IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR CORKING BOTTLES CONTAINING CHAMPAGNE WINE OR OTHER GASEOUS OR NON-GASEOUS LIQUIDS
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Beck, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City
of London, Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent, for an Invention of
"IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR CORKING BOTTLES CONTAINING
CHAMPAGNE WINE OR OTHER GASEOUS OR NON-GASEOUS LIQUIDS." A com-
munication from abroad by Edouard Guichard, of Reims, in the Republic
of France, Merchant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Henry Beck at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 9th February 1881.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer and Patent Agent. "IMPROVED MEANS AND APPARATUS FOR CORKING
BOTTLES CONTAINING CHAMPAGNE WINE OR OTHER GASEOUS OR NON GASEOUS
LIQUIDS." A communication from abroad by Edouard Guichard, of Reims, in the
Republic of France, Merchant.
The corking of bottles containing gaseous liquids, especially champagne wine, is
an operation which it is difficult to perform well. The internal pressure reaches
4, 5, and even 6 atmospheres; under the action of such pressures the smallest
fissure in the cork allows the gas and liquid to escape, the result being very great
loss and inconvenience.
The corking should therefore be effected with great force, and the surface of
the cork should press at all parts forcibly against the interior of the neck of
the bottle, the smallest roughness or solution of continuity causing the escape of
gas.
Machines for corking bottles of champagne or other gaseous liquids generally
consist of mechanisin which compresses the cork powerfully between two moveable
jaws or other parts and of mechanism for forcing the compressed cork into the neck
of the bottle. The joints of the jaws leave longitudinal marks on the cork which
occasion after a short time a leakage of liquid and gas, that is to say, what is called
the "after leakage" (recoulage). The forcing in of the cork is effected by a conical
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page_text: spindle smaller than the compressed cork, the result being a deformation of such
cork which is another cause of bad corking.
The present Invention has for object to cork direct without bending, upsetting,
or deforming the cork lengthwise. It also allows of corking bottles when quite
full without occasioning their breakage. The new principle which characterises the
machine forming the subject of this Invention consists in compressing the cork at
all points of its height uniformly, simultaneously, and concentrically by means of a
flat spring of one or several blades of a width equal to or greater than the height of
the compressed cork. This spring, which exactly surrounds the cylindrical periphery
of the cork, is tightened upon itself by means of a lever so as to compress the cork
against and in the cavity "ad hoc" of a fixed piece in order to reduce the cork to
the diameter required for entering freely the neck of the bottle by the pressure of a
cylindrical spindle of the same diameter as the compressed cork.
In the annexed Drawing, Figure 1, represents a side elevation of the machine;
Figure 2 a front elevation, and Figure 3 a horizontal section on line 1-2; Figures 4
and 5 are respectively an elevation and a horizontal section of the arrangements for
compressing the cork.
Figure 6 is a view shewing the automatic mechanism for stopping or supporting
the bottle, hereinafter described as applied to the machine shewn in Figure 7.
To the frame a of the machine is bolted the box 6 of the cork compressing
mechanism, which consists (see Figures 4 and 5) of the said box b, a fixed piece c,
and a spring formed of four or other suitable number of blades, the ends of which
are fixed to the rack d.
The spring is of the same height as the cork when the latter is compressed;
it
passes between the fixed piece c and the internal sides of the box b and takes into
the circular hollow in the said box. Two rollers g, g, acted upon by springs f. f.
force the spring to bear constantly against the external faces of the fixed piece c.
This piece c is hollowed out internally to a radius equal to the half diameter of
the cork when compressed. The rack d is operated by means of the hand lever h
secured upon the shaft of the pinion ', which pinion gears with the rack d. At
the end of its stroke the rack brings the spring into the position 1, shewn in
dotted lines in Figure 5; the cork is then ready to be pushed into the neck of the
bottle.
This operation is effected by a cylindrical spindle p forming a continuation of a
rack pinto which a pinión k gears, the axis' of which is acted upon by the
lever 1.
During the downward movement of the lever 1, the lever h of the compressing
spring is held stationary by the stop j' on the sector j (Figures 1 and 2).
To assure fixity of the bottle at the moment of corking, the automatic movements
shewn in Figures 1, 2, 6, and 7, hold the support of the bottle m at the required
height.
The lever of the punch (Figures 1 and 2) when descending, liberates prepara-
tively an endless chain n which sustains the counter weight & of a lever t, the latter
turning on its centre under the action of the said counterweight raises the moveable
support g, and stops in order to prevent the latter from descending. When the
lever is raised again, the lever t is raised with it, and thereby the support 9 is
liberated.
In Figures 6 and 7, the lever of the spindle when descending operates
preparatively by a connecting rod v, a bell crank v³, and thereby compresses a
spring a, which in its turn pushes a rod x¹ carrying the stop u which comes under
the support g, and prevents it from descending.
The stop is thus self-acting, and as these parts and levers are combined with the
stroke of the spindle, the bottle is always supported or held at a height corresponding
to the height of such bottle itself.
y is a moveable platform, the object of which is to prevent the non-compressed
cork from falling before it is taken by the spring r. This platform is moved out of
the way as the lever h is lowered to draw out the spring . In Figure 1 the

page_text: platform y is moved by an endless.chain which passes over a pinion fixed on the
axis of h, and over another pinion on the axis of y. In Figure 7 the movement is
obtained by the lever y'.
For the purpose of corking bottles when they are quite full, and avoiding in that
case the breakage of the bottles, a piece shaped like a half rush (demi-jonc) or
half-hinge (demi-charnière), thus VID is employed, which piece enters the bottle at
the same time as the cork, without the latter receiving any impression therefrom.
This half hinge is adapted behind the spindle, and when the latter is raised the
said half hinge also leaves the bottle without the escape of the superfluous liquid
being so to speak perceptible.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that what
I claim is,―
First. The mode of compressing corks for corking bottles of champagne wine or
other gaseous or non gaseous liquids, by means of a flat spring formed of one or
more blades, as herein before described and represented in Figures 4 and 5 of the
Drawings.
Second. The mode of corking by a perfectly cylindrical spindle, as herein before
described.
Third. The modes of holding the support of the bottle automatically at the
required height by the operation of the corking lever, as herein before described and
represented in Figures 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7 of the Drawings.
Fourth. Supporting the cork from the time it is placed in the machine until it is
taken by the compression spring, by means of a moveable platform which is moved
out of the way by the operation of the compression lever, as hereinbefore described
and represented in Figures 1 and 7 of the Drawings.
Fifth. The mode of corking overfilled bottles whereby breakage is avoided by an
adaptation of a piece in the form of a half rush or half hinge placed behind the
corking spindle, which enters with the cork, and leaves with the said spindle for
allowing the overflow of the superfluous liquid, as hereinbefore described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry. Beck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
W. H. BECK. (L.S.)