AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR THE PROTECTION OF BOTTLES AND OTHER FRAGILE SUBSTANCES
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Adolphus Alcorn, of No. 68, Bagshot
Street, Albany Road, S.E., Gentleman, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVED METHOD FOR THE PROTECTION OF BOTTLES AND OTHER FRAGILE
SUBSTANCES."
Sealed the 25th June 1872, and dated the 28th December 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Adolphus
Alcorn at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th December 1871.
I, WILLIAM ADOLPHUS ALCORN, of No. 68, Bagshot Street, Albany
Road, S.E., Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR THE PROTECTION OF BOTTLES AND
OTHER FRAGILE SUBSTANCES," to be as follows :-
My Invention consists in making a covering of wood variously treated
as herein-after stated, and the use therewith where necessary of woollen,
felted, or other elastic material.
I take a piece of split wood from ¼th to ½th of an inch in thickness,
and from 3 to 6 feet in length in each case, more or less, the width
varying according to the size and slope of the bottle to be covered, and
pass it between two metal rollers made to revolve. At a short distance
from the said rollers and parallel therewith, fixed on a longitudinal bar
of iron, are a number of small knives or lancets about 4 to the inch,

page_text: which meeting the said board as it escapes from the rollers score,
partially cut, or incise it, or wholly cut it through according to the
character of the envelope to be made. Otherwise I crimp or corrugate
the said piece of board by means of a crimping machine; after the said
wood is scored, cut, or crimped as the case may be, I take it to a
cutting machine, and cut it in a transverse direction into lengths equal
to the requirements of the bottle to be covered. On one of the pieces
of board incised by means of the scoring machine aforesaid, and on the
side thereby incised and at right angles to those said incisions, I affix
by paste, glue, or any suitable adhesive substance, bands of tape, strips
of cotton or paper, or any other suitable material along the top, middle
and bottom respectively of the said board, but varying the number of the
bands according to the nature, size, or shape of the bottle to be covered,
advancing the said tape or cotton, &c., sufficiently beyond the ends of
the board to form a tie. I then reverse the side of the wood, and in the
same direction as the tape or cotton affix three several bands of wool,
felt, paper, or any other suitable elastic material with which to line the
said board or envelope to act as an elastic protector between the bottle
and the wood. Or these strips are glued or pasted on the board at the
points most protective to the bottle, commonly one at the top or round
the shoulders, one in the centre, and one at the bottom; but these are
varied according to the description of bottle to be covered. With the
ends of the tape, &c., as above stated, I form the piece of board thus
covered into a cylinder.
The tie can also be formed by pieces of metal as tin, zinc, or brass,
with which the two ends of the board to form the envelope are united.
Where the wood is corrugated as above stated by the crimping
machine, I add at my discretion a cone made wholly or partially to
cover the neck of the bottle, which said cone is affixed to the portion
made to cover the body part of the bottle by means of glue or other
suitable adhesive substance, the two edges in contact being more firmly
united, and as a further protection to the shoulder of the bottle by
means of felt, woollen, cloth, cotton, or paper, or any other suitable
material on the interior side of the envelope and on the line of junction
of the two portions. The said cone may be formed of wood incised, cut,
or corrugated as may seem best to the operator.
If the cone of the envelope be dispensed with to reduce the cost, the
body portion of the envelope can be dipped as a cylinder top and

page_text: bottom into coloring matter or liquid to the depth required as an
ornament to the same or with or without the cone it may be wholly
immersed in such liquid and thereby colored.
The corrugated cover of the body of the bottle is formed into a
cylinder by means of glue or any suitable adhesive substance or
material.
In the case where the board for the conical envelope is wholly incised
or cut through the said divided parts are held together by a band of
cotton or paper, &c., at the bottom, and also therewith united at the top
of the said envelope of equal capacity to allow of the mouth of the
bottle to be covered to emerge.
The cotton or paper is applied to the board to form it permanently
into a cylinder, when the same is placed for that purpose around a
dummy or sham bottle made of wood.
With the cylindrical envelope I furnish a perforated lid with the hole
therein sufficiently large to admit the neck of the bottle; the same
being fastened down to the top of the said cylinder, as a further pro-
tection to the shoulder of the bottle, the said lid being made of wood
lined with felt or other suitable elastic material.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said William Adolphus Alcorn in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 28th June 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ADOLPHUS ALCORN, of 68, Bagshot Street, Albany Road, Gentleman,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the
thirty-fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Adolphus Alcorn,
Her special licence that I, the said William Adolphus Alcorn, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Adolphus Alcorn, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD FOR THE PROTECTION OF BOTTLES AND E
OTHER FRAGILE SUBSTANCES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Adolphus Alcorn, 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 1
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 William Adolphus Alcorn, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained 1
in and by the following statement:-
-
My Invention consists in making a covering of wood variously
treated as herein-after stated, and the use therewith where necessary of
woollen, felted, or other elastic material.
I take a piece of split wood from one-fortieth to one twenty-fourth
of an inch in thickness, and from three to six feet in length, in each
case more or less, the width varying according to the size and shape of
the bottle, etc., to be covered, and pass it between two metal rollers to
revolve. At a short distance from the said rollers and parallel therewith,
fixed on a longitudinal bar of iron, are a number of small knives or
lancets about four to the inch, which meeting the said board as it
escapes from the rollers score, partially cut or incise it, or wholly cut it
through according to the character of the envelope to be made; it is
then taken to a cutting machine and cut in a transverse direction into
lengths equal to the requirements of the bottle to be covered. On one
of the pieces of wood or board incised by means of the aforesaid scoring
machine, and on the side thereby incised and at right angles to those
said incisions, I affix by means of paste, glue, or otherwise bands of
tape, strips of cotton, paper, or any suitable material along the top,
middle, and bottom respectively of the said board, but varying the
number of the said bands or strips according to the nature, size, and
shape of the bottle to be covered, advancing the said tape or cotton, etc.,

page_text: sufficiently beyond the ends of the board to form a tie. I then reverse
the side of the said wood and in the same direction as the tape or cotton,
affix respectively three several bands of wool, felt, or paper, or other
suitable elastic material at the top, or round the shoulder, the centre,
and bottom to act as a protector between the bottle, etc., and the wood,
but varying the said bands in position and number according to the
description of bottle to be covered. By means of the tape above stated,
I form the piece of wood or board thus inlaid into a cylinder.
The tie can also be formed by pieces of metal as tin, zinc, or brass,
by which the two ends of the board to form the envelope are united.
I add at my discretion a cone formed of wood incised or cut through,
made wholly or partially to cover the neck of the bottle by means
of glue or other suitable adhesive substance, uniting the said cone
with the envelope for the bottle by means of the felt or wool aforesaid
on the line of junction of the two portions.
The envelope may be ornamented by being dipped into coloring
matter for that purpose, wholly or partially as may be required.
The above is identical with the kind of envelope for which application
for Provisional Protection was made August 25th 1871, being Number
2227, and for which "Notice to Proceed" was given in due course. Where
the above process is not adopted, and as the distinctive feature there-
from, I crimp or corrugate a piece of board of suitable width and
thickness, and two feet in length more or less, by a machine made for
that purpose, which said corrugated board is wrapped around the bottle
when packed for carriage, or by means of glue or otherwise it is made
into a cylinder into which the bottle is inserted.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Adolphus Alcorn, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.