IMPROVED MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE CLOSING OR STOPPERING OF AERATED LIQUID BOTTLES HAVING INTERNAL STOPPERS.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William John Vernon, of the Belle Vue Mineral
Water Works, Crewe, in the County of Chester, for the Invention of
"IMPROVED MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE CLOSING OR STOPPERING OF AERATED
LIQUID BOTTLES HAVING INTERNAL STOPPERS.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William John Vernon
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 8th January 1874.
I, WILLIAM JOHN VERNON, of the Belle Vue Mineral Water Works,
Crewe, in the County of Chester, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MEANS FOR EFFECTING THE CLOSING OR
STOPPERING OF AERATED LIQUID BOTTLES HAVING INTERNAL STOPPERS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object to facilitate the closing or stoppering of
aerated liquid bottles having light internal stoppers, for example, stoppers
consisting of a vulcanized india-rubber washer fixed on a light spindle,
stem, or cylinder, the specific gravity of the entire stopper not exeeding
the specific gravity of the liquid in the bottles. Such bottles whilst

page_text: being charged with aerated liquid in a bottling machine are for this
purpose usually inverted or turned with their necks downwards, but
their stoppers being comparatively light do not when the bottles have
been charged sink or fall into their proper positions for closing the
same.
Now this Invention consists in effecting the closing or stoppering of
such inverted bottles as aforesaid by attaching or connecting to the
stopper before placing the bottle in the filling or charging machine a
closing device of such specific gravity that the weight of the stopper and
closing device combined shall exceed the specific gravity of the liquid
contained in the bottle, thereby causing the stopper to descend and
(guided within the orifice of the bottle's neck by the spindle and closing
device thereto attached) to assume the proper position for closing or
stoppering the orifice in the bottle, in which position the stopper will be
retained by the pressure of the gases within the bottle. The weight or
device may then be removed from the spindle, stem, or cylinder of
the stopper, and applied to the stopper of another empty bottle, and so
on.
In carrying out my Invention I, by preference, make the weight or
closing device in the form of a metal spring clip, loaded at one end
sufficiently to pull down the stopper when the bottle is in an inverted
position, and filled or charged with aerated liquid, the springing part of
the clip when in its normal state forming a curve of smaller radius than
the spindle of the stopper, so that when sprung on to the spindle of the
stopper the clip may hold with sufficient tightness to perform its
function, the springing part extending by preference rather more than
half way round the said spindle.
The diameter of the weight or closing device at its largest part when
expanded over the spindle of the stopper being less than the diameter of
the passage in the bottle's neck, the stopper with my improved weight
or closing device attached to it can be readily passed into the bottle for
the purpose of filling.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said William John Vernon in the Great Seal Patent
Officeon the 3rd July 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
JOHN VERNON, of the Belle Vue Mineral Water Works, Crewe, in the
County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-seventh
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said William John Vernon, Her special license, that
I, the said William John Vernon, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William John Vernon, my
executors, administrators, 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 "Im-
PROVED MEANS FOR. EFFECTING THE CLOSING OR STOPPERING OF AERATED, LIQUID
BOTTLES HAVING INTERNAL STOPPERS," upon the condition (amongst others).
that I, the said William John Vernon, 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 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 John Vernon, 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, and the Drawings. therein
referred to (that is to say)
This Invention has for its object to facilitate the closing or stoppering.
of aerated liquid bottles having light internal stoppers, for example,
stoppers consisting of a vulcanized india-rubber washer fixed on a light.
spindle, stem, or cylinder, the specific gravity of the entire stopper not.

page_text: exceeding the specific gravity of the liquid in the bottles. Such bottles
whilst being charged with aerated liquid in a bottling machine are for
this purpose usually inverted or turned with their necks downwards, but
their stoppers being comparatively light do not when the bottles have
been charged sink or fall into their proper positions for closing the
same.
Now this Invention consists in effecting the closing or stoppering of
such inverted bottles as aforesaid by attaching or connecting to the
stopper before placing the bottle in the filling or charging machine a
device of such specific gravity that the weight of the stopper and
closing device combined shall exceed the specific gravity of the liquid
contained in the bottle, thereby causing the stopper to descend, and
guided within the orifice of the bottle's neck by the spindle and closing
device thereto attached, to assume the proper position for closing or
stoppering the orifice in the bottle, in which position the stopper will be
retained by the pressure of the gases within the bottle. The weight or
device may then be removed from the spindle, stem, or cylinder of
the stopper, and applied to the stem or stopper of another empty bottle,
and so on.
In carrying out my Invention I, by preference, make use of the
arrangement shewn in the accompanying Drawings, wherein Fig. 1
shews an inverted bottle with my improved closing device in position on
the stem of the stopper; Fig. 2 is an end view of the closing device and
bottle neck; Fig. 3 is a side elevation of the closing device; and Fig. 4
is a section thereof in the line A, B, of Fig. 3.
The weight or closing device is in the form of a metal spring clip a,
loaded at one end 6 sufficiently to pull down the stopper c when the
bottle d is in an inverted position, and filled or charged with aerated
liquid. The springing part a of the clip when in its normal state forms
a curve of smaller radius than the spindle of the stopper, as shewn in
Fig. 4, so that when sprung on to the spindle of the stopper, as shewn in
Fig. 1, the clip may hold with sufficient tightness to perform its function,
the springing part a extending rather more than half way round the said
spindle.
The diameter of the weight or closing device at its largest part when
expanded over the spindle of the stopper being less than the diameter of
the passage in the bottle's neck, the stopper with my improved weight

page_text: or closing device attached to it can be readily passed into the bottle for
the purpose of filling.
Having described the nature of my said Invention for improved means
for effecting the closing or stoppering of aerated liquid bottles having
internal stoppers, and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into practical effect, I desire to have it understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise form of closing device shewn in the Drawing, as
the same may be modified to suit circumstances without departing from
the distinctive feature of my Invention; and I furthermore hereby
declare that I do not claim the filling and closing of bottles neck down-
wards, nor the use of internal stoppers of less specific gravity than the
liquid in the bottles to which they are applied; but 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, the use or
employment, for closing or stoppering inverted bottles having stoppers
of less specific gravity than the liquid they contain, of a weight or
closing device arranged to be temporarily applied to the stopper, and to
operate substantially as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William John Vernon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
WILLIAM JOHN VERNON. (L.S.)