IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PACKING CASES OR BOXES FOR HOLDING BOTTLES CONTAINING LIQUIDS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Frederick Dixon at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 13th May
1868.
I, FREDERICK DIXON, of Clipstone Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Labourer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF PACKING CASES OR BOXES FOR HOLDING
BOTTLES CONTAINING LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to construct binned wine cases in
such a manner that the bottles when placed in the case are properly
secured and are not liable to be broken by concussion. In the
binned cases as usually made the bottles are kept separate by wooden
bars or partitions, and it has been found that these partitions are not
sufficiently yielding or elastic to prevent the shoulders of the bottles
from being cracked or starred if the case be subjected to any sudden
concussion. I obviate this inconvenience by covering the divisions
with some soft or yielding substance and rendering the dividing or
separating media so elastic as to yield to any sudden jar.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to use for dividing the box
or case into separate cells for each bottle tinned or galvanized iron

page_text: wire covered with a tube made of vulcanized india-rubber or other
soft yielding substance. If these tubes are divided into short lengths
they will be capable of turning round on the wires and will hold the
bottles steady. I prefer to put the bottles into the case neck downwards,
and in order to hold them steady the necks are inserted into holes
made in a sheet or diaphragm of some strong but yielding substance
or fabric, such as prepared canvas or strong waterproof cloth, in which
holes have been punched to receive the necks of the bottles. This
fabric may either be attached to a frame or a pair of bars which are
to be secured to the sides of the box or case, or it may be stretched
over a frame which may be dropped into the case and made to rest
on supports fixed in the corners of the case. It will be evident that
the wooden partitions and separating pieces of the ordinary binned
cases may be covered with or have adapted to them some soft or yielding
substance, such as vulcanized india-rubber, and that by so doing the
liability to breakage will be much diminished if not altogether
prevented.
If preferred the bottles may be stood in the case on their bottom
ends and secured in place by a diaphragm such as that already
described, or by a movable plate or shelf covered or provided with
an elastic padding, so that when the shelf is put in its place and made
to embrace the necks of the bottles the latter will be securely held.
If desired the cases or boxes may be made water-tight either by lining
them with metal or they may be constructed entirely of sheet metal,
such as zinc. The separating partitions may be made in the way
already described, and then if the lid or cover is made to fit and be
water-tight the box may be used as a kind of refrigerator, or may be
The lid may be also made
used to carry liquid as well as wine bottles.
in the form of a shallow box so as to be available and suitable for
containing food, such as meat, biscuit, and other articles of food. The
box may moreover be provided with straps so that it may be carried
on the back like a knapsack.