IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOTTLING OF AERATED LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY OB APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, PART OF WHICH APPARATUS IS APPLI- CABLE AS A STOPPER FOR BOTTLES
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Joseph Francis Cotterell,
Francisco Prudencio, and Nathaniel George Willcocks at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 2nd
November 1871.
We, JOSEPH FRANCIS COTTERELL, FRANCISCO PRUDENCIO, and
NATHANIEL GEORGE WILLCOCKS, of the City of Bath, in the County of
Somerset, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE BOTTLING OF AERATED LIQUIDS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
OB APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN, PART OF WHICH APPARATUS IS APPLI-
CABLE AS A STOPPER FOR BOTTLES," to be as follows:-
:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar arrangement of bottling apparatus
which embraces a peculiar self-acting stopper for the bottles, the said
stopper being applicable as a bottle stopper generally for all liquids
whether aerated or not.
The condenser is to have a self-acting valve (the nature of which is
herein-after described) fitted to the lower side thereof for the purpose of
filling the bottle which, according to our improved system, is to be
provided with a peculiar bottle stopper (also herein-after described), thus

page_text: filling the bottle fitted with the new stopper direct from the condenser
without the aid of bottling cocks as ordinarily used, the said peculiar
bottle stopper being essential to the proper use of the self-acting valve on
the condenser.
When the bottle with its peculiar stopper is about to be filled, it is
pressed against the valve of the condenser, and is kept in that position
whilst being filled by a lever connected by a chain, rope, or rod, to a
spring of sufficient power fixed near to the condenser, the object to be
obtained being to relieve the bottler from the necessity for using a foot
lever for keeping the bottle in position as is now the case where a
separate bottling machine is used.
In order to allow of the free escape of atmospheric air from the bottle
whilst filling, we provide a small tube passing into the outlet or delivery
tube of the self-acting valve arrangement fitted to the condenser, which
tube is furnished with a small stop-cock to be opened or closed as
required for insuring the bottle_being completely filled. When so filled.
the bottler, by means of a foot or hand apparatus, releases the bottle from
the grip of the spring, and it is then ready for the market.
The novelty of this process of bottling is that the bottle can be filled
without the intervention of any separate bottling machine.
The peculiar bottle stopper which is an essential feature of our system
of bottling, consists of an internal valve formed of a small hollow sphere
of india-rubber, this sphere has on the lower side a disc of metal
embedded into the india-rubber. Attached to this disc and passing
through the india-rubber sphere, there is a screw, and working on this
screw there is another smaller disc or nut, the purpose of which is to
compress or expand the india-rubber sphere which is used as an internal
valve, so as if necessary to increase or diminish its diameter. Above the
disc or valve there is fixed an open tube, and near the top of this tube
there is a cap of metal or other suitable material; this cap rests upon a
second valve consisting of a sphere, part of a sphere or other suitable
shape of india-rubber, the lower side of which rests on the top of the
bottle. The last-mentioned valve is perforated to allow the tube before-
mentioned to pass through it, and is so arranged that it acts as a spring
to keep the lower valve closed when the bottle stopper is closed. When
the bottle stopper is open it also acts as a stop valve to prevent egress of
liquid from the bottle, otherwise than through the tube. It is simply

page_text: necessary to depress the cap attached to the tube to open the internal
valve, and the liquid in the bottle then flows through the tube. On the
pressure being removed from the cap, the upper valve immediately closes
the lower valve.
A bottle fitted with the improved stopper can be filled by the ordinary
machinery now in use, with very trifling modifications.
The peculiar valve herein-before referred to attached to the condenser
is in mechanical action precisely the same as the valve action of the
bottle stopper above described, that is to say, the condenser fitted with the
new self-acting valve for filling the bottle, which is fitted with the new
stopper, has precisely the same relation to the new self-acting valve that
the bottle has to the bottle stopper.
We reserve the right to use in the self-acting valve system fitted to
the condenser for the purpose described springs or valves either of india-
rubber, metal, or other suitable material, but whatever may be the
material employed, the mechanical action is precisely the same as that of
the peculiar bottle stopper.