IMPROVE. MENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN DECANTING WINE AND OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Ellis, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex,
and James Adams, of No. 6, Archer Street, Great Windmill Street, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPA
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Ellis and
James Adams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with.
their Petition, on the 1st July 1864.
We, JOSEPH ELLIS, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, and JAMES
ADAMS, of No. 6, Archer Street, Great Windmill Street, in the County of"
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVE.
MENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN DECANTING WINE AND OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus used when
decanting wine and other liquids. For these purposes the bottle is as hereto-
fore placed in a bottom tray, the fore end of which is notched out to receive
the neck of a bottle when placed in the tray, and the bottle is thus held in
an inclined position to permit of the cork being drawn. The tray is hinged at
the fore end, and has at its back end a handle on a stem, which is part of a
circle struck from the centre of the axis or hinge on which the fore end of the
tray is arrangéd to move when the bottle therein is to be tilted to decant the
wine or other liquid therein. The curved stem moves between guides to

page_text: which are applied friction surfaces consisting of two pairs of wedges; one
pair of the wedges are fixed to or carried by a box fixed to the back framing
of the basket or frame in which the tray is mounted, the other pair of wedges
are placed one on each side of the curved stem before mentioned. One pair
of wedges is acted on by a spring or springs in such manner as to cause the
pair of wedges that are one on each side of the curved stem to nip the stem
between them; by this means when the stem, and consequently the tray to
which it is attached, is moved in one direction the friction between the stem
and the wedges will tend to cause the wedges to nip the stem more tightly,
and consequently prevent it moving without force, whilst when the curved stem
is moved in the opposite direction the stem can be moved with comparative
freedom. The distance the wedges are allowed to move is limited by stops,
so that the wedges can never nip the curved stem too tightly. The acting of
the spring or springs on two of the wedges is regulated by an adjusting screw
or screws.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Ellis and James Adams in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 31st December 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOSEPH
ELLIS, of Brighton, in the County of Sussex, and JAMES ADAMS, of No. 6,
Archer Street, Great Windmill Street, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Joseph Ellis and James Adams, Her special licence that we, the said
Joseph Ellis and James Adams, our executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as we, the said Joseph Ellis and James Adams, our
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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS USED WHEN
DECANTING WINE AND OTHER LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Joseph Ellis and James Adams, our executors or almi nis-

page_text: trators, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Adams, on behalf of myself and
the said Joseph Ellis, 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 apparatus used when
decanting wine and other liquids. For these purposes the bottle is as hereto-
fore placed in a bottom tray, the fore end of which is notched out to receive
the neck of a bottle when placed in the tray, and the bottle is thus held in an
inclined position to permit of the cork being drawn. The tray is hinged at
the fore end, and has at its back end a handle on a stem, which is part of a
circle struck from the centre of the axis or hinge on which the fore end of the
tray is arranged to move when the bottle therein is to be tilted to decant the
wine or other liquid therein. The curved stem moves between guides to
which are applied friction surfaces consisting of two pairs of wedges; one
pair of the wedges are fixed to or carried by a box fixed to the back framing
of the basket or frame in which the tray is mounted, the other pair of
wedges are placed one on each side of the curved stem before mentioned.
One pair of wedges is acted on by a spring or springs in such manner as to
cause the pair of wedges that are one on each side of the curved stem to nip
the stem between them; by this means when the sten, and consequently the
tray to which it is attached, is moved in one direction the friction between.
the stem and the wedges will tend to cause the wedges to nip the stem more
tightly, and consequently prevent it moving without force, whilst when the
curved stem is moved in the opposite direction the stem can be moved with
comparative freedom. The distance the wedges are allowed to move is limited
by stops, so that the wedges can never nip the curved stem too tightly. The
acting of the spring or springs on two of the wedges is regulated by an
adjusting screw or screws.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood, we will proceed
to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.

page_text: ratus constructed according to our Invention. a is the tray in which the
bottle is placed, the fore end of the tray being notched out, as is shown, to
receive the neck of the bottle; this tray turns: at its fore end on the pins b, b,
and has at its back end a stem c, at the top of which is a handle d.; the stem c
forms part of a circle struck from the centre b; this stem c moves between
guides e, e, carried by the back e¹ of the frame, and between these guides are
applied two pairs of wedges f, f, and g, g; the outer pair of wedges f, f, are
connected to a slide f' that is capable of sliding on the rod h, and the inner
pair of wedges g, g, are connected to another slide g' sliding on the same rod;
the slide which acts on the wedges f, f, is pressed upwards by the spring f³,
the force of which can be regulated by the screw.fs; the slide which acts
on the wedges g, g, is pressed downwards by the spring g³, the force of which
can also be regulated by a screw ga; in each of the wedges 9 a small recess
is formed in which is received a roller i, so that the wedges f work against
this roller; the bottom guide é limits the movement of the wedges f, and the
movement of the wedges g is limited by: the slide g', to which they are
connected, coming against a shoulder on the pin or rod h. When the handle d
is raised to pour wine from the bottle in the tray, the friction between the
stem cand the wedges' g tends to draw the wedges apart, but if the stem c
is moved in the opposite direction the wedges move towards each other and
nip the stem more tightly, and so retain the tray at any required angle.
In witness whereof, 1, the said James Adams, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirty-first day of December, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.