AN IMPROVE- MENT IN THE ART OR METHOD OF MAKING OR MANUFACTURING GLASS BOTTLES, SUCH AS ARE USED FOR WINE, PORTER, BEER, OR CYDER
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY'
RICKETTS, of Phoenix Glass Works, Bristol, in the County of Somerset, Glass'
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of that part of the United Kingdom
of Great Britain and Ireland called England, bearing date at Westminster,'
the Fifth day of December, in the second year of His reign, give and grant'
unto me, the said Henry Ricketts, my exors, adññiors, and assigns, His
especial licence full power, sole privilege, and authority, that I, the said Henry
Ricketts, my exors, admors, and assigns, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, and also in all His
Majesty's Colonies and Plantations abroad, my Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN THE ART OR METHOD OF MAKING OR MANUFACTURING GLASS BOTTLES, SUCH
AS ARE USED FOR WINE, PORTER, BEER, OR CYDER;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, that if I, the said Henry Ricketts, shall not par-
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to bo performed, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, and cause the same to be inrolled in His Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within two calendar months next and immediately after the date:

page_text: of the said Letters Patent, that then the said Letters Patent, and all liberties
and advantages whatsoever thereby granted, shall utterly cease, determine, and
become void, as in and by the same, relation being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Henry Ricketts, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, are particularly described
and ascertained in and by the Drawings hereunto annexed, and the following
description thereof (that is to say):-
My Invention comprises an improvement upon the construction of all
moulds heretofore used in the manufacture of bottles, whether of black or
other description of glass or metal, of which bottles can be made by means of
an entirely new method in the construction and operative movements and
appendages of such moulds, particularly in reference to the casting or making
of bottles, such as are used to contain wine, beer, porter, cyder, or other
liquids. By this my sole Invention, the circumference and diameter: of bottles
are formed nearly cylindrical, and their height determined so as to contain
given quantities or proportions of a wine or beer gallon measure, with a great
degree of regularity or conformity to each other, and all the bottles so made
by me after this method present a superior neatness of appearance and
regularity of shape for convenient and safe stowage, which cannot by other
means be so well attained.
I have annexed hereto Drawings or Plans descriptive of the moulds and
machinery so invented by me, which are referred to in the following further
explanation and remarks.
Of the Drawing or Plan No. 1.-No. 2 is a section representing a square
frame of iron, wood, or other material, the legs of which marked A, A,
are collateral, and which is fixed in a pit formed in the floor, or placed
in any more convenient part of the glass house; B, the bottom or floor
of the said square frame, fully delineated in the Plan or Drawing No. 3,
constructed of the same material, and which is sunk or fitted into the grooves
or rabbets formed to receive it in the connecting sides at the bottom of the
frame. In or near its centre there is a hole to give room for operation of the
knocker-up, marked N; C, C, C, C, four legs secured to the frame floor B,
as supports for the mould platform or stand D, D, which is rivetted thereto.
The platform or stand D, D, contains a hole in its centre for insertion of the
bottom of the mould, so that the knocker-up N may act in projection of the
punty or pricker-up S against the bottom of the bottle; E marks an
horizontal spindle with a bearing at each end working in two eyes, which are

page_text: secured to the near legs of the frame A, A; in such a manner as to admit of
forming an axle or spindle; at each end of this axle or spindle is an arm
marked F, F, projecting towards the centre of the frame and secured by bolts-
to two other arms marked G, G. These at their ends are formed to receive
screws, which admit of being varied in length according to the height or bulk
of the mould affixed to the platform D; H represents the body of the bottle
mould, of whatever shape or size, placed on its bed D, the lower part of which,
as already stated, is open to the operation of the punty S. The mould can
be removed at pleasure, according to the size of the bottle required to be
made; 'the bottom or lower part of all the moulds being made to fit the
same frame; I, I, bolts of the joints that connect the body and the cover of.
the mould, and which are fastened with screws and nuts; K, K, the cover
or upper part of the mould, which is in two parts, and so shaped that on being
closed they form the shoulder and part of the neck of the bottle; L, L, the
arms of the cover having a hole near each end, through which small bolts
connect them with the arms G, G, above described; M, a rod passing
through a hole in the upper part of the frame, and connected by a bolt to one
end of a short lever, which works on a round pin near its centre, and at the
extremity of the other end is the knocker-up N. The act of treading -upon
the mushroom-shaped cap of M, marked O, so raises the knocker-up N
against the punty S under the mould, as to produce the concavity usually
formed at the bottom of the bottle, and which by this my Invention effectually
secures a symmetry of shape. P marks another rod passing through a second
hole in the upper part of the frame on the same side with M, and connected
by a bolt with a short arm marked Q, projecting from the horizontal
spindle E. By treading on its mushroom-shaped cap R, Q is pressed down,
and raises the arms F, F, G, G, so as to close the cover or upper part of the
mould, and form the shoulder and part of the neck of the bottle. The foot
being removed from the mushroom-shaped cap 0, the knocker-up drops into
the hole in the bottom or floor of the frame and disengages the punty, and on
the foot being taken from the mushroom-shaped cap R, the weight of the
arms and handles opens the cover, and the mould is thereby ready for
continued working.
The Drawing or Plan No. 4 represents a ring or washer placed at pleasure
within the bottom of the mould; according to the thickness or thinness of the
said ring is the body of the mould shortened or increased, and the various
sizes of bottles produced. Upon the surface of this ring can be engraven the
address of the manufacturer, together with figures or marks indicating the size
of the bottle, and which exhibit the same by a projection of the characters in

page_text: the class. V a washer, one or more of which may be placed under the
mushroom-shaped cap O to decrease the effect of the punty, as may be
necessary to regulate the same.
The Drawing or Plan No. 5 describes a cover of the entire frame.
: In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Ricketts, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of. January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and -twenty-two: