AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CUTTING CORKS AND CONSTRUCTING THENECKS OF BOTTLES
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOB
CUTLER, of Lady Pool Lane, Sparbrook, in the Parish of Aston, in the County
of Warwick, Gentleman, and THOMAS GREGORY HANCOCK, of Highgate, in the
Borough of Birmingham, in the said County of Warwick, Machinist, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-second day of February, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto the said Job Cutler
and Thomas Gregory Hancock, Her especial licence, that we, the said Job
Cutler and Henry Hancock, our exors, adññors, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Job Cutler and Thomas Gregory Hancock, our exors, admors, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also within all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad, our Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF CUTTING CORKS
AND CONSTRUCTING THE NECKS OF BOTTLES;" in which said Letters Patent there
is contained a proviso, obliging us, the said Job Cutler and Thomas Gregory
Hancock, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled
in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
Job Cutler and Thomas Gregory Hancock, do hereby declare the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon (that is to say): -
:-
Our improved method of cutting corks consists of a mode of constructing
and applying certain hollow revolving cutters and apparatus to hold the cork
when cutting. And in order to give the best information in our power, we
will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, first remarking that
the same letters of reference are used to indicate similar parts whenever they
occur.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 represents two cutters in section, mounted or affixed on a spindle,
the parts being shewn in section; Figure 2 shows a hollow cutter separately,
similar to those shewn in Figure 1. a is the spindle, which has a groove around
it at a 1, by means of which an endless band or cord causes it to revolve when
in use, the necks a² of the spindle a turning in suitable bearings, as will be
hereafter explained when we come to describe the machinery which actuates
the spindle a. The cutters bare of tempered steel, and are of a conical or
cylindrichal figure, to suit the shape of the intended corks to be cut; the outer
end of each of the cutters at 6' being kept sharp, in order to its entering freely
into the cork when the cutter revolves and is pressed against the cork; 62 is
a slit or opening formed in the side of each cutter, the edges of such slit or
opening being sharpened so that it revolves against the cork, it cuts away the
same to the figure of the interior of the revolving cutter 6, 6, 63, the portion of
cork cut away from the cork within passing through the opening 6. The
revolving hollow cutters 6 have each a square hole at the end, which passing on
to a square end of the spindle a having a screw cut thereon, is fastened thereon
by a screw nut; c is a rod sliding freely through the spindle a, there being
two heads on such rod; the object of this rod is to force out the cork
which has been produced by one cutter during the time that a cork
is being cut at the other end of the spindle by the other cutter; thus,
supposing a cork has been just cut by the cutter b, 61, 6%, at the left-hand
end of the spindle a, the cork would be contained within that cutter; and

page_text: then supposing the cutter b, 61, 62, at the right-hand end of the cylinder,
were operating or cutting a cork, in proportion as such cutter entered into the
cork, the rod c would be forced towards the left-hand end of the spindle, and
by such means drive out the cork contained in the cutter at each end of the
spindle, and so on, first on one end, then on the other, as will readily be traced
on examining the Drawing. Figure 3 shews a front and back end view of the
cutter b. Figure 4 shews another spindle a, with a somewhat different construc-
tion of revolving hollow cutter 6; in this case the cutting edge 6 being serated,
and the slit or opening 62 being straight; and it should be stated that the
edges of the serated cutting edge b' are sharpened so as to represent and act
as a series of cutting edges; in other respects the action of the cutter, the
spindle, and the sliding rod c in this case is similar to what has been described
in respect to the spindle a of Figure 1.
Having thus explained the nature of the revolving hollow cutters and
parts with which they are combined, we will proceed to explain the means
we have pursued for combining a series of such revolving hollow cutters
in a machine, and also how the cork to be cut is presented to each of
the cutters. Figure 5 shews a front view, and Figure 6. a side view of
a machine partly in section, in order that the nature of the parts and
their modes of action may be more readily traced; Figure 7 shews a plan.
of the bed plate and series of spindles; Figure 8 shews a front view of
Figure 7; Figure 9 shews an end view of Figure 7; Figure 10 shews
what we call the cork-holder, shewing the openings through which the
revolving hollow cutters enter into the cork-holder; Figure 11 shews the end-
view of a cork-holder which is at the front of the machine, the dotted lines.
shewing the top and side thrown open in the position those parts would be-
in when putting in cork to be cut; Figure 12 shews a plan of a cork-holder
open, the surface thereof, against which the cutters come when they have
penetrated through the cork, being covered with cork or leather or other
material which will resist the pressure of the cork, yet not blunt the cutting
edges 6 of the revolving hollow cutters. The interior of the cork-holders
are made with partitions when the cork is cut up into squares, such as are
shewn at Figure 13; but when the cork can be obtained in sufficient size to.
fill the holder, as shew at Figure 14, then the partitions shewn in Figure 12
are dispensed with. f,f, shew the framing of the machine g, being the main
or driving shaft, which receives motion from a steam engine or other power by
means of an endless strap working on the pulley h. On the shaft g is
affixed a pulley i, which by the endless strap or band j gives motion. to
the shaft or axis k, there being a pulley 7 affixed on that axis, on which

page_text: the endless strap or band j works. On each of the axes 9 and k there are
drums, which give motion to a series of endless bands or cords m, passing
around the spindles a, give motion to those spindles, the upper drum
driving the bands m of the upper row of spindles a, and the lower
drum driving the bands of the lower row of spindles a. 22 is the
bed plate which carries the cutters; this bed plate is affixed to and carried
by the framing, as is clearly shewn in the Drawings; 0, 0, being four plates
fixed on to the bed plate, in order to offer dovetailed guides to the dove-
tailed slides formed on the quadrangular sliding frame p, p, carrying cork-
holders; and it is by the sliding of the frame p to and fro which alternately
brings the cutters at the right and left-hand ends of the spindles into action
on the cork contained within the cork-holders. 9, 9, are the bearings of the
spindles a, such bearings being affixed to the bed plate p, p: The sliding
frame p is moved to and fro by means of a screw r; which turns in bearings s
on the bed plate n, and the screw passes through projections (at the under
side of the frame p), with female screws through them, and by means of the
handlet the workman attending the machine turns the screw first in one
direction then in the other. v, v, are the cork-holders, which are affixed on
the frame p by means of the spring catches u, the dovetail projections on the
under side of the cork-holders sliding in dovetail grooves formed on the upper
surfaces and at the ends of the frame p, and there are stops at the end of such
dovetail grooves to prevent the cork-holders being pushed too far; the spring
catches w, as above stated, retaining the cork-holders when once in their places.
In order to take out the corks which are cut, and to put fresh cork into the cork-
holders, the workman removes the screw, and throws back the folding portion
of the holder, as above explained, and then removes the corks, and places
fresh cork therein. The cork-holders are then closed, and the screw nuts are
screwed on to the tops of the pins or screw bolts, which are affixed to the
lower part of the cork holders, and pass through the openings at the tops
thereof, as are clearly shewn in the Drawings.
Our improved method of constructing the necks of bottles consists in forming
on the interior surface of the neck a raised spiral projection, as shewn in
section at Figure 15, in order that a cork having a spiral groove cut in it, as
shewn at Figure 16, may, in the act of corking, receive the raised surfaces of
the neck within it, and thereby the cork will be firmly held in the bottle.
This method will be found highly important where the liquor enclosed in the
bottle is of an effervescent nature, as the ordinary system of tying down by
cord or wire will be entirely dispensed with. In withdrawing the cork, I use
à corkscrew constructed similar to the one shewn and described in the Spe-

page_text: Inrolled the Twenty-second day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.