IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING BOTTY DO AND LADO OD SHOW TIRE A DETALES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Johnson, Engineer, of Hadleigh, in the
County of Suffolk, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
WASHING AND CLEANSING BOTTY DO AND LADO OD SHOW TIRE A DETALES "
Sealed the 10th January 1865, and dated the 16th July 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Johnson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
July 1864.
I, THOMAS JOHNSON, Engineer, of Hadleigh, in the County of Suffolk, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING BOTTLES AND JARS OR SUCH LIKE
ARTICLES," to be as follows:-
Two uprights or standards carrying an horizontal shaft with or without a screw
thread cut thereon; on which shaft I fix two or more plates or discs, between
which I place the bottles or jars to be washed in any number according to the
size of such plates or discs. I impart a backward and forward motion to the
horizontal shaft by means of an arm or lever attached to a crank shaft by a
connecting rod. At the same time I employ a rotary motion to the horizontal
shaft and plates or discs by a worm and wheel or any other suitable gear.
On the outside of one of the uprights or standards I fix a small box or trough
containing water, and one or more brushes by a peculiar shape to fit the
outside of such bottles or jars as require cleansing. The medium I prefer to
use for the inside is sifted gravel or any other suitable substance.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JOHNSON, Engineer, of Hadleigh, in the County of Suffolk, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the 28th year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Johnson, Her special license that I, the said Thomas Johnson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or 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 MACHINERY FOR
WASHING AND CLEANSING BOTTLES AND JARS OR SUCH LIKE ARTICLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Johnson, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under
the hand and seal of one of them, 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 Thomas Johnson, 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, that is to say:-
The said improved machine is formed with a skeleton frame about 32
inches in height, more or less, having a rectangular opening at the top and
an open or closed box or trough at the side, and is fitted with suitable gearing
for giving the motions of the moving parts as herein-after described. Across
the opening of the frame above mentioned and a little above it one or more
horizontal shafts. are mounted in suitable bearings, these shafts are driven
backwards and forwards by a crank or cranks, and caused to revolve at the
same time. Upon each of the shafts are fixed at any required distance
apart two or more discs between which the bottles, jars, &c. required to be
cleansed are placed and fixed by adjusting pistons which are fitted in the end

page_text: or outer discs. The adjustment of the pistons allows the machine to take
bottles or jars of different lengths at the same time. The inner ends of these
pistons are formed with cups, in the bottoms of which are fitted washers of.
vulcanized india-rubber, cork, or other elastic substance against which washers.
the mouths of the bottles, jars, &c. are pressed by the pistons, and thus their
contents are prevented from leaking while undergoing the internal cleaning
operation, the adjusting pistons are fixed in the required position by set
screws. For cleaning the inside of bottles, &c. water, pounded granite, or
broken glass sifted to a suitable size, lead shot, coarse sand; or other suitable.
substance may be used which upon being rapidly agitated by the compound:
motion of the machine quickly removes from the inside any dirt or impure
matter adhering thereto. The rotary motion of the discs is given by a worm
in gear with notched wheels on the ends of the disc shafts. The said worm'
drops out of gear in rising and falling bearings in order that the disc may be
turned round by hand freely when putting in and taking out the articles to be.
cleaned. For cleaning the outside of the bottles, &c. the side box or trough
before mentioned is fitted with two horizontal dises upon each of which a
sponge holder and two upright brushes are fitted so that the said sponge,
holder and brushes can be adjusted along radial slots in the discs at various
distances from the centre and fixed as required by a clamping screw under:
neath; these sponge holders and brushes are made of metal, and those by which.
the necks of the bottles are cleansed are of a peculiar form the backs being of
a curved or angular shape. The trough may contain water so as to immerse
the whole or not as desired. The external cleansing is effected by merely
passing first the neck and then the bottom of the bottle (or vice versa) between.
the brushes which are caused to rotate when the machine is in motion. This
part of the mechanism can be thrown out of gear when required.
The details of the machine are shewn upon the accompanying Drawing to
which the following explanation applies.
EXPLANATION OF THE DRAWING.
:
Fig. 1 is a front view, and Fig. 2 a back view of the machine; in which
the same parts are lettered with similar letters; Fig. 3 is a view of the face
of one of the discs which receives the bottoms of the bottles, jars, &c.; Fig. 4
is a similar view of one of the other discs in which the adjusting pistons.
are fitted, the end cups are removeable and may be of various sizes.
a is the main frame of the machine which is formed with a rectangular
clear opening at the top from 2 to 3 feet in length and about 1.9 to 20 feet:
wide more or less. Upon the two end bars of this frame and opening are

page_text: two bearings b, b, in which the main shaft c, c, slides backwards and forwards
and rotates. Upon this shaft the two discs c¹ and care fixed adjustable
thereon at any required distance apart and between which the bottles d, jars,
&c. are placed and fixed. The disc c is fitted with a number of adjusting
pistons e which are fixed by the thumbscrews f. The ends g of these pistons
are formed with a cup and lip as here shewn. The hollow of this cup is lined
with leather or other suitable material to cushion the neck of the bottle and
the bottom of the cup, against which the mouth of the bottle, &c. presses, is
lined or fitted with a wad of vulcanized india-rubber, cork, or other yielding
material to secure the contents of the bottle from leaking. The disc c¹ is
also formed with hollow and projecting lip flanges to receive and hold the
bottom of the bottle. The machine here shewn is adapted for cleansing 12
bottles at one operation. The bottles are first partly filled with water, fine
gravel, pounded granite, glass, coarse sand, or other suitablo material, and a
small quantity of shot, and are then placed in the machine. The mode of fixing
them is as follows:-Each bottle is taken in the left hand, the bottom is
dropped upon the lip or heel flange h, and the neck lowered to the cup of the
adjusting pin e, which are each held back a little by the right hand until the bottle
is fairly in position, the pistons are then each pressed home upon the mouth
of the bottle with the right hand while the left is withdrawn from the bottle,
and by turning the thumb set screw ffixes the piston, and the bottle is
firmly secured. While the bottles are being put into and taken out of the
machine the main shaft and discs are free to rotate, being thrown out of gear
in the manner herein-after described for that purpose; is a wheel turned
by the handle z. This wheel is keyed fast upon the dead pin k which is fixed
to the side frame of the machine. This dead pin carries the two spur wheels
and u.
The spur wheel gears with another similiar wheel which is keyed
on to a cross shaft o, in the centre of which is the crank p. This crank
actuates the connecting rod 9, and arm or lever r, r, jointed to the radial
crank s, the top of this arm or lever is forked and carries a collar t, which
is prevented from sliding upon the main shaft c, c, by the nut t¹, but allows
the said shaft to rotate therein freely. The spur wheel u (before mentioned)
gears with another similiar wheel v, which is keyed fast upon a second cross
shaft w, upon this shaft the worm x is keyed and gears with a notch wheel y
through which the main shaft is free to slide, but is prevented from turning
therein by a tongue and feather. The opposite end of the shaft w turns in a
drop link fixed to the end frame or bar by a thumbscrew, by slacking this
screw the arm falls out of gear with the notch wheel upon the main shaft
and then the discs can be turned at pleasure. The bottles having been

page_text: charged and put in and fixed as before described the machine is ready to
operate. By turning the wheel i a rapid reciprocating motion is given to the
discs and bottles by the crank and lever q and r, and a slow rotating motion
by the worm and notch wheels x and y. The contenits of the bottles or other
vessels, as the case may be, are then subjected to rapid shaking backwards
and forwards while by the rotation of the discs upon the central axis c, c, the
gravel, shot, &c, gradually changes its position by gravity entirely round the
inside. One, or in some cases two, revolvtions of the machine being sufficient
to thoroughly scour and remove all matter adhering to the inside of tho
bottle effectively. The machine is now thrown out of gear by dropping the
link bearing of the worm shaft w when the bottles or vessels are removed
one by one and replaced with others, and so on repeating the operation before
described. The bottles upon being removed from the machine are placed
with the necks downwards in a table with a number of holes in it to receive
them, their contents fall into a trough underneath, which when full is thrown
out, emptied, and replaced.
For cleansing the outside of the bottles, &c. I fit the trough 1, 1, 1, at
the back of the machine which trough may contain water or not; 2, 2, are
upright brushes and sponge holders which can be adjusted upon the small
slotted dises 3, 3, and fixed by the clamping nuts 4, 4, the brushes and spongo
holders for the bottoms of the bottles are straight as shewn on the left hand
while those for the necks are formed as shewn on the right hand; 5, 5, are
two mitre wheels in gear with each other, and which give motion to the small
shaft 6 and spur wheel 7 fixed thereon at the bottom, and gearing with two
similar wheels 8, 8, to which the brush discs are fixed. Motion is imparted
to this part of the machine by means of the spur wheel or pulley 9 on the
crank shaft 0, which also carries the fly wheel 10. The said spur wheel or
pulley is in gear or connection by a band with the small wheel or pulley 11
on the shaft of the horizontal bevil wheel 5, and can be disconnected when
required.
Having thus explained and described the construction and operation of the
said improved machine I wish it to be understood that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details or form shewn upon the Drawing, as the latter
may be varied in practice, but I claim the machine here shewn with all
the modifications thereof in which the bottles, jars, &c. are placed, fixed in
position, and operated upon between adjusting discs and pistons, having
separate, combined, and simultaneous reciprocating and rotary motions as
herein described for cleansing the inside of bottles, jars, and other vessels,

page_text: and I also claim the peculiar mode of forming and fixing the revolving disc
brushes shewn and described for cleansing the outside of the said vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Johnson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this 16th day of. January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
THOMAS JOHNSON. (L.S.)