IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING BOTTLES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, Manufacturing
Goldsmith, 14, Old Town, Clapham Parish, in the County of Surrey,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING BOTTLES."
Sealed the 10th July 1868, and dated the 20th January 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas George
Fonnereau Dolby at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with his Petition, on the 20th January 1868.
I, THOMAS GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY, Manufacturing Goldsmith,
14, Old Town, Clapham Parish, in the County of Surrey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING
BOTTLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in feeding bottles and
other similar articles, and consists in placing a conical or other shaped
valve of india-rubber or other suitable material in the cap, neck, top, or

page_text: other convenient part of the bottle for admitting fresh air and preventing
the food from escaping; and a similar valve may also be applied to the
top or bottom of the tube through which the food passes to the child's
mouth and prevents the return of the breath into the bottle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 13th July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY, of Number 14, Old Town, Clapham Parish,
Goldsmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria; by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-first
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, Her special
licence, that I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others, as I, the said Thomas George
Fonnereau Dolby, my executors, administrators, 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, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN FEEDING BOTTLES," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby, 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
Olice within six calendar months next and immediately after the date
of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby,
do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the accom-

page_text: panying Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object improvements in feeding bottles,
and consists in placing a conical or other shaped valve of vulcanized
india-rubber or other elastic and flexible material in the cap, neck, top,
or other convenient part of the bottle, admitting atmospheric air and
preventing the food from escaping; or a valve may be applied to the top
or bottom or any part of the tube through which the food passes to the
child's mouth, thereby preventing the passing of the child's breath into
the bottle.
I find that the best mode of attaching the valve is to affix the same
at the bottom of the glass or other tube in the bottle conducting the
fluid to the child's mouth.
That my improvements may be clearly understood I proceed to
describe the mode by which I form the valve or valves, that is to say,
I take a piece of vulcanized india-rubber in sheet or other elastic and
flexible material of the desired thickness, I find th of an inch answers
very well, and therein make a bevilled or inclined cut or incision of
curvilinear or other form through the vulcanized india-rubber or other
material, so that one side is left larger than the other, as shewn in
Fig. 5, which shews the valve open and in Fig. 6 closed, nothing being
cut out in making the tongue of the valve, but by one cut being
sufficiently separated to serve the purpose intended, the uncut portion
forming the hinge and spring combined, as shewn in Figs. 5, 7, 8, and
12, letter D, by which the closing power is obtained, thus making a
complete fitting self-acting valve, whose action is equally perfect in any
position, as its opening or closing is dependent on the elastic and
resilient power of the material employed, and not upon its weight or other
mechanical force as in the valves ordinarily employed, while it is equally
applicable for admitting the passage of thick or thin fluids.
The valve or valves may be enclosed in or covered by metallic or other
suitable material so as to protect and insure its free action, as shewn in
Figs. 9 and 10, or a moulded piece of vulcanized india-rubber or other
elastic material in which the valve has been cut may be employed to fit
on the tube, as shewn, Fig. 11; and for the more convenient application
to the tubes of glass or other material used in feeding bottles or other
vessels through which the food passes, as shewn, Fig. 4, letter A, or for

page_text: the purpose of admitting fresh air, as shewn, Fig. 4, letter C, the valves
may have a tapered or other shaped tube attached thereto, as shewn in
Fig. 10, letter f, and as ordinarily, employed for such purposes.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas George Fonnereau Dolby,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-eight.
Witness,
OLBY. (L.S.)
THOMAS GEORGE FONNEREAU DOLBY.
FREDERIC WEATHERALL,
Temple,
London,
Sol*.