IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AIR-TIGHT BOXES, CASES, CUP- BOARDS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS
Year: 1863

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to Frederick George Stuber, Teacher, of No. 1, St.
James's Road, Brixton, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention
of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AIR-TIGHT BOXES, CASES, CUP-
BOARDS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS,"
Sealed the 19th June 1863, and dated the 29th January 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick George Stuber
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 29th January 1863.
I, FREDERICK GEORGE STUBER, Teacher, of No. 1, St. James's Road,
Brixton, in the County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF AIR-TIGHT BOXES,
CASES, CUPBOARDS, AND SIMILAR VESSELS," to be as follows:-
.
. The chief object of these improvements is the construction of vessels
of the above-mentioned kind in which valuable materials may be pre-
served from damage by water or moisture, and perishable substances
have their decay retarded or arrested by being surrounded with an
atmosphere 'different in condition or nature from the ordinary atmo-
sphere. To this end, having constructed the vessel of wood and metal
or metal only, I interpose vulcanized or other elastic material. between
the door or lid of the vessel and the vessel itself in such manner that it
may be compressed on closing, so as to shut the interior from the exterior
atmosphere, and in order to test the various seams or joins in the con-
struction of the vessel, as well as the closing of the lid, I place in some

page_text: part of the vessel a short metallic tube or collar, which, after the double
test presently explained has been made, can be easily plugged hermeti-
cally, and further sealed metallically. A condensing and exhausting
syringe is connected with this tube or collar, and the air within first
condensed and then exhausted partially, or vice versa; by which double
test no leakage can escape detection. In packing cases and the like
where the lid is soldered, for once only, to the main body or lining of
the vessel, the lid should be temporarily clamped on to the case and
made temporarily air-tight in order to test the seams or joins of the
vessel before it is packed, and the whole can be re-tested after it is
packed and the lid soldered on, the tube or collar can be plugged &
sealed as before stated. In boxes, cupboards, and vessels of the kind
where the lid or door is required to shut frequently and hermetically,
the india-rubber or elastic material is permanently fixed to the lid or to
the vessel, and the fastenings, such as locks and hinges, are modified
in certain instances, so as to be readjustable slightly without removal.
The re-adjustment is to prevent any play to and fro of the lid when shut
and to secure a sufficient pressure.
Lastly, boxes and cases can, after having served the purposes stated
or alluded to in the chief object of the improvements, be easily adapted
to serve other useful purposes, such as wash-boxes, baths, tanks, cisterns,
or large filters.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters l'atent, filed
by the said Frederick George Stuber in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th June 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, FREDERICK
GEORGE STUBER, Teacher, of No. 1, St. James's Road, Brixton, in the
County of Surrey, but now of No. 20, Waterloo Road, in the same County,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Frederick George Stuber, Her special
licence that I, the said Frederick George Stuber, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Frederick George
Stuber, my executors; administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter

page_text: 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 THE CONSTRUCTION OF AIR-TIGHT BOXES, CASES, CUPBOARDS,
AND SIMILAR VESSELS," upou the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Frederick George Stuber, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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. Frederick George Stuber, 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 and accompanying Drawings, that is to
say
This Invention consists in the construction of air-tight boxes, cases,
cupboards, and similar vessels in which valuable materials may be pre-
served from damage by water or moisture, and perishable substances
have their decay retarded or arrested by being surrounded by an atmo-
sphere different in condition or nature from the ordinary atmosphere.
These vessels are not to be assumed air-tight, but proved so, and a test
tube or collar is placed somewhere in the vessel for connecting apparatus
to the vessel for doing so. The vessels are constructed of metal, or of
wood and metal, and vulcanized india-rubber or other elastic material
which should be vapour-tight is interposed between the door or lid of
the vessel and the vessel itself in a manner similar to that in the after-
mentioned statement. Some or all of the fastenings should be modified
so as to be readjustable without removal and to give the necessary pres-
sure upon the lid without adding to the weight. To enable others
skilled in the art to make, construct, and use the improvements, I will
now proceed to describe the construction of one such vessel, and as the
general character and construction of such vessels, are well known, the
parts hereinafter described or similar parts could be easily adapted to
any vessel of the above-named kind.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 represents a section, of the lid and body of a metal box.
A, A, is a portion of the lid; B, B, a portion of the box; C, C, is the
india-rubber cemented into a trough or channel supported by D, D;
E, E, is a stiff moulding of metal brought to a sharp edge where it
encounters the india-rubber. Instead of E, E, a moulding with two or

page_text: more edges might be employed. Figs. 2 and 4 represent the front and
section of the test tube or collar, and one of these must be placed in
some part of the vessel to test it easily and satisfactorily. In packing
cases i prefer it in some portion of the sheet metal which is intended
to be turned down to receive the lid. This tube can be made large
enough to receive taps or cocks of various sizes, rendering the box a
tank or cistern, &c. In boxes and vessels intended for the preservation
of food, I recommend two of these test tubes, one at the top and one
at the bottom at the greatest distance from the other. They enable a
much heavier or lighter gas than the air to displace the air without much
mixing or waste of the gas. If the atmospheric air be first displaced
by water, then one test tube of a larger size will answer the purpose.
The simplest form of apparatus to be used in testing is a piece of soft
metal gas tubing, or that used for spirits. If this be taken a little larger
than the inside bore of the test tube, and one end be beaten gradually
till it is somewhat smaller than the test tube, then the soft metal will
work its own screw in the harder metal, and if carefully treated, be per-
fectly air-tight. Through this tube the air within can be condensed or
partially exhausted, and if the air can be kept in that state for a short
time only the vessel may be deemed air-tight for all the ordinary changes
of the atmosphere, and if it can be proved to be perfectly stationary in
either of those states, then the vessel may be said to be absolutely air-
tight. Vessels without lids, or before the lids are called into use, can
be tested by placing a frame of vulcanized india-rubber with some thick-
ness of soft material upon it, and upon both a temporary lid, and clamp-
ing the whole together. A far more complete system of testing where
the use of a little water is no objection can be adopted; videlicet, by
having a shallow tank or tanks and pouring about an inch deep of water
therein, then. inverting the vessel without lid into it and forcing air
through the tube; if the water in the tank and that in or rather under
the vessel can be kept stationary at different levels the vessel is air-
tight. If there is an escape, and the different levels become the same
level, by comparing the tank with the vessel and noticing the extent of
fall or rise of the water in the tank and the time, then an exact estimate
can be made of the rate of leakage. Various other methods of testing may
easily be planned, but a test tube or hole will be necessary to save time
in adapting apparatus to the vessel. Figs. 3 and 5 are front and side
views of an adjustable hook-and-eye hinge; A, A, A, A, A, A, is the
hook, and is fixed to the lid; B, B, is the eye, and from the figures it may
be seen that the eye at every half turn is in a proper position to receive
the hook. This kind of hinge not only gives variable pressure at will,
but as it allows the lid to be taken away from the box or vessel, the
latter, if constructed of good materials, could be used for a wash-tub,

page_text: bath, &c. Figs. 6 and 7 are adjustable front fastening; A, A, is the
part fixed to the lid carrying the screw B, B, and having a hinge at
C, C, for the purpose of lifting up the screw B, B, and the part A, A,
as soon as the screw has been merely loosened; D D, is the part fixed to
the body of the box or vessel, and E, E, of Figure 7 is the part which
may be rivetted to the hoop or band which crosses the lid to strengthen
it. Locks are slightly altered by lengthening the hasps or the holes
which receive the staple, so as not to interfere with the other fastenings.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the details herein described, but what I claim is that the
vessels are testable because they are provided with the test tube or
collar, by which suitable apparatus can be connected with the vessel for
the purpose of testing, that the material interposed should be elastic
and vapour tight, that the shutting parts require less pressure when
arranged with sharp edge or edges for the one and a flat edge or surface
for the other than when both are flat; that as pressure is needed it can
be supplied by making some or all the fastenings adjustable (by screws
or otherwise). These are the four original points and more or less
essential for the purposes of this Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick George Stuber, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
FREDERICK GEORGE STUBER. (L.S.)