A NEW OR IMPROVED INVALID OR SIPHON DRINKING CUP
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Henry Emerson, of the City of Dublin,
Ireland, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED INVALID OR SIPHON
DRINKING CUP."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Henry Emerson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1865.
I, ROBERT HENRY EMERSON, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW OR IMPROVED INVALID OR
SIPHON DRINKING CUP," to be as follows:-
For the purpose of allowing the fluid contents of cups or other drinking
vessels, whether used for medicinal or other purposes, to be administered to
invalids or other persons while in a recumbent position, I adapt to or form
as part of cups or other drinking vessels a bent tube, forming a siphon, in
communication with the interior of the cup or other vessel; a small opening
or air course penetrates the siphon tube, this opening being easily stopped or
closed by the finger of the attendant in administering the drink or medicine,
when, the end of the siphon tube being placed in the mouth of the patient
and the air opening being closed, a very slight inspiration creates the necessary
vacuum, and the contents of the vessel will flow through the siphon until the
vessel is empty, or until the finger of the attendant is removed from the air
hole or opening. I prefer to adapt the size and shape of cups or drinking

page_text: vessels, according to my Invention, to the particular uses for which they are
intended. The form of the siphon and its position in relation to the several
parts of the cup may be varied, as also that of the air course or opening by
which the action of the siphon is controlled. The cups or vessels may be
made of china, glass, earthenware, or other suitable material or combination
of materials, and they may be either open or be provided with a lid, and be
made to any suitable design, or ornamented in any manner which may be
desired. The siphon tube may either form part of the vessel, or the vessel and
the siphon may be made separately and be afterwards combined together, and
the siphon tube may be adapted to receive mouth-pieces of varying lengths.
The cups used for administering medicines and stimulants may be graduated
to indicate the necessary doses.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Henry Emerson in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HENRY EMERSON, of the City of Dublin, Ireland, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the 28th year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Robert Henry Emerson, Her special license that I, the said Robert Henry
Emerson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Robert Henry Emerson, 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 "A NEW OR
IMPROVED INVALID OR SIPHON DRINKING CUP," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Robert Henry Emerson, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, or under the
hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe and ascertain the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Henry Emerson, 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 and accompanying Sheet of Drawings:—
For the purpose of allowing the fluid contents of cups or other drinking
vessels, whether used for medicinal or other purposes, to be administered to
invalids or other persons while in a recumbent position, I adapt to or form
as part of cups or other drinking vessels a bent tube, forming a siphon, in
communication with the interior of the cup or other vessel; a small opening
or air course penetrates the siphon tube, this opening being easily stopped or
closed by the finger of the attendant in administering the drink or medicine,
when the end of the siphon tube being placed in the mouth of the patient
and the air opening being closed a very slight inspiration creates the necessary
vacuum therein, and the contents of the vessel will flow through the siphon
until the vessel is empty, or until the finger of the attendant is removed from
the air hole or opening; or where the air passage can conveniently be formed
within the spout and parallel to the passage in which the fluid or semi-fluid
is intended to pass from the vessel to the mouth of the patient, the opening
by which the vacuum is regulated and the siphon action produced may ter-
minate close to the nose or opening of the spout, and the lip of the patient
may perform the same functions as the finger or stopper. I adapt, the size
and shape of cups or drinking vessels, according to my Invention, to the
particular uses for which they are intended. The form of the siphon and its
position in relation to the several parts of the cup may be varied, as also that
of the air course or opening by which the action of the siphon is controlled.
The cups or vessels may be made of china, glass, earthenware, or other suitable
material or combination of materials, and they may be either open or be provided
with a lid, and be made to any suitable design, or ornamented in any manner
which may be desired. The siphon tube may either form part of the vessel,
or the vessel and the siphon may be inade separately, and be afterwards com-
bined together, and the siphon tube may be adapted to receive mouth-pieces
of varying lengths. The cups used for administering medicines and stimulants
may be graduated to indicate the necessary doses.
In the accompanying Sheet of Drawings Figure 1 represents a vertical
section of a cup the siphon forming an integral part thereof, it being supported
or strengthened by means of a web between the side of the cup and the
projecting leg of the siphon. In this Figure the air channel or means of
regulating the siphon action of the apparatus is formed around the rim or
upper edge of the cup, and the opening by which the action is regulated by

page_text: means of the finger is shewn on one side of and near to the handle of the cup.
Figure 2 is a horizontal section of Figure 1 taken on the line A, B; Figure 3
is a vertical section of a siphon drinking cup, according to my Invention,
having an opening at the top of the siphon pipe which may be closed by the
finger of the patient or of the person administering the contents of the cup.
In this Figure the mouth of the siphon pipe is curved outwards.
Figure 4 exhibits the siphon arrangement in which the air channel is made
to communicate at the upper end of the siphon, is enclosed within the spout,
and terminating at its lower end at the mouth-piece, so as to be controlled by
the lip of the patient.
a, a, is the body of the cup; b, the handle; c, the bottom; d, the upper
edge or rim of the cup; e, the web of the siphon; f, the siphon passage;
9, the air passage; h, the opening communicating with the air passage, by
which the siphon is brought into or put out of action. In each of the Figures
the same letters represent corresponding parts.
Although in the several Figures in the accompanying Sheet of Drawings
the cups are shewn as being moulded or formed together with the siphon in
one piece, it is evident that the siphon may be attached to a cup, and that
cups according to my Invention may be either composed wholly or in part of
metal, or wholly or in part of china, earthenware, or other material; and
although in the accompanying Drawing I have shewn but three modes of
producing and controlling the siphon action, it is evident that the position of
the air channel, as also that of the controlling opening, may be changed to
suit the particular requirements or the fancy of the person requiring such
vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Henry Emerson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth day of August 1865.
(L.S.) ROBERT HENRY EMERSON.