Improvements in Corking Machines.
Year: 1895

page_text: Improvements in Corking Machines.
We WILLIAM BRATBY, Junior, of Oakfield, Hale, Bowdon, in the County of
Chester, Engineer, and THOMAS HARTLEY KAY of 65 Market Street, Droylsden,
near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare tho
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our said invention relates to improvements in apparatus for inserting corks into
bottles and refers more particularly to the mechanism for conducting and feeding
the corks to the compressor or plunger.
According to our invention we provide a hopper, at the open foot of which we
arrange two rubber or other suitable rollers for withdrawing the corks from the
hopper. To one or more of the inner sides of the hopper we pirot a flap or flaps
with projections at the foot and jogged by canis or projections on one or both of
the aforesaid withdrawing rollers. These jogging flaps act as agitators to stir up
the corks aud throw them into position suitable for being fed.
Beneath the said withdrawing rollers which are arranged horizontally at about
the thickness of a cork apart, we place two vertically arranged bowls which set the
cork on end and pass it down a funnel which terminates just above a vibrating cork
carrier.
The said cork carrier consists of a bell-crank lever pivotted to the frame, one
arm carrying a flat quadrant shaped piece, and an eye to receive the cork as
it drops from the funnel. The Hat quadrant shaped piece bears up the lowest
cork in the funnel until the eye is brought beneath it to receive the cork.
The other arm of the bell-crank cork carrier is slotted to receive a pivot pin
projecting from the sliding compressor. This sliding compressor is reciprocated
to and fro by a cain slot and bowl arrangement in the ordinary manner, from
a bracket which is raised and lowered by a counterbalanced handle operated
manually in the ordinary way. As the compressor moves in and out it corre-
spondingly vibrates the cork carrier so as to bring the lowest cork from the
funnel and drop it in front of the compressor. The compressor in advancing
compresses the cork in the usual manner, and the plunger above, descends and
pushes the cork into the neck of the bottle which is supported beneath. The
same rising and falling bracket which operates the compressor and pluuger, also
carries a double faced rack. One of these racks gears with a toothed wheel on
the axis of one of the aforesaid horizontal rollers which has been referred
to as withdrawing the corks through the foot of the hopper. A similar wheel
on the axis of the other roller gears with this wheel so that the two rollers
revolve backward and forward in unison. The other rack face similarly gears
with a toothed wheel on the axis of one of the vertical bowls beneath, which
set the cork on end and pass it into the funnel as aforesaid. A toothed wheel
on the axis of the other bowl gears with the first toothed wheel. Thus the
whole of the operative parts of the mechanism receive their motion from the said
rising and falling bracket manually operated by the counterbalanced handle or
lever as aforesaid.

page_text: Instead of operating the cork carrier from the compressor as described we might
operate it by a tooth or projection from the rising and falling plunger.
Dated this 23rd day of September 1895.
For the Anuliona din
E. K. DUTTON & Co.,
5 John Dalton Street, Manchester, Chartered Patent Agents.
Improvements in Corking Machines.
We WILLIAM BRATBY, Junior, of Oakfield, Hale, Bowdon, in the County of
Chester, Engineer, and THOMAS HARTLEY KAY of 65 Market Street, Droylsden,
near Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineer, 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 and
accompanying drawings
Our said invention relates to improvements in apparatus for inserting corks into
bottles and refers more particularly to the mechanism for conducting and feeding
the corks to the compressor or plunger.
The invention will be best understood by a reference to the annexed sheet of
drawings which clearly illustrate the improvements.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation partly in section of so much of a corking machine as
is necessary to illustrate our invention.
Fig. 2 is a view at right angles to Fig. 1.
Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 1 with the hopper and tube removed.
According to our invention we provide a hopper a at the open foot of which we
arrange two rubber or other suitable rollers bb for withdrawing the corks from the
hopper. To one or more of the inner sides of the hopper we pivot a flap c jogged
by cams or projections on one of the aforesaid withdrawing rollers b b. The
said jogging flap acts as an agitator to stir up the corks in the hopper and throw
them into position suitable for being fed. Beneath the said withdrawing rollers bb
which are arranged horizontally at about the thickness of a cork apart, we place
two bowls d d which set the cork on end and pass it down a funnel e which terminates
just above a vibrating cork carrier f.
The said cork carrier consists of a bell-crank leverf pivotted to the frame g at f¹,
one arm carrying a flat quadrant shaped piece f and an eye to receive the cork
as it drops from the funnel. The flat quadrant shaped piece f bears up the lowest
cork in the funnel until the eye f' is brought beneath it to receive the cork. The
cork drops down into the eye ready to be carried to the compressor at the next
movement of the carrier. The other arm f* of the bell-crank cork carrier is slotted
to receive a pivot pin projecting from the sliding compressor h. This sliding
compressor is reciprocated to and fro by a cam slot and bowl arrangement as
indicated in Fig. 2 in the ordinary manner from a bracket i which is raised and
lowered by a counterbalance handle j operated manually in the ordinary manner.
As the compressor / moves in and out it correspondingly vibrates the cork carrier f
so as to bring the lowest cork from the funnel by means of the eye f* and drop it
in front of the compressor h. The compressor in advancing compresses the cork in
the usual manner, and the plunger above, descends and pushes the cork into the
neck of the bottle which is supported beneath, the bottle being indicated in dotted
lines in Fig. 2. These operations are carried out in the ordinary and well known
manner and need not herein be more particularly referred to. The same rising and
falling bracket which operates the compressor and plunger, also carries a double

page_text: faced rack. One of these racks k gears with a toothed wheel on the axis of
one of the aforesaid upper horizontal rollers 6 which has been referred to as with-
drawing the corks through the foot of the hopper a. A similar wheel l¹ on the
axis of the other roller b gears with this wheel so that the two rollers being thus
geared together revolve backward and forward in unison.
The other rack face similarly gears with a toothed wheel m on the axis of one
of the bowls d beneath which set the cork on end and pass it into the funnel as
aforesaid. A toothed wheel m¹ on the axis of the other bowl gears with the first
toothed wheel m the two bowls d d being thus geared together. By the indicated
arrangements the whole of the operative parts of the mechanism receive their
motion from the said rising and falling bracket i manually operated by the counter-
balance handle or lever j as aforesaid. The bracket instead of being manually
operated as aforesaid, might be operated by power or by fluid pressure.
Instead of operating the cork carrier from the compressor as described we might
operate it by a tooth or cam projection from the rising and falling plunger.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is.
1. The general arrangement, construction and combination of parts constituting
the improved corking machine, substantially as hereinbefore described and shown.
2. In a corking machine forming the feed hopper with one or more loosely
pivotted sides or flaps or other suitable agitating or stirring means operated as set
forth for shaking up the corks in the hopper, substantially as described and shown.
3. In a corking machine the feed rollers bb, d d for guiding and passing the
corks from the hopper to the funnel or shute by which the corks are conducted to
the cork carrier, substantially as described and shown.
4. The improved cork carrier constructed, arranged and operating substantially
as hereinbefore set forth and illustrated.
5. The improved means for operating the rollers bbd d, from the rising and
falling bracket i substantially as described and shown.
Dated this 23rd day of June 1896.