IMPROVEMENTĄ IN BOTTLE CRATES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Richard Brett and Richard Francis
Williams, carrying on Business under the Style or Firm of Henry
Brett and Company, of High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Distillers and Wine Merchants, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTĄ
IN BOTTLE CRATES."
Sealed the 11th December 1874, and dated the 10th September 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Richard Brett
and Richard Francis Williams at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 10th September 1874.
We, HENRY RICHARD BRETT and RICHARD FRANCIS WILLIAMS,
carrying on Business under the Style or Firm of Henry Brett and
Company, of High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex, Distillers and
Wine Merchants, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS. IN BOTTLE CRATES," to be as follows:

page_text: box of wood or other suitable material, and of any desired shape,
mounted on castors, rollers, or otherwise, and subdivided internally and
vertically into a series of partitions, each of which holds one bottle.
This foundation frame or box is surmounted by one or more tiers of
double frames, boxes, or leaves hinged to the sides of the foundation
frame or box, or of each other, and folding to the centre of the same, and
each subdivided into a series of partitions similar to those already
described. The bottom of the foundation frame or box, and those of the
hinged frames, boxes, or leaves form the bases on which the bottles
stand when full, and are provided at the said subdivisions with holes for
receiving the necks of empty inverted bottles.
In ordinary crates, which are only intended for holding or carrying
empty bottles, there are no separate bases or subdivisions, in consequence
of which the several tiers and rows of bottles are placed in contact, and
constant breakage of the bottles ensues.
Among the advantages of our improved crate are its adaptability for
holding both full and empty bottles, its easy transport from place to
place, and greater rapidity in filling after the process of washing the
bottles, and the less breakage resulting from its use over the ordinary
crate or box.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Henry Richard Brett and Richard Francis Williams
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th March 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, HENRY
RICHARD BRETT and RICHARD FRANCIS WILLIAMS, carrying on Business
under the Style or Firm of Henry Brett and Company, of High Holborn,
in the County of Middlesex, Distillers and Wine Merchants, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of September, in the year
of 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 us, the said Henry Richard Brett and
Richard Francis Williams, Her special license that we, the said Henry
Richard Brett and Richard Francis Williams, our executors, adminis-

page_text: زر
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Henry Richard Brett
and Richard Francis Williams, our executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no 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 BOTTLE CRATES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that we, the said Henry Richard Brett and
Richard Francis Williams, our executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal
of one of us, 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 we, the said Henry Richard Brett and Richard
Francis Williams, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the accompanying Drawings and to the letters and figures
marked thereon, that is to say :—
Our said Invention relates to crates to be employed for holding and
carrying bottles, and has for its object so constructing such crates as to
render them adapted for containing either full or empty bottles, to
diminish the liability to breakage of the latter, and afford facility for
filling the crates with rapidity, whilst at the same time to render them
capable of being readily transported from place to place.
In constructing our improved crates in order to effect the above
objects we provide a foundation frame or box of wood or other suitable
material and of any desired shape, mounted on castors, rollers, or other-
wise, and subdivided internally and vertically by partitions into a series
of compartments or spaces, each of which is capable of holding one
bottle. This foundation frame or box is surmounted by one or more
tiers of compartments or divisions formed in double frames, boxes, or
leaves, which are hinged to the sides of the foundation frame or box,
and also hinged together when two or more tiers are employed, so as to
fold to the centre of the crate, each frame, box, or leaf being subdivided

page_text: by a series of partitions similar to those already described. The bottom
of the foundation frame or box, and the bottoms of the hinged frames,
boxes, or leaves form the bases on which the bottles stand when full, and
they are provided with holes situate one in each of the said compart-
ments or divisions for receiving the necks of empty inverted bottles.
And in order that our said Invention may be fully understood we
shall now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that
purpose shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of
Drawings, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts
in all the Figures.
Figure 1 of our Drawings represents a side elevation of a crate con-
structed according to our Invention; Figure 2 is a corresponding plan;
and Figure 3 is a half-end view and half transverse vertical section of
the same.
Figure 4 is a perspective view of the crate shewing the hinged frames,
boxes, or leaves opened or turned down.
The
A is the foundation frame or box, which is mounted on rollers a, a,
and is subdivided in its interior into a number of compartments or
spaces B of sufficient size to contain one bottle by a series of horizontal
canes or rods b, b, extending from one side to the other of the frame or
box A in both directions, so as to cross each other, and attached to the
boards c, c, of such frame or box; C, C¹, D, D¹, are the upper boxes or
leaves with which the frame or box A is surmounted, each frame which
forms a tier of compartments or divisions being made double or in two
parts, arranged so as in their normal position to meet at or fold towards
the vertical centre line of the sides of the crate, as shewn at d.
boxes or leaves C, C', which form the first tier, are attached by hinges e, e¹,
to the frame or box A, whilst the boxes or leaves D, D¹, forming the
second tier are connected to the lower tier C, C¹, by hinges f, ƒ¹, respec-
tively, so as to enable them to be opened out or turned down for the
convenience of filling the crate. The boxes or leaves C, C¹, and D, D',
are also subdivided in their interior into compartments or spaces E, F,
in a similar manner to the box or frame A by horizontal transverse
rods g, h, attached to boards i, k, forming a portion of the framing of
the boxes or leaves C, C¹, D, D¹. The bottles when in their full condition
stand upon the bottoms l, m, n, of the lower frame or box and of the two
upper tiers respectively, in which bottoms there are formed apertures

page_text: o, p, q, for the reception of the necks of empty bottles, which are inverted
and inserted therein.
When it is required to fill the crate the boxes or leaves 0, 0¹, D, D¹,
are turned down bodily on the hinges e, e¹, to the position shown with
respect to the boxes or leaves 0¹, D¹, on the right-hand side of Figure 4.
By this means, access is afforded to the interior of the box-or frame A
for the insertion of the bottles therein, such bottles, if full, being placed
So as to stand in the compartments or divisions B on the bottom 1, or
when packing empty bottles being inverted so as to cause their necks to
enter the apertures o. The box or frame A having been filled, the boxes
or leaves C, Ċ', are turned up or closed on to the box or frame A, and
brought into the position indicated in the case of the box or leaf Ơ on
the left hand side of Figure 4, the boxes or leaves D, D', remaining
overhanging on their hinges f,f¹, as shewn by dotted and full lines in
Figures 3 and 4 respectively. The bottles may then be introduced into
the compartments or divisions E in the boxes or leaves C, C', in the
manner herein-before described, after which the boxes or leaves D, D',
are turned up on their hinges f,f₁, so as to bring them into the closed
position shewn by full lines in Figure 3 for the insertion of the bottles in
the compartments or divisions F in the manner before mentioned.
-
The number of sets of the upper boxes or leaves will be varied
according to the size of the crate; for example, in the case of small
crates one set only may be sufficient, hinged to the foundation frame or
box, but when it is required to construct crates of large dimensions a
greater number than two sets may be employed, such boxes or leaves
being hinged together and hinged bodily to the foundation frame or box
in the manner herein-before described.
-
In lieu also of making the frame of which each tier is composed double
or in two parts it may be constructed in the form of a single box hinged
in the manner before mentioned, so as to admit of the boxes being turned
down in order to afford access to the interior of the orate.
It is obvious that as each bottle is separated from the adjacent bottles
on the one hand by the bottoms or bases of the upper boxes, and on the
other hand by the horizontal canes or rods (and in the case of empty
bottles also by the sides of the apertures in which their necks are in-
serted) much less liability to breakage of the bottles is incurred than
when ordinary crates having no separating partitions are employed.

page_text: The improved crates are also capable of being filled with much greater
rapidity than those of the ordinary description, as the usual packing may
be dispensed with, the bottles simply requiring to be inserted in the
compartments or divisions, whilst by the application of running wheels
or rollers to the crate much greater facility is afforded for moving it from
place to place as required than can be obtained in the case of ordinary
crates which are unprovided with such means of transport.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or
carried into effect, we would observe in conclusion that what we consider
to be novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to
us by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. Constructing bottle crates in tiers or stories, and with vertical
compartments or divisions and apertures for the reception of the bottles,
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described, and as
illustrated by our Drawings.
Second, The combination with crates of the before-mentioned con-
struction of wheels or rollers for the purpose of facilitating their
transport, substantially as herein-before described and illustrated by our
Drawings.
In witness whereof, we, the said Henry Richard Brett and Richard
Francis Williams, have to this our Specification set our hands
and seals, this Fifth day of March One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-five.
HENRY R. BRETT.
(L.S.)
RICH. F. WILLIAMS. (L.S.)