IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PACKING AND DISTRIBUTING FLOUR FOR USE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Amos, of Ashford, in the County of Kent,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF PACKING AND
DISTRIBUTING FLOUR FOR USE."
Sealed the 4th May 1875, and dated the 7th November 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Amos at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
7th November 1874.
I, JAMES AMOS, of Ashford, in the County of Kent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS OF
PACKING AND DISTRIBUTING FLOUR FOR USE," to be as follows:—
The present system of putting flour in hempen sacks is not found
sufficient protection in transit by railway, especially in small quantities,
when it is often loaded in trucks with mixed goods, and becomes soiled
or tainted, is put out on the platform, exposed to the weather, and gets
damaged by wet each time it is moved, wasting a portion by dusting
through the sack; again, in waiting till called for at the goods' station,
is eaten by rats and mice.

page_text: When a sack of flour (two and a half hundredweight) arrives at a grocer's
shop it is brought in or the shoulders of a porter, and is an object of great
terror and anxiety to the grocer if not handled by a powerful man, and
very skilfully set down. It may jar the glass ware off the shelves; it
may burst in the operation; at best it will give off a cloud of dust,
and dim the bright-coloured wrappers of his fancy goods; a cloud of
dust is again created by shooting the flour from the sack into the bin;
and every time a customer comes for a small quantity the dust nuisance
is repeated, and many grocers have discontinued the sale of flour in
consequence, to the great inconvenience of the public.
All these drawbacks to direct communication between the miller and
the consumer of flour are overcome by my improved packing. By it
flour, an article of general consumption, can be sold in almost any shop,
and be made to present an attractive appearance, sealed with a bright
label, and entirely preventing dust and waste.
The means whereby I carry out my said Invention are these:—I con-
struct a box of wood or metal, having externally a number of ribs or
projections fixed or formed thereon on every side, so that when the box
is placed on a damp platform, or in other wet position, the body of the
box may be kept free from the influence of the damp or wet, at the same
time allowing free circulation of air all round the box. Internally the
box is provided with a paper case or cases, in which the flour being
packed therein the above desired objects are effectuated.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Amos in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 7th May 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, James
AMOS, of Ashford, in the County of Kent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of November, in the year of 8
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said James Amos, Her special licence

page_text: that I, the said James Amos, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Amos, 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,
5 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 THE MEAns of
PACKING AND DISTRIBUTING FLOUR FOR USE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said James Amos, 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 Amos, 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:-
The present system of putting flour in hempen sacks is not found
sufficient protection in transit by railway, especially in small quantities,
when it is often loaded in trucks with mixed goods, and becomes soiled
or tainted, is put out on the platform, exposed to the weather, and gets
damaged by wet, each time it is moved wasting a portion by dusting
through the sack; again, in waiting till called for at the goods' station
is eaten by rats and mice.
When a sack of flour (two and a half hundredweight) arrives at a
grocer's shop it is brought in on the shoulders. of a porter, and is an
object of great anxiety to the grocer, and if not handled by a powerful
man, and very skilfully set down, it may jar the glass ware off the
shelves; it may burst in the operation; at] best it will give off a cloud
of dust, and dim the bright-colored wrappers of his fancy goods; a
cloud of dust is again created by shooting the flour from the sack into
the bin, and every time a customer comes in for a small quantity the
dust nuisance is repeated, and many grocers have discontinued the sale
of flour in consequence, to the great inconvenience of the public.
All these drawbacks to direct communication between the miller and

page_text: hereby declare that I claim the said Invention as the same is herein.
before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Amos, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fifth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
Witness,
FRANCIS THOMAS POULTER,
23, Queen Street,
Ashford.
JAMES AMOS. (L.8.)