IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL BOTTLES, FLASKS, CASKS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF THE LIKE KIND.
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Alexander Lloyd, of Bush Lane, in the City of
London, Tin Plate Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF METAL BOTTLES, FLASKS, CASKS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF
THE LIKE KIND.
23
Sealed the 24th May 1878, and dated the 27th November 1877,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Alexander Lloyd at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th November 1877.
JOHN ALEXANDER LLOYD, of Bush Lanc, in the City of London, Tin Plate
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL BOTTLES,
FLASKS, CASKS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF THE LIKE KIND."
My Invention relates to flasks, bottles, or cans, such as are ordinarily used to hold
oil, varnish, or other fluids, or to cases or casks used for similar purposes, and
constructed of sheet metal, such as tinned plate.
The ordinary method in which such a vessel is manufactured (such, for instance,
as a bottle of cylindrical shape, having a conical top and a flat bottom) consists in
taking a cylindrical tube formed out of tinned plate or other sheet metal, and fitting
a flat bottom to it by flanging out its lower edge, and fitting upon the flange so
formed a circular plate of larger diameter, having its outer edge turned up so as to
fit upon the flange. The turned-up edge of the bottom plate is then hammered
down upon the flange, and a suitable mandrel or tool is introduced into the open
end of the tube, and the projecting flange upon the lower end of the latter, together
with the edge of the bottom plate which has been closed over it, are hammered
down against the side of the tube all round, so as to make a very firm and solid
joint, only projecting very slightly. This joint is afterwards made water-tight with
solder if necessary.
In order to fit and fix the conical top of the bottle, the same method cannot be
adopted on account of the impossibility of introducing a mandrel or tool into the
interior. Accordingly, it is usual to leave the flange upon the upper edge of the tube

page_text: -
round which the outer edge of the conical top has been turned and closed, projecting
all round at right angles to the body of the bottle, the result being that this annular
projection occupies much room and is very unsightly, and the joint is much less
strong than that at the bottom.
My improvements consist in first fitting the conical top to the bottle in the way
just described. I then introduce a mandrel or other suitable tool through the lower
or open end of the tube, and upon this I hammer down all round against the tube
the flange projecting as described.
In order to fit and attach the bottom to the bottle I make the former of a circular
plate of suitable size, and I turn up its edge into a cylindrical flange projecting at
right angles to the plate, and of such diameter that it just fits into the bottom of
the tube. At a short distance from the junction of the plate with the cylindrical
flange I bend over the edge of the latter at right angles into a plane parallel with
that of the plate, and I fit the bottom so formed into the lower end of the tube. I
then bend over and hammer down the outer edge of the plate over the flange upon ]
the tube, and I hammer down the compound flange thus formed against the tube
all round, which I am enabled to do by means of the recess formed by the insertion
of the bottom into the tube, against the edge of which recess a suitable mandrel or
other tool is held from outside the vessel. By this method of construction the joints
of the top and bottom of the bottle are both alike, and are free from any inconvenient
and unsightly projecting flange, and both joints are of great strength and equally
strong.
I apply the same method of construction to other metallic vessels, as well as to
metal bottles having conical tops.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said John Alexander Lloyd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
.27th May 1878.
JOHN ALEXANDER LLOYD, of Bush Lane, in the City of London, Tin Plate
Manufacturer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL BOTTLES,
FLASKS, CASKS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF THE LIKE KIND."
"My Invention relates to flasks, bottles, or cans, such as are ordinarily used to
_contain oil, varnish, or other fluids, or to cases or casks used for similar purposes,
and constructed of malleable sheet metal, such as tinned plate.
The ordinary method hitherto practised by which such a vessel is manufactured
(as, for instance, a bottle or flask having a cylindrical body, a conical top, and a flat
bottom) consists in taking a cylindrical tube formed out of tinned plate or other
sheet metal and fitting a flat bottom to it, in the manner shewn at Figure 1, in the
accompanying Drawing, which is in illustration of my Invention.
a is the cylindrical body of the vessel, the lower end of which is flanged out at
right angles and rests upon the bottom b, which consists of a circular plate of some-
what larger diameter than the flange upon a. The bottom plate 6 has its circular
edge first, bent up round the flange upon a, and then hammered down upon the upper
face of the latter. The vessel is then placed upon a suitable tool or mandrel, which
is introduced through the upper or open end of a. Against this mandrel the pro-
jecting flange upon a, together with the flange of b, which has been bent down
and hammered over it, are both hammered down against the side of the cylinder a
all round, so as to make a very firm and solid joint, projecting but very slightly, as
shewn at b in Figure 3. This joint can be afterwards made water-tight with solder
if necessary.
In order to fit and fix the conical top c of the bottle or flask the same method
cannot be adopted on account of the impossibility of introducing a sufficiently strong
mandrel or tool into the interior to hammer down the projecting flanges against.
Accordingly, it is usual to adopt the arrangement shewn at c, Figure 1, in which
the flange upon the upper edge of the body a, round which the outer projecting edgo
of the conical top has been bent over and hammered down, is left projecting all
round at right angles from the body of the bottle or flask, as shewn, the result being
that this annular projection occupies much room and is very unsightly, whilst the
joint is much less strong than that at the bottom.
My improvements consist in first fitting the conical or other top to the bottle or
flask in the way just described, before the bottom has been fitted, and then intro-
ducing through the open lower end of the vessel a mandrel or tool, against the point
of which the compound flange left projecting, as above described, is hammered down
upon the sides of the body, as shewn at c, in Figure 2, and is finally hammered flat
and close, as shewn in Figure 3.
In order to fit and fix the bottom to the vessel, I form a flange round the lower
end of the cylindrical body of the vessel, and I make the bottom in the shape of a
circular plate, of larger diameter than such flange. I turn down the edge of this
circular plate all round, so as to form a cylindrical flange projecting at right angles
to the plate, and of such diameter that it just fits into the bottom of the vessel, and
at a short distance below the junction of the plate with the cylindrical flange I bend
over the edge of the latter into a plane parallel with the bottom plate, so that the
bottom so formed can be fitted into the lower flanged edge of the vessel, as shewn in
Figure 4. I then bend up the outer edge of the bottom plate round the flange upon
the vessel, as shewn in Figure 5, and I then hammer down this projecting edge over
the flange upon the vessel, as shewn in Figure 6.
Finally, I hammer down the projecting compound flange, formed as above
described, against the side of the vessel all round, which I am enabled to do by
means of the recess formed by the insertion of the bottom into the lower end of the

page_text: vessel, as above described, into which recess the point or edge of a suitable mandrel
or other tool is introduced to hammer against, as shewn at d in Figure 7. The
flange is then hammered flat and close, as shewn in Figure 3.
The appearance of the bottle or flask when finished is shewn in section in Figure 3,
the points of attachment of the conical top and the recessed bottom with the vessel
being similar, and neither of them projecting inconveniently or in an unsightly way
from the body, whilst both joints are of great strength and equally strong.
The same novel method of construction may be applied to other metallic vessels
of cylindrical or other shapes, as well as to metal bottles or flasks having conical
'tops, as shewn in the Drawing.
Having now described my Invention, and the manner in which it is to be per-
formed, I claim the method of attaching the end or bottom to metallic vessels by
. forming a recess in such end or bottom, into which recess the point of a suitable
mandrel or other tool can be introduced from the outside for the purpose of ham-
mering down the flange against it, substantially as and for the purpose described,
and shewn in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Alexander Lloyd, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
JOHN ALEXANDER LLOYD Gal