AN IMPROVED BOTTLE WRAPPER
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Howard Hale, of Brockley, in the
County of Kent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED BOTTLE
WRAPPER."
Sealed the 23rd December 1873, and dated the 27th June 1873.

page_text: The wrapper consists of a paper sheet stiffened at certain parts with a
thickness of strawboard, millboard, or equivalent material, applied in
strips of the same length and breadth as the length and diameter of the
bottle (or in one sheet scored or creased to suit the size of the bottle)
which strips form, when folded round the bottle, a rectangular box or
parallelopiped, possessing great solidity, the ends, which are also stiffened,
being turned in, folded down and sealed, or otherwise secured. The
stiffened sides of this box afford a good protection to the shoulder of the
bottle, where it is most liable to be broken, and in packing bottles in
cases less room is required than when packed in straw or in the ordinary
straw envelopes, the vacant spaces between the bottle and the corners of
the box or wrapper being filled up with sawdust.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Howard Hale in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 27th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
HOWARD HALE, of Brockley, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edward Howard Hale, Her special licence
that I, the said Edward Howard Hale, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edward Howard Hale, my exccutors,
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
BOTTLE WRAPPER," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Edward Howard Hale, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and scals, should par-
ticularly 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

page_text: illed 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 Edward Howard Hale, do heroby
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
Sheet of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say) :—
My Invention relates to an improved wrapper more particularly
designed for enveloping single bottles for the purpose of enabling the
same to be conveniently carried by hand, the wrapper not only affording
protection to the bottle, but completely concealing its shape, thus avoid-
ing the objectionable appearance presented by a bottle when wrapped in
the ordinary manner. Morcover, three or four bottles, each enclosed in
one of the improved wrappers, can be tied together in a sheet of ordinary
wrapping paper, and will thus form a neat square parcel, whereas without
these improved wrappers, the bottles being round, would not remain upon
one another and would be liable to be broken. A dozen or half-dozen
bottles, each separately enclosed in one of my improved wrappers, may
also be made into a package for transmission from one place to another
without a wood case, the package being merely enclosed by a few wood
battens to protect it, and secured by cord.
My Invention is illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, in which
Figure 1 shows the wrapper of a shape suitable for enveloping an
ordinary wine bottle. The wrapper is shown spread out flat and also as
folded round a bottle.
Figure 2 shows the wrapper adapted to form a flat parcel, two of the
strips B', B', being made narrower than the others.
The wrapper consists of a sheet A of paper of suitable size and such
as is usually employed for wrapping parcels stiffened at certain parts
with a thickness of strawboard, millboard, or equivalent material applied
in rectangular strips B, B, B, B, equal in length and breadth to the
length and diameter of the bottle. These strips B are laid edge to edge
as shown and glued to the paper sheet A. The wrapper folds casily
along the lines where the edges of the strips B meet one another, and
when wrapped round a bottle forms a strong rectangular box possessing

page_text: considerable rigidity.. C, C, are rectangular pieces to form the ends of
the box which are turned in first, the unstiffened part A of the paper
(shaded dark in the Drawing) being then folded down upon the stiffened
ends C in the ordinary way of wrapping up a parcel in paper and scaled
or otherwise secured. The stiffened sides of the box afford a good
protection to the shoulder of the bottle, where it is most liable to be
broken, and in packing bottles in cases less room is required than when
packed in straw, or in the ordinary straw envelopes, the vacant spaces
between the bottle and the corners of the box or wrapper being filled up
with sawdust or other suitable material.
Having described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be
protected by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the
improved wrapper herein shown and described, consisting of a paper
sheet stiffened so as to form a rigid box-like parcel as specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Howard Hale, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
EDWARD HOWARD HALE. (L.S.)