware, or other hard material or materials, and the
linings of gutta percha, india-rubber, or other elastic or flexible substance or
substances, I prefer the metal and cork, for I have found them to answer
well. The metal caps may be stamped out of sheet metal or soldered or
secured together in pieces; and the cork lining for the circumference cut out
of the solid bark, or formed with a bevilled lap joint, or fitted in in pieces.
b
Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the neck of a glass bottle with a screw or
helical thread a formed thereon. Fig. 2 is a side elevation of a cylindrical
cap 6 for closing such bottle. care indentations to prevent the cap from
being turned round on the cork lining d, see under side view, Fig. 3. e, the
pectinated and turned-over edge of the cap. The cork lining in the top of
cap 6 may be in the form of a disc. Fig. 4 is a vertical section of the neck
of a glass bottle f, covered or closed by a hexagonal cap 9, seen detached in
side elevation by Fig. 5, and in plan view of under side by Fig. 6. The
number of the turns or threads here shown, and their size, are those which I
use by preference for ordinary wine and beer bottles. The hexagonal cap g is
fitted with a top linning of cork h, the bearing surface of which is made convex;
so that when in use part of it may enter the mouth of the bottle. i is the side
lining of cork; j, the overfolded edge of g. Figs. 7, 8, and 9 are views
similar to Figs. 4, 5, and 6 of like parts; the cap is cylindrical, and is formed
with indentations k, to prevent it from turning without the cork when the
bottle is being closed or opened. In this case, however, as in all others,
shellac or other adhesive substance might be placed between the cap and its
cork lining, for the double purpose of securing the cork to the metal of the
cap, and thoroughly closing up all the pores or openings in the cork in that
surface of it next to the metal. Fig. 10 is a vertical section of a strong
earthenware or glass bottle, with a screw / formed on a cone. The closing or

page_text: covering is effected by a conical cap m, lined with cork n at the sides from
bottom to top. o is a top lining, with convex bearing surface. Fig. 11 is a
side elevation of a bottle with a screw p of increasing pitch, that is to say, á
pitch increasing downwards or away from the mouth, formed thereon. Fig. 12
is a vertical section of a metallic cask or bottle with a metal screw filling
and emptying opening, covered or closed according to my Invention. 9 is the
cask; r, the screw; s, the metal cap; t, the top; and u, the side linings,
held in position by turn over edge v.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and particularized
various modifications of parts thereof, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the use of bottles or vessels, or of caps or linings made of
any particular kind or kinds of material or materials, substance or substances,
as many materials and and substances could be used and alterations made
without departing from the leading features of my said Invention.
What I claim is, the use of bottles constructed or formed with a screw or
helical thread on their necks when such bottles are closed or covered by a cap
lined with cork or other elastic or flexible material or substance, substantially
as herein set forth and shown on the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Howard Busby Fox, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
In the presence of
JOHN T. KING,
Patent Agent,
4, Clayton Sqr.,
Liverpool.
HOWARD BUSBY FOX. (L.S.)