IMPROVEMENTS IN CASES FOR PACKING AND TRANSPORTING BOTTLED ALES AND OTHER LIQUORS, AND IN THE METHOD OF PACKING THE SAME
Year: 1866

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Henry Gardner at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd June
1866.
I, HENRY GARDNER, of Gravesend, in the County of Kent, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASES
FOR PACKING AND TRANSPORTING BOTTLED ALES AND OTHER LIQUORS, AND IN THE
METHOD OF PACKING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to cases in which it is usual to pack ales and wine
for transport without straw or other stuffing, which cases are also often used
to keep the contents while being used up. These cases are usually fitted
with diaphragms having a series of round holes in them to hold the bottles
steady and in close proximity to each other, the one diaphragm having large
holes to receive the body of the bottle near the bottom, while the holes in the
other receive the necks. As these diaphragms are fixtures in the box the
bottles have to be inserted neck first, which necessitates the lid being at the
bottom of the bottles and renders such cases very unfit for holding bottled
ales and wines.
According to my Invention I insert in these cases a number of cross bars,
so as to pass between each bottle, the bars running lengthwise of the box,
being half checked into those disposed across or transversely thereto, and
somewhat loosely, in order that they may each move laterally a little, so as to
accommodate. themselves to any little difference in the sizes of bottles, the
meshes or openings between the bars being such as just to receive the bodies

page_text: thereof. I dispose one series of these cross bars near the bottom of the bottle
and another just below the shoulder, so that the bottles can be lifted out with
the neck uppermost and may always be kept in that position; the cross bars are
not fixed at the ends, but rest and are held down by small slips fixed on the
sides of the case, which allows of the lateral motion before mentioned. The
longitudinal bars instead of being in duplicate (one set for the upper series and
one for the lower), may be all in one piece, extending to the depth at which the
series of cross bars are placed apart. In cases so fitted bottles can be packed
very closely and tightly together without any material to separate them,
except the cross bars before mentioned. In fitting a two-tier case I only
introduce three series of the cross bars, the two before mentioned and a third
a little below the shoulders of the upper bottles, which are held in position at
the bottom by placing the kick or hollow of its bottom on the neck of the
bottle below it, the cork forming a sort of cushion for it to rest on, while the
lid shuts close down on the corks of the upper bottles; in this way all the
bottles in a case will be securely held. Instead of cross bars or lattice-like
work, as above described, I may make the diaphragms of millboard, in which
I punch and cut round holes for the reception of the bottles, the holes in both
diaphragms being the size to receive the body of the bottle. To make the
edges of the holes somewhat elastic, I slit them in several places or press a
lip up thereon, in which case the bottles may be pushed tightly through the
holes and be firmly held.