IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FIXING OR CLOSING CAPSULES ON BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Neilson, Brewer, and James Gillies, Engineer,
both of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FIXING OR CLOSING
CAPSULES ON BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS."
Sealed the 7th October 1864, and dated the 13th April 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Neilson and James
Gillies at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 13th April 1864.
We, JAMES NEILSON, Brewer, and JAMES GILLIES, Engineer, both of
Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FIXING OR
CLOSING CAPSULES ON BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," to be as follows, that is to
say:
This Invention has for object the rapid and satisfactory fixing or closing
of capsules, such as "Betts' metallic capsules," on bottles and other vessels.
And a modification of apparatus embodying the improvements comprises a
tubular shaft, which is mounted by preference horizontally in suitable bearings,
and is driven continuously at a considerable velocity by any suitable motive
power. On the front end of this tubular shaft there is fixed a kind of chuck
containing a pair of narrow burnishing dies which revolve with it, and are
by preference of cast steel. The centrifugal force the dies have from their
rotation causes them to move from the centre when free to do so, but after;

page_text: the bottle mouth with the capsule on it is inserted, they are forced inwards by
the action of a pair of levers or weights connected to them by cords or links.
The levers or weights act by their centrifugal force, which is greater than
that of the dies themselves, but that action is restrained when the bottle is
being inserted or withdrawn by means of a sliding collar and ring, which
being acted on by a stirrup or treadle and a forked lever moves the levers
or weights inwards. Within the tubular shaft there is a solid spindle which
does not turn, but has on the front end of it a cup lined with an elastic
material, such as rubber. This cup is pressed forward by a spring, and when
a bottle is inserted it is pressed firmly against the cup, and is forced inwards,
and the capsule is thereby held from being turned round by the burnishing
action of the dies, and is consequently more effectually closed and fixed.
The dies may be actuated in various ways, and the other details may be
modified, but it is preferred in all cases to employ a moderate pressure of the
dies with a considerable velocity, and to provide for the capsule being firmly
held so as not to turn whilst being operated upon.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Neilson and James Gillies in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 13th October 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
NEILSON, Brewer, and JAMES GILLIES, Engineer, both of Glasgow, in the
County of Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said James Neilson and James Gillies, Her special licence that we, the said
James Neilson and James Gillies, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said James Neilson and James Gillies, our
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FIXING OR CLOSING CAPSULES ON BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said James Neilson and James Gillies,

page_text: our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our,- 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 we, the said James Neilson and James Gillies, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
Our said Invention has for object the rapid and satisfactory fixing or
closing of capsules, such as "Betts' metallic capsules," on bottles and other
vessels.
And in order that our said Invention, and the manner of performing the
same, may be properly understood, we have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing modi-
fications of apparatus embodying our improvements:
Figure 1 on the Sheet of Drawings is a side elevation; Figure 2 is a front
elevation, and Figure 3 is a. longitudinal vertical section of one modification
of our improved capsuling apparatus. The details are carried upon a neat
cast-iron table 1, which is fitted with front and back bearings 2, 3, for a
tubular shaft 4, having on it fast and loose pulleys 5, 6, to receive a driving
belt from a convenient driving shaft and pulley overhead. On the front
end of the tubular shaft 4 there is fixed a kind of chuck 7, containing a pair
of narrow burnishing dies 8, which are shown separately and on an enlarged
scale in Figure 4, and which are by preference made of cast steel. The
chuck 7 consists of two brass rings shaped so as when put together to have
internally a narrow annular space between them, and it is in this annular
space that the dies 8 are contained. The chuck 7 is fixed by means of
screw studs 9 upon a disc flange 10, formed upon the front end of the
tubular shaft 4. The dies 8 revolve with the tubular shaft 4, and the
centrifugal force which the rotation gives them causes them to move from
the centre when they are free to do so, but after the bottle mouth with. the
capsule on
it is inserted, they are forced inwards by the action of a pair of
levers 11, jointed to the disc flange 10, and acting on the dies 8 by means
of a cord 12, (Figure 4), which passes out through slots cut, in the edge of
the chuck, and is attached to the ends of the levers 11. This cord. forms a
kind of loop, held at its ends by the levers 11, and having the dies 8 between

page_text: its middle parts, so that the outward movement of the levers in elongating
the loop contracts its middle parts, and thereby presses the dies inwards.
The levers 11 are made of such weight that their centrifugal force overcomes
the centrifugal force of the dies 8, and the dies are by these means made to
press upon the capsule on the bottle mouth, and being made to rotate at a
considerable velocity, at the rate of from twelve to seventeen hundred
revolutions per minute, for example, they contract and close the capsule with
a burnishing action. When the bottle is being inserted or withdrawn, the
action of the levers 11 is restrained by means of a sliding collar 13 and
ring 14, which being acted on by a stirrup lever or treadle 15, is moved
forwards, and presses the levers a little inwards, which permits the dies-8 to
recede from the centre, as they tend to do by their centrifugal force, thereby
admitting the bottle with ease. The stirrup-lever 15 is centred, on a stud 16,
and has a blade spring 17 applied to it to recover it after each action.
Within the tubular shaft 4 there is a solid spindle 18, which does not turn, its
back end passing through a bracket eye 19, and having at that part a groove
into which there projects a pin screwed in through the eye, this arrangement
permitting of the longitudinal movement of the spindle which is pressed
forward by a spring coiled on it and bearing on the inner end of the eye 19.
On the front end of the spindle 18, there is formed a cup 20, which is lined
with an elastic material such as rubber, and when a bottle is inserted it is
pressed firmly into and against the cup 20, and the capsule is thereby held
and prevented from being turned round by the frictional burnishing action
of the dies, and is consequently more effectually closed and fixed on the
bottle.
The dies may be actuated in various ways, and the other details of our
improved apparatus may obviously be modified, but we prefer in all cases to
employ a moderate pressure of the dies with a considerable velocity, and to
provide for the capsule being firmly held so as not to turn whilst being
operated upon. Figure 5 is a longitudinal section showing a slightly different
construction of the chuck 7 and details immediately connected with it. The
screw studs 9, of the arrangement herein-before described are dispensed with,
and instead thereof a cup or slightly coned drum 9 is formed in continuation
of the disc 10, on the front end of the tubular shaft 4, and the front inner
edge of this cup 9 is turned with a shoulder to receive the two rings forming
the chuck 7, which are fixed by small screws. The levers 11 are pressed
inwards by arms 14 formed on the sliding collar 13, and are kept in position
and made to turn with the shaft 4 by engaging between projections on the
Jugs to which the levers 11 are jointed. Figure 6 is a front view of the

page_text: dies 8 as arranged with steel springs 12¹ instead of cords, but so as to have
the same action.
Having thus particularly described our said Invention, and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, we have to state that we do not
restrict ourselves to the precise details herein described or delineated, but
that what we believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention
secured to us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
constructing and working of apparatus for fixing or closing capsules on bottles
and other vessels substantially in the improved manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Neilson and James Gillies, have
hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eleventh day of October, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
28, St. Enoch Square,
Glasgow.
JA
JAMES GILLIES.
L.S.)
(L.S.)