IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING OR STOPPERING BOTTLES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond, both of Princes
Street, Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex, for the Inven-
tion of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING OR STOPPERING BOTTLES."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Barlow William Mallam, residing at Melbourne,
in the Colony of Victoria.
Sealed the 8th September 1864, and dated the 9th March 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Felix Spiers and
Christopher Pond at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 9th March 1864.
We, FELIX SPIERS and CHRISTOPHER POND, both of Princes Street,
Cavendish Square, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING OR STOPPERING BOTTLES," a
communication to us from abroad by Barlow William Mallam, resident at
Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in closing or stoppering
bottles, the method being self-acting.

page_text: We propose to form the stopper of a metal tube with suitable flanges thereon,
the lower portion of the tube being covered with a cylinder of cork, india-
rubber, or other water-tight yielding substance. The upper part of the
tube is provided with two arched guide wires soldered or tied at top, forming
four upright guides. Within these guides and on the top rim or flange, a ball,
globe, or sphere of polished glass, crystal, porcelain, metal, or other suitable
substance is placed previous to the attachment of the guides. The stopper is
inserted in the neck of the bottle, and when the bottle is tilted in order to
pour out the contents or a portion thereof, the ball rolls from its seat along
the guides, and the liquid passes over the rim or mouth, the ball returning to
its seat and closing the bottle when replaced in a vertical position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 9th September 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, FELIX
SPIERS and CHRISTOPHER POND, both of Princes Street, Cavendish Square,
in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of March, 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 Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond, Her special licence that we,
the said Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Felix Spiers and Christopher
Pond, our exécutors, 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 " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CLOSING OR STOPPERING BOTTLES," a communication to us from abroad
by Barlow William Mallam, resident at Melbourne, in the Colony of Victoria,
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Felix Spiers and
Christopher Pond, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe

page_text: 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 Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond, 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:-
This Invention consists in certain improvements in closing or stoppering
bottles, the method being self-acting.
The stopper is formed of a metal or other tube with suitable flanges thereon,
the lower portion of the tube being covered with a cylinder of cork, india-
rubber, or other water-tight yielding substance. The upper part of the tube is
provided with two arched guide wires soldered or tied at top, forming three or
four upright guides. Within these guides, and on the top rim or flange a ball,
globe, or sphere of polished glass, crystal, porcelain, metal, or other suitable
substance is placed, previous to the attachment of the guides. The stopper is
inserted in the neck of the bottle, and when the bottle is tilted in order to
pour out the contents or a portion thereof, the ball rolls from its seat along
the guides and the liquid passes over the rim or mouth, the ball returning to
its seat and closing the bottle when replaced in a vertical position.
In order that the said Invention may be completely understood we annex
a Drawing shewing an elevation of the stopper set in the neck of a
decanter.
a is the metallic or other tube, and 6 the lower flange resting on the mouth
of the bottle; below this flange the tube is set in cork c, which fits securely in
the neck; d is the upper flange, on which the four vertical wires e, e, e, e, are
fixed, forming two arches, as shewn. Within these guide wires the ball fis
adjusted, and it is obvious that when the decanter is at rest the ball will fall
into its seat on the upper flange and close the bottle, but that when the
decanter is tilted the ball will roll from its seat either by the force of the flow of
liquid or by its own gravity, or both. The liquor flows through the tubular
stopper.
Having thus fully described the nature and object of the Invention, we
would state that we are aware a ball valve is not new, and we lay no claim to it
in its general application, but what we do claim as a new article of manu-
facture is a bottle stopper composed of a metal or other tube having proper
flanges, one end of which is covered with cork or other material, and its top

page_text: furnished with a ball valve which moves between guides attached to the tubo
on its flange, the whole being made as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Felix Spiers and Christopher Pond,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighth day of September,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
WILLIAM AUGUSTUS BROOK,
14, Old Norfolk Street,
New Road, E.
FA SPIERS.
(L.S.)
CHRIST POND. (Ls.)