IMPROVEMENTS IN FOR FEEDING BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1858

page_text: the
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said. Henry Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his. Petition, on
-20th February 1858.
:
STOPPERS
I, HENRY EDWARDS, of Bishopsgate Street, in the City of London, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN
FOR FEEDING BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in stoppers, for feeding
bottles and other vessels. For these purposes each stopper is made with “a
passage through it, and such passage for a part of its length is, conical, or
larger at one end than the other, the larger end being towards the interior of
the vessel. In the passage is applied à conical or suitable plug, which is
ground or fitted accurately to the interior of the passage and there is a stem
which passes to the exterior of the stopper, which when pressed on causes the
plug to move inwards, and thus is the passage opened to admit air to floir
into the vessel, and also in some vessels to admit of the fluid contained in the
[Price Bd.]

page_text: vessel to flow out through the stopper. The plug is constantly pressed in an
outward direction by a vulcanized india-rubber or other suitable elastic material
or spring.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Oflice on the
20th August 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, HENRY
EDWARDS, of Bishopsgate Street, in the City of London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Henry Edwards. Her special licence that I, the said Henry Edwards,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Henry Edwards, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
STOPPERS FOR FEEDING BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Edwards, my executors, or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, 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 I, the said Henry Edwards, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object, improvements in stoppers for feeding
bottles and other vessels. For these purposes each stopper is made with a
passage through it, and such passage for a part of its length is conical or larger
at one end than the other, the larger end being towards the interior of the
vessel. In the passage is applied a conical or suitable plug, which is ground

page_text: or fitted accurately to the interior of the passage, and there is a stem which
passes to the exterior of the stopper, which when pressed on causes the plug
to move inwards, and thus is the passage opened to admit air to flow into the
vessel, and also in some vessels to admit of the fluid contained in the vessel to
flow out through the stopper. The plug is constantly pressed in an outward
direction by a vulcanized india-rubber spring.
Having thus stated the nature of my said Invention. will proceed more
fully to describe the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shows a stopper suitable to be applied to feeding bottles or other
vessels, the class of feeding vessel to which it is applied is shown by dotted
lines. The body a of the stopper is of a conical form, and is to be of a diameter
suitable to fit the bottle or other vessel to which it is to be applied. The
stopper is hollow and the passage through it is to be closed by a conical or
suitable plug b, having a stemn c, which passes through the stopper a. The
plug bis preferred to be conical at its lower end, and it fits the hollow conical
recess within the stopper when upheld by a spring of vulcanized india-rubber.
The form of the exterior of the stopper may be greatly varied according to the
class of vessel in which it is to be used, and the form of the vulcanized india-
rubber springs may also be greatly varied according to the purpose for which
the stoppers are to be used.
Figures 1, 2, and 3, show various forms of stoppers, those shewn at Figures
1 and 2 though different in shape are similar to each other in respect to
having the vulcanized india-rubber spring in the form of a case or covering to
the lower parts of the stopper, such case or covering in each stopper has one or
more perforations, so that when the stem of the plug is pressed down it extends
the spring casing or cover d of vulcanized india-rubber, allows air to pass from
the exterior to the stopper and through the hole or holes in the elastic
covering d, and thence into the vessel. Or, if the bottle or vessel be inverted
the fluid may flow through the stopper, whilst air is passing into the vessel.
The mode in which it is preferred that the spring covering d should be fixed
to a stopper formed as at Figures 1 and 2, is by its upper edge which is turned
inwards and fixed between the upper and lower parts of the stopper, and these
two parts of a stopper may be fixed together by screws or otherwise.
Figure 3 the vulcanized india-rubber spring d consists simply of a short split.
tube or ring or band of india-rubber, which, so long as the stem of the plug is
not pressed on, upholds the stem of the conical plug within the conical recess
In

page_text: The
so as to close the air-passage which is formed through the stopper.
stopper shown at Figure 3 is in shape suitable for stopping the vent-hole of a
beer or other cask, or it may be made of other forms to suit different
descriptions of vessels.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is the
application of india-rubber springs to stoppers with passages through them
closed by conical or suitable valves as herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Edwards, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JNO. ALCOCK.
HENRY EDWARDS. (L.S.)