IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING LIQUIDS IN AND BY THE ACT OF DRAWING THEM FROM THEIR RECEPTACLES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Caroline Anne Bourn, of Euston Square, in the County of
Middlesex, Widow, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF
AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING LIQUIDS IN AND BY THE ACT OF DRAWING
THEM FROM THEIR RECEPTACLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Caroline Anne Bourn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th March 1878.
_CAROLINE ANNE BOURN, of Euston Square, in the County of Middlesex, Widow.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING LIQUIDS IN
AND BY THE ACT OF DRAWING THEM FROM THEIR RECEPTACLES.”
The improvements consist in the application to bottles, casks, or other receptacles
for the purposes of drawing off and measuring their contents or a certain quantity.
thereof, of an apparatus consisting of a tube or chamber fitted with a removeable
piston or plug which when in place shall serve to form the stopper or other device
for closing the aperture of the above tube or chamber, and thus together with the
sides of the tube or chamber, or otherwise form the stopper to the receptacle.
Also in the mode of use of said apparatus, in such manner that when the
piston or plug is forced into the tube the air beneath it shall pass into the
receptacle through the aperture in the lower extremity of the tube, and therefore
be under pressure whenever the piston or plug is in place and retain force enough
to eject an equivalent quantity of fluid in the tube when the piston or plug is next
withdrawn.
The tube or chamber may be of glass, metal, earthenware, or other convenient
material, shaped like a syringe tube with an inlet at bottom for the passage of air
and admission of liquid, and with an aperture at top for the passage and withdrawal
or reception of the piston or plug, and said tube may be fashioned to hold any-

page_text: convenient quantity of liquid and fitted in the neck of the bottle or orifice of the
receptacle, in a vertical, horizontal, or other position, and in any suitable manner
so that said fitting is air-tight.
The piston or plug may be of any convenient material or materials combined.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Caroline Anne Bourn in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th September 1878.
•
CAROLINE ANNE BOURN, of Euston Square, in the County of Middlesex, Widow.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF AND APPARATUS FOR MEASURING LIQUIDS IN AND
BY THE ACT OF DRAWING THEM FROM THEIR RECEPTACLES."
The improvements consist in the application to bottles, casks, or other receptacles
for the purposes of drawing off and measuring their contents or a certain quantity
thereof, of an apparatus consisting of a tube fitted with a piston, which shall serve
to form the stopper for closing the aperture of the said tube, and by means of a
tubular plug placed in the neck or orifice of the bottle or receptacle, through which
plug the said tube is passed into the cavity of the bottle or receptacle forming a
stopper to the said bottle or receptacle itself.
Also in the use of said apparatus, in such manner that when the piston (which
may be wholly removed from the tube or at convenience retained by a guard) is
forced into the tube, the air beneath and therein shall be pressed into the bottle or
receptacle through an aperture in the tube, and thus place the atmosphere in the
bottle or receptacle under pressure whenever the piston is in place and cause it (the
said atmosphere) to possess force enough to eject an equivalent or nearly equal
quantity of the fluid contents of the bottle or receptacle through the tube when the
piston is withdrawn.
The tube may be of glass or copper or other metal, or of any convenient material,
and so shaped and of such internal capacity as to hold or draw off the quantity it
is desired that it should contain or draw off. It may be furnished with an orifice
or orifices at bottom or sides or both for the passage of air and inlet of liquid, and
with an aperture at top for the discharge of its contents and the reception and
withdrawal either wholly or partially of the piston; also constructed with a
shoulder or shoulders or projections, on the exterior for the purpose of forming,
in conjunction with the tubular elastic plug, an air-tight stopper to the bottle or
receptacle to which the tube is fitted.
The piston may be of wood, glass, metal, or any other convenient material fitted
with a cork, leather, or rubber suction disc or equivalent contrivance.
The tubular plug may be made of rubber or other elastic or flexible material.
The accompanying Drawing is intended to serve as an illustration of a convenient
mode of performing the Invention, but I do not bind myself to the mode shown, as

page_text: the nature of the Invention is such that the details may be considerably varied to
suit special use and application of the apparatus without departing from the nature
thereof.
In the Drawings same letters represent like or corresponding parts.
Figure 1 is a section of the apparatus applied to a bottle, which is also shown in
section showing the tube passed into the bottle through the tubular elastic or
rubber plug; in this position the tube could be readily withdrawn although the
plug through which it passes could not be withdrawn owing to the expansion at
the lower end below the level of the neck, and so to prevent this the tubular
rubber plug is pulled up or out until it closes above the shoulder of the tube,
preventing the withdrawal of the tube and being itself still too much expanded to
be withdrawn.
Figure 2 is elevation of one form of piston, but the shape may be varied.
Figure 3 is section of detached tubular rubber plug showing the lower part,
which expands when the tube is thrust through.
Figure 5 is a section of modification of apparatus intended for casks and such
like.
A is the piston; B, the elastic tubular plug; C, the tube or its equivalent;
D, the bottle; E, an elastic disc; F, the shoulder or protuberance on tube C;
G, the air and liquid holes. The use is as follows:-A bottle is taken and filled or
nearly so, the rubber plug B inserted in the neck; the tube C is then passed
through the plug B, until it touches the bottom of the bottle; the plug B is then
drawn up until it takes the position shown in Figure 4. The piston A. is gently
forced in, and on its withdrawal a quantity equal to the contents of the tube C, or
nearly so, can be poured out from the cup-like or upper part of the tube C, and no
more, and thus the size of the apparatus being arranged a definite and given
quantity only can be taken at one time. The same principle applies to the tap
arrangement, Figure 5, intended for casks, but the piston A in this case need not be
wholly withdrawn and only far enough to allow the escape of fluid through its
aperture H.
In witness whereof, I, the said Caroline Anne Bourn, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
CAROLINE ANNE BOURN. (L.S.)