IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR SIZING CORKS, OR SEPARATING THE LARGER FROM THE SMALLER SIZED CORKS
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Ellis, of 62, Minories, in the City of London,
Cork Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR
SIZING CORKS, OR SEPARATING THE LARGER FROM THE SMALLER SIZED CORKS."
SIZING CORKS, OR SEPARATING THE LARGER FROM THE SMALLER SIZED (
Sealed the 11th February 1862, and dated the 20th August 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Ellis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
August 1861.
I, JAMES ELLIS, of 62, Minories, in the City of London, Cork Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MEANS FOR SIZING CORKS, OR SEPARATING THE LARGER FROM THE SMALLER SIZED
CORKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in the use and adoption of mechanism for separating
the larger from the smaller corks, used for bottling and other purposes; and
this consists of a propelling shaft, which I prefer to be a screw or worm
travelling within a cylinder or case, which cylinder or case I prefer to make
of a number of bars or laths, and the openings between them may be made
capable of being increased or diminished when desired; but it may be made
of wire or any suitable openwork or perforated surface.
I also purpose to have above or beside the said cylinder a second cylinder or
a barrel, which, if preferred, shall have projections thereon, which shall press
into the interstices between the said bars or laths of the first-named cylinder,
though I do not intend to limit myself to any particular mode of cleansing the

page_text: propelling or "sizing" cylinder. Thus, upon corks of various sizes being placed
at one end of the cylinder, and the cylinder and propelling shaft being set in
motion, corks will be propelled by the action of the screw or worm, and being
also thrown against the interior of the cylinder will pass through the spaces
between the bars or laths, such corks as are too large to escape between the
bars passing onwards out at the other end of the cylinder.
The above is a description of the nature of this Invention, which may
probably be varied in the details of construction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Ellis in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 19th
February 1862.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
ELLIS, of 62, Minories, in the City of London, Cork Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said James Ellis, Her special licence that I, the said James Ellis,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Ellis,
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 MEANS FOR
SIZING CORKS OR SEPARATING THE LARGER FROM THE SMALLER SIZED CORкS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James Ellis, 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 James Ellis, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
. statement:-
-

page_text: This machine is formed of a cylinder or case made of strips of steel or other
material B fixed at each end on two wheels C, C, made fast to the shaft A*,
and there are other strips of the same material, also disposed in a circle made
fast at each end to other wheels C*, which wheels (C*) have the power
of moving loosely on the shaft in consequence of the tangent screws D being
secured to the rims of the wheels C and C*, by passing through internal screw
holes in screw plates secured to said wheels; corresponding screws being pro-
vided. on the rims of the wheels, whereby, upon turning the tangent or set
screws D, the distance between the strips is regulated so as to form a guage.
In the hopper F there is a worm or propelling shaft E, which feeds the larger
screw G inside the said strips or bands which propel the corks to be guaged,

page_text: the whole being supported on the shaft A* resting on the frame H. The
motion is obtained by turning the motion shaft A, which acts upon the bevil
pinion I (one-fourth the diameter of the bevil wheel K) fixed on the hopper
end of the machine. The roller L, above the guage cylinder or case, clearing
away any corks remaining between the strips or bands; M, triangular framing
for supporting in suitable bearings by its axle the clearing cylinder (L); N, two
travelling wheels at one end of the machine; O, supporting legs at the other
end of the machine, by which arrangements the whole machine may be readily
moved when required.
The corks are placed in the hopper F, and are propelled by the screw E into
the openwork cylinder or case B, where the screw G propels them forwards,
and falling through the spaces between the strips, laths, or bands B*, whereby
the corks are guaged to the required size, the corks being passed through as
many times as may be considered necessary to accurately separate a variety
of sizes.
Although I have shewn and described a plain cylinder for clearing the
guaging cylinder, yet any other convenient arrangements may be adopted for
that purpose. Or by suitable arrangements of the strips or bands. and.
appliances, the openwork cylinder might be rendered self-cleansing.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim the use of mechanism for guaging or separating the larger from the
smaller sized corks, consisting of a worm or propelling shaft acting in con-
junction with an openwork or guaging cylinder or cylinders, so as to guage or
separate the larger from the smaller sized corks, as required.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Ellis, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Seventeenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two.
Witness to the signature of
James Ellis,
B. WALKER,
Clerk to General Patent Company, Limited,
71, Fleet Street.
JAMES ELLIS. (L.S.)