IMPROVEMENTS IN STANDS OR FRAMES FOR LIQUEUR, SPIRIT, AND SCENT BOTTLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS
Year: 1881

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LETTERS PATENT to James Meeson, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Manufacturer, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN STANDS OR FRAMES
FOR LIQUEUR, SPIRIT, AND SCENT BOTTLES, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Meeson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 29th September 1881.
JAMES MEESON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STANDS OR FRAMES FOR LIQUEUR, SPIRIT, AND SCENT BOTTLES, AND
OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS."
My Invention relates to improvements in stands or frames for bottles, decanters,
and other similar vessels, and especially to those known in the trade as "tilting
liquors," the object being to combine convenience of size with greater facility in the
withdrawal of the contents of the bottles by raising them from their normal
position to a second and more elevated position. The bottles may be locked in the
stand or not as desired.
In carrying out my Invention as applied to a liquor frame, for example, I
construct a frame consisting of a base, two vertical sides, and a top bar to connect
the sides, and which passes over the tops of the bottles. When more than one
bottle is used I place a vertical partition between the bottles.
I attach a pin or pivot to each side of the bottles which rest and can partially
revolve in suitable necks or bearings secured to the sides of the vertical uprights,
and, according to one method, are so arranged that when the bottles are in their
normal or lowest position they cannot tilt or revolve; to accomplish this they must
be raised to a second and more elevated position. I attain this object by making
the frame in two parts, the lower part consisting of the base and the vertical sides
with the partitions (if any), the top part consisting of the top bar, and two or
more descending arms or supports, so constructed that they will slide in or over
the vertical uprights. The necks or bearings for the pivots to rest in are formed

page_text: upon or carried by the abovementioned arins or supports. When the frame is
unlocked the top part with the bottles is raised by means of spiral springs, which
I prefer to place inside the vertical uprights (but other equivalent means may be
used) to a height that is found most convenient for the purpose required.
According to another mode of carrying out my Invention, I make the horizontal
top bar tubular, inside which a similar bar is fitted so that it can be partially
revolved; through the outer tube slots are formed, partly to limit the amount of
rotary movement, and also to admit of knobs or other projections being attached to
the inner or revolving bar. The handle of the frame is secured through similar
slots to the inner bar, and by moving it sideways the knobs or other projections
can be removed from or brought exactly over the tops of the stoppers of the
bottles. The pivots on which the bottles tilt fit in long vertical slots, their normal
position being at or near the bottom, and on one or both sides at the top of the
slot is a short neck or bearing. When required for use the handle is unlocked, and
the knobs or projections are moved from the tops of the stoppers by inclining the
handle to the right or left as desired. The bottle required is tilted forward from
under the bar, and raised till the pivots can rest in the short necks before described,
when the bottle can be tilted forward till all the contents are withdrawn.
case.
In either case the bottles can be readily detached from and lifted out of the
A simple form of my Invention is to make the frame with two sets of slots
or bearings at different heights, the lower bearings allowing the bottles to rest on
the base of the stand, and the upper bearings (in which the bottles are simply
lifted by hand) of such a height that the contents of the bottles may be poured
out by tilting.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James Meeson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th March
1882.
JAMES MEESON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Manufacturer. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STANDS OR FRAMES FOR LIQUEUR, SPIRIT, AND SCENT BOTTLES, AND
OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS."
My Invention relates to improvements in the arrangement and construction of
stands or frames for bottles, decanters, or jars, which improvements are especially
applicable to the stands known as "tilting-bottle stands," the object being to
enable the contents of the bottles to be extracted with greater ease, and that the
stands may be made more compact and therefore more saleable, the bottles being
locked in the frame or not as desired.
In carrying out my Invention as applied to a lockup liquor stand, for example, I
construct a frame consisting of a base, two vertical sides, and a cross bar to
connect the two sides, and passing over the tops of the bottles.
When the stand is required to hold two or more bottles, vertical partitions are
placed between the bottles. To each side of the bottle or bottles I attach a pivot
which rests in a suitable neck or bearing on the vertical uprights; these necks may
be raised so that the bottles may be high enough for tilting purposes, or the bottles
may be lifted out and placed in more elevated necks for the same purpose, and the
bottles may be secured from tilting by arrangements hereafter described.
And in order that my Invention may be more fully and clearly understood, I
shall refer from time to time to the Drawings and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, premising that the same letters when used in the different Figures, denote
corresponding parts.
Figure 1 represents an elevation and end view of a lockup liquor stand, con-
sisting of the parts as above described. A is the base; B, B, are the two vertical
sides; C, C, are the partitions; D is the crossbar; E, E, are supports carried by
the crossbar, and may be made to slide either in or outside of the vertical sides and
partitions. The pivots G on the bottles and the necks G¹ on the stand are so
constructed that when the bottles are in their lowest position they cannot be
tilted to withdraw their contents. In one arrangement for this purpose, shown in
Fig. 2, I make the pivots with squared ends, which engage in slots or grooves
formed on or in the partitions C, C, the round parts of the pivots resting in the
necks in which they rotate. When required for use the bottles are raised by means
of the crossbar, till the square part of the pivot is disengaged from the slot or
vertical groove, when the bottles can be tilted. Various modifications of the
arrangements for securing the bottles may be used; thus, instead of the end of the
pivot being squared to fit into a short slot or groove, the end of the pivot may be
grooved or have a slot cut into it, to fit upon a short key or projection formed on
the upright, as shown in Fig. 6, or the pivot may be squared close to the bottle,
and fit into a corresponding projecting neck on the supports, as shown in Fig. 5.
In all these modifications the bottles must be raised, and so disengaged before they
can be tilted.
The crossbar D may be secured by means of a lock of any suitable construction,
and as indicated in the various Figures in the Drawings by the letter H.
In Fig. 1 the lock has a right and left hand spring bolt (not shown), which
engage with holes or projections in the uprights C, C.
To raise the crossbars and bottles automatically, spiral springs may be placed
inside the tubular supports or partitions, and exert a pressure against the upper
part of the frame, and they may be made sufficiently strong to lift the bottles to
the highest position required, or merely to a height where they will be released

page_text: from the locking necks, and capable of being tilted, in which case to empty the
bottles they would have to be raised by hand to the supports I.
In Fig. 3 I show an arrangement for securing the bottles by projecting keys
attached to a vertical sliding rod which is carried by a short crossbar J secured to
the handle K, and is enclosed in the tubular uprights E; the keys L project through
slots in the upright E, and when raised, as shown, fit into grooves made in the side
of the bottles; if desirable similar keys may be used to fit into slots formed
vertically in the ends of the pivots; when the handle is pressed down the keys are
disengaged from the grooves in the bottles, thus setting them at liberty. The
simple application of a spiral spring in the upright, or a bow spring in the crossbar
would make the movement automatic, and a lock may be easily applied to lock the
parts together.
Fig. 4 shows an arrangement of cross bar having eccentric axes fitted to and
carried by bearings or necks in the vertical sides E. When the bar is at its lowest
position it is close over the tops of the bottles, in which position it may be locked
by the lock H, or by a lock fixed to the upright. When the handle is moved
sideways the bar rotates on its axes, and is raised from its close proximity to the
bottles to a height sufficient to enable the bottles to be withdrawn; the bar thus
revolving on its fixed axes is raised, but not removed from over the tops of the
bottles.
Fig. 5 is a single bottle frame shown in elevation and end view; the crossbar is
fixed rigidly to the vertical sides, and is made tubular. Outside the bar I have a
tubular sleeve D¹ which has a rotary motion on the fixed bar, and to which on the
on the underside are fixed projections or studs fitting closely over the bottles. By
rotating the sleeve the studs M are removed from the bottles, which can then be.
raised; before being raised the bottles cannot be tilted by reason of the square
portion of the pivot resting in the projecting socket N. The necks to which the
bottles are raised are shown at O. H2 represents a simple form of lock for locking
the sleeve and crossbar together; a spring bolt passes through two holes, one in the
sleeve, and one in the crossbar, the head of the bolt having a projecting lip, the
tongue of the key raises up the bolt which is held in a locked position by a spring,
and allows the sleeve to revolve; when the holes are brought together the bolt
springs into the locked position. The crossbar may form the handle to this
frame.
A modification of this plan is to make the outside tube rigid and the inner tube
to revolve; in this case slots would be made in the outer tube, those below P for
the studs, and those above for the handle to be attached to the inner or moveable
tube, as shown in Fig. 7.
I may if desirable adopt the plan of hinged lids as described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to me in 1879, and numbered 3837, in which, by pressing
down the handle on one side, the lid on the opposite side is raised, and vice versa,
and which may be readily secured by the application of a lock. In this arrange-
ment I should by preference use the system of pivotting, as shown in Fig. 5.
In frames where the resistance of the springs is great when closing the parts
together, I use with advantage a quick thread screw, which may be brought into
gear with the nut when the springs are partly depressed, and then by a few turns
of the handle (or in a triangular frame, by turning the frame itself), the springs
may be compressed with ease, and the frame locked.
Having thus particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and the manner in which it is or may be carried into effect, I will
observe in conclusion that I am aware that it has been proposed to make bottle
stands with tilting bottles, and also lockup bottle stands with fixed and moveable
bars, also with sliding bars and moveable bases, and therefore to these arrange-
ments I lay no claim, but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters
Patent is,
First. In conjunction with a tilting bottle stand, the employment of pivots (for

page_text: the bottles to tilt upon), some part of which is made square, oblong, or of other
suitable shape, to act in conjunction with suitable necks or pivots provided with a
slot in the ends, arranged to engage with suitable projections for the purpose of
preventing any rotary or tilting movement of the bottles until released, substan-
tially as described and illustrated, or any mere modification.
Second. In conjunction with tilting bottle stands, the construction and employ-
ment of other necks (which may be detached and separate, or be combined with
and form part of the lower necks) fixed in a higher position, so that when the
bottles are placed in them the contents can be more readily withdrawn, substan-
tially as described and illustrated, or any mere modification thereof.
Third. The combination of tilting bottles with a stand made in two parts, the
upper part with the bottles capable of being raised automatically to a convenient
height for withdrawing the contents by tilting the bottles, substantially as
described and illustrated, or any mere modification thereof.
Fourth. The combination with a tilting bottle stand, of a rigid or fixed crossbar
having an outside rotating tube or sleeve on a fixed crossbar, or an inner rotating
tube working in a fixed outer tube, carrying studs or projections to fit over the
tops of the bottles, substantially for the purpose, and as described and illustrated, or
any mere modification thereof.
Fifth. The construction and combination of a simple locking device, as shown in
Fig. 5, with the rigid crossbar or rotating sleeve of a tilting liquor frame, the bolt
of which shall pass through the two parts for the purpose of locking them
together, substantially as described and illustrated, or any mere modification
thereof.
Sixth. In combination with a lockup tilting bottle stand, of a rising and falling
rod or tube carrying studs or projections to fit into the sides of the bottles, for the
purpose of locking the said bottles, substantially as described and illustrated, or
any mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Meeson, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
JAMES MEESON.
("87)