IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WIRE BOTTLE-STOPPER FASTENINGS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry William Putnam, of Bennington, in the
State of Vermont, United States of America, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WIRE BOTTLE-STOPPER
FASTENINGS."
Sealed the 15th August 1871, and dated the 30th May 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry William Putnam
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 30th May 1871.
I, HENRY WILLIAM PUTNAM, of Bennington, in the State of Vermont,
United States of America, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WIRE BOTTLE-
STOPPER FASTENINGS," to be as follows:-
:-
The fastenings made by this machine are intended for bottles con-
taining mineral or effervescing waters or liquids, so as to hold the corks
against the pressure of the gases in the liquids. These fastenings are
each made out of two pieces of wire; the swinging fastening is made
of one piece of heavy wire, and the neck band is made of the other piece

page_text: of wire, and in use passes around the neck of the bottle, and it is made
with two eyes that receive the ends of the swinging fastening. This
swinging fastening has nearly straight side portions coming at the sides.
of the cork and neck, with the ends turned up to go into said eyes on
the neck band, so as to swing like a hinge, and the part that comes t
at the top of the cork is shaped somewhat like the letter M.
My improvements relate to the machinery for bending up these
wires.
The first part of my Invention is the machine for bending up the
swinging fastening out of wire that is sufficiently large and strong not 1
to become hent by the pressure of the cork. The wire is fed into the
machine by a pair of rollers, arrested by an adjustable stop, and the
length cut off with shears; a sliding die then comes against the wire
in the middle of its length, making the central bend (that is to come
at the top end of the cork), and carrying the bend of the wire into a 1
stationary dio; then a two-part forked die makes the two bends at the
sides of the centre bend. After this a pair of bending dies are thrust up
through the bed, and turn the ends of the wire up at right angles to form
the portions of the fastening that come at the sides of the cork and
neck. Then two slides come up to bend the ends of the wires off
horizontally, to form the projections that pass into the eyes of the neck
band, and a two-part presser completes the bending of these ends.
These respective slides, dics, and pressers are actuated automatically
and successively by means of cams and levers connected to a primo
mover, so as to give the successive motions to the parts before mentioned.
This fastening is then separated from the dies by their opening, and the
fastening being drawn out from between the respective parts.
The second part of my Invention relates to the machine for bending
the neck band wire. In this machine the fastening, after being made
as aforesaid, is placed upon a holder, and the wire is fed across a half
round form and cut off to length; then a movement of the parts bends
the wire around this form and brings the projecting ends of the fastening
in line with fingers that are on opposite sides, and are rovolved by
gearing to twist the said wire around the said projecting ends, and form
the eyes in the neck band wire, so that the fastening swings in these
cyes when applied to the neck of the bottle.
•
It is to be understood that the fastening is removed from this machine,
and when applied to a bottle the ends of the neck band wire are twisted

page_text: together around the neck of the bottle. The machine for bending up
this neck band wire is also adapted to making the neck bands separately
from the swinging fastening, a pair of movable pins being applied in
the machine to take the place of the projecting ends of the fastening
for the neck band eyes to be bent around.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry William Putnam in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 21st November 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
WILLIAM PUTNAM, of Bennington, in the State of Vermont, United
States of America, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Henry William Putnam, Her special
licence that I, the said .Henry William Putnam, my executors, admi-
nistrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry William
Putnam, 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 for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WIRE BOTTLE-STOPPER FASTENINGS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry William
Putnam, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Henry William Putnam, do
hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner

page_text: is brought up to bend back the wire against the edges of e, and form
the two bends 6, 6. The inner faces of the forked die g are grooved to
contain the wire, so that a two-part pusher k acting up through openings
in the bed may bend up the wire around the ends of the fork g, and
at the sides of the die e, to make the bends 7, 7, in the fastening (sce
perspective view, Fig. 4, A). The clamping dies m, m, are now forced
against the wire to bend it near the ends by forcing said wire into
recesses at the sides of the die e, and then the two-part presser n is
forced down to complete the bends 8, 8, in the fastening, and form the
projecting pins or hinges upon which the fastening swings when attached
to the bottle by a neck band or wire.
The dies, punches, and presser before mentioned are moved in the
order named, and to effect that motion properly shaped cams are
employed. I have shown cams, slides, and other devices that are
adapted to giving these movements, but do not limit myself to the precise
construction shown. The dies fand g are shown as moved at the right
time by the cams f¹, g', acting on the levers o and o¹, and these cams
may either be grooved or else the curved bars 13, 14, be employed to
act upon the cross pins at the ends of the levers o, o', to return the
dies to a normal position. From the forked die 9 spring fingers r
project to draw the fastener off the die e upon its return movement, so
that said fastening may fall through a hole in the bed 2. The two-part
pusher is moved by a slide and toe k' and cam 8.
dies m are mounted in slides on the bed 1, and acted upon by wedges m
that are lifted up through openings in the bed by the cross head t and
links to cranks upon the ends of the shaft d, the return spring 19
being used to draw the slide clamps m back. The presser n is operated
The parts being properly
The clamping
by a cam and lifted by the spring 20.
timed; the dies bend up and complete one of the said bottle fastenings
each revolution of the shaft d. The die e should be made in two parts,
so that the upper part may be raised or lowered to adapt the machine
to fastenings with long or short sides for bottles of different shaped
necks, the parts being kept apart by keys or wedges, and the clamping
dies m are also made similarly movable to act properly against the sides
of said die e.

page_text: of wire, and I remark that the die e might be moved, if preferred,
instead of being stationary.
The second part of my Invention relates to the machine for bending
the neck band wire. The wire is fed into the machine bent up into a
half circle, and then twisted to form two eyes for the hinge pins or pro-
jections of the fastening, and such cycs are bent around the fastenings
themselves or around movable pins, so that the loop is in a condition
to be applied to the fastening and subsequently to the bottle, thereby
the loops can be made upon the fastenings, or separately, for application
in place of neck bands that may be injured or broken in use, the
fastenings still remaining in condition for use with a new neck band,
for these fastenings that go over the bottle corks arc of much heavier
and stronger wire than the neck bands, to the bending of which neck
bands this portion of my Invention relates.
In the Drawings Fig. 5 is a plan of the machine; Figure C is a
vertical section at the line z, z; Fig. 7 is a side view of the loop and
holding mechanism; Fig. 8 is a plan of the parts in the position which
they occupy as the wire to be bent is introduced; Fig. 9 is a plan, and
Fig. 10 a side view of the means for bending the loops separately from
the fastenings; Fig. 11 is a perspective view of the loop separately, and
Fig. 12 is a perspective view of the bottle fastening and neck band or
loop complete. The driving shaft a³ is actuated periodically by hand
or otherwise, and acts through the gearing, shafts c³, and rollers &
to feed in the proper amount of wire e³, and also through the gearing ƒª
to revolve the twisting fingers 2, 1. The carrier 9³ is made to slide in 1
the bed h³ by the action of the treadle /* or lever, and at the end of said
carrier is a projection 23, over which the fastening is placed, and
rests upon the side supports 24, 24. The wire e³, as it is fed in, passes
above the fastening and across the semicircular form 25, beneath an
overhanging flange. The shear m³ is operated by the movement of the.
carrier, and cuts off the wire, and the stationary guide rods 1³, n³,
bend the wire back to form a loop around the form 25, and above the
projecting hinge ends S of the fastener. This form 25 is made
movable so as to vary the length of the neck band wire in the semi-
circular loop between the hinge ends 8. The slide g³ is constructed and 3
moved in such a manner that when the parts aro in the position shown
in Fig. 5 the hinge ends 8 are on line or nearly so with the axis of the.

page_text: fingers m³, and hence, when the said fingers are rotated, the ends of
the wire loop are swept around the said hinge ends 8 to form cyes, as
seen in said Figs. 5 and 12. The slide 9³, as it is brought into the
position shown in Fig. 5, confines the fastening between itself and
the stationary gauge &³, and on the return movement of the slide g³
the fastening is drawn off and drops through a hole in the bed h³.
'
The devices shown in Figs. 9 and 10 are for making the same neck
band loops separately from the fastening. In this case the pins 32 that
project from the sides of the spring jaws ³.serve as punches, around
which the eyes are bent in the wire loop it. The stationary cam ³
causes these spring jaws to spread apart as the slide 9³ is moved to
the position of Figs. 5 and 8, and in this position the wire is bent by
the revolution of the fingers 3, and as the slide 98 is drawn back the
jaws close, drawing the pins 32 out of the eyes, and allowing the
hook ³ to draw the neck band off the former 25, so that it may drop.
It is to be understood that when the parts are employed for making
the separate loops ", Fig. 11, the machine is automatic and may be
driven by power, but when the loops are bent around the hinges of
the fastenings, said fastenings have to be properly inserted in the
machine, which may be done by hand or otherwise, and the machine
driven by hand or power.
First. The dies e, f, g, pusher k, clamping dies m, and presser n,
arranged and acting substantially as set forth, for bending up wire
fastenings for bottles as set forth.
Second. The fingers ³ revolved around the pins or hinges 8 or 32 in
combination with the form 25, and the apparatus for supplying the wire
to be bent, substantially as set forth.
Third. The spring jaws to and cam r³ in combination with the fingers ¿³
and form 25, as and for the purposes set forth.
Fourth The fingers 23. 1³. applied substantially as shown for bending

page_text: Fifth. The form 5 made adjustable to vary the length of the neck
band between the eyes, as and for the purposes set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry William Putnam, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of October,
A.D. One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.
Witnesses,
CHAS. H. SMITH,
121, Nassau St., N.Y.
GEO. T. PINCKNEY,
121, Nassau St., N.Y.
HENRY W. PUTNAM. (L.s.)