IMPROVEMENTS IN THE STOPPERING OR CLOSING OF JARS, BOTTLES, AND OTHER VESSELS, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE JOINING OF EARTHENWARE AND OTHER PIPES
Year: 1857

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Roberts at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents, with his 'Pétition, on the 8th January
1857.
I, JOHN ROBERTS, of Upnor, in the County of Kent, Terra Cotta Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE STOPPERING OR CLOSING OF JARS, BOTTLES, AND OTHER VESSELS, APPLICABLE
ALSO TO THE JOINING OF EARTHENWARE AND OTHER PIPES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to render more secure the stoppering of
bottles, and the covering of jars and other vessels; the Invention is also
applicable to the junction of pipes, whether made of earthenware, metal, or
other material.
For the purposes of my Invention, I avail myself of the yielding or elastic
property of cork, soft wood, leather, india-rubber, gutta percha, or other
analogous substance, a band of one of which materials I adapt to some con-
venient part of the neck or stopper of the bottle, jar, or other vessel, or to the
end or ends of pipes which require to be connected together. This object may
be effected by causing the thread of a screw forming part of the pipe, vessel,
or cover thereof, to act or press against the elastic material which is adapted
to the jar, vessel, or pipe, and I thus obtain an air and water-tight joint. Or,

page_text: the ring of yielding material may be fitted into an annular groove formed in or
around the neck of the jar or vessel, or end of the pipe, or in the cover of the
jar or socket end of the adjoining pipe, in which I form a female screw by
moulding, casting, or otherwise forming the same at the time of making the
pipe or cover. This female screw of the cover or socket fits on to a corre-
sponding male screw on the vessel or pipe, so that the two parts may be
connected together by screwing them one on the other.
In the case of stoppering either glass or earthenware bottles, I propose, in
general, to form the screw in the bottle neck, and to make the stopper the
yielding medium for obtaining an air-tight stoppering.
Vessels for containing chemical and other substances that would injure a
vegetable or animal fibrous packing, may have such a packing applied thereto
by some of the plans above referred to, as the cork, leather, or india-rubber
will not necessarily come in contact with the contents of the jars or bottles,
and therefore will not be affected thereby. The cork, leather, or other
material may, if thought desirable, be covered with some protecting substance
which is not liable to be acted upon by ordinary acids or alkalies, such for
instance as platinum or other incorrodible metals. In place of employing
male and female screws to connect the parts of vessels or pipes together, as
above explained, inclines or wedges, forming portions of screws, may be made
on suitable parts of the necks and stoppers or sockets of vessels or pipes, and,
if desired, such inclines or wedges, or the male and female screws may be
covered with tin foil, or other soft metal or alloy, which will cause them to
work easier than if the naked clay, earthenware, or glass be left exposed.