A NEW SYSTEM OF STOPPERING BOTTLES AND OTHER A
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, of 16,
Castle Street, Holborn, City, London, Patent Agent, for the
Invention of "A NEW SYSTEM OF STOPPERING BOTTLES AND OTHER
A communication
Sealed the 16th June 1853, and dated the 16th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th December 1852.
I, AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street,
Holborn, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "A NEW SYSTEM OF STOPPERING BOTTLES AND OTHER VES-
SELS" to be as follows: -
A, A, represents a stopper of glass, or of any other suitable sub-
stance, which is pierced right through its centre or the side with a
10 hole B. This stopper is inserted with a vulcanized india rubber
washer round it into the neck of the bottle; then a cap of vulcanised

page_text: india rubber is placed over the top of the stopper and tied down
under the rim of the neck or the bottle with iron or zinc wire.
When the liquid in the bottle expands, the superabundant portion
passes through the aperture B, and presses against the india rubber
cap; the latter expands and prevents the bottle from bursting.
This same system is applicable to bungs for casks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 16th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
AUGUSTE EDOUARD LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street,
Holborn, City, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the
sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, Her special license that I, the said Auguste Edouard
Loradoux Bellford, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, 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,
communicated to me by a foreigner residing abroad, for "A NEW
SYSTEM OF STOPPERING BOTTLES AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, 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

page_text: six months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, 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, and
by the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
The Invention consists of a new system of corking, which, though
preserving the liquid from all contact with the air, allows it to
dilate or contract, according to the variations of the temperature.
The obturator I use consists of a cork A, of wood, metal, or any
other suitable substance. This cork is cylindrical at the base,
and is at this place of a sufficiently small diameter to enter
freely into the neck of the bottle; to this stopper is firmly
fixed a piece of india rubber tubing B, the lower extremity of
which is longer than the stopper. This extremity is made to
surround the neck of the bottle. Care must be taken, before
inserting the stopper, to completely fill the bottle in such manner
that the liquid may run over, so that no air may remain at
the top of the bottle. After having inserted the stopper, it is
attached under the rim of the neck of the bottle with string
or pack thread; the two ends of the string are then brought over the
stopper or cork at C, where they are kept fixed by wax. The vul-
canised india rubber must be raised over the string that surrounds
the bottle, so as to preserve it from damp. The string is left slack
enough to allow the cork to rise when the liquor is dilated; when
this happens, the india rubber will be stretched, and the cork or
stopper a little raised, and thus take all the necessary increase of
volume; and as soon as the volume of the liquid shall have diminished
for the lowering of the temperature, the india rubber will contract
and resume its first position, so that there will never remain any
vacuum at the upper part of the bottle. To uncork the bottle the
string need only be cut, and the cork or stopper pressed, the india
rubber taken and raised on the cork. This operation is readily
effected. The new mode of corking that I have described may also

page_text: be applied to the taps of casks, and to any other vessel serving to
contain or transport any kind of liquid.
I claim the mode of stoppering or corking herein-before described,
and which consists in a cork or stopper of wood, metal, glass, or any
other material, to which is attached a piece of vulcanised india
rubber, with which the neck of the bottle is covered, and around
which it is attached. This caoutchouc covering permits the liquid
to dilate itself, or to contract, without the possibility of the air ever
coming in contact with the liquid.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford, have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth
day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-three.
A. E. L. BELLFORD. (L.S.)