IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING CORKS AND BUNGS
Year: 1846

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
HEARD BOISSIMON, of Leicester Place, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-eighth day of
May, in the ninth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Charles Heard Boissimon, my exors, admors,
and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that
I, the said Charles Heard Boissimon, my exors, admors, and assigns, and
such others as I, the said Charles Heard Boissemon, my exors, admors, or
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town
of Berwick-upon-Tweed, the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
CORKS AND BUNGS," communicated to me from abroad; in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Charles Heard Boissimon, shall
cause a particular description of the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said in
part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto
had, will more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Charles Heard Boissimon, do hereby declare that the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
The Invention consists of improvements in machinery for cutting cork into
cylindrical forms, to be afterwards shaped into corks and bungs, and for im-
provements in machinery for cutting them into the conical shapes required.
Heretofore, in cutting corks and bungs by machinery, the cork is first cut into
small pieces nearly the size of the cork, and afterwards cut into the cylindrical
sizes required; but as the cutting machinery is incapable of distinguishing the
good cork from the bad, many inconveniences arise, and much labor and
material is wasted. Now, by the use of this Invention, these inconveniences are
obviated. This Invention, it will be seen, is carried out by the employment of
two machines, which are shewn in the Drawing. The first machine which is
employed for cutting the cork into the required cylindrical size is shewn at
Drawing No. 1, in which on Figure 1 is an elevation, an Figure 2 a plan.
The following description will enable a workman readily to understand and
carry out the Invention. A is the main shaft which runs through the framing
of the machine C, the extent of which depends upon the number of instru-
ments to be arranged thereon. On one end of this shaft A are two pullies
B, B. D, D, are bevilled wheels, placed on the shaft A. These wheels take
into wheels E, E, on upright shafts or axes F, F, to which are affixed cog
wheels G, G, which each take into wheels H, H¹. These wheels H, H', are
fixed to the hollow tubes or cutting instruments I, I, and give to them a rotary
movement. By this arrangement two continuous tubes have motion com-
municated to them, and it will be evident that the number of these tubes may
be varied as well as the size of them, so that for the same machine different
sizes of corks may be prepared. L is a bar placed across the machine; upon
this bar are placed pieces of wood P, against which the bands of cork press,
which the workman places there with the hand. To this bar L is also adapted
for each tube I a lever presser K, which is employed to keep the cork in an
upright position; it is very useful when the length of the band of cork is
reduced to the length of the cork required. M is a rod attached to the pedal
N, which is in communication with each tube, and around this rod is a spiral
spring v, by which is regulated the requisite tension for the sliding of a sliding
piece Q, and the screw press R; the rod M is fixed at the upper part to a
collar T, affixed on the tube I. The operation of the machine is as follows:-

page_text: The workman holding in his right hand the band of cork (which has been
previously prepared by being cut into bands of cork by a circular cutter or
other suitable means), places it upon the piece of wood P, which piece P is
kept in its position by means of the guide u, placed alongside of each tube.
The workman will fix upon that tube in the machine which is nearest in size
to the band of cork which has to be cut, so as to form the strongest cork
The workman then by pressing on the pedal N, causes the rod M to bring
down the tube or cutting instrument I, to which tube is given at the same
time a rapid rotary motion until the tube I has passed thro' the thickness of
the band of cork to the wooden piece P. The workman then releases his foot,
and the spring on the rod M will raise again the tube I, carrying with it the
cork cut from the band of cork. When the tubes I become filled, they are
emplied from the upper part and received into a tube, which conveys them into
a case arranged in different compartmens, according to the different sizes of
the corks. By this mode of cutting the corks from the band or strip of cork,
if there be any defective part the workman will readily see it, and will only
have to move it in such direction that the cutting tube I shall not come into
contact with it, or by removing it and placing it under a smaller tube I, by
which the good part may be available for a smaller cork; and the advantage
of this machine is, that the movement of it not being continuous, it is under
the control of the workman, according to any circumstances that may arise in
working. The corks taken from this machine are formed into cylindrical
pieces; and in order to give the requisite conical or tapered form, they are
carried to the machine shewn in the Drawings Nos. 2 and 3, which is con-
structed and worked in the following manner:-The corks are ranged in rows
and placed upon the endless chain A, shewn in the Figures 3 et 4 of the
Drawing No. 2. This chain may be moved to and fro by means of the pieces
B, B, B, B, placed along the length of it. When the corks are brought
to this point of the chain C, where it turns over roller, one of them is pushed
by the projecting pins B between the checks of the holder D, which at this
time is brought in front of the chain. As soon as the cork is between the
cheeks of the holder they close and hold it firmly in that position, and carry it
between two running discs E, E¹; the disc E, which before the cork is brought
up, being apart from the other, is now caused by means of a spring to come
nearer again the disc E³, and close upon the cork brought up by the holder D.
a
In the Drawing No. 3, Figure 5 shews an elevation of the opposite side of
the machine. Figure 6 and 7 are vertical sections of Figure 5, taken through
the lines 1 and 2, 3 & 4, and the Figure 8 will enable the workmen completely
to understand the working of the machine. When the cork is seized hold of

page_text: by the discs E, E, the cheeks of the holder are opened, and they return to
their original position to take hold of another cork from the endless chain A.
When the discs E, E¹, have given to the cork a little more than one revolution,
a blade F, which is about 18 inches long, the distance and direction of which
with relation to the axis of the disc E, E¹, may be regulated according to the
size and thickness of the cork, and the degree of tapering that it requires, this
blade F is caused to pass and repass the whole of its length, and raises a
shaving upon its circumferences. The disc E is then drawn back, and the
piece G suddenly allowed to fall, and forces the cork to fall down to make
room for the cork next, which is to be brought up by the holder D.
I will now describe the mechanical movements by which these different
operations are performed. H is the main shaft of the machine which carries
at one end two pullies I, I, which receive motion from any suitable power by
means of a band. K is a cam, having on its surface three cam surfaces, each
giving an oscillating movement of the levers L, M, N, corresponding by a
roller which roll upon the cam K, and which follows all the irregularities of
the surfaces of the cams or excentrics. The lever L, which moves in bearing
at O, being caused by its corresponding excentric to remove from the cam K,
presses with its other end upon the part p of the bent lever P, which closes
the cheeks of the holder. The lever M having its bearings at m in separating
from the cam by the action of its excentric, communicates this movement by
its other end in a contrary way to the bent lever Q, which moves around
the point q, the object of which is to withdraw the disc E from the disc E' at
the required time. The lever N, which moves in bearings at n, and which
corresponds by its long end to the piece G, which causes the cork to fall down
after it is completed. The cam K carries a fourth excentric, which at each
turn causes the oscillation of the small lever R, which carries the conical
rollers v.
The lever R and the small lever S, which carries the holder, being
both fixed upon the shaft T, and on which they move in bearings on removing
from the pulley K, carry the cork which is on the holder from the endless
chain to the disc E, E'. The bevilled wheel on the main shaft transmits the
circular movement to the disc E, E¹, by means of the wheelwork shewn at V,
also the movement to the endless chain A by means of the wheels W and W'.
The object of these excentric wheels vand v³, the speed of which is twice that
of the main shaft, is to compensate for the irregularity of the movement, as
the flyers X, which is worked with the handle, communicates by means of the
block Y to the carriage Z, which carries the blade F, as before said. The
sliding cutter A', which is fixed to the framing of the machine by the two bolts
a, a', may have its position changed in relation to the axis of the disc E and E

page_text: according to the size and the form of cork required; also, with the endless
chain and the pieces B, their relative position may be changed according to
the size of the cork. The cheeks of the holder may have their distance
regulated by means of the right and left handed screws C¹ and D¹, and the
support E", of the disc F¹, and be varied according to the length of the cork.
G', G, are two round stones for the purpose of sharpening the blade F, and
the blade is caused to pass between them, they having a rotary movement.
communicated to them by the carriage Z, in its passage to and fro, by means of
a cord, which passes over their surfaces, and which is stretched by the arms
H' and H, fixed at each end of the carriage.
Having thus described the nature of the Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood, that I do not confine to the
precise details herein given, so long as the character of the Invention be
retained; but what I claim is, the arrangement of machinery herein described
for forming cylinders of cork from bands or strips of cork, and I claim the
arrangement of machinery for forming such cylinders into corks or bungs.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Heard Boissimon, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty-six.
CHARLES (L.S.) HEARD DE' BOISSIMON.
Taken and acknowledged by Charles
Heard Boissimon, (party hereto,)
at Paris, in the Kingdom of France,
this Sixteenth day of November,

page_text: Consul at Paris, in the Kingdom of France; and this Deponent further saith,
that the signature of Thomas Pickford, set, subscribed, and written in the
margin of the Specification hereunto annexed, marked A, and dated the
Sixteenth day of November instant, and purporting to be executed by Charles
Heard de Boissimon, of Leicester Place, in the County of Middlesex, Merchant,
whereby it is stated that the said Specification was acknowledged by him, the
said Charles Heard de Boissimon, before the said Thomas Pickford, on the
said Sixteenth day of November, at Paris aforesaid, is of the proper hand-
writing of the said Thomas Pickford.