In- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AIR-TIGHT BOTTLES, JARS, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Pearce, of Bristol, in the City and County
of Bristol, Surgical Instrument Manufacturer, for the Invention of "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AIR-TIGHT BOTTLES, JARS, OR SIMILAR
ARTICLES."
Sealed the 18th February 1859, and dated the 20th August 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Pearce at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
August 1858.
I, WILLIAM PEARCE, of Bristol, in the City and County of Bristol, Surgical
Instrument Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF AIR-TIGHT BOTTLES, JARS, OR SIMILAR
ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to render the bottle or other object as air-
tight as if it were corked or double stoppered, without entailing the necessity.
of uncorking, or the expense of double stoppering. I propose to make the-
body of the bottle of any of the usual forms, but leaving on the outside.
of the neck one, two, three, or more projections or lugs, such projections.
or lugs being moulded with the bottle or jar, and forming part thereof.
The cover or lid may be of glass, wood, metal, or any suitable material; into
the under edge, or that part touching and encircling the shoulder of the bottle
or jar, a certain indentation or certain indentations is or are made corre-

page_text: sponding with the aforesaid lugs on the neck of the bottle to permit said lid
or cover to pass the projections. Inside the cover or lid I propose to place
cork, felt, india-rubber, or other suitable material, to render the bottle or jar
air-tight. When the cover is passed (the indentations therein so permitting)
over the neck of the bottle, it is partially turned round, the lugs pass into a
groove made to receive them, and the interior of the bottle is air-tight.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Pearce in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
February 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
PEARCE, of Bristol, in the City and County of Bristol, Surgical Instrument
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her beirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said William Pearce, Her special licence that I, the said William Pearce, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Pearce, 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 MANU-
FACTURE OF AIR-TIGHT BOTTLES, JARS, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Pearce, my executors or adminis-
trators, 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 Pearce, 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 accompanying Sheet of Drawings forming part of
this my Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference marked

page_text: thereon, similar letters of reference being placed upon and denoting similar
parts where such parts appear or may be seen at each of the Figures re-
spectively.
The principal object of my Invention is to render a bottle, jar, or other
object as air-tight as if it were corked or double stoppered; and to securely
fasten the lids of various articles, so as to preserve their contents, without
requiring the aid of fats, parchment, string, or other materials usually em-
ployed in old-fashioned pottery and glass ware for such purpose. The Drawing
shews several views of articles made according to my Invention, the nature of
which will be easily understood by reference to the Figures 1 and 2 drawn
thereon.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a glass bottle or pot, and Figure 2 is the same
object with part of the lid removed to shew two lugs or projections a, a, on
the neck of the bottle or pot (such lugs or projections may be more or less
numerous as may be desired). The lid or cover of this bottle is made of wood,
as shewn (but it may be made of glass, metal, or any suitable material); in
the interior of this cover is placed a piece of cork (or other suitable elastic
or semi-elastic material), the diameter of which is rather larger than that of
the upper edge of the neck of the bottle; between this and the lower edge of
the cover, two stoppered grooves, sometimes termed bayonet joints b, b, (seen
best at Figure 8,) are cut to allow the lugs a, a, to traverse; also two openings
or cuts c, c, of size corresponding to the lugs, are made in the cover from the
under edge thereof to a little above the grooves b, b, to allow the entrance of
the lugs or projections a, a. When these have passed into the openings or
cuts c, c, the lid or cover is pressed down, turned a little to the right or left
(as the grooves may be cut and stoppered), and the fingers being removed, it
will be found that the cover is secured on to the neck of the bottle, forming a
perfectly air-tight covering thereto.
Figures 3 and 4 shew a different description of bottle, part of the neck
being removed at Figure 4 to shew (in section) the fitting of the parts.
Figure 5 shews a pot in elevation, and Figure 6 the same partly in section,
the covers being fitted on. Figure 7 shews an infusion pot in elevation;
Figure 8, the same with the cover raised; the lugs a, a, are seen on the neck
thereof, and the grooves b, b, and cuts c, c, in the cover.
Figures 9 and 10 shew my Invention as adapted to an ordinary pickle or
preserve jar.
In illustrating my Invention by the before-mentioned Figures, I would
have it understood that it is applicable to a variety of objects not shewn in
the Drawing, such as ink-stands and other similar articles. Also that the

page_text: covers may be made or manufactured of the same material as the bottle, pot,
or jar, or of wood, metal, or any material that may be found suitable for the
purpose.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the means by which
I carry it into effect, I would have it distinctly understood that I do not
confine myself to any particular number of projections or lugs to be formed,
cast, blown, or moulded, on to the necks of bottles, jars, and other similar
articles; but I claim the making or manufacturing bottles, jars, or other
similar articles with projecting studs or lugs on the necks thereof, such studs
or lugs entering into grooves, as herein-before described, and so forming air-
tight coverings thereto.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Pearce, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of February; in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
Witness,
JOHN WHYATT,
3, Counterslip, Bristol.
WILLIAM PEARCE. (L.s.)