A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BRANDING AND COUNTING CORKS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Noah William Mitchell, of Somers Road,
Southsea, in the County of Southampton, Cork. Cutter, for the
Invention of " 'A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BRANDING AND
COUNTING CORKS."
Sealed the 11th September 1874, and dated the 14th March 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Noah William Mitchell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 14th March 1874.
I, NOAH WILLIAM MITCHELL, of Somers Road, Southsca, in the
-County of Southampton, Cork Cutter, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "A NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BRANDING AND
COUNTING CORKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in constructing an apparatus for branding and

page_text: The following is an example of my said Invention:-I place a pulley
wheel milled on its surface over a brand heated by gas or otherwise,
fixed to a table. This pulley wheel is keyed on a loose spindle placed
at one extremity of an oscillating oblong frame or lever On this
spindle I fix a toothed pinion which gears with a toothed wheel keyed
on a second spindle placed in the centre of the said oblong frame or
lever. This spindle passes through suitable standards or bearings fixed
to the table aforesaid, and is caused to revolve by means of a pulley
keyed thercon receiving motion by any suitable motive power. This
pulley conveys its motion to the milled pulley wheel by means of the
toothed wheel and pinion aforesaid.
I will now proceed to describe the mechanism I employ for counting
corks.
The counting apparatus consists of a series of wheels and pinions
gearing suitably into each other. The spindles of these wheels and
pinions work in the sides of the casing in which they are placed;
hands are fixed at one extremity of each of these spindles, and work
on dials suitably divided. Motion is given to these wheels by a primary
wheel which is made to move one tooth by the action of a lever, tho
other extremity of this lever resting on the end of the oblong frame or
lever aforesaid opposite to the milled pulley wheel.
The following is the manner by which corks may be branded and
counted by means of my said Invention:-The corks are placed by
hand or by a shoot in contact with the revolving milled pulley. wheel
which rolls them one by one over the heated brand, after which they
fall down a shoot branded ready for use. When the cork is passing
over the brand the pulley wheel is lifted up by reason of the cork
coming under it, thereby lowering the other end of the oscillating
oblong frame or lever, and bringing down the lever which works the
wheels of the counting apparatus ready to take a tooth of the primary
wheel aforesaid, and when the cork has passed the pulley wheel will
drop down again by its own weight, and the lever of the counting appa-
ratus will be brought up, moving the primary wheel one tooth, thus
registering each cork branded on the aforesaid dials.
.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Noah William Mitchell in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 14th September 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NOAш
WILLIAM MITCHELL, of Somers Road, Southsea, in the County of
Southampton, Cork Cutter, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent bearing date the Fourteenth day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Noah William Mitchell, Her special
licence that I, the said Noah William Mitchell, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Noah William Mitchell,
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 "A
NEW AND IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR BRANDING AND COUNTING CORкs," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Noah William Mitchell,
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 Scal
Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Noah William Mitchell, 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, that is to say :-
-
This Invention consists in constructing an apparatus for branding and
counting corks instead of having to brand and count such corks by hand,
as commonly practised.
The following is an example of my said Invention:-I place a pulley
wheel milled on its surface over a brand heated by gas, or otherwise,

page_text: fixed to a table. This pulley wheel is keyed on a loose spindle placed
at one extremity of an oscillating oblong frame or lever. On this
spindle I fix a toothed pinion which gears with a toothed wheel.keyed
on a second spindle placed in the centre of the said oblong frame or
lever. This spindle passes through suitable standards or bearings fixed
to the table aforesaid, and is caused to revolve by means of a pulley
keyed thereon, receiving motion by any suitable motive power. This
pulley conveys its motion to the milled pulley wheel by means of the
toothed wheel and pinion aforesaid.
+

page_text: thereon respectively as follows:-
-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is a plan of the branding and counting apparatus; Figure 2,
an elevation of the same partly in section; Figure 3, a front view of
the counting apparatus. A is a table on which is fixed the standard B.
In this table is inserted the brand C which is kept at a suitable heat
by means of a gas jet D or other means; E is a guide in which
the corks are placed; F is a frame which oscillates with the spindle Ģ
on the standard B. On this spindle are keyed a pulley H and a cog
wheel J gearing with a pinion J' keyed on the other spindle K on
which is fixed a milled pulley L. A rotary motion is given by a
treadle or otherwise to the pulley H which is transmitted to the
pulley L by the wheel J and pinion J¹; P is a shoot into which
the corks fall after having been branded and counted; Q is a support
upon which the frame F rests in order that the pulley L shall not
come in contact with the brand C; M is the counting apparatus
where the corks after having passed under the pulley L are registered.
This apparatus consists of a metallic casing d attached to the standard B.
In this casing are suitably arranged a series of wheels and pinions
b, 6, 6, the number of revolutions made by each being shown on
dials d by the hands c. The dial of the wheel 6 marks the single
corks, and that of the wheel b¹ the casts of 6 corks, and that of 6"
the grosses. The wheel b is set in motion by the pawl N¹ of the
lever N; one end, o, of this lever rests on the frame F, Figure 2.
MODE OF OPERATION.
The following is the manner by which corks may be branded and
counted by means of the above-described apparatus:-A cork is placed
on the guide E and is carried over the brand C by the milled pulley L,
as shown by dotted lines at Figure 2. This pulley being raised by
the cork to L' the other end of the frame F is lowered to F³, and
the lever N of the counter following it in its motion, and the end o
assuming the position o¹. When the cork has passed underneath the
pulley L and fallen down the shoot P. the frame F will again assume
a horizontal position, thereby bringing up the lever N, the pawl N',
which will move the wheel 6 one tooth. Thus each time a cork passes
underneath the pulley L it will be branded and duly registered.

page_text: Figure 4 is a plan, and Figure 5, a sectional elevation of a special
arrangement of the guide marked E, in Figures 1 and 2, which consists
in a plate R counterbalanced by the weight S, and fixed on a spindle T
connected with the counting apparatus M, which in this case is placed
on the side of the guide E. When a cork is carried underneath the 5
pulley L it will depress the plate R which will convey its motion by
the spindle T to the counting apparatus M.
Figure 6 is another mode of connecting the branding to the counting
apparatus by means of a wheel U having suitably shaped teeth into
which the corks are taken as they are conveyed to the brand by the 1
pulley L. The wheel U is connected by a spindle T and worm to the
counting apparatus.
Having now described and set forth the nature and object of my
said Invention for "A New and Improved Apparatus for Branding
and Counting. Corks," I would remark in conclusion that I hereby 1
declare my Invention to consist in and I claim, constructing an appa-
ratus for branding and counting corks, substantially as described and
represented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Noah William Mitchell, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of September, 2
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.