IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND STOPPING DOTTLES. PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hiram Codd; of Grove Lane, Camberwell, in the
County of Surrey, and Frederick Foster, of 23, Forston Street,
Shepherdess Walk, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention
"IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND STOPPING DOTTLES.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hiram Codd and
Frederick Foster at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 29th December 1873.
We, HIRAM CODD, of Grove Lane, Camberwell, in the County of
Surrey, and FREDERICK FOSTER, of 23, Forston Street, Shepherdess
Walk, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND STOPPING
BOTTLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in constructing and
stopping bottles and in instruments used in the manufacture of
bottles.
For the purpose of containing aerated liquors we construct bottles
with a number of V form ring grooves within the neck, and we line the

page_text: neck with a strip or ring of cork, which we press into these grooves
whilst warm, so as to cause it to remain where it is placed and form a
cork lining to the neck of the bottle.
The stopper consists of an oval ball of glass or other hard material,
which is contained within the bottle, and is of such a size that when
the cork lining has been fitted into the neck it cannot fall out, but when
the bottle is inverted it beds itself upon the cork, the neck of the bottle
being somewhat taper and smaller at the mouth than elsewhere.
For the purpose of holding liquids and materials which are not
aerated we groove the neck of the bottle and line it with cork as
already described, and employ in connection therewith a conical stopper,
which is inserted and withdrawn from the exterior in the ordinary
manner.
In order to form within the neck of the bottle grooves such as above
mentioned, or it may be a single groove to receive a ring of vulcanized
india-rubber for use with a ball stopper, we employ spring tongs with
jaws like those used in forming the necks of ordinary wine and other
bottles, but we provide the plug or core of the instrument, that is to
say, the part which enters the neck of the bottle with two movable
teeth or dogs, which when the tongs are closed together stand out from
the side of the plug or core, and when the tongs are opened they retire
into the recesses formed to receive them, and a peculiarity of this
instrument is that the teeth or dogs are protruded to the full extent
before the tongs are completely closed, and hence the depth of the
groove is not dependent upon the substance of the neck, but will be
formed to its full depth whether much or little glass be applied to the
bottle in forming the neck. The two arms of the tongs have studs upon
them which act in incline grooves formed in a slider, which is thus
traversed to and fro along the stem which carries the plug or core. The
plug or core is in two parts, and the teeth or dogs are enclosed between
them.
A blade attached to the slider also works between the parts of the
plug or core, and it has a wedge fixed upon it. As the tongs are closed
the wedge is forced downwards between the teeth or dogs, and causes
them to project, and as the tongs are opened inclined slots in the blade
withdraw the teeth or dogs, small studs upon them entering the slots in
the blade. The teeth or dogs work in a plane at right angles to that in

page_text: which the jaws work, which causes them to act upon the glass more
advantageously than they would if the jaws and teeth or dogs worked
in the same plane.
A further advantage of apparatus constructed as above described is
that the wearing parts are readily renewed. In place of causing the
wedge to act directly upon the teeth or dogs it may act upon levers to
which the teeth or dogs are attached.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hiram Codd and Frederick Foster in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 29th June 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HIRAM
CODD, of Grove Lane, Camberwell, in the County of Surrey, and
FREDERICK FOSTER, of 23, Forston Street, Shepherdess Walk, in the
County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Hiram Codd and Frederick Foster,
Her special license, that we, the said Hiram Codd and Frederick
Foster, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
we, the said Hiram Codd and Frederick Foster, our executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, 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 Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING AND
STOPPING BOTTLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said
Hiram Codd and Frederick Foster, our executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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,

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Frederick Foster, on behalf of
myself and the said Hiram Codd, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, 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 constructing and
stopping bottles, and in instruments used in the manufacture of
bottles.
For the purpose of containing aerated liquors we construct bottles
with a number of V form ring grooves within the neck, and we line:
the neck with a strip or ring of cork, which we press into these grooves
whilst warm, so as to cause it to remain where it is placed and form a
cork lining to the neck of the bottle.
The stopper is of an oblong form of glass or other hard material,
which is contained within the bottle, and is of such a size that when
the cork lining has been fitted into the neck it cannot fall out, but
when the bottle is inverted it beds itself upon the cork, the neck of the
bottle being somewhat taper and smaller at the mouth than else-
where.
For the purpose of holding liquids and materials which are not
aerated we groove the neck of the bottle and line it with cork, as
already described, and employ in connection therewith a conical stopper,
which is inserted and withdrawn from the exterior in the ordinary
manner.
In order to form within the neck of the bottle grooves such as above
mentioned, or it may be a single groove to receive a ring of vulcanised
india-rubber for use with a ball stopper, we employ spring tongs, with
jaws like those used in forming the necks of ordinary wine and other
bottles, but we provide the plug or core of the instrument, that is to
say, the part which enters the neck of the bottle with two movable teeth
or dogs, which when the tongs are closed together stand out from the
side of the plug or core, and when the tongs are opened they retire into
the recesses formed to receive them, and a peculiarity of this instrument
is that the teeth or dogs are protruded to the full extent before the tongs
are completely closed, and hence the depth of the groove is not
dependent upon the substance of the neck, but will be formed to its
full depth whether much or little glass be applied to the bottle in

page_text: forming the neck. The two arms of the tongs have studs upon them,
which act in incline grooves formed in a slider, which is thus traversed
to and fro along the stem which carries the plug or core. The plug or
core is in two parts, and the teeth or dogs are enclosed between
them.
A blade attached to the slider also works between the parts of the plug
or core, and it has a wedge fixed upon it. As the tongs are closed the
wedge is forced downwards between the teeth or dogs, and causes them to
project, and as the tongs are opened inclined slots in the blade withdraw
the teeth or dogs, small studs upon them entering the slots in the blade.
The teeth or dogs work in a plane at right angles to that in which the
jaws work, which causes them to act upon the glass more advantageously
than they would if the jaws and teeth or dogs worked in the same
plane.
A further advantage of apparatus constructed as above described is
that the wearing parts are readily renewed. In place of causing the
wedge to act directly upon the teeth or dogs it may act upon levers to
which the teeth or dogs are attached.
At Figures 1 and 2 of the Drawings hereunto annexed we have shewn
tongs constructed as above described, and at Figures 3 we have shewn
separately some of the parts of the same. Figure 1 shews a side view
of the tongs when open, and Figure 2 shews a side view partly in
section of the tongs when closed and moulding the head of a
bottle.
A, A, are the spring arms of the tongs, which as usual carry at their
ends dies B for shaping the exterior of the head; C is a central stem
projecting from the back end of the tongs. To the end of the stem is
bolted a forked piece D, which has screwed to it the circular disc or
"swiller" E, from which projects the plug F. The swiller and plug are
as shewn in two parts, and are held together by the screws G. One part
has a recess formed along it nearly to its upper end for a blade H to lie
in, and also a transverse slot to receive the teeth or dogs I herein-before
mentioned. The blade H is free to move to and fro between the two
parts of the plug, and carries a block J, the forward end of which is
wedge shaped so that it may enter between the two teeth or dogs and
force them outwards away from one another and cause them partly to
project beyond the sides of the plug. Each tooth or dog has a pin pro-

page_text: jecting from it, which enters a slot in the blade H. These slots are
inclined to one another at one end, and serve to draw the dogs inwards
towards one another when the wedge. J is drawn back from between
them. The blade H is as shewn carried by a slider K, which is free to
slide upon the central stem C. The slider has arms standing out from
`it, in which are curved slots, through which pass pins L. carried by the
spring arms. When the tongs are closed these pins cause the slider to
move forwards, and the wedge-shaped end of the block J then enters
between the two teeth or dogs I, and causes them to project from the
two opposite sides of the plug, and when they have been forced out-
wards to their full extent they rest against the parallel sides of the
block, which continues to advance between them as the closing of the
tongs is completed. When the tongs are again opened the inclined slots
in the blade H again draw the dogs towards one another until they are
entirely withdrawn into the slots in the plug. The plug can then be
withdrawn from the bottle.
In the Drawings above described the teeth or dogs have been shewn
of a form suitable for shaping the interior of the heads of bottles,
which are to be closed by internal glass stoppers, as described in the
Specifications of former Patents granted to one of us. The teeth or
dogs may however be of other forms, so as to mould the interior of the
heads of bottles to various shapes, as, for example, to the forms shewn
at Figures 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8.
Figure 4 shews the head of a bottle with a semicircular groove formed
within and around it to receive a circular ring of vulcanized india-
rubber.
Figure 5 shews the head of a bottle with a number of V grooves formed
within and around it to receive a ring of cork, which as herein-before
stated is inserted when hot and pressed into the grooves until it has set.
Figures 6, 7, and 8 shew other various forms of the
adapted to receive internal stoppers of various kinds.
head of a bottle
When a ring of
cork or such like elastic material is held in the interior of the head by
means of grooves formed around it as above described, the stopper may
be of an oval shape, as shewn at Figure 9. When it is for retaining
aerated liquids or for liquids that are not aerated it may be an
ordinary conical stopper, as shewn at Figure 5, or when the stopper is
for retaining aerated liquids it may be of the forms shewn at Figures 10,

page_text: 11, 12, 13, and 14, in each of which the stopper is of an oblong form,
and has surfaces adapted to bear against the ring of elastic material
which is held within the neck.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, we would have it understood that we claim as
our improvements in constructing and stopping bottles,―
1. The use of tongs or tools for shaping the necks and heads of
bottles formed so that the protrusion of the teeth or dogs from the
central plug of the tool is completed before the dies for moulding the
exterior of the head have completed their movement towards one
another substantially as herein described.
2. The use of tongs or tools formed substantially as herein described
and shewn by the Drawings annexed for shaping the heads of bottles.
3. The construction of bottles with V shaped grooves formed around
the interior of the neck, and lined with a strip or ring of cork pressed
into these grooves substantially as herein described.
4. The stopping of bottles for containing aerated liquids with internal
oblong stoppers formed as herein described and shewn at Figures 9, 10,
11, 12, 13, and 14 of the Drawings in combination with a ring of
elastic material held in the mouth of the bottle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Foster, have hereunto set
"
T