Improved Method of and Apparatus for Drying Bottles, Jars, and the like.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 19th Jan., 1894
Complete Specification Left, 28th Mar-, 1894-Accepted, 28th Apr., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for Drying Bottles, Jars, and
the like.
I, GEORGE WATSON of Clifton Hall, Pen-y-lan, Cardiff, in the County of
Glamorgan, Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
It is well known that, if the vessels into which some liquors, such as beers and
stout, are poured, are wet at the time, such moisture will spoil them. The object
of my invention is to provide suitable means for drying the insides of such vessels.
In carrying it into effect, I provide suitable pipes and nozzles for delivering hot
or cold air into the vessels. The air is delivered under sufficient pressure to carry
off the moisture with it.
I provide a series of horizontal pipes having nozzles projecting therefrom at
suitable angles and cages or analogous devices to support the bottles.
Any suitable heating, refrigerating or blowing apparatus may be made use of.
Dated this 19th day of January 1894.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Method of and Apparatus for Drying Bottles, Jars, and
the like.
I, GEORGE WATSON, of Clifton Hall, Pen-y-lan, Cardiff, in the County of
Glamorgan, Brewer, 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 :-
It is a matter of common experience that, if the bottles, jars and the like, into
which some liquors, such as beers and stout, are poured, are wet at the time, the
moisture present therein will spoil the liquors.
The object of the present invention is to provide suitable means for drying the
interior of such bottles and does not extend to the drying of barrels and the like.
In carrying it into effect I provide suitable vertical nipples for delivering the
drying currents of hot or cold air into the bottles. The air is delivered from the
said nipples under sufficient pressure to carry off the moisture in question with it
as the latter is expelled from the said bottles.
Each bottle is supported in an inverted position with its mouth and neck over
and around a nipple, but at a distance therefrom so as to leave a more or less
annular space between them for the expulsion downwards of the air and moisture
above mentioned.
The nipples are arranged as a series upon a closed horizontal box or pipe or
pipes and the details of such arrangement may be modified as may be required in
respect of either the construction of the box or the pipe or pipes. So also as to
the details of the respective methods for providing for the support of the bottles
and for the presence of the above mentioned more or less annular spaces.
In order that my invention and the means by which it is to be carried into
practical effect, may be thoroughly understood, I will now describe it and them in

page_text: detail, referring in so doing to the accompanying drawing which is to be taken as
part of this Specification and read therewith.
Figure 1 is a perspective view of an apparatus constructed according to my
invention.
Figure 2 is a vertical section of a nipple, the adjoining portion of the top of the
box and the neck of the bottle; and illustrates one method of providing for the
escape of the air and moisture from the vessel.
Figures 3 and 4 are sectional plans of webbed nipples.
Figure 5 is also a vertical section of a nipple, the adjoining portion of the top
of the box and the neck of the bottle, and illustrates another method of providing
for the escape of the air and moisture from the vessel.
Figure 6 is a sectional plan of a grooved nipple.
a is a closed box supported in a more or less horizontal position. b, b are the
nipples arranged as a series on the top of the box, each one communicating with
the interior thereof independently of the others. These nipples are always
vertical. They are arranged at suitable distances apart according to the diameter
of the bottles to be dried, and their own diameters adjusted to enter the mouths
and necks of the said bottles.
The box a may be replaced by one or more pipes arranged either parallelly,
spirally or after the manner of a gridiron, but like the box illustrated, they are
always horizontal or nearly so, in any case the nipples 6 are vertical.
e is the pipe through which the drying blast is delivered. Any suitable
mechanism may be used for creating the drying blast which is air either hot or
cold as may be preferred.
dd are the bottles to be dried. They are shewn as being bottles, the present
invention applying only to bottles, jugs, jars and the like. For the purpose of
being dried by an apparatus constructed according to the present invention, a
bottle is set with its mouth and part of its neck over and around a nipple in the
way illustrated in Figures 1, 2 and 5. As the nipples are always vertical, the
bottles always in an inverted position during the process of drying.
The bottles
either stand upright upon and above the nipple by their own weight or if desirable
any additional device for supporting them may be adopted. Suitable devices for
this purpose are a plate supported at a height less than the length of the shortest
bottles above the box a, and having holes concentric with the respective nipples cut
in it to receive the bodies of the bottles, or a clip adapted to automatically grip
the neck of the bottle, combined with each nipple.
The space or spaces between the bottle mouth and neck on the one hand and
the sides of the nipple on the other for the expulsion of the air and moisture may
be provided by forming projecting vertical webs d' upon the sides of the nipples or
vertical grooves d' in the said sides. In the former case the expulsion will be
between the webs and in the latter down the grooves.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
An apparatus for drying the interiors of inverted bottles, jars and the like, as
distinct from barrels and the like, consisting of a closed and horizontal box, pipe or
pipes adapted to receive a blast or blasts of hot or cold air, a series of nipples
communicating therewith, and standing up vertically thereupon, and means for
providing for the expulsion of the moisture and injected air from the said bottles,
as set forth.
T
001
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.