Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 29th June, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 29th Mar., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 4th May, 1889
I, JOSEPH THOMPSON, of 1 and 2, Fair Street, Horselydown, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My Invention relates to a machine for branding and pressing corks; and it consists
of mechanism whereby the corks are fed in the required direction to the branding
mechanisin and whereby they are applied upon the hoated brand with a rolling
and pressing action which compresses them diametrically as required previous to use
in bottling.
The mechanism whereby the corks placed pell-mell in a hopper, are brought into a
common direction and are fed to the branding mechanism consists of a drum provided
with circumferential blades in the form of right and left banded screw threads, said
drum rotating within an outer drum or casing in which the corks are received from
the hopper. The corks are by the action of the screw-blades, brought into position
to be delivered to a feed tube or tubes leading tangentially from the casing, through
which they pass endwise in single file and whence they are delivered in succession on
to a concave bed beneath a reciprocating presser bar working to and fro tangentially
to the cork delivered beneath it. This reciprocating bar carries a spring presser
baving a convex face projecting from the underside of the bar which rides up and
presses on the cork. The motion of the bar rolls the cork to one side, over a heated
brand of which there is one at either side of the point at which the corks are fed
beneath the presser bar, the corks being alternately rolled to one side, and the other
by the to and fro motion of the bar, the spring presser arriving over the one or other
brand coincidently with the cork which is being operated on.
The machine can be used both for branding and pressing the corks, or for either
purpose separately. When used for pressing only, the convex spring presser may
be dispensed with.

page_text: I, JOSEPH THOMPSON, of 1 and 2, Fair Street, Horselydown, in the County of
Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what
manner the same is to be performal, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :-
My Invention relates to a machine adapted either for branding or for pressing or
rolling corks as required; and it consists of means whereby the corks are fod in
the required direction and are acted on by the branding or pressing devices (as the case
may ) by a rolling and pressing action which, except when branding, compressas
thein dinmetrically as required previous to use in bottling.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this
specification, whorein figure 1 is a central vertical section through the machine, as
arranged for pressing the corks; Figure 2 is a face view of the mechanism, part of the
easing being broken away to show the feed drum. Figure 3 is a view of the pressing
device looking towards the end of the cork, the full line position shewing the
commencement and the dotted position showing the completion of the pressing
operation and the discharge of the cork. Figure 4 is a vertical section shewing the
branding device, the remainder of the machine being similar to figure 1. The same
letters of reference indicate the same parts in all the figuros.
The corks are placed pell-mell in a hopper A and are brought into a common
direction for the purpose of being fed to the pressing or branding mochanism by
means of a toothed or fluted drum B provided with right and left handed spirally-
circumferential grooves b formed in the teeth of the drum, the said drum rotating
within a casing . By the revolution of the drum in the direction of the arrow, and
by the action of the right and left handed grooves in the drum, the corks are brought
into position to fall into a feed tube D open at its upper side to the hopper, said open
sido leading tangentially from the underside of the drum. The corks pass down
through the tube D ondwise in single file and are delivered in succession on to a bed E
beneath a reciprocating presser bar F working to and fro at right angles to the tube D
and tangentially to the cork delivered beneath it. This reciprocating bar carries a
pressure shoe G having a convex and roughened face projecting from the underside
of the bar F which rides upon the cork. "The part of the bed E on which the cork is
delivered from the tube I) is concave and in line with the lower side of the tube D to
allow the cork to slide into position beneath the bar which is determined by a stop et.
The bar F is connected by a pin and slot with a bell-orank lever H through which the
bar receives to and fro longitudinal motion in its guides from a crank pin I on a
wheel K driven from a wheel on the drum shaft. The cork arrives upon the bed E as
soon as the presser G passes out of line with the tuhe D and upon the return of the
presser, as in figure 3, it rides upon the cork and rolls it along the serratod face of the
finally discharging it at the end thereof (as shown in dotted lines) and upon
its return in the other direction, it reports the operation on the next cork.

page_text: If the machine is to be used for branding, a slight and yielding pressure is required
and in this case the pressure shoe G is carried by a stein fitted to slide up and down
in a socket and is pressed downwards by a spring g (figure 1). A bed E' similar to the
bed E is substituted for the latter, the bed E' having at either side of the central
cavity e a brand heated by gas-jets, as shewn. By the to and fro motion of the bar
and presser, the successive corks are rolled to one side or the other alternately, and
are thus applied upon the one or other of the heated brands.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
1. In a cork pressing machine, the combination with a feed tube and stationary bed,
of a reciprocating presser bar provided with a convex presser shoe and moving to
and fro over the bed so as to roll and compress the corks between the bed and presser
shoe, substantially as specified.
2. In a cork pressing or branding machine, the combination with the hopper and
foed tube communicating therewith, of the fluted and right and left handed spirally
grooved feed drum revolving in the lower part of the hopper the open mouth of the
feed tube being tangential to the drum, as shewn and described.
3. In a cork branding machine, the combination with a feed tube and stationary bed
having a heated brand at either side of the line of the feed tube, of a reciprocating
presser bar having a convex spring pressed shoe and moving to and fro over the
heated brands so as to roll and brand the corks, substantially as described.
4. The herein described machine, whether adapted for pressing or for branding
corks, constructed and operating substantially as specified.
Dated this 29th day of March 1889.