A New or Improved Machine or Apparatus for Moulding Screw Stoppers for Bottles, Jars, or other Vessels.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Mar., 1892
Complete Specification Left, 12th Dec., 1892-Accepted, 4th Mar., 1893
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Machine or Apparatus for Moulding Screw
Stoppers for Bottles, Jars, or other Vessels.
We ALFRED WILLIAM BIRT of the Marine Life Saving Apparatus Manu-
factory, Tower Works, Wapping, London, E. Manufacturer and JOHN LOWMAN
of 78 Coburg Road, Old Kent Road, London, S.E., Cork Cutter do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to he as follows:-
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for moulding from molten glass
or the like material or other suitable compositions screw stoppers for bottles jars or
other vessels to be closed by means of a screw stopper of glass or the like material
or composition-the object of this said invention being to mould and produce a
screw threaded stopper which when it leaves the mould is smooth and regular all
round the screw thread formed thereon and entirely without any mould mark in
the direction of its length-such mould mark having usually in a greater or less
degree characterized the glass screw stoppers as heretofore moulded.
We will now proceed to describe this invention for producing an externally
threaded or male screw stopper.
In or on a suitable supporting frame or stand the mould is arranged and mounted
in two separate parts-but instead of the mould being arranged to open in the
direction of the length of the stopper as heretofore our mould is divided crosswise
of the length of the stopper-the upper or one part of the mould having the thread
formed therein and the lower or other part of the mould having the desired shape of the
cap or top of the stopper formed therein and one of the most essential and important
features of this invention consists in making one of the parts of the mould revolve
as it recedes from the other part to open the mould.
For this purpose either the one part or the other of the mould may be caused
to revolve but we will now describe a machine in which the upper part or the part
which forms the screw thread (and which for brevity we will term the "top mould ") is
fixed and the lower part or part which forms the cap or top of the stopper (and
which we will term the "lower mould ") is made to advance towards and recede
from the upper part or top mould and revolve as it does so.
The lower mould is arranged and mounted on a vertical spindle which has a screw
thread thereon working through a screw thread bearing or bearings in the frame
or support such screw thread being of exactly the same pitch as that of the
thread in the upper mould to be given to the stopper.
This mould spindle is mounted and combined with a toothed wheel by which
this spindle is revolved but through which it can move up and down freely-for
instance on a "feather" or other equivalent mechanical device.
The said toothed wheel or spur wheel may be revolved by bevel gear wheel
actuated by hand or foot crank or other suitable power or by a rack similarly
actuated; or said mould spindle may be revolved in any other suitable way.
Part of the bottom mould is formed separate and is fixed on a rod or second
spindle passing down through the first named spindle and out at its bottom (or two
or more pins or rods passing through the bottom of the mould outside of the mould
spindle) so that when the bottom mould is lowered this rod (or rods) will come in
contact with a stop or obstruction and be arrested while the screw spindle and
bottom mould continue to descend thus the said movable part of the bottom mould
rises up in the bottom mould and thus raises the stopper in the bottom mould so
that said stopper can be easily removed for instance same may be swept off by an
arm or apparatus for this purpose such arm being actuated by a projection on the

page_text: mould spindle as it descends coming in contact with a pivotted lever which latter
in its turn swings round the said arm or sweeper to remove the stopper off the
mould.
The top mould has an opening therein through which the glass or other plastic mass
is fed into the mould from a trough or hopper over said opening a plunger or other
suitable device being arranged if desired to force and pack the mass tightly in the
mould.
Any suitable number of such moulds may be mounted in one machine and all
operated at one and the same time-the top moulds all being fed with the mass to
be moulded at the same time and all the respective cog wheels on the respective
bottom mould spindles being revolved simultaneously by being actuated by one
long rack or by being otherwise connected up together.
The operation is as follows.:-
The cog wheels are revolved and the bottom moulds are forced up tightly against
the top moulds ready to receive the plastic mass to be moulded into stoppers.
The plastic mass is then run into the mould (and pressed or packed tightly therein
by suitable means if desired) and immediately takes the shape of the mould.
The lower mould spindles are now revolved in the opposite direction and thereby
the lower moulds are caused to descend revolving as they recede from the top
mould and thus revolve the moulded stopper down the thread of the top mould
until clear of same whereupon the stopper is removed (as heretofore explained) from
the lower mould and slid (still on their heads-and without injury to the thread on
said stopper) into trays or endless bands or other convenient means for removing
same for annealing or otherwise-thus for glass stoppers our machine will be found
very advantageous owing to the shortness of time elapsing between the glass
entering the mould and its conveyance to the annealing furnace.
It will be obvious that the mould may be formed internally so as to produce
female stoppers in a similar manner to that just described for male stoppers-in
this case the top mould would be a core screw threaded to enter within the larger
lower mould containing the mass to be moulded or the mould may be arranged and
act in any other desired manner in accordance with our present invention.
If desired for some purposes the moulds may be mounted and arranged to act
on their sides that is the two parts made to advance and recede in a horizontal or
other direction instead of exactly vertically as hereinbefore set forth.
Dated the 12th day of March 1892.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A New or Improved Machine or Apparatus for Moulding Screw
Stoppers for Bottles, Jars, or other Vessels.
We, ALFRED WILLIAM BIRT of the Marine Life Saving Apparatus Manu-
factory, Tower Works, Wapping, London, E., Manufacturer, and JOHN LOWMAN
of 78 Coburg Road, Old Kent Road, London, S.E., Cork Cutter, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to machinery or apparatus for moulding from molten glass
(or other like suitable plastic composition) screw stoppers for bottles jars or other
vessels to be closed by means of a screw stopper of glass or the like material or
composition the object of this said invention being to mould and produce a screw
threaded stopper which when it leaves the mould is smooth and regular all round
the screw thread formed thereon and entirely without any mould mark in the
direction of its length--such mould mark having usually in a greater or less, degree
characterized the glass screw stoppers as heretofore moulded.

page_text: In or on a suitable supporting frame or stand the mould is arranged and mounted
but instead of the mould being arranged to open in the direction of the length of
the stopper as heretofore our mould is divided crosswise of the length of the stopper
and for making a male screw stopper the upper part of the mould has the thread
formed therein and the lower part of the mould has the desired shape of the cap or
top of the stopper formed therein (while for making an internally screw threaded
stopper i.e. a female screw stopper the modifications necessary to produce such a
stopper according to our present invention are hereinafter described) and one of
the most essential and important features of this invention consists in making one
of the parts of the horizontally divided mould revolve as it recedes from the other
part to open the mould to remove the moulded stopper.
For this purpose either the one part or the other of the mould may be caused to
revolve but we will only now describe and illustrate a machine in which the upper
part or the part which forms the screw thread (and which for brevity we will term
the "top mould ") is fixed and the lower part or part which forms the cap or top
of the stopper (and which we will term the "lower mould ") is made to recede from
the "top mould" and revolve as it does so.
And in order that our present invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into practice we will now proceed to fully describe same with reference to
the drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is front elevation of a stopper moulding machine according to our present
invention mounted on a table bench or support .
Fig. 2 is a side view of Fig. 1 and any number of such machines may be arranged
mounted and operated together.
Fig. 3 is a local vertical sectional view (on an enlarged scale) on line 1-1 Fig. 2
-and on line 1-1 Figs. 5 and 6 through the "lower mould"-the latter being
shown screwed up close against the "top mould" as in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is the same view as Fig. 3-only showing the "lower mould" in its
lowermost position with the made screw stopper ready to be removed-as in Fig. 1.
Figs. 5 and 6 show respectively plan and side view of the "lower mould
removed from the machine.
"
Figs. 7 and 8 show respectively plan and side view of the fixed top mould
removed from the machine.
Fig. 9 shows the inner core or movable part of the lower mould Figs. 5 and 6
removed from said mould.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts throughout.
a axis the lower mould of which bis capable of sliding vertically in a and this
outer part a is arranged and mounted on the vertical spindle c which latter has a
screw thread thereon working through the screw thread bearing (or bearings) c¹ in
the frame or support d fixed on 2-such screw thread on c exactly corresponding in
all respects with that of the thread in the "
upper mould to be given to the
stopper to be made.
"
This mould spindle c is mounted and combined with the bevel toothed wheel e by
which this spindle c is revolved but through this bevel wheel e said spindle c can move
up and down freely-for instance on a feather c² (Figs. 3 and 4) or other equivalent
mechanical device.
The said bevel toothed wheel e is revolved by the bevel gear wheel factuated by
the hand crank g or other suitable power or by a rack suitably actuated, or said
mould spindle c may be revolved in any other suitable way.
The inner part 6 of the lower mould is formed separate from the outer part a and
is free to slide vertically a short distance within said part a.
To facilitate the removal of the made stopper from the mould we find it
advantageous to form the top part of the lower mould in four separate sectors or
parts a which all slide concentrically towards the centre point-these sectors a".
are shown in Fig. 5 in their "open" position and we provide channels or outlets

page_text: '
(blow holes) a beneath each point where such sectors meet so that any glass
falling between the sectors can thus pass to the outside of the mould.
These sectors may slide on a in any suitable manner for instance by having
dovetail tongues a on the underside of a* which slide in corresponding dovetail
grooves formed in the body of a see Figs. 5 and 6 the outward movement of these
sliding parts a* being limited by the heads of the screw bolts which latter can be
removed to allow the parts a* to be slid right off for cleaning, renewal, or other
purposes.
As the mould a a* b is raised up by the rotation of spindle c to place this bottom
mould in position close against ready to mould the next stopper-the diverging
sides or parts a strike against the conical sides w formed in the top part of frame d
and are thereby concentrically forced together till they meet and form a tight
compact mould with band has shown in Fig. 3.
Two (or more) rods or pins are fixed to b and pass down through the bottom
of the mould a clear of the mould spindle e so that when the bottom mould is
lowered these rods will come in contact with a stop or obstruction such as the
bearings and be arrested, while the screw spindle c and outer part a continue to
descend (or as an alternative the said part of the bottom mould" may be fixed
on a rod or second spindle (not shown) passing down through the first named
spindle c-which would be hollow-and out at its bottom thus the said sliding
part of the bottom mould is raised up within the outer part a a short distance
and thus raises the made stopper z in the bottom mould as shown in Figs 1 and 4°
so that the said stopper can be easily removed for instance same may be swept off
by an arm or apparatus provided for this purpose such arm (not shown) being
actuated by a projection (not shown) on the mould spindle c as it descends coming in
contact with a pivotted lever (not shown) which latter in its turn swings round the
said arm or sweeper to remove the stopper z off the "lower mould" down a shoot
such as won to a tray y Fig. 2-or in any other desired manner.
The top mould h is screw threaded on its exterior and screwed into its position in
the top of the frame d and then when correctly adjusted (with respect to the lower
revolving part a a* b) this top mould is fixed in such position by a locking nut
such as or may be adjusted and fixed in its position by any other equivalent
suitable means.
The "top mould" has an opening therein through which the glass or other
plastic mass is fed into the mould from a suitable receptacle trough or hopper (not
shown) and over said opening a plunger (or other suitable device) m is arranged
to force and pack the mass tightly in the mould formed by a* bh.
The plunger head m has a spindle n thereon moving through the guide brackets o
carried on the lever support the counterbalance lever s having its fulcrum at r¹ on
said support and the end of said levers working through a slot (or otherwise
connected) to n so that on pulling down the handle on said levers the plunger m
is forced down into the mouth or opening in the top mould and thus tightly
packs the plastic mass into the said mould formed by a b h and so that the plastic
mass not only receives a good well moulded screw thread thereon (from the inside
of the top mould h) but also forms a well finished ornamental or other head or cap
to said stopper x according to the desired pattern or shape formed in the parts a
and on the part b.
Any suitable number of such moulds may be mounted in one frame and all
operated at one and the same time-the top moulds h all being fed with the plastic
mass to be moulded at the same time and all the plungers having been simul-
taneously actuated then all the respective bevel toothed wheels e on the respective
bottom mould spindles c would be revolved simultaneously by being actuated by
one long rack or by being otherwise connected up or actuated together.
The operation of the single machine illustrated is as follows:-
The cog wheels e are revolved so as thereby to force the bottom mould a a* b
tightly against the top mould ready to receive the plastic mass in the complete
mould thus formed.

page_text: The plastic mass is then run into said mould (and pressed or packed tightly
therein by the aforesaid plunger m or by any other suitable means if desired) and
thus takes the shape of the mould.
C
The lower mould spindle c is now revolved in the opposite direction by the
crank and thereby the lower mould a a* b is caused to descend revolving as
same recedes from the top mould and thus revolves the moulded stopper down
the thread of the top mould (the pitch of the screw on being identical with
that within ) until clear of said mould h see Figs. 1 and 4 whereupon the inner
part raises stopper flush with the top of sectors a* (which latter have now
opened" a little as hereinbefore described) and the stopper is removed (as
heretofore explained) from the lower mould and slid (still on its head-as shown
at Figs. 1 and 4-and without injury to the thread on said stopper) into trays or
endless bands or other convenient means for removing same for annealing or
otherwise thus for glass stoppers our machine will be found very advantageous
indeed owing to the shortness of the time clapsing between the glass entering
the mould and its conveyance to the annealing furnace.
It will be obvious that the mould may be formed internally so as to produce
female stoppers in a similar manner to that just described for male stoppers-
in this case the top mould would have an internal surface of the form desired
to impart to the exterior of the internally screw threaded stopper (which would
thus be moulded the-other-way-up to e) while the lower revolving mould would
carry a screw threaded core (of the form of the internal thread to be imparted to
such stopper) on the inner sliding part which latter would be made so as to
continue to descend and also revolve-as it descended after the part a had come
to rest-the revolutions and descent of same (thus imparted to this male mould
screw) exactly corresponding with the pitch of the screw thread thereon imparted
to the internally screw threaded stopper, the mould screw being thus revolved
down the stopper until clear of same instead of the stopper being wound out of
the mould as in the arrangement illustrated; or the horizontally divided revolving
mould may be arranged and act in any other desired manner in accordance
with our present invention-the one mould part approaching and receding from
the other in all cases and rotating as it does so so as to exactly coincide with the
pitch of the screw to be imparted to the stopper.
It is an essential point of our said present invention that the spindle (such
as c) which carries and revolves the revolving part of the mould and the bearing
for such spindle (such as c¹) must be arranged so as to impart the exact
revolutions and receding movement to said revolving part of the mould to
coincide with the screw in the mould and to be imparted to said stopper so
that said moulded stopper may thus be screwed out of or screwed off the screw
thread of one part of the mould without detriment or injury to said screw thread
thus moulded on or in the stopper.
It will therefore be obvious that we do not wish to contine ourselves to the
precise means hereinbefore described for imparting this double motion to one
part of the mould since any suitable mechanical equivalents may be applied to
impart the said movement-if desired.
For some purposes our improved mould may if desired be mounted and arranged
to act out of the vertical-that is the one part of the mould inade to advance
to and recede from the other part of the mould in a line other than vertical as
herein before set forth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed we would remark that we
make no claim herein to any part or parts not described or foreshadowed in the
Provisional Specification in this case but what we do claim and desire to secure
by Letters Patent is :-
1. A machine or apparatus for moulding screw threaded bottle stoppers from
glass or the like material-having the mould divided into two parts transversely

page_text: across the direction of the length of the stopper one of the said parts being
capable of revolving as it recedes from the other part so as to screw off the
moulded stopper from the screw thread of the mould or vice versa and deliver the
made stopper substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore set
forth.
2. In a machine or apparatus for moulding screw threaded male screw stoppers
from glass or the like material-the combination therewith of a mould divided
transversely across the direction of the length of the said stopper to be moulded
therein, one part (viz. the top part of said mould) being fixed and containing the
screw thread to be imparted to the stopper, the second part free to revolve and
recede from said top part, a screw spindle carrying and revolving the second part
and causing same to recede from the top part of the said mould substantially in
the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.
3. In a machine or apparatus for moulding screw threaded male screw stoppers
from glass or the like material-the combination therewith of a mould divided trans-
versely across the direction of its length the top part of said mould fixed in the
frame of said machine and capable of adjustment therein and the lower part of
said mould carried on and revolved by a spindle screw threaded to correspond
identically with the thread in the interior of the top part of the mould a fixed
bearing for said screw threaded spindle, means to revolve such spindle, a movable
core or centre part to said revolving lower part of the mould, and an abutment
or stop interposed across the path of travel of some part of said core so that the
latter is arrested from further descent while the body of the said revolving part
continues to descend a short distance thus raising the made stopper on such core
or inner part so as thereby to facilitate removal arranged combined and acting
substantially in the manner and for the purposes hereinbefore set forth.
4. In a machine or apparatus for moulding screw threaded bottle stoppers from
glass or the like material and having the mould divided transversely to the length
of the stopper as hereinbefore described the combination of a spindle capable of
moving vertically and carrying and revolving thereon one part of the mould and
a screw thread on said spindle working through a corresponding screw thread in
a fixed bearing and identical in all respects with the screw thread formed in and
by the mould, arranged and acting substantially in the manner and for the purposes
herein before set forth.
5. The general combination arrangement and construction of a machine or
apparatus for moulding screw threaded bottle stoppers from glass or the like
material substantially in the manner and for the purposes herein before described
and illustrated in the drawings hereunto annexed.
Dated this 10th day of December 1892.
TONGUE & BIRKBECK,
34, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicants.