Improvements in Machines for Corking and Wiring Bottles.
Year: 1894

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by BOTTLERS' SPECIALTY COMPANY, of Rochester,
State of New York, United States of America.]
Improvements in Machines for Corking and Wiring Bottles.
I, OLIVER IMRAY of No. 28 Southampton Buildings, in the County of London,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
Machines for corking and wiring bottles have been described in the Specifications
of varicus Patents; I therefore now make no general claim in respect of the
construction and operation of such machines, my invention consisting in such
improvements in several of their working parts that the operation of these parts
and consequently of the whole machine is rendered more certain and effective. I
shall describe these improvements referring to the accompanying drawings, in all
the figures of which similar reference letters and numerals are employed to denote
corresponding parts.
Figures 1 and 2 are side views and Figure 3 is a back view of the machine, the
other figures representing parts of the machine hereinafter referred to.
Motion is communicated by suitable gear to all the moving parts from a pulley A
driven by a strap from any convenient motor. The pulley A is free on its shaft,
revolving without moving the machine except when it is clutched to the shaft by
means of a clutch A¹ which is engaged by the pressure of the operator's foot on a
treadle A2. As the clutch, when left free, is disengaged by a weight or spring, the
operator has only to relieve the treadle A³ from pressure to stop immediately the
whole machine. The bottles to be operated on are fed to the machine by means of
a horizontally revolving feed table B. This table is moved step by step round by
pawl and ratchet mechanism such as is employed in many machines for moving an
article round to successive positions to undergo various operations. In the present
case the table B moves round by 5 successive steps, one step for each successive
operation performed on a bottle. The table carries 5 pairs of clamping jaws b
which are lined with elastic cushions approximately fitting the periphery of a
bottle, and which are pressed together by springs clamping the bottle between them
except at one part of their course when in carrying the bottle from the position B"
to the position B' (see Figure 1) the inner arms of the clamps pass over a
stationary cam causing the clamps to open, releasing the bottle which they had
carried round and remaining open to receive a fresh bottle at the position B'. The
feed table B also carries 5 pairs of wire lifters, shewn in detail in the plans
Figures 4 and 5, shewing them respectively closed and open and in the side
elevation Figure 6. These wire lifters have a horizontal to and fro movement on
their pivot & effected in the one direction to close them together, as shewn in
Figure 4, by springs 3, and in the other direction to open them apart, as shewn in
Figure 5, by a pair of pins projecting from their blades and acted on by cam
slots in a disc b which is caused to make a partial revolution as it is carried along
with the revolving table past stationary studs. When the blades are in the closed
position, Figure 4, they nearly embrace the neck of a bottle which is then
between them. The wire lifters have also a vertical up and down movement, the
stem which carries each pair having on it a roller 6' which travels in a stationary
cam groove as it is carried round with the revolving table B.
When in the position B₁ the lifters are open and up; the operator passes the
neck of a bottle through between them and up against a fixed gauge plate & against

page_text: which the mouth of the bottle is pressed by a plate on which the bottom of the
bottle rests, this plate being urged upwards by a spring. As the bottle moves
from B towards B the clamping jaws b grasp it before it leaves the plate and
hold it during the rest of its course round until, as before stated, they open
releasing the bottle between the positions B and B'. Also, while the bottle is
moving from B₁ to B2 the wire lifters descend, so that at B2 the neck of the
bottle projects some distance above them. While the bottle stands at B³, held by
the clamping jaws, two twisted pairs of wires are made to embrace its neck above
the wire lifters 6. These wires are applied by means of two pairs of shuttles
shewn in plan in Figure 7, an enlarged sectional plan of the jaws of one of the
shuttles being shewn at Figure 8. Each of the jaws is pivotted on the end of the
shuttle spindle and both are urged by a spring c to nearly close together at their
ends, the extent to which they can close being determined by adjustable screws c².
The spring c¹ is only of moderate strength so that when the jaws are drawn back
they can readily open to pass the neck of a bottle B2 engaged between them. A
pair of wires taken from reels C on each side of the machine, fed between pairs of
rollers C and tightened by spring arms C³ carrying guide pulleys, over which the
wires pass, are led down to the shuttle spindles, and, being wound with several
convolutions around conical parts of the shuttle spindles, are led through guide
staples and along grooves formed in the outer sides of the jaws c to their ends as
indicated by the dotted and full lines in Figure 8. Each shuttle spindle C is fitted
to slide through a sleeve C and through a bevil pinion C5 with a key so that it must
turn with the pinion; it has also collars on it between which is engaged a socket
pivotted on the upper end of a lever C which is moved to and fro by a cam C. The
spindle is also caused by a suitable cam to rock a little vertically on the pivot at C¹³ so
that it makes the following movements. First, the jaws are raised to a level above
the mouth of the bottle situated at B2,-secondly, they are advanced beyond the
bottle, thirdly, they descend enclosing the neck of the bottle between them as
indicated in Figure 8 ;-fourthly, they retreat, opening to pass the neck of the
bottle, but leaving beyond the neck a length of twisted wire which they held before
their descent and giving out a farther length of wire ;--fifthly, as they retreat they
are caused to revolve by the rotation of the bevil wheels C8 in gear with the
pinions C and thus they twist the wires given out in their retreat, so that the neck
of the bottle B2 is now engaged between a pair of wires twisted before and behind
it and also between a like pair at about right angles to the former pair. The
rotation of the bevil wheels C8 is effected, as shewn in Figure 7, by a crank pin C
revolving with a vertical shaft C10 between suitably curved cheeks Cof
a slide which carries a pair of racks (each driving a pinion in gear with the
vertical spindles of the bevil wheels C8. As the racks C receive a to and fro
motion from the crank, the bevil wheel C and consequently the shuttle spindles.C
are caused to revolve alternately in opposite directions; thus the continued twist,
that would be imparted to the wires if the spindles were always turned in one
direction, is entirely prevented.
by
When the shuttles have retreated and twisted the wires as above described,
lengths of twisted wires remaining stretched between them and the neck of the
bottle B, the pinching and cutting apparatus shewn by side and front elevations
respectively in Figures 9 and 10 and plan in Figure 11 come into action, these
being swung round upon pivots D by means of arms D' from a sliding rod worked
cam. A pair of pinching jaws d grip the twisted wires firmly between them,
and a pair of cutters d¹ sever the wires, this severance taking place at a point about
midway in the length of twisted wire extending from the shuttle jaws to the bottle
neck. Thus there is half that length left projecting from the bottle neck, and the
other half left projecting from the end of the shuttle, ready to constitute the length
projecting beyond the neck of the next bottle operated on." After severing the wire
the pincers and cutters retreat.
The gripping cutting and releasing movements are effected in the following

page_text: ⚫manner. As the block 3 is moved in the direction of the arrow around the
pivot D, the frame d carrying the grippers and cutters being held stationary,
because a flat part of its end bears against a fixed stop d, a stud de engaged in a
slotted hole in an arm causes that arm to turn upon its pivot s bringing the
lower jaw of the cutter up to operate on the wire and by the continued movement
of d³ a spring d strained by it urges the arm 2 of the gripper so as to clamp the
wire. By the reverse movement of the block 3 the grippers and cutters are
opened. A spring attached to one of the upwardly projecting lips of d³ d" and
to the frame d presses that frame in the direction of the arrow, and it is not moved
in the opposite direction until the other lip of carries it with it.
The corking of the bottle is effected as follows:-One of a number of corks fed
from a hopper E down an open sided shoot E' is compressed so as to be ready to
be inserted into the bottle mouth. Figures 12 and 13 are vertical sections on
planes at right angles to each other and Figure 14 is a plan of the cork compressor
and feeder. By means of a rocking tripper e, e¹ the corks are fed down, one by
one, from the shoot E' into the compressor E2, the upper arme of the tripper
supporting the corks in the shoot E¹ when the lower arm e' has retreated to allow
descent of the lowest of the corks, which having passed e while it was retracted
had been stopped on e¹. The compression of the cork is effected as follows:-
While a cork previously moistened rests on a trigger e, the compressor E² descends
the rollers on its two pivotted sides e³ running along inclined grooves e* of the
stationary block E³. The sides of the compressor are thus made to approach each
other squeezing the cork between them. When the compressor E2 has reached its
lowest position as shewn in Fig. 124, the back part E moves forward pushing the
cork forward so as to be in line with the mouth of the bottle B2 and immediately
under the plunger E' which, descending, forces the compressed cork into the mouth
of the bottle. As the cork is compressed, such moisture as exudes from it is
caught on the trigger e² and is guided down by it away from the bottle mouth.
As the compressor E reascends its sides e³ are opened by their rollers running up
the inclined grooves e¹. The compressing of the cork and the forcing of it into the
bottle take place while the wire is twisted by the shuttles and cut as above
described. Before the compressor descends on the bottle neck, an adjustable
platform F is raised up to the bottom of the bottle by the mechanism shewn
in elevation in Figure 15. A helical spring (see Figures 3 and 15) strains to
the right a lever a roller on which rests against a cam 2. To the lever f
is linked a rack 3 gearing with a pinion on the axis of a spiral cam f* which
bears on the one arm of a lever, the other arm of which carries adjustably
the platform F. When the cam 2 presents a hollow for the roller on "
the spring drags and the rack 3 towards the right, the cam f being
thus caused to revolve pushing down the arms and raising the platform F
until it meets the bottom of the bottle B². The pressure thus exerted on
the bottom of the bottle is not sufficient to move it in the clamping jaws h
which hold it, the force with which F is raised being only that which the spring f
can exert; but F, being once raised, is firmly held against very considerable force
urging it down because the spiral cam owing to the frictional pressure on it
cannot be turned back so as to allow the arm f³ to rise. The bottle being thus
firmly held on the platform F the compressor descends engaging the mouth of the
bottle in its cupped mouth M as shewn in Figure 12, aud the cork, which is now
immediately above that mouth is by the descent of the plunger Es pushed into the
bottle mouth. Thereupon the plunger and compressor reascend and the platform F
redescends, the bottle B2 being now free to be moved onwards to the next stage B³.
As the bottle travels to B³ the wire lifters close together and rise, raising the
4 arms of twisted wire which projected horizontally from the bottle neck and
bringing them into a vertical position, projecting above the bottle mouth. During
this movement also, by means of an air pump G a partial vacuum is created in a
flexible tube G' the mouth g of which is made to enter the funnel mouth of a
°

page_text: vertical tube G containing a number of discs of thin sheet metal, each disc being of
size to suit the mouth of a bottle. These disc are carried in the tube G² on a plunger
having a screwed stem which passes through a ratchet wheel G³ forming its nut.
At every stroke of the lever C a pawl connected to it by link G moves the ratchet
wheel G³ partly round thus raising the plunger and the row of discs above it the
thickness of one of the discs. The mouth g having entered the mouth of G² so as
to rest on the uppermost disc, the atmospheric pressure below the disc, above which
there is a partial vacuum, causes the disc to adhere to g-which then, carrying the
disc, is moved to a position directly over the mouth of the bottle at B³. The pressure
in the tube G' being then restored the disc drops from g on to the cork, whereupon the
tube Gretreats. The bottle with the cork in it covered by the disc, and
having its 4 arms of twisted wire standing upright around its mouth, travels
on to B3 where the 4 sets of wires are twisted together by the twisters H which are
shewn in perspective in Figure 16. Two jaws having V shaped slots are
mounted on pivotted arms linked to a sliding boss H the whole being on a spindle
worked by bevil gear H2 (Figure 2). When the bottle presents itself at B the
boss H is caused to ascend closing together the jaws which embrace the 4 upright
wires and gather them together wedging them in the hollows of their V slots. By
the bevil gear H2 the jaws are caused to revolve twisting together the 4 pairs of
wires into one line of twist which, on the retreat of the jaws h, is left standing
centrally upright as shewn at W in Figure 16. The bottle then travels towards B
the wire lifters & descending, and the wire W encountering a trimmer which is
shewn in elevation in Figure 19 and in plan Figure 18. A pair of cutters k
present themselves exactly in the course of the wire W which enters between them.
The one arm which carries them is pivotted at K¹ and moved so that the cutters
travel onwards along with the wire, but the movement of the other arm & being
controlled by a pin working in a slotted hole the cutters are made to close
cutting the upper part of the wire W which is thus trimmed, and which, as it
passes under the lower face of the trimmer, is bent down and laid flat upon
the disc in the bottle mouth. The bottle, thus provided with cork and covering
disc with wires twisted over the latter, proceeds to B5, where the clamping jaws b
open allowing the bottle to be removed and a fresh bottle to be placed between
them in the position B. The gearing, cams and levers by which the various
movements are effected, do not substantially differ from those already employed in
such machines, and therefore I may make no claim in respect of them except in
combination with the new and improved parts of the mechanism set forth in the
following claiming clauses.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I claim in
respect of machines for corking and wiring bottles is :-
1. The wire lifters substantially as described with reference to Figures 4, 5
and 6.
2. The gearing substantially as described with reference to Figure 7, for giving
rotation to the shuttle spindles.
3. The shuttle jaws substantially as described with reference to Figure 8.
4. The combination of spring, lever, cam, rack, spiral cam and lever for
moving and supporting the platform F substantially as described with reference to
Figure 15.
5. The wire pincers and cutters substantially as described with reference to
Figures 9, 10 and 11.
6. The cork compressor substantially as described with reference to Figures 12,
124, 13 and 14.
7. The wire twisters, substantially as described with reference to Figure 16.
8. The wire timmer, substantially as described with reference to Figures 17
and 18.

page_text: 9. A bottle corking machine having the improved parts referred to in the
preceding claims.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.