IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUET GLASSES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Alexander McKee, of No. 15, Somerset
Street, Portman Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUET GLASSES."
c
Sealed the 20th January 1874, and dated the 24th July 1873. '
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Alexander McKee
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 24th July 1873.
I, JAMES ALEXANDER MCKEE, of No. 15, Somerset Street, Portman
Square, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUET GLASSES," to be as follows:-
I
. This Invention has for its object improvements in cruet glasses.
At the present time there is great waste of the contents of cruet
glasses arising from such glasses being (for appearance sake) made of
similar dimensions throughout the set, whereas some of the condiments
which the glasses contain are consumed much more rapidly than others,
and hence frequently by far the greater part of the contents of-cruets..

page_text: becomes spoiled, nor can this be obviated by only partially filling the
glasses, for then the large amount of air which is confined within the
glasses rapidly spoils their other contents. Now I obviate these incon-
veniences by proportioning the internal capacity of the several glasses
according to the rates at which their several contents are likely to be
consumed, and this I do without alteration of the external shape and
appearance of the glasses, so that they form a uniform set as heretofore.
To prevent the reduced internal capacity from being apparent the
exterior of the glass should be cut with longitudinal flutes, and each
flute acting as a cylindrical lens magnifies the apparent size of the cavity
of the glass; or the depth of the cavity may be made to appear greater
than it really is by means of a cut ring around the glass, which by its
prism-like refraction makes the apparent position of the bottom of the
cavity different from its real position. In this manner if the cutting of
the glass be suitably contrived it will be impossible to see from the
outside where the solid glass ends and the cavity begins.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Alexander McKee in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 24th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES 2
ALEXANDER MCKEE, of No. 15, Somerset Street, Portman Square, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-seventh 2
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said James Alexander McKee, Her special license,
that I, the said James Alexander McKee, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Alexander McKee,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree a
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

page_text: · IMPROVEMENTS IN CRUET GLASSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Alexander McKee, 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 James Alexander McKee, do hereby
declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in cruet glasses.
At the present time there is great waste of the contents of cruet
glasses arising from such glasses being (for appearance sake) made of
similar dimensions throughout the set, whereas some of the condiments
which the glasses contain are consumed much more rapidly than others,
and hence frequently by far the greater part of the contents of cruets
becomes spoiled, nor can this be obviated by only partially filling the
glasses, for then the large amount of air which is confined within the
glasses rapidly spoils their other contents. Now I obviate these incon-
veniences by proportioning the internal capacity of the several glasses
according to the rates at which their several contents are likely to be
consumed, and this I do without alteration of the external shape and
appearance of the glasses, so that they form a uniform set as heretofore.
The annexed Drawing shews two cruet glasses made according to my
Invention; the one is a mustard pot, but without its metal lid and
furniture, and the other is a cayenne pepper bottle.
It will be seen that the internal capacity of these cruets is small in
comparison with their external dimensions. They form part of a set
with other cruets, in which the full internal dimensions are preserved,
such other cruets being for example a sugar castor and bottles for oil,
vinegar, and sauces. The pepper castor may be of the bottle form,
except where it is adapted to receive a cap, or it may take the place of
the sugar castor and be made like the mustard pot, but with a suitable
perforated metal cap.

page_text: The internal capacity of the cruets may be reduced either in depth, as
the Drawing shews it, or it may be in width, and in the latter case to
prevent the reduced internal capacity from being apparent the exterior
of the glass may be cut with longitudinal flutes, and each flute will act
as a cylindrical lens magnifying the apparent size of the cavity of the
glass; or where the reduction is made in the depth the depth of the
.cavity may be made to appear greater than it really is by means of a cut
ring around the glass, which by its prism-like refraction makes the
apparent position of the bottom of the cavity different from its real
position. In this manner if the cutting of the glass be suitably con-
trived it will be impossible to see from the outside where the solid glass
ends and the cavity begins.
What I claim is the construction of cruet glasses with the several
cruets of the set properly adapted in their internal capacities to the
nature of the condiments they are to receive, whilst an external uni- j
formity is preserved, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Alexander McKee, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
. four.