IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BOTTLING BEER AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Williain Gillman and Samuel Spencer, both of
"
the Castle Brewery, Saint George's Road, Southwark, in the County of
Surrey, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS
EMPLOYED IN BOTTLING BEER AND OTHER LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 23rd May 1876, and dated the 29th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander William Gillman
and Samuel Spencer at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
29th March 1876.
ALEXANDER WILLIAM GILLMAN and SAMUEL SPENCER, both of the Castle
Brewery, Saint George's Road, Southwark, in the County of Surrey. " IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BOTTLING BEER AND OTHER
LIQUIDS."
The Invention has for its object improvements in means or apparatus employed
in bottling beer and other liquids under the pressure of carbonic acid gas, and
relates to the employment of a novel arrangement and combination of parts to.
ensure the bottles, whether clear or opaque, being filled to a given height, to give a
regulated vent to the air in the bottles in the act of bottling, and to prevent as
much as possible the frothing and waste of the beer or other liquid when charging
the bottles therewith. For this purpose, we attach to the conical corking tube of
the bottling apparatus a stuffing box through which an air vent tube, preferably
curved, is passed so as to descend to a given depth into the neck of the bottle.
This air vent tube, or a tube connected therewith, is provided with a weighted
valve which will permit of the escape of air from the bottle when a given pressure is
attained, thus pernitting the air to escape from the bottle as the latter is being
filled. By these means we are enabled to fill ordinary opaque or semi-opaque
bottles to a given height with certainty.
Instead of causing the beer or other liquid to be admitted to the bottles through
an annular opening in the conical corking tube, as heretofore, we fix in the side of
the conical corking tube an inclined tube, through which the liquid is supplied to.
the bottles; by which means the liquid is caused to impinge in a stream against the
inside of the bottle neck, by which, aided by the regulated vent before described,
the frothing of the beer or other liquid is to a great extent prevented.
We connect the vent tube and the supply cock by suitable gearing operated by a
Paino 11

page_text: single handle, so as to ensure the stoppage of the supply before the withdrawal of
the air vent tube from the bottle neck; and we connect to the air vent tube, or to
some moving part connected thereto, a catch or stop which, so long as the air vent
tube is in the bottle neck, remains in position to prevent the possibility of the
corking lever being operated, by which means the accidental crushing of the air
vent tube by the cork or plunger is prevented. Or instead of the arrangement
before described for supplying the liquid to the bottles and giving vent to the air
therein, we may employ a curved tube passing through a stuffing box on the conical
corking tube into the lower part of the bottle to supply the beer or other liquid
under pressure thereto, as described in a Provisional Specification filed by us on the
30th July 1875, November 2702; but according to our present Invention we form
such tube double, so that the supply can pass through one portion or tube thereof
and the vent out through the other. The mouth of the vent is adjusted to the
height to which it is desired to fill the bottles.
The arrangements heretofore described for simultaneously operating the supply
cock and vent tube, and for preventing the accidental crushing of the vent tube, are
also applicable to the combined supply and vent tube herein lastly described.
If desired, more than one bottle can be filled and corked at the same time, by
simply multiplying the arrangements of parts herein described and connecting the
duplicated parts together, so that one supplying and one corking lever only are
required.
We also place a bottle in position under the outlet of a tube connected to the air
vent tube or to the weighted valve thereof to receive the overflow of liquid there-
from, by which means all waste in bottling is prevented.
We also, in order to ensure the proper saturation of the beer or other liquid with
gas, apply to the interior of the cask or other vessel containing the beer or other
liquid under the pressure of carbonic acid gas, a rouser or stirrer which, when
required, may have a slow rotary motion given thereto, to make the liquid circulate
and cause it to absorb a sufficient quantity of gas.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alexander William Gillman and Samuel Spencer in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th September 1876.
ALEXANDER WILLIAM GILLMAN and SAMUEL SPENCER, both of the Castle
Brewery, Saint George's Road, Southwark, in the County of Surrey. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN BOTTLING BEER AND OTHER
LIQUIDS."
The Invention has for its object improvements in means or apparatus employed
in bottling beer and other liquids under the pressure of carbonic acid gas, and
relates to the employment of a novel arrangement and combination of parts to
ensure the bottles, whether clear or opaque, being filled to a given height, to give a
regulated vent to the air in the bottles in the act of bottling, and to prevent us
much as possible the frothing and waste of the beer or other liquid when charging
the bottles therewith. For this purpose, we attach to the conical corking tube of
the bottling apparatus a stuffing box through which an air vent tube, preferably
curved, is passed so as to descend to a given depth into the neck of the bottle.
This air vent tube, or a tube connected therewith, is provided with a weighted
valve which will permit of the escape of air from the bottle when a given pressure
is attained, thus permitting the air to escape from the bottle as the latter is being
filled. By these means we are enabled to fill ordinary opaque or semi-opaque bottles
to a given height with certainty.
Instead of causing the beer or other liquid to be admitted to the bottles through
an annular opening in the conical corking tube, as heretofore, we fix in the side of
the conical corking tube an inclined tube, through which the liquid is supplied to

page_text: the bottles; by which means the liquid is caused to impinge in a stream against the
inside of the bottle neck, by which, aided by the regulated vent before described,
the frothing of the beer or other liquid is to a great extent prevented.
We connect the vent tube and the supply cock by suitable gearing operated by a
single handle, so as to ensure the stoppage of the supply before the withdrawal of
the air vent tube from the bottle neck; and we connect to the air vent tube, or to
some moving part connected thereto, a catch or stop which, so long as the air vent
tube is in the bottle neck, remains in position to prevent the possibility of the
corking lever being operated, by which means the accidental crushing of the air
vent tube by the cork or plunger is prevented. Or instead of the arrangement
before described for supplying the liquid to the bottles and giving vent to the air
therein, we may employ a curved tube passing through a stuffing box on the conical
corking tube into the lower part of the bottle to supply the beer or other liquid
under pressure thereto, as described in a Provisional Specification filed by us on the
30th July 1875, Number 2702; but according to our present Invention we form
such tube double, so that the supply can pass through one portion or tube thereof
and the vent out through the other. The mouth of the vent is adjusted to the
height to which it is desired to fill the bottles.
We also place a bottle in position under the outlet of a tube connected to the air
vent tube, or to the weighted valve thereof, to receive the overflow of liquid there-
from, by which means all waste in bottling is prevented.
And in order that our said Invention may be more clearly understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed aided by the accompanying Drawings, more fully
to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS,
Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2 is a side elevation, and Figure 3 is a plan
of bottling apparatus having some of our improvements applied thereto; and Figures
4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 are detail views of parts thereof drawn to a larger scale.
a is the frame or standard of the apparatus; 6 is the support or table on which the
bottle is held by the pressure of the foot on the treadle c against the india-rubber
ring or packing piece d, at the under side of the conical corking tube e; f is the
plunger which is provided with a toothed rack fl on one side, which is taken into
by and receives motion from a toothed pinion g, on the axis of which is fixed a lever
handle g. Thus far the apparatus is of a similar character to ordinary bottling
apparatus and forms no part of our Invention.
Our Invention consists in peculiar arrangements of parts to ensure the bottles,
whether clear or opaque, being filled to a given height, to give a regulated vent to
the air in the bottles in the act of bottling, and to prevent as much as possible the
frothing and waste of the beer or other liquid when charging the bottles therewith.
For this purpose we attach to the conical corking tube c a stuffing box e¹, through
which a curved air vent tube h¹ is passed so as to descend to a given depth into the
neck of the bottle to be filled. This air vent tube is connected to the upper end
of a lever , in which is a space or chamber provided with a weighted valve which
will permit of the escape of air from the bottle when a given pressure is attained,
thus permitting the air to escape from the bottle as the latter is being filled.
In order to facilitate adjustment of the vent tube to a proper depth in the neck
of the bottle we provide a stop i to act in connection with the lever 1, and we also pro-
vide another stop to act in connection with the lever to prevent the accidental
withdrawal of the vent tube h¹ froin the stufling box c¹. By these means we are en-
abled to fill ordinary opaque or semi-opaque bottles to a given height with certainty.
Instead of causing the beer or other liquid to be admitted to the bottles through
an annular opening in the conical corking tube e, as heretofore, we fix in the side of
the conical corking tube e an inclined tube e, through which the liquid is supplied
to the bottles, by which means the liquid is caused to impinge in a stream against
the inside of the bottle neck by which, aided by the regulated vent before described,
the frothing of the beer or other liquid is to a great extent prevented. The lever h

page_text: is fixed to an axis h³ on which is mounted a lever * by which the air vent tube
is inserted into and withdrawn from the bottle neck; and in order to ensure the
stoppage of the supply before the withdrawal of the air vent tube h¹ from the bottle
neck, the axis h³ is by toothed gearing h³, 1, connected to the spindle of the
supply cock or valve, and the lever is mounted loosely on its axis, and the
toothed wheel has a pin 8 projecting therefrom, which acts in combination with
a segment wheel 7 keyed on the axis ", thereby enabling the lever h¹ to be worked
through a segment of a circle without giving motion to the air vent tube h', and
during that motion operate the valve spindle. We also connect to the lever /
or to other moving part connected with the air vent tube h¹, by means of a link or
wire, a catch which, so long as the air vent tube h¹ is in the bottle neck, remains
in position to act in connection with teeth f on the plunger f, and thereby
prevent the possibility of the corking lever being operated, by which means the
accidental crushing of the air vent tube by the cork or by the plunger f is pre-
vented. Or instead of the arrangement before described for supplying the liquid to
the bottles and giving vent to the air therein we may employ a curved tube,
similar to that shown at h1, Figure 1, passing through a stuffing box c¹ on the conical
corking tube c, into the lower part of the bottle to supply the beer or other liquid
under pressure thereto, as described in a Provisional Specification filed by us on the
30th July 1875, No. 2702; but according to our present Invention we form such
tube double so that the supply can pass through one portion or tube thereof and
the vent out through the other. The mouth of the vent will be adjusted to the
height to which it is desired to fill the bottles. In carrying this arrangement into
effect the tube c² would be dispensed with and the curved supply tube would be
connected in any suitable manner with the supply cock, and instead of employing a
weighted lever to act upon the valve 2, a spring lever would be employed in lieu
thereof, as the motion of the curved supply tube would be greater than that of the
curved vent tube shown in the Drawings, and therefore a weighted lever would be
inapplicable. We have not thought it necessary to represent this modification by
Drawing, as such will be readily understood from the above description.
The arrangements heretofore described for simultaneously operating the supply
cock and vent tube and for preventing the accidental crushing of the vent tube are
also applicable to the combined supply and vent tube herein lastly described. We
also place a bottle in position on a stand m under the outlet of a tube n¹ connected
to a funnel n to receive the overflow of liquid from the vent tube and weighted
valve through a tube / connected to the air vent tube or weighted valve, by
which means all waste in bottling is prevented. We also, in order to ensure the
proper saturation of the beer or other liquid with gas, apply to the interior of the
cask or other vessel containing the beer or other liquid under the pressure of
carbonic acid gas a rouser or stirrer, as will be well understood, which when
required may have a slow rotary motion given thereto to make the liquid circulate
and cause it to absorb a sufficient quantity of gas.
We prefer to employ two supply pipes o, o', connected each with a separate cask
or vessel containing the liquid under pressure, and capable of being separately con-
nected and disconnected with the bottling apparatus, thereby saving time in the
use of the apparatus as the latter will not require to remain inoperative for any
length of time, while disconnecting an empty cask and connecting a full one. These
pipes o, o, are connected to a tube p through which the liquid passes to a strainer
q, whence it passes by the tube p¹ to the barrel of the supply cock or valve k.
If desired, more than one bottle can be filled and corked at the same time by
simply multiplying the arrangements of parts herein described and connecting the
duplicated parts together, so that one supplying and one corking lever only are
required.
Having thus described the nature of our said Invention and the mode in which
we carry the same into effect, we would have it understood that what we claim is,-
Firstly. The employment of an air vent tube introduced through a stuffing box
attached to the conical corking tube into the neck of the bottle, and the combina-

page_text: tion of a weighted valve therewith, in manner and for the purpose substantially as
herein shown and described.
Secondly. We claim when introducing the liquid under pressure to the lower part
of the bottles through a curved tube the combination of an air vent tube therewith
by forming the said tube double, or by the use of two tubes connected together in
manner substantially as herein described.
Thirdly. We claim the mode of introducing the liquid under pressure to the
bottles through an inclined tube fixed or formed in the side of the conical corking
tube, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.
Fourthly. We claim connecting the motions of the air vent tube and supply cock
or valve by gearing operated by a single handle in manner and for the purpose
substantially as herein shown and described; and
Fifthly. We claim connecting to the air vent tube or to some moving part con-
nected thereto a stop to prevent the corking lever being operated whilst the air
vent tube is in the bottle neck, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown
and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander William Gillman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
ALEX, W. GILLMAN. (L.S.)