Year: 1885

page_text: We, ALEXANDER WILLIAM GILLMAN, SAMUEL SPENCER and ERNEST SAMUEL
SPENCER, all of the Castle Brewery, St Georges Road, Southwark in the County
of Surrey, Consulting Practical Brewers and Analytical Chemists do hereby
declare the nature of this invention be as follows:-
The invention relates primarily to improvements in means or apparatus employed
in bottling beer and other liquids in screw stoppered bottles.
For this purpose we support the bottle on a table or platform at the upper end
of a rod which is operated by the foot acting on a treadle connected to the lower
end thereof and by which the neck of the bottle is held forcibly in an annular
conical rubber packing in the underside of a vertical travelling socket which at its
upper side is provided with annular rubber packing to bear against the lower side
of the lower fixed plunger guide and thereby make a tight joint.
The hole through the annular conical rubber packing is large enough to permit
the head of the stopper to pass easily therethrough.
The lower end of the plunger is provided with a hollow spring clip holder in
which the head of the stopper is held which holder is also provided with one or
more teeth to act against the edge of the head of the stopper to assist in holding
and turning the same. The said plunger is operated by a suitable lever to give
the up and down motion thereto, in addition to which it is provided with means
for rotating the same when it has been depressed sufficiently to place the stopper
in the mouth of the bottle.
The vertically travelling socket is fitted with the inclined supply tube and the
curved vent tube described in the specification of Letters Patent granted to
Alexander William Gillman and Samuel Spencer dated March 29. 1876 N° 1335.
but instead of such vent tube carrying at its outer end a weighted valve as therein
described such valve is removed and the said curved vent tube is caused to work
through a gland at one end of a fixed curved pipe which at its other end is
provided with a valve to give the required vent to the air and fob. The lever for
turning the supply cock is fitted with a curved toothed rack which gears into a
D.

page_text: toothed wheel on the axis of the said cock and said lever or a projection therefrom
also operates the curved vent pipe which is provided with adjustable collars or
projections fixed thereon at certain distances apart to enable the said supply cock
to be turned off before the vent tube is withdrawn from the neck of the bottle.
The above described arrangement of parts for giving vent and for operating the
vent tube and the supply cock are also applicable to bottling machines in which
ordinary corks are employed.
If desired the lower part of the travelling socket and the india rubber packing
therein may be divided in a vertical line, the moveable half of which is hinged to
the fixed half and is operated to open and close the same by suitable connections
from the treadle.

page_text: Improvements in Means or Apparatus Employed in Bottling
Beer and other Liquids.
We ALEXANDER WILLIAM GILLMAN, SAMUEL SPENCER and ERNEST SAMUEL
SPENCER, all of the Castle Brewery, St George's Road, Southwark in the County
of Surrey Consulting Practical Brewers and Analytical Chemists 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:
The invention relates primarily to improvements in means or apparatus employed
in bottling beer and other liquids in screw stoppered bottles.
For this purpose we support the bottle on a table or platform at the upper end
of a rod which is operated by the foot acting on a treadle connected to the lower end
thereof and by which the neck of the bottle is held forcibly in an annular conical
rubber packing in the underside of a vertically travelling socket which at its
upper side is provided with annular rubber packing to bear against the lower side
of the fixed plunger guide or socket and thereby make a tight joint.
The hole through the annular conical rubber packing is large enough to permit
the head of the stopper to pass therethrough.
The lower end of the plunger is provided with a hollow spring clip holder in
which the head of the stopper is held which holder is also provided with an india
rubber surface on the underside to grip the top of the stopper and one or more.
teeth which latter act against the edge of the head of the stopper to assist in
holding and turning the same. The said plunger is operated by a suitable lever to
give the up and down motion thereto in addition to which it is provided with
means for rotating the same when it has been depressed sufficiently to place the
stopper in the mouth of the bottle.
The fixed plunger guide or socket is fitted with the inclined supply tube and the
curved vent tube described in the Specification of Letters Patent granted to
Alexander William Gillman and Samuel Spencer dated March 29th 1876 N° 1335
but instead of such curved vent tube carrying at its outer end a weighted valve as
therein described such valve is removed and the said curved vent tube is caused
to work through a gland at one end of a fixed curved pipe which at its other end
is provided with a valve to give the required vent to the air and fob. The lever
for turning the supply cock is fitted with a curved toothed rack which gears into a
toothed wheel on the axis of the said cock and said lever or a projection therefrom
also operates the curved vent pipe which is provided with adjustable. collars or
projections fixed thereon at certain distances apart to enable the said supply cock
to be turned off before the vent tube is withdrawn from the neck of the bottle.
The above described arrangement of parts for giving vent and for operating the
vent tube and the supply cock are also applicable to bottling machines in which
ordinary corks are employed.

page_text: And in order that our said invention may be more clearly understood and readily
carried into effect we will proceed aided by the accompanying drawings more fully
to describe the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a front elevation partly in section of a screw stopper bottling machine
with our improvements applied thereto: Figure 2 is a vertical section: Figure 3
is a side view partly in section and Figure 4 is a plan partly in section showing
the supply, vent and stoppering parts of the machine. Figure 5 is a plan of the
travelling socket separately. Figures 6 and 7 are vertical sections drawn at right
angles to each other of the supply cock and parts connected therewith.
Figures 8 and 9 are vertical sections drawn at right angles to each other of the
vent tube and valve. Figure 10 is a view of part of the moveable portion of the
vent tube. Figures 11 and 12 are vertical cross sections drawn at right angles to
each other and Figure 13 is an underside view of the spring clip holder for the
stopper and Figure 14 is a slight modification of the stop arrangements for the
supply valve lever.
In all the figures like parts are marked with similar letters of reference.
a is the framing of the machine.
The bottle is supported on a table or platform 6 fixed at the upper end of a
rod 6 which is adjustable in length as shown so as to enable the height of the
table or platform 6 to be adjusted as required.
This rod b¹ is guided in guides a* fixed to the' framé a and is connected by a
link c¹ to a treadle c operated by the foot whereby the bottle is capable of being
raised and lowered when required and when in its raised position for filling and
stoppering, the neck thereof is held forcibly in an annular conical rubber packing d'
in the underside of a vertically travelling socket d which at its upper side is
provided with annular rubber packing d to bear against the lower side of the
fixed plunger guide or socket e and thereby make a tight joint.
The hole through the annular conical rubber packing d' is large enough to
permit the head of the stopper to pass therethrough. The travelling socket d is
held and guided in slots as formed in the guide a fixed to the frame a.
The lower end of the plunger f is provided with a hollow spring clip holder f¹
in which the head of the stopper g is held which holder is provided with spring
clips f' to hold the stopper in position therein and with an india rubber lining f
on the underside to grip the top of the stopper and with fixed teeth f to act :
against the edge of the head of the stopper g to assist in holding and turning
the same.
The said plunger f is operated by a suitable lever f³ to give the up and down
motion thereto in addition to which it is provided with a handle fo fixed thereon
for rotating the same when such plunger † has. been depressed sufficiently to place
the stopper in the mouth of the bottle. The socket e is fitted with inclined supply
tube e and the curved vent tube h¹ working through a stuffing box e¹ as described
in the specification herein before referred to but instead of such curved vent tube h¹
carrying at its outer end a weighted valve.h as therein described such valve is
removed and the said curved vent tube h¹ is caused to work through a gland h³ at 4
one end of a fixed curved pipe h' which at its other end is provided with a valve h³
to give the required vent to the air and fob from the bottles whilst the same are
being filled. By this construction we prevent the breakages which frequently
occurred when the valve was fixed on and moved to and fro with the vent tube h.
The lever for turning the supply cock ; is fitted with a curved toothed rack
which gears into a toothed wheel on the axis of the said cock j and said lever i
or a projection is therefrom also operates the curved vent tube h¹ which is provided
with collars or projections h one or both of which may be made adjustable and
which are fixed thereon at certain distances apart to enable the said supply cock j
to be turned off before the vent tube h¹ is withdrawn from the neck of the bottle. E

page_text: a a are stops fixed on the bracket as for limiting the motion of the lever i which
stops may be either non adjustable as shown at Figure 1 or adjustable as shown
at Figure 14 in which latter case the collars or projections h³ on the vent tube h¹
may be both non-adjustable.
The lever is also caused to act in one direction upon the link or wire k to
withdraw the catch from the stop f" on the plunger f after the withdrawal of the
curved vent tube h¹ from the bottle neck, the said catch being acted upon in the
reverse direction by a spring to bring it into position under the stop f' to prevent
the descent of the plunger f until the curved vent tube h¹ has been withdrawn from
the bottle neck.
Below the table or platform b is a receiver 6' which receives all liquid escaping
from the bottle and conveys it by a pipe b³ to a suitable receptacle.
The treadle c is connected to a rod m which at its upper end is formed into a
quick threaded screw m¹ which passes through the hinge or axis of motion n¹ of
the guard n to open and close the same when required.
The above described arrangement of parts for giving vent and for operating the
vent tube and the supply cock are also applicable to bottling machines in which
ordinary corks are employed.
The following is the method in which our improved apparatus as represented in
the drawings is used.
When about to place a bottle in position to be filled and stoppered, the table or
platform 6 the vertically traversing socket d and the plunger fare in their lowest
positions, the first operation is to place a stopper with its head within the spring
clip holder f¹ which can be readily done by passing it first into the space between
the upper surface of the vertically traversing socket & and the under surface of the
fixed socket or guide e when it is pressed upward into the spring clip holder f¹ in
which it is held by the spring clips f the plunger f is then raised by means of
the handle fo and it is there held by the spring catch until the bottle has been
filled. The bottle is then placed on the table or platform b and with its neck
within the vertically traversing socket d the treadle c is then depressed by the foot
thereby raising the bottle and the vertically traversing socket & until by the force
employed the latter becomes hermetically closed against the fixed socket e and
the bottle neck is hermetically clipped by the india rubber packing at the same
time the guard n is closed around the bottle; as soon as the parts are in this
position the handle i is moved towards the right to the position shown by dotted
lines in Figure 1 thereby turning on the supply cock ; and inserting the vent
tube h¹ into the neck of the bottle, the parts are retained in this position until the
bottle is filled, the air and fob pass off through the vent tube h¹ fixed tube h
valve hand outlet tube h into a receiver, then when the bottle is filled the handle i
is turned towards the left thereby turning off the supply cock j and withdrawing
the vent tube ¹ from the bottle neck after which in the further motion of the
handle the spring catch is released from the stop f' thereby liberating the
plunger which is then depressed by the handle fo so as to place the stopper
within the bottle neck after which the handle fo is turned in order to screw the
stopper properly in position in the bottle neck, the table or platform 6 is then
allowed to fall and the bottle is then removed from the vertically traversing socket d
by pulling it in a downward direction in which action the stopper is also pulled
out of the clip holder f¹ and through the india rubber packing d².
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
1. In bottling machines the employment of a vertically travelling socket d
provided with annular conical packing d¹ and annular packing d³ in combination
with a fixed socket e fitted with supply and vent tubes and stoppering plunger
substantially as herein shown and described and for the purpose stated.

page_text: 2. In bottling machines the employment of a lever handle i fitted with a curved
or segmental toothed rack and adapted to act directly upon the curved vent
tube h¹, cock j and catch substantially as herein shown and described.
3. In bottling machines the employment of a curved vent tube h¹ working within
a fixed guide tube h* provided with a fixed vent valve h³ substantially as herein
shown and described.
4. In bottling machines the employment of a spring clip holder f¹ constructed
as herein shown and described.