AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLOSING OR SEALING TIN PRESERVE BOXES
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jean Bouvet, of La Rochelle, France, Tinman, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLOSING OR SEALING TIN PRESERVE
BOXES."...
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jean Bouvet at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 19th
September 1862.
I, JEAN BOUVET, of La Rochelle, France, Tinman, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF CLOSING OR SEALING
TIN PRESERVE BOXES," to be as follows:-
This improved mode of closing or sealing tin preserve boxes consists in
bending or folding over the rim of the upper part of the body of the box and
that of the cover or lid in such manner that between these folds or lips may
be inserted and soldered a piece of wire of any suitable form or metal, one
end of which wire is left unsoldered and protruding on the top of the box tó
allow by taking hold of this free end of the wire to draw on this latter so as
to tear up the solder, and thus liberate the lid or cover from the body of the
box.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jean Bouvet in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JEAN
BOUVET, of La Rochelle, France, Tinman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-sixth year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Jean Bouvet, Her special licence that I, the said Jean
Bouvet, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said Jean Bouvet, 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 MODE OF CLOSING OR SEALING TIN PRESERVE BOXES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Jean Bouvet, my
executors or administrators, 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 Jean Bouvet, 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:-
The Invention relates to an improved mode of closing or sealing tin preserve
boxes, viz., such as are made use of for preserving meat, fish, peas, or other a
vegetables or other articles of food, whatever may be the shape or size
of the said tin boxes, or the nature of the provisions to be preserved
therein.
In order to make the Invention more easily understood, I will in this
description refer to the annexed Drawings in the various Figures of which
corresponding parts are marked by the same letters of reference.
Fig. 1 shows parts of a longitudinal sectional view according to the line
X, X, of Fig. 2, of a tin preserve box of a round shape, the lid B, of which

page_text: "
+
.is secured to the body A of the same according to my Invention; Fig. 2
shows a top view of the sealed box, taken from the outside, and Fig. .3
a similar view taken from the inside of the box; Fig. 4 represents a top
view, taken from the outside, of a square box, viz., of the shape generally
made use of in France, for preserving pilchards, sealed according to my
Invention.
The object of the Invention is to present a mode of sealing tin preserve
boxes, which whilst offering a perfect hermetical sealing of the box, at the
-same-time-allows-a-ready and easy opening of the same when required,
without being obliged to resort for this purpose to the aid of a knife or other
cutting tool, and without injuring either the body or the lid of the box, thus
allowing to use these parts again.
"
For this purpose the body A of the box being manufactured in the ordinary
manner by any of the known or any other suitable means, the upper edge of
the same is bent round towards the inside so as to form a sort of inverted gutter
or hollow swelling a; a blank or lid B, is provided round its periphery in a
-similar manner with a swelling 6, the diameter and size of which blank and
swelling is to be calculated in such manner that an equal distance or open
space be left all round_between_both_swellings.a.and.b,-just-sufficient-for-the-
insertion of a wire C, between them in such manner that the said wire after
.having been inserted between the two swellings a and b, is firmly held between
them, which wire is then to be soldered to both swellings in the manner as
.shown in Fig. 1 by the solder d, so as not to leave any opening between the
said swellings a and b, for the air to pass through, but offer a perfect
hermetical sealing.. The wire, for which it is preferable to take tinned iron
wire, may be of a round, square, flat, or any other suitable shape, and of any
suitable metal, such length being given to the said wire that one of its ends C¹
protrudes beyond the blank or lid B, which end is to be bent and laid flat on
the top or outside of the said lid, and have its extremity fixed to this lid by a
drop of solder, but so as to allow, when it be wished to open the box, of
taking hold of this free end by a pair of pincers, or other suitable means, and
by pulling on this free end of the wire withdraw the same from the solder, and
by thus tearing up this latter liberate the swellings a and b from each other and
consequently the blank or lid B from the body A of the box. One of the
ends of the body of the box having in the manner above described be provided
with a lid, the same is turned topside down, viz., with the open end upwards,
and after having been filled with the substances to be preserved in 'the box a
lid or bottom is soldered on this open end by any of the known means, after

page_text: which the box may be submitted to the boiling process as is the practice for
preserving provisions.
Having thus described and particularly ascertained the nature of my Inven-
tion, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried into effect,
I would observe, in conclusion, that I do not confine or restrict myself to the
precise details of the arrangements above described, as many variations might
be made therefrom without deviating from the main feature of the Invention,
or to the shape or size of the boxes, the shape or metal of the wire to be
made use of for connecting the lid to the body of the box, or the nature of the
provisions to be preserved in the said boxes, but what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, securing the lid of a preserve
box to the body of the same by shaping the upper rim of the body of the box,
and the rim of the lid into a hollow swelling or inverted gutter, the gutter or
swelling of the lid corresponding in such manner with that of the body of the
box, as to allow, by the insertion between, and the soldering to both gutters
or swellings of a tinned iron, or other suitable metal wire, of preventing any
air to pass between the said gutters or swellings, and thus form a hermetical
sealing in those parts, whilst one of the ends of the said wire protruding
beyond the outside of the box and remaining free or unsoldered allows, by
taken hold of this free end, to withdraw the wire from the solder, and thus
tearing up this latter liberate the above-mentioned gutters or swellings from
each other, and consequently the lid from the body of the box, whenever this
latter is to be opened, which opening may thus be performed in a ready and
easy manner without being obliged to resort to the aid of any cutting tool,
and without injuring either the body of the box, or the lid of the same,
substantially as above described and illustrated by the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jean Bouvet, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witness,
A. G. BRADE.
J. BOUVET. (L.S.)