AN IM- DRAKED INSTRUMENT FOR CORKING RODO AND OTHED Wreapre
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles de Groote, Shorthand Writer, of the City
of Brussels, in the Kingdom of Belgium, for the Invention of "AN IM-
DRAKED INSTRUMENT FOR CORKING RODO AND OTHED Wreapre
"
המס העסwח DvAvrn Item
COR CORING Rommy
AND OTHER Vreerre »
Sealed the 11th April 1862, and dated the 17th October 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles de Groote at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th October 1861.
I, CHARLES DE GROOTE, Shorthand Writer, of the City of Brussels, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVED INSTRUMENT FOR CORKING BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain mechanical arrangements and combinations
of parts constituting an improved instrument for corking bottles and other
vessels, and consists of a stand to which are affixed and connected the following
parts: First, a hollow vessel on which the bottle or other vessel to be corked
is placed, said vessel being formed raised at the centre thereof for the bottle
to stand upon; secondly, a taper glass or porcelain tube connected and adjusted
to the vertical part of the stand aforesaid, so as to admit the vessel which is to
be corked to be placed underneath same; thirdly, a plunger rod working
through guides fixed to the vertical part of the stand aforesaid, to maintain
the plunger rod in a line with the centre of the glass or porcelain tube afore-

page_text: said, said plunger rod being for the purpose of forcing a cork into the vessel
to be corked by means of a lever handle connected to said plunger rod. In
connection with the above it is proposed to employ a small semi-tubular piece
of metal, which is inserted into the neck of the vessel intended to be corked,
so that as the cork is being forced into the vessel, the air therein, as it is com-
pressed, will be allowed to escape up the semi-tubular channel thus formed,
the semi-tube is then withdrawn, the cork filling up the space; or instead
of connecting together the several parts as above. stated, the instrument
may be made as follows:-The glass or porcelain tube before mentioned
may have a strap of metal affixed thereto, leaving a space above the top of
the glass or porcelain tube to introduce a cork; the top of said strap has a
long hole formed therein, through which a plunger rod passes for forcing the
cork into the vessel which is to be corked by means of a blow from a mallet
on the top of said plunger rod, a piece of elastic material being fixed thereon
to deaden the blow. The semi-tube before mentioned is in this instance
actuated by a lever fixed by a pin to one side of the aforesaid strap.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles de Groote in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
17th April 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
DE GROOTE, Shorthand Writer, of the City of Brussels, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of.
Her reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto.
him, the said Charles de Groote, Her special licence that I, the said Charles
de Groote, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Charles de Groote, 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 "AN IMPROVED
INSTRUMENT FOR CORKING BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Charles de Groote, my executors or admi-
nistrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their

page_text: 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 Charles de Groote, 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 state-
ment, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to certain mechanical arrangements and combinations
of parts constituting an improved instrument for corking bottles and other
vessels, and consists of a stand to which are affixed and connected the following
parts: First, a hollow vessel, on which the bottle or other vessel to be corked
is placed, said vessel being formed raised at the centre thereof for the bottle to
stand upon; secondly, a taper glass or porcelain tube connected and adjusted
to the vertical part of the stand aforesaid, so as to admit the vessel which is to
be corked to be placed underneath same; thirdly, a plunger rod working
through guides fixed to the vertical part of the stand aforesaid to maintain
the plunger rod in a line with the centre of the glass or porcelain tube afore-
said, such plunger rod being for the purpose of forcing a cork into the vessel
to be corked by means of a lever handle connected to said plunger rod. In
connection with the above it is proposed to employ a small semi-tubular piece
of metal, which is inserted into the neck of the vessel intended to be corked;
so that as the cork is being forced into the vessel, the air therein, as it is com-
pressed, will be allowed to escape up the semi-tubular channel thus formed;
the semi-tube is then withdrawn, the cork filling up the space; or instead: of
connecting together the several parts as above stated, the instrument may.be
made as follows:-The glass or porcelain tube before mentioned. may have a
strap of metal affixed thereto, leaving a space above the top of the glass or
porcelain tube to introduce a cork, the top of said strap has a long hole formed
therein, through which a plunger rod passes for forcing the cork into the vessel,
which is to be corked by means of a blow from a mallet on the top of said
plunger rod, a piece of elastic material being fixed thereon to deaden the blow.
The semi-tube before mentioned is in this instance actuated by a lever fixed by
a pin to one side of the aforesaid strap.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now pro-
ceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the same
into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of Drawings
hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of reference marked
thereon respectively, as follows:-

page_text: DESCRIPTION OF IRD DRAWINGS
Figure 1 represents a side elevation of my improved instrument for corking
bottles and other vessels, drawn full size; Figure 2 represents a modification
of the aforesaid instrument mounted on a wooden stand, and drawn to a
smaller scale; Figures 3 and 4 represent detached parts herein-after par-
ticularly described and referrred to. At each of the foregoing Figures, I
employ similar letters of reference to denote corresponding parts in so far as
such parts appear or can be seen at each of such said Figures respectively.
At Figure 1, A marks a tube formed of glass or porcelain from three to four
inches in length, the inside whereof is formed smooth and conical, as exhibited
by the dotted lines; B, a strap of metal affixed to the tube A in any convenient
and suitable manner; the top of the strap B is formed with a boss, in which is
fitted and slides a rod C, the lower end whereof is formed enlarged as at a,
and is intended to press on the corks which it is desired to insert in the necks
of bottles; the upper end of the rod C has a piece of caoutchouc, cloth, leather,
or other material suitable for deadening the shock or blow from a mallet or
wooden hammer; D is a needle, or hollow or bent semi-circular piece of metal
fitting loosely in a groove formed in the tube A; the upper end of the needle D
is connected by a pin or screw to a lever E, whose fulcrum is a pin at b, passed
through a projection formed on the strap B; the recess marked c is intended
to fit over the edge of the neck of the bottle to be corked. The mode of using
this instrument is as follows:-The needle D and rod C being first raised, the
operator proceeds to place the recessed part c of the tube A on the neck of the
bottle to be corked; he then drops a cork into the tube A, lowers the
needle D, and strikes the head of the rod C, by which the cork will be forced
into the neck of the bottle. The air and liquid, if the bottle be too full,
will pass out by the orifice formed by inserting the hollow needle D, and thus
breakage of the bottle will be prevented. The needle D is then withdrawn, and
the operation repeated with other bottles.
I now proceed to describe the mode of adapting the above instrument to a
stand as represented at Figure 2, as follows:-G is a stand of wood or iron;
H, H, are guide pieces fixed thereto, through which the corking rod C passes,
and is guided in proper position; I, a lever connected by a pin to the rod C;
K, a vibrating arm, to the upper end of which the lever I is connected by a
pin, which is the fulcrum of said lever; L is a counterbalance weight for
raising the lever I and rod C, or the same may be effected by a spring M.
The tube A in this instance, instead of being made of one entire piece of glass,
is made in two parts, 1 and 2, as at Figures 3 and 4; the part 1 is first passed

page_text: into the hole formed in the piece N to receive it from the top, and the part 2
is inserted into the bottom of the hole in the piece N, and is recessed as
denoted by the dotted lines to fit on to the top of the necks of bottles; D is a
hollow needle protruding through the side of the piece 1, for the purpose
before stated; O is a block of wood for supporting the bottles to be corked.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention for "An Improved Instrument for Corking Bottles and other
Vessels," together with the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, I hereby declare my Invention to consist in con-
structing an instrument for corking bottles and other vessels as above described
with reference to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, as constituting an
improved instrument for that purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles de Groote, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness,
JOHN PIDDINGTON.
CH. DE GROOTE.