IMPROVE- MENTS IN BOTTLES AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING INFANTS
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Perrett, of Eagle House, Herne Hill,
Dulwich, in the County of Surrey, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN BOTTLES AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING INFANTS."
Scaled the 31st July 1868, and dated the 26th February 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Perrett at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th February 1868.
I, JOHN PERRETT, of Eagle House, Herne Hill, Dulwich, in the
County of Surrey, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BOTTLES AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING INFANTS," to be
as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in bottles and
apparatus for feeding infants. At the present time there is frequently
great difficulty in inducing infants to take food from a bottle in
consequence of the infant missing both the warmth and the form of

page_text: the mother's breast. Now according to this Invention I form in
vulcanized india-rubber or other similar elastic material a cup, approxi-
mately of hemispherical form to resemble as near as may be the breast,
and with a nipple upon it, which is perforated with a small hole or
holes; this elastic cup is combined with a bottle or vessel of glass
or other material by being sprung over its open mouth. The bottle
or vessel is made of convenient form; I prefer that it should be shaped
somewhat like a horn, that is to say, that it should taper down from
the mouth, to which the elastic cup is applied, and get gradually
smaller in section until at its other end it terminates in a com-
paratively narrow neck adapted to receive a loosely fitting cork or
stopper, and this neck should be turned up on to one side to give
the bottle or vessel a convenient form to be held in the hand.
The food is introduced into the bottle through the neck without
removing the elastic cup, but this can be taken off to admit of the
apparatus being cleaned. I prefer to make the nipple in one piece
with the hemispherical cup, but it may be made separately, and this
arrangement will have the advantage that the elastic cup will remain
serviceable after the nipple is worn out.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Perrett in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th August 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PERRETT, of Eagle House, Herne Hill, Dulwich, in the County of
Surrey, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of February, 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 John Perrett, Her special
licence, that I, the said John Perrett, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Perrett, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: 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
BOTTLES AND APPARATUS FOR FEEDING INFANTS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John Perrett, 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 John Perrett, 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, that is to say :-
:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in bottles and
apparatus for feeding infants. At the present time there is frequently
great difficulty in inducing infants to take food from a bottle in
consequence of the infant missing both the warmth and the form of
the mother's breast. Now according to this Invention I form in
vulcanized india-rubber or other similar elastic material a cup approxi-
mately of hemispherical form to resemble as near as may be the breast,
and with a nipple upon it which is perforated with a small hole or
holes; this elastic cup is combined with a bottle or vessel of glass
or other material by being sprung over its open mouth. The bottle
or vessel is made of a convenient form; I profer that it should be
shaped somewhat like a horn, that is to say, that it should taper
down from the mouth, to which the clastic cup is applied, and get
gradually smaller in section until at its other end it terminates in a
comparatively narrow neck adapted to receive a loosely fitting cork,
stopper, or cap, and this neck should be turned up to one side to give
the bottle or vessel a convenient form to be held in the hand.
The food is introduced into the bottle through the neck without
removing the elastic cup, but this can be taken off to admit of the
apparatus being cleaned. I prefer to make the nipple in one piece
with the hemispherical cup, but it may be made separately and this

page_text: Figure 1 is a side view of a bottle and apparatus for feeding infants
constructed according to my Invention. a, a, is a horn-shaped bottle
made by preference of glass; at its larger end two beadings a', a',
are formed around it, and between them is a groove or recess into
which the mouth of the elastic cup 6 is sprung; and to hold this
cup more securely to the bottle an elastic band c is sprung on over
it. At its smaller end the bottle receives the cap or cover d, which
is readily removed to fill the bottle, and when in its place the cover
prevents the escape of the contents in whatever position the bottle
may be placed. At a the bottle is flattened to form a foot, on
which it can. stand securely. The cup bis moulded in india-rubber
compound and vulcanized. Around the edge of the cup is a beading
at ¹ to render the cup less liable to be torn, and to cause it to
embrace more tightly the mouth of the bottle. With the cup the
nipple 6 is moulded, and punctures are made in it to enable the
infant by sucking to draw the food from the bottle. In some cases
I form in one piece with the cup and nipple a tube 63, which hanging
down on the inside causes the food to be drawn from the bottom of
the bottle, so that the whole or nearly the whole of the contents may
be sucked out in whatever position the bottle may be placed; this
tube when it is used is made of such a size that it can be readily
turned inside out to admit of its being thoroughly cleansed.
In some cases I mould the nipple at an angle as it is represented in
Figure 2.
Figure 3 shows in section a cup and nipple similar to that of
Figure 1, but without the tube b³.
Figure 4 shows the cap d in section; it consists of a wooden ring d
with a vulcanized india-rubber diaphragm set into it, and small

page_text: perforations are formed in this diaphragm which open to admit air to
the bottle as the food is sucked out by the infant.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Perrett, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.