IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING AND CAPSULING BOTTLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Betts, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the
County of Middlesex, Capsule Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING AND CAPSULING BOTTLES.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Betts at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th June 1873.
I, WILLIAM BETTS, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the County of
Middlesex, Capsule Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of my
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING AND CAPSULING BOTTLES," to
be as follows:-
This Invention has reference more particularly to champagne bottles,
and consists of a peculiar combination of parts whereby a neat and
efficient stoppering and capsuling of the bottle is effected, and the
fraudulent reapplication of the capsule employed is prevented by reason
of the impossibility of its removal without destroying the same.

page_text: According to my improved mode of stoppering and capsuling bottles,
I first secure the cork therein by the aid of a metal cap placed over the
cork, and held in position by two half ferrules of iron held together by
either a metal ring which is passed over them or by the application of a
soft metal capsule alone. Over the cork, metal cap, and half ferrules
thus secured I place the soft metal capsule of a length and size sufficient
to cover the usual empty space left in the necks of champagne bottles,
and the half ferrules and rings, and secure such capsule close round the
neck of the bottle, and the before-mentioned half ferrules by any well-
known capsuling machine, preferring for that purpose a machine con-
sisting of an india-rubber chamber which is caused to grip the capsule and
bottle neck by the action of hydrostatic pressure. When the soft metal
capsule is thus put over the cork and metal cover and iron ferrule it is
practically impossible to effect its removal from the bottle without so
destroying it that it cannot be used again.
The metal cap on the top of the cork may be covered by a soft metal
capsule of its own, or the main capsule may have a dome shaped centre
formed in one piece therewith, so as to fit over the before-mentioned
metal cap. The raised dome may be stamped or ornamented in any
required manner.
The said long soft metal capsule may also be provided with any
required trade mark and label on its side or top, or both side and top,
which may be either plain embossing or embossed in one, two, or more
colors. The sides of the capsule may also be left either uncoloured or
be ornamented by the application of one or more colors in rings, stripes,
or otherwise.
Round the top edge of the said capsule a number of perforations
may or may not be made, by preference by machinery such as I have
described in the Specification of my Patent No. 3587, A.D. 1872, for the
purpose of preventing the removal of the capsule without injury to the
same, and thus avoiding its fraudulent reapplication to a bottle. The
same system may be used for producing in perforations any name or
trade mark on the side of the capsule.

page_text: +
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Betts in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 11th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BETTS, of Wharf Road, City Road, in the County of Middlesex, Capsule,
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June 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 me, the said William Betts, Her special license
that I, the said William Betts, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Betts, my executors,
administrators, or 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, excrcise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ircland, tho
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
Stoppering and CAPSULING BOTTLES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said William Betts, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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 William Betts, 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 in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention has reference more particularly to champagne
bottles, and consists of a peculiar combination of parts whereby a neat
and efficient stoppering and capsuling of the bottle is effected, and the
fraudulent reapplication of the capsule employed is prevented by reason
of the impossibility of its removal without-destroying the same.
"

page_text: According to my improved mode of stoppering and capsuling bottles
I first secure the cork therein by the aid of an iron or other metal cap
or disc placed over the cork, and held in position by two half ferrules of
iron or other metal held together by either a metal ring which is passed
over them, or by the application of a soft metal capsule alone, internal
flanges on the half ferrules being provided to lap over the edges of the
disc, whilst other flanges at the lower end engage under the projecting
rim of the bottle neck. Over the cork, metal cap, or disc, and half
ferrules thus secured, I place the soft metal capsule of a length and size
sufficient to cover the usual empty space left in the necks of champagne
bottles, and the half ferrules and ring (if the latter be used), and secure
such capsule close round the neck of the bottle and the before-mentioned
half ferrules by any well-known capsuling machine, preferring for that
purpose a machine consisting of an india-rubber chamber which is
caused to grip the capsule and bottle neck by the action of hydrostatic
pressure. When the soft metal capsule is thus put over the cork and
metal cover and iron ferrules it is practically impossible to effect its
removal from the bottle without so destroying it that it cannot be used
again.
The metal cap or disc on the top of the cork may be covered by a
soft metal capsule of its own or the main capsule may have a dome
shaped centre formed in one piece therewith, so as to fit over the before-
mentioned metal cap or disc. The raised dome may be stamped or
ornamented in any required manner by my known apparatus.
The said long soft metal capsule may also be provided with any
required trade mark and label on its side or top, or both side and top, which
may be either plain embossing or embossed in one, two, or more colors.
The sides of the capsule may also be left either uncoloured or be
ornamented by the application of one or more colors in rings, stripes, or
otherwise.
Round the top edge of the said capsule a number of perforations may
or may not be made, by preference by machinery such as I have
described in the Specification of my Patent No. 3587, A.D. 1872, for the
purpose of preventing the removal of the capsule without injury to the
same, and thus avoiding its fraudulent reapplication to a bottle. The
same system may be used for producing in perforations any name or
trade mark on the side of the capsule.

page_text: The Drawing annexed is a sectional elevation of a champagne bottle
neck stoppered and capsuled according to my Invention.
a is the cork; b, the iron or other metal cap or disc placed thereon;
c, c, are the half ferrules of iron or other metal which may be held
together by a ring passed thereon (not shown in my Drawing), in con-
junction with the soft metal capsule d, or the soft metal capsule d applied
over all may be used alone for holding the half ferrules in position;
e, e, are the internal flanges of the half ferrules for lapping over the edges
of the metal cap 6, and f, f, are other flanges for engaging under the
projecting rim of the bottle neck.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to
be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me
by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
First. The peculiar combination and arrangement of parts for stoppering
and capsuling champagne and other like bottles, as herein-before
described.
Second. The making the top of the soft metal capsule dome shaped,
as and for the purpose specified.
Third. The forming of perforations in the top edge of the soft metal
capsule, as and for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Betts, have to this my
Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of
November, One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
WILLIAM BETTS. (L.S.)