IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FILLING GLASS BOTTLES AND JARS WITH Soups, JELLIES, FRUITS, AND OTHER EDIBLES FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRESERVING THEM, THE SAID APPARATUS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR FILLING BOTTLES WITH SAUCES, WINES, SPIRITS, BEER, LIQUEURS, AND OTHER STILL AND EFFERVESCING BEVERAGES, ALSO MACHINERY IN COMBINATION WITH THE ABOVE APPARATUS FOR CORKING OR STCP- PERING SUCH SAID BOTTLES AND JARS
Year: 1869

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Winter at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 5th April
1869.
I, JAMES WINTER, the younger, of Wardour Street, Soho, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FILLING GLASS BOTTLES AND JARS WITH Soups,
JELLIES, FRUITS, AND OTHER EDIBLES FOR THE PURPOSE OF PRESERVING THEM, THE
SAID APPARATUS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE FOR FILLING BOTTLES WITH SAUCES, WINES,
SPIRITS, BEER, LIQUEURS, AND OTHER STILL AND EFFERVESCING BEVERAGES, ALSO
MACHINERY IN COMBINATION WITH THE ABOVE APPARATUS FOR CORKING OR STCP-
PERING SUCH SAID BOTTLES AND JARS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to certain improvements on a former Invention,
for which Letters Patent were applied for on the the 17th day of
January 1868, numbered 171, but in consequence of certain defects in the
said former Patent which rendered it practically useless and of no
commercial value the said Patent was not proceeded with to completion.
Now the object and intention of this present Invention is to remedy
the defects of the former Invention aforesaid, and to render it prac-
tically useful, which I have succeeded in accomplishing by constructing

page_text: and operating the apparatus, in the following manner and by the following
means, that is say :-
The apparatus comprises the following leading parts
First. A vessel to contain the bottles or jars that are to be filled and
stoppered.
Secondly. A vessel to contain the soup or jelly that is to be pre-
served.
Thirdly. A vessel to receive the air as it is discharged from the bottles
or jars.
Fourthly. A steam chamber for heating the necks of bottles.
Fifthly. A valve for the escape of steam from the bottle as it is being
filled with hot soup or jelly.
Sixthly. A mechanical arrangement for raising and lowering and
turning round the bottle or jar holder, and for bringing each cork in
succession under a plunger that forces it into the necks of the bottles or
jars.
And, lastly. A steam boiler and small steam engine for working an air
pump and supplying steam to the bottle holder and vessel containing
the soup or jelly to be preserved,
The above parts are connected to a suitable framing and are con-
structed as follows:-The bottle or jar holder is formed hollow and
steam-tight with hollow recesses therein, say six for example, of the
same diameter and depth as the bodies of the bottles or jars which
they are intended to receive. On the axis of this holder I fix a steam
chamber, open at the bottom and closed at its top and sides permanently,
its ends being closed by spring doors which open to allow the necks of
the bottles to enter the steam chamber at one end and to pass out at
the other end, the said doors closing immediately after each bottle or
jar has entered and passed out of the said steam chamber. The vessel
to contain the soup or jelly to be preserved is formed of two cylindrical
shaped steam-tight vessels, placed one over the other, the upper cylinder
being of the same diameter as the lower one, but only about th of the
depth thereof. These two cylinders are connected together a few inches
asunder by upright pipes passing from the bottom of the upper
cylinder to the top of the under cylinder, one pipe reaching nearly
to the bottom of the inside of the under cylinder and the other pipe
reaching nearly to the top of the inside of the upper cylinder. This

page_text: cylinder receives it supply of soup or jelly from a reservoir connected
therewith. These vessels are heated by steam and are designed to operate
upon the well-known principle of the circulation of hot water. The
cold or tepid soup or jelly enters near the bottom of the under cylinder,
and when heated ascends, and is drawn off from the top of this cylinder
by a cock and pipe leading to a hollow air-tight nozzle, against the
under surface of which the neck of the bottle is forcibly pressed and
kept air-tight during the filling of the bottle or jar with soup or jelly.
The aforesaid hollow nozzle is fitted with a plunger for forcing the
cork into the neck of the bottle. By means of a lever through this
plunger one end of a small exhaust pipe passes, the other end being
connected to a glass vessel in which a vacuum is formed continually by
means of an air pump or otherwise, cocks being suitably placed and
actuated for establishing and shutting off the communication between
the aforesaid nozzle and glass vessel at the proper times. The use of the
aforesaid small pipe in the plunger is for drawing off a portion of the con-
tents of the bottle when filled so full that the cork could not be inserted
without breaking the bottle; it serves also to guage the exact quantity
allowed to enter each bottle. The action of this exhaust pipe is as
follows: Suppose the bottle to be filled but not corked, and that it is
required to remove some of the soup or jelly therefrom without removing
the bottle for that purpose, the operator by means of a lever causes the
exhaust pipe to descend and enter the liquid soup or jelly that is in
the neck of the bottle, and simultaneously with the descent of the
exhaust pipe a cock will be opened and establish a communication
with the aforesaid glass vessel, the vacuum in which will aspire the soup
or jelly from the neck of the bottle into the said glass vessel, and when
sufficient has been removed the operator raises the exhaust pipe, thereby
shutting off the communication with the glass vessel, and the bottle
is then ready to receive the cork. In connection with the before-
mentioned hollow nozzle is a pipe fitted at its outer and open end with
a self-acting spring valve for the exit or escape of steam and air from
the bottle previous to filling it with that which is to be preserved.
The air is discharged from the bottles partly by heating the body thereof,
and partly by the heated soup or jelly as it fills the bottle displacing
any remaining air that may be therein, or if necessary a communication
may also be established with the vacuum vessel before mentioned.
The operations of the above apparatus and machinery are as follows:-
The bottle holder being heated with steam, and the bottles placed therein,

page_text: the operator turns the bottle holder partly round by hand, thereby
forcing the necks of three or more bottles at a time into the before-described
steam chamber, and when sufficiently heated he presents one of them
under the nozzle aforesaid, and by a lever forces the neck of the bottle
air-tight against the nozzle, the air then escapes from the bottle, which
fills with soup or jelly, and finally the bottle is corked, all of which
operations are performed in vacuo, and in this manner each bottle may
be filled in succession. It will appear obvious that bottles may be
filled with wines, beer, and other cold beverages, and corked by a simple
modification of the above apparatus..