NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BOTTLES OR OTHER VESSELS WITH GASEOUS OR EFFERVESCING LIQUIDS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING BOTTLES CONTAINING SUCH LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREFOR.
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Waugh, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BOTTLES OR OTHER VESSELS WITH GASEOUS OR
EFFERVESCING LIQUIDS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING BOTTLES CONTAINING
SUCH LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREFOR.
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Waugh at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
10th August 1875.
I, JAMES WAUGH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BOTTLES OR OTHER VESSELS WITH GASEOUS
OR EFFERVESCING LIQUIDS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING BOTTLES CONTAINING
SUCH LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREFOR," to be as follows,
that is to say :-

page_text: The apparatus consists of a disc or frame mounted upon a shaft or
stud, on or with which it is capable of being turned so as to invert it.
On the face of the disc or frame is carried the nozzle provided with a
cock and safety valve, from or through which the gaseous or effervescing
liquid to be charged into the bottles or other vessels issues. Below the
nozzle is a sole or plate, upon which the base of the bottle when in
position to be filled rests, and this is provided with a spring, which
forcibly presses the bottle or other vessel up against the nozzle. A
lever is provided for acting upon the spring so as to allow the air to
escape from the bottle or other vessel when being charged. When the
bottle or other vessel is charged the apparatus holding it is inverted,
and the elastic stopper herein-after described falls into the neck of
the bottle, and being thus acted upon by the pressure of the gas
closes it.
or
The second part of this Invention, which relates to a new or improved
stopper for closing bottles or other vessels containing gaseous
effervescing liquids, consists of a hollow elastic ball made of caoutchouc
or analogous elastic material which is placed inside the bottle. The
ball is formed with a hollow stem or short pipe, which when the bottle
is charged with the gaseous or effervescing liquid serves the two-fold
purpose, namely, by its weight of maintaining or balancing the ball in
the required position; also of admitting the carbonic acid or other gas
with which the liquid is charged to the interior of the elastic ball. The
lower part of the neck of the bottle is conical so that the pressure of the
gas when the bottle is charged therewith and with the liquid both forces
the ball into the conical neck and by passing to the interior of the
ball expands it so as to fill the neck, thereby closing the bottle. The
upper part of the elastic ball may be thicker than its lower part.
The hollow ball or stopper is preferably formed of two layers of
caoutchouc, the internal layer being of that kind known as white rubber
or vulcanite, this being covered with a layer of red india-rubber. It is
preferred however to construct the stopper as a solid sphere of red india-
rubber, and of larger diameter than the spherical stoppers hitherto
used.
• The drawback to using solid india-rubber stoppers hitherto has been
due to the difficulty of getting the same into the bottles, but by coating
them with glycerine and compressing them through a conical.tube into
the neck of the bottle the Inventor has succeeded in using a large,

page_text: stopper of red india-rubber, which is of the requisite specific gravity to
sink in the liquid, and sufficiently tight to perfectly close the bottle
when acted upon by the pressure from within.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Waugh in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 9th February 1876.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
WAUGH, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send
greeting.
→
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
39th year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Waugh, Her special license,
that I, the said James Waugh, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said James Waugh, 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, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR CHARGING BOTTLES OR OTHER VESSELS WITH GASEOUS OR EFFER-
VESCING LIQUIDS, AND IMPROVEMENTS IN CLOSING BOTTLES CONTAINING SUCH
LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREFOR," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Waugh, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Waugh, 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

page_text: In the tubes B and D slots are made, as shown at a, Figure 1, through
which the point of a hand lever J enters into the interior of the tube D,
the said lever being centred on an arm or stud projecting outwards
from the frame or board A.
The charging apparatus situate at the upper end of the said frame or
board consists of a pipe K, to which is attached.a vertical pipe L com-
municating with the hollow journal or bearing M of the apparatus, and
which is connected by a suitable arrangement of coupling at N, Figure 1,
with a pipe leading from the vessel wherein the gaseous or effervescing
liquid to be bottled is contained. The exit from the pipe or branch K
into the bulb. O is furnished with a valve c, which by operating the
screwed valve spindle d is caused to increase, diminish, or entirely cut
off the exit of the gaseous liquid from the said pipe or branch. In the
lower end of the bulb O a nozzle e is fixed, and through an opening in
the side thereof the liquid passes into the bottle resting on the sole E,
between which and an india-rubber, leather, or other elastic washer or
ring f, held in position against the under side of the bulb O by the nut g,
the bottle X is jambed by the action of the spring C. An opening is
also made in the bottom of the nozzle e to allow the air to escape from
the bottle whilst being charged, and a pipe / connected to the said
opening conducts the air upwards into a chamber i, from whence by
depressing the valve ; the air is allowed to pass into the atmosphere
through the pipe P. When not so depressed the valve j is held up to
its seat by the action of the spiral spring k, Figure 3 of the Drawings.
When the bottle or other vessel is charged with the liquid the frame or
board A and apparatus thereon holding the bottle X is inverted by
turning it on or with the hollow journal or bearing M, and the neck of
the bottle being then downwards the elastic stopper 8, herein-after
described, and which was previous to charging forced into the bottle,
sinks into the neck of the bottle, and being therein acted upon by the
pressure of the gas above it closes the bottle air and gas tight, after
which the filled and closed bottle is removed by actuating the lever J so
as to compress the spring C. The apparatus is then again turned back
into the position shewn on the Drawings, and another bottle is then
inserted between the sole or rest E and the india-rubber or other elastic
disc or washer fand charged as herein-before described.
To prevent the apparatus from turning further than is desired in
being inverted and righted, a spring or equivalent stop 2, Figures 2

page_text: and-3,-is-preferably fixed to the back of the frame or board A, which
stop, when the apparatus has been moved through the required arc,
strikes against the table or frame on which the apparatus is supported.
It is also preferred to employ a shield, as shewn at o on the Drawings, to
protect the operator from the spray and from the accidents incidental
to the charging of bottles or other vessels with gascous or effervescing
liquids. Such shield may be made of wire gauze and circular, and with
an opening in the side thereof for the inward and outward passage of
the bottle to and from the apparatus, or it may be made of other suitable
material and in any other desired form.
The second part of my said Invention, which relates to new or im-
proved stoppers for closing bottles or other vessels containing gaseous or
effervescing liquids, consists, as shewn in side elevation at Figure 5 and
in vertical section at Figure 6 of the Drawings, of a hollow clastic ball a
made of caoutchouc or analogous elastic material, which is placed inside
the bottle. The ball is formed with a hollow stem or short pipe b,
which when the bottle is charged with the gaseous or effervescing liquid
serves the two-fold purpose of by its weight maintaining or balancing
the ball in the required position, and also of admitting the carbonic acid
or other gas with which the liquid is charged to the interior of the ball.
The neck of the bottle is made tapered or conical at the part marked x,
Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings, so that the pressure of the gas
when the bottle is charged therewith and with the liquid both forces the
stopper into the conical neck at x and by passing to the interior of
the ball expands it so as to fill the neck, thereby tightly closing the
bottle.
The upper part of the clastic hollow ball, that is, the part opposite the
stem or pipe b, may be made thicker than the lower part, and it is pre-
ferred to form the said hollow ball stopper of two layers of caoutchouc,
as indicated in section at Figure 6, the internal layer being of that kind
known as white rubber or vulcanite, and the external layer of red india-
rubber, but it is to be understood that the stopper may be composed of
one layer only.
Another form of ball stopper, and which I prefer to employ is that
illustrated at s, Figures 1, 2, and 3 of the Drawings, and it consists of a
solid sphere of india-rubber, and of larger diameter than the spherical
stopper hitherto employed in closing bottles.

page_text: The drawback to using solid india-rubber stoppers hitherto has been
due to the difficulty of getting the same into the bottles, but as is
practised under this Invention by coating the stopper with glycerine
and compressing it through the conical tube of a corking machine into
the bottle I have succeeded in using a larger solid india-rubber stopper,
whereby efficient stopping of the bottle is attained.
The spherical solid stopper, as employed under my said Invention, is
composed of red india-rubber, the antimony or other chemical matters
or agents used in manufacturing that class of rubber being of
sufficient weight to make the specific gravity of the solid stopper greater
than that of the gaseous or effervescing liquid without the additional
employment of a shot, weight, or other heavy body at the interior of the
stopper as has hitherto been suggested.
Whilst the specific gravity of the red india-rubber stopper is sufficient
to cause it to sink in the liquid or to remain at the bottom of the bottle
after the gaseous or effervescing liquid has been charged into the bottle,
and before the charging apparatus is inverted, as herein-before described,
or when the contents of the bottle are being discharged, yet it is not so
great as to prevent a perfectly tight stopping of the bottle being effected,
when by inverting the charging apparatus the solid spherical stopper is
caused to sink into the neck of the bottle; the said stopper when the
bottle is again righted being retained in the neck by the pressure of gas
within the bottle.
To open a bottle or other vessel closed by either of the stoppers herein-
before described, an apparatus similar to that shewn at Figure 7 of the
Drawings, or an equivalent opener may be inserted into the neck of the
bottle above the stopper, and pressure being applied to the said opener
by the hand the stopper is forced inwards and sinks to the bottom of the
bottle.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the
same is or may be used or carried out in practice, I would observe
in conclusion and with reference to the ball stoppers constructed in
accordance with the second part of the Invention that I am aware ball
stoppers composed wholly or in part of spongy india-rubber and of a
specific gravity such as to cause them to float on the surface of liquids
have previously been used; also that solid or hard ball stoppers have

page_text: been proposed for stopping bottles containing such liquids, it is therefore
to be clearly understood that I make no claim to such stoppers when
formed of the materials hitherto used as constituting part of my present
Invention; but what I do consider to be novel and original, and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the hercin-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The arrangement and construction of apparatus herein-before
described and shewn at Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the annexed Drawings,
or any mere modification thereof, and the employment of the same in
charging bottles or other vessels with gaseous or effervescing liquids,
substantially as set forth.
Second. The hollow ball stopper herein-before described and shewn at
Figures 5 and 6 of the Drawings hereunto annexed.
Third. The solid spherical stopper composed of red india-rubber, and
whose specific gravity is greater than that of the gaseous or effervescing
liquid.
Fourth. The use of glycerine to assist in passing the ball stoppers into
the bottles or other vessels, substantially as and for the purposes herein-
before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Waugh, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eigth day of February, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
TAMES WATIGH