AN IMPROVED CASE FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF PLANTS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Bull, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., of King's Road,
Chelsea, in the County of Middlesex, New Plant Merchant, for the
Invention of
AN IMPROVED CASE FOR THE CONVEYANCE OF PLANTS.
Sealed the 13th December 1870, and dated the 27th June 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Bull at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th June 1870.
I, WILLIAM BULL, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., of King's Road, Chelsea, in the
County of Middlesex, New Plant Merchant, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CASE FOR THE CONVEYANCE
OF PLANTS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object an improved case for the conveyance
of plants, to be called "The Tropical Plant Case, Bull's Patent."
It is well known that when plants have to be transported for long
distances, and have consequently to remain packed up for a considerable

page_text: length of time, they require to be packed in cases with glass covers,
so that the requisite amount of light may be enabled to reach them.
They also require to be more or less moist to withstand a journey of
three or four months (more or less) in a closed case, and it is moreover
necessary to protect them from the action of sea air and salt water
during transit.
Heretofore great loss has been sustained in the transmission of
valuable plants owing to the direct action of the rays of the sun upon
the glass covers of the cases containing the plants, the result of which
has been the creation of what may be termed a "steaming" heat within
the case, so that the plants have been literally boiled. Great damage
results also from the breaking of the glass on board vessels, which at
present frequently happens, thus exposing the plants to the action of the
sea air. Various devices have been resorted to for the purpose of
obviating these serious evils, such as the nailing across the case strips
of wood, bamboo canes, canvass, and other plans, but all the means
hitherto used, so far as I know, have more or less failed to accomplish
the object in view, as they either make the interior of the case too
dark or do not prevent the sun's rays from penetrating directly into the
case.
Now in order to remedy the evils above referred to, and also to protect
the plants from injury by the dripping on to them of the condensed
vapour from the glass, I cover the glass with a frame or frames formed
with louvre pieces, so arranged as to permit the necessary light to enter
the case but to protect the glass from the direct rays of the sun and
from breakage; and in order to protect the plants from the dripping of
condensed vapour I arrange the glass covers and interior of the case
so that the condensed vapour shall pass down the surface of the glass
into small channels or chambers provided within the case to receive it,
which chambers are filled with sphagnum moss to absorb the moisture.
I furthermore guard the plants against injury from sea water entering
the case during the washing of the decks by constructing the case
with projecting parts or legs in such manner that its botttom shall be
raised some distance from the surface of the deck, and thus allow any
water to flow underneath without soaking it up.
This Invention is the result of great observation and experience, for
as a large importer and exporter of new and rare plants I was induced
to turn my attention to devising some practicable means for obviating the

page_text: serious evils already referred to, in consequence of having suffered great
losses for several years in importing plants, many of which were not only
new to this country but to science.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Bull in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th December 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
BULL, F.L.S., F.R.H.S., of King's Road, Chelsea, in the County of
Middlesex, New Plant Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Bull, Her special licence that
I, the said William Bull, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Bull, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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, excrcise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVED CASE FOR THE CONVEYANCE
OF PLANTS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William
Bull, 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 Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Bull, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view of my improved
case as seen when it is closed; Fig. 2, a corresponding view with one
covering frame removed to shew the interior of the case; Fig. 3, an

page_text: enlarged section of one of the upper ends of the case shewing the
ventilator; and Fig. 4, a view of the inner side of the same at right
angles to Fig. 3.
It is well known that when plants have to be transported for long
distances, and have consequently to remain packed for a considerable
length of time they require to be packed in cases with glass covers so
that the requisite amount of light may be enabled to reach them. They
also require to be more or less moist to withstand a journey of three or
four months (more or less) in a closed case, and it is moreover necessary
to protect them from the action of sea air and salt water during
transit.
"
Heretofore great loss has been sustained in the transmission of valuable
plants owing to the direct action of the rays of the sun upon the glass
covers of the cases containing the plants, the result of which has been
the creation of what may be termed a steaming" heat within the
case, so that the plants have been literally boiled. Great damage results
also from the breaking of the glass on board vessels, which at present
frequently happens, thus exposing the plants to the action of the sea
air. Various devices have been resorted to for the purpose of obviating
these serious evils, such as the nailing across the case strips of wood,
bamboo canes, canvass, and other plans, but all the means hitherto used,
so far as I know, have more or less failed to accomplish the object in
view, as they either make the interior of the case too dark, or do not
prevent the sun's rays from penetrating directly into the case.
Now in order to remedy the evils above referred to, and also to protect
the plants from injury by the dripping on to them of the condensed
vapour from the glass, I cover the glass with a frame or frames formed
with louvre pieces a, so arranged as to permit the necessary light to
enter the case, but to protect the glass from the direct rays of the sun,
and from breakage; and in order to protect the plants from the dripping
of condensed vapour, I arrange the glass covers and interior of the
case, as shown in the Drawings, so that the condensed vapour shall pass
down the surface of the glass into small channels or chambers b, pro-
vided within the case to receive it, which chambers 6 are filled with
sphagnum moss or charcoal to absorb the moisture. I furthermore
guard the plants against injury from sea water entering the case during
the washing of the decks, by constructing the case with projecting parts
or legs c in such manner that its bottom shall be raised some distance

page_text: from the surface of the deck, and thus allow any water to flow under-
neath without soaking it up. I provide for the escape of foul and
overheated air from the interior of the case by placing at each end
thereof or at one end only a ventilator of the kind shewn at Figs. 3 and 4.
A small chamber d is formed in the upper part of the end of the
case; this chamber communicates through openings e with the interior
of the case, and through openings f with the external atmosphere. The
openings e and f, which I prefer to make about one inch in diameter
are covered by screens g, made of the finest wire netting procurable,
and outside of this netting by a farther covering of finely perforated
zinc plate, through both of which coverings the air is as it were
"wire-drawn" in its passage into and out of the case. The number of
openings e and may be varied to suit the requirements of the climate
through which plants have to be conveyed, and the length of the voyage
or journey, increasing the number of holes e and f according to the
length of the journey, and the nature of the plants, as will be well
understood by horticulturists.
This Invention is the result of great observation and experience, for
as a large importer and exporter of new and rare plants I was induced
to turn my attention to devising some practical means for obviating the
serious evils already referred to in consequence of having suffered great
losses for several years in importing plants, many of which were not
only new to this country but to science.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be or may be performed or carried into practical
effect, I declare that what I claim as of my Invention and desire to
have secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,
is, the improved construction of plant case herein-before described
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings or any mere modification
thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Bull, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, in tho
WILLIAM BULL. (L.S.)