IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING BOTTLES, CASKS, AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Walker, of Cowper Street, City Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING BOTTLES, CASKS, AND OTHER VESSELS."
Sealed the 21st January 1868, and dated the 22nd July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Walker at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 22nd July
, .1867.
I, JOHN WALKER, of Cowper Street, City Road, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING BOTTLES, CASKS, AND OTHER VESSELS," to be
as follows:-
At the opposite ends of an oblong frame, the two sides of which I designate
respectively the near and off sides, about two feet six inches in height, varying
in length according as steam or hand power is to be provided for, I mount
suitable bearings in which I place a sliding solid shaft, and upon the centre
portion of this solid shaft I fit a hollow shaft, upon the ends of this hollow
shaft I place bottle or cask holding discs or frames, one of which is fixed and
the other adjustable laterally, sliding upon a feather on the hollow shaft, and
fixed by a set screw, so that it may be adjusted at a greater or-less distance
from the opposite frame for bottles of different lengths; I so mount and
gear the two shafts which are coupled by a ratchet and pawl at one end that
they will slide from left to right and vice versa together, and in one direction
[Prine Rd 1

page_text: rotate together while they slide.
The hollow shaft is free to turn upon the
solid shaft in the opposite direction while the latter is at rest; by this
improvement the operator can turn the frames, and put in and take out
the bottles or casks without moving any other part of the machine. The left-
hand disc is formed or fitted with a number of shallow cups lined with cup-
shaped washers of vulcanized india-rubber fixed respectively by large flat
headed screws; these cups are intended to receive the bottoms of the bottles,
and are made somewhat conical or provided with loose cone discs in order to
fit different sized bottles. The right-hand adjusting frame is fitted with a
corresponding number of small cups on sliding rods which work backwards
and forwards in sockets in the frame, and are each fixed as required by a
thumbscrew or lever. The ends of these rods are screwed into and carry the
small cups which receive the mouths of the bottles. Each of these cups is
fitted internally with an elastic cone stopper of vulcanized india-rubber; these
cone stoppers are made self-fixing by means of a groove cut round the inside of
the bottom of the cup, into which groove a flange on the base of the vulcanized
rubber cone is pressed; the bottles before being fixed between the frames are
to be partially filled with water, each bottle having a quantity of small steck
points first poured into it; the sliding and rotary motion given by the shafts
and frames will then thoroughly cleanse the interior surface by a few turns of
a crank handle by hand on the end of the driving shaft. A second shaft in
gear with the driving shaft is cranked and connected to a rocking lever
coupled to the solid shaft. and thus gives the sliding motion, while a spur
wheel in gear with a pinion gives it the rotary motion through an endless
screw and crown wheel. The solid shaft is coupled to the rocking lever by a
swivel fork head and moveable pin, and when it is desired to work the
machine by a steam cylinder, this pin is taken out and the head is coupled
directly to the end of the piston rod, the cylinder being fixed at the right-hand
of the frame, so that the same machine can be worked either by hand or
steam power; the gearing wheels are all placed on the off side of the machine
out of the way of the operator, a removeable handle only projecting on the near
side or side on which he stands. At the left hand of the frame a board is fitted
upon which the bottles to be cleansed are placed for the convenience of the
operator, and at the off side a perforated dripping board with receiving trough
underneath is fitted, the bottom of this trough inclines to the end of the
frames where the contents of the bottles can be caught in a suitably perforated
vessel in which the steel points are intercepted.
For rinsing bottles I fit the machine with shringes having valved and spring
nipples to be connected with a pipe containing water under pressure.
By the

page_text: aid of this apparatus to rinse a bottle all that is necessary is to place it bottom
upwards, with its mouth upon the nipple, a slight downward pressure will
then depress the spring of the nipple valve, when the water will rush into the
bottle and pass out again between the nipple and neck of the bottle, and
instantaneously cleanse and rinse it. A flexible or other pipe from a
receptacle underneath carrying away the water thus used."
I also fit the machine with brushes for cleansing bottles both internally and
externally. In suitable bearings I mount a hollow rotating gland with a pulley
keyed upon it, in one end of which gland a hollow ground plug with a tap in
it is fitted, and to which water is laid on by a hose or otherwise; into the
other end of this rotating gland I screw a brush made of a hollow perforated
tube. This brush I use for cleansing the inside of the bottles by giving it a
rotary motion when the water is turned into it and it is inserted in the bottle.
For, cleansing the outside I form a brush with two tubes joined at the end
nearest the gland in a cross tube which is screwed in as before described;
by placing the bottle between these brushes and giving them a rotary motion
the exterior surface is instantaneously cleansed.
The machine for cleansing casks is the same in its general details as that
above described; plain discs, one having V flanges and the other clamping
screws with bosses on their ends, which are screwed up against the head
of the cask at one end, while the other end rests in the V spurs just
described at the other, being used in lieu of the bottle frames before
described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Walker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WALKER, of Cowper Street, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day- of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven,- in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for. Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Walker, .Her. special licence that I, the said John Walker, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the John Walker,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and

page_text: 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 MACHINERY
FOR WASHING BOTTLES, CASES, AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Walker, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their
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 John Walker, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
At the opposite ends of an oblong frame, the sides of which I designate
respectively the near and off sides, about 2 feet 6 inches (more or less) in
height and varying in length, according as steam or hand power only is to be
provided for. I mount suitable bearings, in which I place a sliding solid
shaft, upon the centre portion of this solid shaft I fit a hollow shaft, and upon
the ends of this hollow shaft I place the bottle or cask holding discs or frames.
One of these frames is fixed as to its longitudinal position. and the other
adjustable, the latter being made to slide upon a feather and be fixed by a set
screw, so that it may be adjusted at a greater or less distance from the opposite
frame. The object of this adjustment is to provide for bottles of different lengths.
I so mount and gear the two shafts which are coupled by a ratchet and pawl at
one end of the hollow shaft that they will slide from left to right. and vice versa.
together, and in one direction rotate together while they slide, the hollow shaft
is free to turn upon the solid shaft in the opposite direction while the latter
is at rest. By this improvement the operator can turn the frames and put in
and take out the bottles or casks without moving any other part of the
machine. The left-hand disc is formed or fitted with a number of shallow cups
lined with cup-shaped washers of vulcanized india-rubber fixed respectively
by a flat large headed screw: these cups are intended to receive the bottoms
of the bottles (and are made somewhat conical or provided with loose cones
or discs in order to fit different sized bottles). The right-hand adjusting frame
is fitted with a corresponding number of small cups on the ends of sliding
rods, which work backwards and forwards in sockets in the frames, and are

page_text: each fixed as required by a thumbscrew or lever.
The ends of these rods are
screwed into and carry the small cups which receive the mouths of the bottles.
Each of these cups is fitted internally with an elastic cone stopper of vulcan-
ized india-rubber; these cone stoppers are made self-fitting by means of a
groove cut round the inside of the bottom of the cup, into which groove a
flange on the base of the vulcanized rubber cone is pressed. The bottles
before being fixed between the frames are to be partially filled with water,
each bottle having a quantity of small steel points first poured into it; the
simultaneous sliding and rotary motions given by the shafts and frames will
then thoroughly cleanse the interior surface by a few turns of a crank handle
by hand on the end of the driving shaft. A second shaft in gear with the
driving shaft is cranked and connected to a rocking lever coupled to the solid
shaft, and thus gives the sliding motion, while a spur wheel in goar with a
pinion gives it the rotary motion through an endless screw and crown or worm
wheel. The solid shaft is coupled to the rocking lever by a swivel fork-head
and movable pin; and when it is desired to work the machine by a steam
cylinder this pin is taken out, and the head is coupled directly to the end of
the piston rod, the cylinder being fixed at the left-hand of the frame, so that
the same machine can be worked either by hand or steam power.
wheels are all placed on the off side of the machine out of the way of the
operator, a removable handle only projecting on the near side or side on
which he stands. At the left-hand of the frame a board is fitted, upon which
the bottles to be cleansed are placed for the convenience of the operator,
and at the off side a perforated dripping board with receiving trough under-
neath is fitted; the bottom of this trough inclines to the centre or end of the
frame, where the contents of the bottles can be caught in a vessel in which a
suitably perforated dish is fitted, and in which the steel points are intercepted
and collected.
The gearing
For rinsing bottles I fit the machine with syringes having valved and spring
nipples to be connected with a pipe containing water under pressure.
By the
aid of this apparatus to rinse a bottle all that is required is to place it bottom
upwards with its mouth upon the nipple, a slight downward pressure will then
depress the spring of the nipple valve, when the water will rush into the
bottle and pass out again between the nipple and mouth or neck of the bottle
and instantaneously cleanse and rinse it. A flexible or other pipe fitted to a
receptacle underneath carries away the water thus used.
I also fit the machine with brushes for cleansing bottles both internally and
externally. In suitable bearings I mount a hollow rotating gland with a pulley
keyed upon it, in one end of which gland a hollow ground plug with a tap in

page_text: it is fitted. and to which water is laid on by a hose or otherwise; into the other
end of this rotating gland I screw a brush made of a hollow perforated tube.
This brush I use (for cleansing the inside of bottles) by giving it a rotary
motion when the water is turned into it and it is inserted in the bottle; for
cleansing the outside I form a brush with two tubes, the latter being joined
at the end nearest the gland in a cross tube, which is screwed in, as before
described. By placing the bottles between these brushes and giving them a
rotary motion the exterior surface is instantaneously cleansed.
The machine for cleansing casks is the same in its general details as that
above described; plain discs, one having V flanges and the other clamping
screws with bosses on their ends, which are screwed up against the head of
the cask at one end, while the other end rests in the V spaces, just described,
at the other, being used in lieu of the bottle frame before described.
Having thus described my said Invention generally I now proceed to explain
the same in detail, reference being made to the accompanying Drawing to
which the following explanation applies.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING
The accompanying Drawing is intended to illustrate the machine in its
complete form as constructed for bottles and to be worked by steam power.
Fig. 1 is a plan view taken over all; Fig. 2 an elevation taken from the
side on which the operator stands when the machine is in use; Fig. 3 is a
front or face view of the frame for receiving the bottoms of the bottles;
Fig 4 is also a front or face view of the frame for receiving the necks of the
bottles: Fig. 5 is an enlargement of one of the dishes and covers, Fig. 3, and
shows the bottom portion of a bottle therein. both being in section; Fig. 6 is
a similar enlargement of one of the adjusting neck-holding cups and cones
shewn at Fig 4
a is the body frame, upon which the main portions of the machine are
mounted; b. a branch or end frame, which may form part of the body frames
or be bolted thereto; this frame b carries the small steam cylinder b'; c is the
brush frame bolted to the opposite end of the body frame: d is the main
transverse shaft: e is the solid shaft; f. the hollow shaft, which rotates on
the solid shaft: g and h, the bottle-holding frames; g' is a collar or boss fixed to
the solid shaft. and fitted with a spring pawl at g; the frame g which receives
the bottoms of the bottles is made with a notched wheel g, into which the
pawl g takes. By this mode of connecting the hollow and solid shafts the latter
is free to turn upon the former in the direction shown by the plain arrow (or
in one direction) while they both rotate together in the opposite direction. The

page_text: frame h, which receives the necks of the bottles, is made to slide along the
hollow shaft f, and is fixed in position by the set screw h¹; this frame is pre-
vented from turning upon the hollow shaft by the feather f. The shaft / is
held in position longitudinally by the pin or stud f. hare sliding cups fitted
in the ends of the arms of the frame h, and fixed by the said screws h³. The
horizontal adjustment of the frame h allows it to be moved and set for bottles
of different classes or lengths, while the adjusting cups h¹ further provide for
variations in the lengths of bottles of the same class, and afford a facile means for
fixing and releasing the bottles in and from the frame. The frame g is made
with vulcanized cup linings g (see Figs. 3 and 5) for receiving and cushioning
the bottoms of the bottles, and in order to cause the cups to accommodate bottles
of varying diameter these linings are made somewhat conical, as here shown.
The frame h has the sliding cups h¹ vulcanized, fitted with vulcanized i, 7,
cones (see Figs. 4 and 6); these cones are self-fixing, as herein-before
described. The apex of the cone enters the mouth of the bottle, and
both secures it in position and acts as a cork or stopper, while the interior
is being cleansed by the motions of the machine which are herein-after
described.
The mode of operating by this machine is as follows: The bottles having
each been first supplied with a few steel points or "sparrowbills" and partially
filled with water, as herein-after described or otherwise, are for the con-
venience of the operator placed upon a temporary stand or table at A
from whence they are placed and fixed in the frames by moving the sliding
cups hand set screws h³, then by turning the transverse shaft d by the
handle d', or by applying the power direct by the piston 6 of the steam cylinder,
the required motion is given to all the parts of the machine. The piston is
fitted with a box head b³, which receives the end of the solid shaft e, and allows
it to rotate therein in this box head, and at the rear of the end of the shaft e
space is left for the head of a rocking lever i fixed at it, and giving motion to
the crank through the connecting rod . j is a second transverse shaft
which receives its motion from the shaft d by the spur wheels or pullies
and bands and 7; at the centre of the shaft ; a screw is fitted which
works a small worm wheel j' through the centre of this wheel the end of the
solid shaft e slides, a groove e' being cut there into receive a key or tongue fixed
in the bore of the wheel and cause it to turn therewith in the direction of
a feathered arrow; e, e³, are bearings in which the solid shaft together with the
hollow shaft and bottle holding frames slides and turns, the sliding motion being
imparted thereto by the steam cylinder piston or by hand through the crank
and rocking lever i, as before described, and the rotary motion simultaneously

page_text: therewith by the screw and crown wheel j. thus subjecting the bottles
to a compound motion by which one rotation of the frames is generally
sufficient to clean their interior surfaces thoroughly, as the bottles are
placed bottom upwards in the dripping board holes 1, 1, 1, &c., of a draining
hopper k, through which their contents descend into the vessel 1, in the top of
which a perforated dish is placed for intercepting and separating the steel
points or sparrowbills, which can be re-used as often as required. Having
emptied the bottles of the steel points, water, &c., the next operation is to
rinse them internally: this is done by placing them neck downwards upon the
rinsing nipples m. m, which are supplied with water under pressure by the
hand branches m¹; these nipples are closed by spring valves which open
by a downward pressure, so that when placing the bottles with their upon
the flanges m the depression of the nipple to the position shewn at m³
opens the valve and causes a jet of water to rush through it into the bottle as
here shewn, and thoroughly rince the inside surface; the nipple is flat sided,
as shown at Figure 1, so that the rincing water flows out between the side of
the bottle neck and these flat sides of the nipple, the depressing flanges m² being
also perforated to allow the water to pass through into the cistern n below
(into which the bottles may be dipped for cleansing them externally: m* is a
similar nipple fitted upon the main pipe m' in a horizontal position for quickly
supplying the bottles with the required quantity of water before placing them
in the frames; o and o' are two shafts which are mounted on the end
frame c, and are turned by the wheel 2 on the shaft d and pullies and bands 3
and 4. The near ends of these shafts (o and o¹) are filled with brushes
for cleansing new or other bottles both internally and externally when their
condition is such as not to require the cleansing process by the frames before
described. o is a hollow metal brush which is formed by perforating the
metal and fixing bristles projecting internally therein by an external running
wire in the ordinary way; in the centre or axis of this hollow brush an
improved bottle brush" o" is fixed; this latter brush consists of a small
perforated pipe with radiating bristles drawn into the lateral perforations by
an internal running wire. and also having a number of bristles drawn into
the open end o' as here shown; the opposite end of the pipe of which this
brush is formed is screwed on or into the end of the shaft o, which passes
through the top 06, the latter being secured thereto by the set screw o°.
This brush as well as that at the end of the shaft o¹ are perfected modifica-
tions of the improved form described in my Provisional Specification. p is
also a hollow brush formed in a similar manner to o³, with this difference
that it is of less length, and instead of having a "bottle brush" in its axis

page_text: is fitted at the bottom with a circular brush p¹. The operator when using
this part of the machine which is then in motion first applies the mouth of
the bottle to the horizontal nipple m' with a slight pressure, by which the
bottle will be supplied with the required quantity of water; the brush o' is
then inserted in the neck of the bottle, and the latter is pushed into o until
the end o of the bottle brush comes in contact with the bottom of the
bottle internally: a few rotations of these brushes will cleanse the interior
and a portion of the exterior surfaces of the bottle, which is then removed and
placed with its opposite end (or bottom) in the brush p until the bottom of
the bottle externally comes in contact with the central brush p', a few rotations
of which together with the other brushes in p will cleanse that portion of the
bottle not operated upon by those at 03 and 0%, when the bottle may be
in the cistern n and dried in the usual way.
The machine shewn upon the Drawing is intended to be worked by steam
or other power, and is designed for taking 8 bottles at once when made to
be worked by hand; the frames g and are made for a less quantity of
bottles, 4 being the preferable number in the latter case.
When the machine is intended for casks the end frame c and its accom-
paniments are dispensed with, in other respects the general arrangement of
the parts is similar to that shewn upon the Drawing. their size and strength
being proportionately increased. The frame g instead of being formed with
cups, as shown at Figure 3, is then made with V grooves or radial flanges, as
shown at Figure 7. where q, q, show the ends of the bands as placed therein.
In this case the frame h is fitted with screw adjusting discs r, r, as shewn at
Figure 8. for supporting the other end of the barrel, this frame slides and
is fixed as before described for taking different sized barrels while the
adjusting screw discs r, r, provide a ready means for fixing and releasing
them as required.
Without restricting myself to the precise design and arrangement with
regard to form, proportion and dimensions of parts as illustrated by the
accompanying Drawing I hereby further declare that what I claim as my
Invention and desire to include in the before-mentioned and in part recited
Letters Patent is as follows,-
First, the hollow and solid shafts and mode of coupling the same shown and
described.
Secondly, the mode of gearing the shafts for steam or hand power in the
same machine.
Thirdly, the cup and cone cushions and stoppers in the frame.
Fourthly, the rinsing nipples and cleansing brushes.

page_text: And, lastly the combination of the whole or part of the said improvements
in one machine.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Walker, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN WALKER. (L.S.)