IMPROVEMENTS IN CAPSULES AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THEIR MANUFACTURE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Betts, of Wharf Road, City Road, in
the County of Middlesex, Capsule Manufacturer, for the Invention
✓ of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAPSULES AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THEIR
MANUFACTURE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION, left by the said William Betts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd February 1872..
F
I, WILLIAM BETTS, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Capsule Manufacturer; do hereby declare the nature of the.
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CAPSULES AND IN APPARATUS TO BE >
EMPLOYED IN THEIR MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists of a soft metal capsule whose side or
cylindrical part is corrugated in such a manner that a space may
be preserved for the name, trade mark, or signature of the firm for
whose use the capsules are intended, which name, trade mark, or

page_text: signature may be colored or plain. The advantage of this system is
that the capsule has all the additional strength and resistance to
indentation produced by the corrugation without losing the side or
cylindrical part as a field for displaying the name, trade mark, or
signature of the firm using the capsule, which side marking guarantees
to the public the genuineness of the articles contained in the capsuled
bottle.
:-
One mode in which I produce this new and beneficial effect is as
follows I take a plain capsule and place it upon a rotatory metal
die, consisting by preference of a truncated cone of steel or other
sufficiently hard and durable metal, the rounded surface of the said
die being corrugated or fluted longitudinally from its base to its smaller
end with the exception of a portion intended to receive a moveable
die which is let into the side of the rotatory die and is secured therein by
a set screw or otherwise. This moveable die has engraved upon it either
in intaglio or in relievo the name, trade mark, or signature of the firm by
whom such capsule is issued. The said rotatory die is mounted on the end
of a spindle carried in convenient bearings, and receives a rotatory motion
from a winch handle or otherwise.
A second rotatory corrugated or fluted die forming the counterpart
of the first one and containing a moveable or trade mark die is mounted
upon the end of a second rotatory spindle, and gears with the first die,
that is to say, the ridges in the one die take into the grooves or channels.
of the other, and the two moveable dies are caused to meet or coincide
exactly at each revolution.
Provision is made for separating the two rotatory dies sufficiently to
enable the plain capsule intended to be operated upon to be placed upon
one of them, after which the two rotating dies are brought together
again so as to nip the soft metal of the capsule between them. On
rotating the two geared corrugated dies the side of the capsule will
be corrugated all round with the exception of that portion which is
subjected to the nip or pressure of the two opposing moveable dies
which will produce the desired name, trade mark, or signature upon the
side of the capsule.

page_text: '
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said William Betts in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 25th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BETTS, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Capsule
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Betts, Her special
license that I, the said William Betts, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Betts, my executors,
administrators, or 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
CAPSULES AND IN APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN THEIR MANUFACTURE," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Betts, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, 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 Betts, 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
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
say:
My said Invention consists of a soft metal capsule, whose side or
cylindrical part is corrugated, as shewn in Figure 1 of the accompanying
Drawings, in such a manner that a space a may be preserved for the
name, trade mark, or signature of the firm for whose use the capsules

page_text: are intended, which name, trade mark or signature, as well as the
corrugations may be colored or plain, a good effect being produced
by coloring the tops of the ridges of the corrugations. The advantage
of this system is that the capsule has all the additional strength and
resistance to indentation produced by the corrugation without losing
the side or cylindrical part as a field for displaying the name, trade
mark, or signature of the firm using the capsule, which side marking
guarantees to the public the genuineness of the articles contained in
the capsuled bottle.
One mode in which I produce this new and beneficial effect is as
follows: I take a plain capsule and place it upon a rotatory metal die
consisting by preference of a truncated cone A (Figure 2) of steel
or other sufficiently hard and durable metal, the rounded surface of
the said die being corrugated or fluted longitudinally from its base
to its smaller end, as shown, with the exception of a portion intended
to receive a moveable die 6 which is let into the side of the rotatory
die A, and is secured therein. by a set screw c or otherwise, a plain
or uncorrugated part d being left extended from the die 6 to the larger
end of the cone A in order to allow of the removal of the finished
capsule. This removeable die 6 has engraved upon it either in intaglio
or in relievo the name, trade mark or signature of the. firm by whom
such capsule is issued. The said rotatory die A is mounted on the end of
a spindle carried in convenient bearings, and receives a rotatory motion
from a winch handle or otherwise.
A second rotatory corrugated or fluted die B composed by preference
of an alloy of one-half Babbits metal, one-fourth lead, and one-fourth
tin, and forming the counterpart of the first one, also contains a
moveable or trade mark die 6' which is the counterpart to the die b..
It is mounted upon the end of a second rotatory spindle, and gears with
the first die, that is to say, the ridges in the one die take into the grooves
or channels of the other, and the two moveable dies 6 and 6' are caused
to meet or coincide exactly at each revolution, the machine being
arranged and worked as described and illustrated in the Specification
of my Patent bearing date the First day of December, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-eight, No. 3653.
Provision is made for separating the two rotatory dies sufficiently to
enable the plain capsule intended to be operated upon to be placed
upon one of the rotatory dies, after which the two rotating dies A and B

page_text: are brought together again so as to nip the soft metal of the capsule
between them. On rotating the two geared corrugated dies the side
of the capsule will be corrugated all round with the exception of that
portion which is subjected to the nip or pressure of the two opposing
moveable dies b and b', and the plain portions d and d' of the rotatory dies,
which will produce the desired name, trade mark, or signature upon the
side of the capsule.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider
to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured
to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the manu-
facture or production of soft metal corrugated capsules having a portion
of the side left plain or uncorrugated for the reception of a name,
signature, trade mark, or other design, as herein-before described and
illustrated by my Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Betts, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July,
. One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
TTTS