AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRAWING LIQUID SUBSTANCES FROM VESSELS CONTAINING THE SAME
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Tiernan, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, Pharmaceutical Chemist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR DRAWING LIQUID SUBSTANCES FROM VESSELS CONTAINING THE
SAME."
Sealed the 23rd April 1861, and dated the 26th February 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Tiernan at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 26th
February 1861.
I, ROBERT TIERNAN, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Pharma-
ceutical Chemist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR DRAWING LIQUID SUBSTANCES FROM VESSELS CON-
TAINING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
I form my improved apparatus by combining a valve (by preference, a flap
valve) with a flexible teat pierced with what are termed leech bite, or other
suitable holes, or with any similar apparatus capable of acting in a similar
manner to such a teat, as hereafter explained. I place my valve, say, at one
end of a tube or passage communicating with the liquid to be drawn, say, for
instance, liquid food from a feeding bottle by an infant; the other end of the
tube or passage dips in the food. The valve is free to open directly into the
base of an india-rubber teat or into a tube entering therein, which teat is

page_text: pierced with leech-bite holes at that end which is to enter the infant's mouth.
The valve allows of no return through it, and the leech-bite apertures while
allowing of the liquid substance passing out from the teat, prevent the inlet
of air.
Supposing the tube and the teat to be charged with the food, the infant in
the action of drawing or sucking thereat presses the sides together, drives the
contents into his mouth, and creates more or less of a vacuum in the teat,
which, on the pressure of the tongue or lips being removed in the natural act
of sucking is filled by a fresh quantity of food flowing through the valve, and
so on as long as pressure is alternately applied to and removed from the
teat.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Tiernan in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 26th
August 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
TIERNAN, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Pharmaceutical Chemist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Robert Tiernan, Her special licence that I, the said Robert Tiernan, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert
Tiernan, 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 "AN IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
DRAWING LIQUID SUBSTANCES FROM VESSELS CONTAINING THE SAME," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Tiernan, my execu-
tors 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 per-
formed, 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 Robert Tiernan, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say :-
I form my improved apparatus by combining a valve with a flexible teat,
pierced with what are termed leech bite or other suitable holes, or with any
similar apparatus capable of acting in a similar manner to such a teat, as here-
after explained. I place my valve, say, at one end of a tube or passage com-
municating with the liquid to be drawn, say, for instance, liquid food from a
feeding bottle by an infant; the other end of the tube or passage dips in the
food. The valve is free to open directly into the base of an india-rubber teat
or into a tube entering therein, which teat is pierced with leech-bite holes at
that end which is to enter the infant's mouth. The valve allows of no return
through it, and the leech-bite apertures, while allowing of the liquid substance
passing out from the teat, prevent the inlet of air. Each of the leech-bite aper-
tures acts as a valve.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a section of one of my appara-
tuses made with a flap valve fitted in the mouth of a feeding bottle.
a is the valve made of vulcanized india-rubber enclosed in the case b, and
secured therein by the lower part thereof screwing into the upper. The lower
end of the case opens into and carries a tube, by preference, flexible, which
enters the feeding bottle c, while the upper end has fixed on it a flexible teat,
pierced with leech-bite apertures. The case 6 is fitted into the mouth of the
feeding bottle.
Figure 2 is a view of one of my apparatuses where a spherical valve is used.
a is the valve resting in a cup or seat b, which screws into the under side of
a cap d, fitting air-tight over the neck of the bottle c.
In Figure 1, I have shown a spherical valve, similar to that shown at
Figure 2, fitted in the flexible tube, which I find in some cases is convenient
to be used in combination with the flap valve.
Figure 3 is a view of another of my apparatuses, where a spherical valve also
is employed, but in a different position. In this case the valve a is placed in a
cup e, at the end of the tube which enters the feeding bottle. The other end
of the tube carries a pipe screwing into the under side of the cap d, which fits
air-tight over the neck of the feeding bottle.
Supposing the tube and the teat to be charged with the food, the infant in
the action of drawing or sucking thereat presses the sides together, drives the
contents into his mouth, and on the pressure of the tongue or lips being

page_text: removed in the natural act of sucking, the teat expands, and more or less of a
vacuum is created in the teat, which is supplied by a fresh quantity of food
flowing through the valve, and so on, as long as pressure is alternately applied
to and removed from the teat.
And, having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improved
apparatus for drawing liquid substances from vessels containing the same, the
combination in such apparatus of a valve or valves with a flexible teat
pierced with leech-bite apertures, in manner and for the purposes herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Tiernan, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of August, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
ROBERT TIERNAN. (L.S.)