IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR APPLYING METALLIC CAPSULES
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Edward Dudley Knox Archer,
Clerk to William Betts, of No. 1, Wharf Road, City Road,
Capsule Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR APPLYING METALLIC CAPSULES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Edward
Dudley Knox Archer at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th October 1853.
I, ALEXANDER EDWARD DUDLEY KNOX ARCHER, Clerk to William
Betts, of No. 1, Wharf Road City Road, Capsule Manufacturer, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR APPLYING METALLIC CAPSULES" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in an improved method of applying & fixing
to the necks, mouths, or upper parts of bottles or other vessels flexible
metallic coverings like those under the name of Betts' Patent Capsules.
My improved method is as follows, reference being had to the Figures
of the Drawing, and to the letters marked therein I first cast or
mould a ring of gutta percha or other suitable material possessing a

page_text: certain amount of elasticity, but at the same time of sufficient hardness
to force the capsule into the indentations on the neck of the bottle or
other vessel. The inside of the ring must be made to fit the outside of
the neck or upper part of the bottle or other vessel. Figure 1, shews
the upper part of a bottle to which it may be intended to apply one of
the capsules, and Figure 5, shews the section of the ring to fit the same.
The ring should be so formed that when at rest it should be in the
position described at Figure 2, and for this purpose the simplest plan I
am at present acquainted with is to form the ring rather larger in the
round than the size required to fit the neck of the bottle, and then to
cut away the portion of gutta percha or other material between the
points A, & B, Figure 2. I consider an ellipsis to be the best shape
in which the ring may be formed before it is cut. I then fasten this
ring on to any convenient stand, such, for instance, as that shewn in
the accompanying Drawing, Figure 3, by means of screws or other
suitable fastenings. A cord fastened to a pin or screw, as shewn at C,
Figure 2, passes over the elastic ring, & at its other end is fastened
to the treddle D, D, Figure 3. A foot or other pressure being applied
to the treddle D, D, the elastic ring is forced to the position shown at
Figure 4. The neck of the bottle, with a capsule placed upon it, is then
forced into the ring, and the pressure forces the capsule into the
indentations in the neck of the bottle; the pressure is then removed, and
the bottle withdrawn.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Edward Dudley Knox Archer in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 8th April 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALEXANDER EDWARD DUDLEY KNOX ARCHER, Clerk to William Betts, of
No. 1, Wharf Road, City Road, Capsule Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said. Alexander Edward Dudley Knox
Archer, Her special licence that I, the said Alexander Edward Dudley
Knox Archer, my executors, adininistrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Alexander Edward Dudley Knox Archer, 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 APPARATUS FOR APPLYING METALLIC CAPSULES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Edward Dudley Knox
Archer, 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 Alexander Edward Dudley Knox
Archer; 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 thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereto annexed, and to the figures and
letters marked thereon, that is to say:
My Invention consists in an improved method of applying and
fixing to the necks, mouths, or upper parts of bottles or other vessels
flexible metallic coverings like those under the name of "Betts' Patent
Capsules." My improved method is as follows:-I first cast, mould,
or make a ring of gutta percha or other suitable material possessing a
certain amount of elasticity, but at the same time of sufficient hardness
to force the capsule into the indentations on the neck of a bottle or
other vessel placed within it. The inside of the ring must be made
capable of exactly fitting to the outside of the neck or upper part of
the bottle or other vessel, as will be seen by reference to the accom-
panying Drawing, in which Figure 1, shews the upper part of a bottle
to which it may be intended to apply one of the capsules, and Figure 5,
shews the section of the ring to fit the same. The ring should be so

page_text: formed that when at rest it should be in the position described at
Figure 2, opening on one side in an oblique direction, as at A, B, and
may be set on or made with a solid base. Ther simplest plan is to
form the ring rather larger in the round than the size required to fit
the neck of the bottle, to which it is subsequently reduced by pressure
on the treddle herein-after described. I consider an ellipsis to be the
best shape in which the ring may be formed. I fasten this ring on to
any convenient stand, such, for instance, as that shewn in the accom-
panying Drawing, Figure 3, by means of screws or other suitable
fastenings. A cord or band of any suitable material fixed to a pin or
screw, as shewn at C, Figure 2, passes over the clastic ring, and at its
other end is fastened to the treddle D; D, Figure 8. The bottle, with
a capsule upon it, is then put into the ring, and a foot or other pres-
sure being applied to the treddle D, D, the elastic ring is forced to the
position shewn at Figure 4, thereby impressing the capsule into the
indentations in the neck of the bottle; the pressure is then removed;
and the bottle withdrawn.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
imanner of putting the same into execution, I wish it to be understood
that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein laid down; but
what I claim is, the use of a ring of gutta percha or other suitable
material for applying capsules to the necks of bottles or other vessels,
as herein-before described and referred to in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Edward Dudley Knox
Archer, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Seventh day
of April, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and fifty-four
'
A. E. D. K. ARCHER. (L.S.)
•