US13303A - Hydropneumatic machine for exhausting and sealing vessels - Google Patents

Description

UNITED STATES .\V. H. ELLIOT, OF PLATTSBURG, NEWV YORK.

HYDROPNEUMATIC MACHINE FOR EXHAUSTING AND SEALING VES SELS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 13,303, dated July 24, 1855.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, V. H. ELLIOT, of Plattsburg, county of Clinton, State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Mode of Exhausting and Sealing Vessels; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full and exact description thereof.,

The nature of my invention consists in the combination and arrangement of certain devices for the purpose of exhausting, wholly or partially, vessels whose contents may be improved or preserved by removing from them the pressure or presence of the atmosphere, said vessels being sealed hermetically while in connection with the exhausting apparatus by devices connected with said apparatus or independent of it.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation, reference being had to the accompanying drawings and the letters of reference marked thereon,

the same letters indicating the same parts in each figure.

Figure 1 is an isometrical drawing of the exhausting apparatus. a is the exhaust cham-. her or cylinder; 1), the mouth of the chamber, which serves both for ingress and egress to and from the chamber; 0 c, the frame; (I, the lever; r, the neck of the chamber; 8, the sealing-lever; 0, airtight cover of joint.

Fig. 2 is a perpendicular section of the exhausting apparatus, showing the scaling devices in the neck of the chamber a,with a part of a bottle having a metallic tubular stopper in its mouth,and the tube of the stopper placed in the mouth of the chamber, as when in use. 6 is the bag or elastic movable bottom of the chamber; ff, co1lars,which are firmly screwed together upon the bottom of the chamber; bolts which fasten the chamber to the frame. Between these the outer edge of the elastic bag or bottom of the chamber is caught and held firmly; a, yielding lining of mouth I).

Fig. 3 is a perpendicular section of the neck and mouth of the chamber, with a part of a bottle, t, having in its mouth an elongated tubular stopper, 1). a is the elongated portion or neck of the tubular stopper, showing also the device for sealing by compression; h h, jaws which, when brought together upon the neck a of stopper 1) by means of thumbscrew S, cut through the neck and compress it so as to form a perfect hermetical seal, as represented in t", Fig. 6. During the operation of compression the jaws h h hold the stopper firmly in the mouth of the chamber, so that no air is liable to enter the mouth 1) during the process of sealing. The yielding lining a, which secures an air-tight connection between the stopper and the chamber, need not necessarily be attached to the chamber.

ing material-placed between the chamber and the vessel exhausted.

Fig. 4 represents another form of device for lent of that represented in Fig. 3. h represents jaws which cut off and compress neck a of stopper 1); S S, lever by which jaws h are moved; 2, projections on side of neck 1' of the chamber, forming connection between the sealing device and the neck of the chamber, said projections holding said sealing device firmly in its place while exhausting the vessel. The jaws remain open; but when exhaustion is complete the vessel is sealed by bringing together levers S S.

Fig. 5 is a section of tubular stopper p sealed by means of plug 2' and cap '0. x is a perforated plate which serves to prevent the contents of the vessel from stopping up tube R of the stopper.

Fig; 6 is a section of elongated soft-metal tubular stopper. 1" is a seal,which is made by cutting oil" and compressing neck a by means of the device represented in Fig. 3.

Fig. 7 is a section of a movable nose to the chamber, serving when in use to give a downward direction to liquid discharged from the chamber. This noseis held in its place by the hand.

The operation of exhaustin g and sealing with this apparatus may be done in the following manner: Take any substance which has been prepared for preserving, and fill the vessel to be exhausted with as much as it will conveniently contain. Then if a perfect vacuum be required, fill the empty space in the vessel with water or other liquid up nearly to the groove 1 which is to receive the stopper- 1). Fill the groove with melted cement and set the stopper into it. Then fill the remaining empty spa e with the liquid till the air is all expelled from It may be a part of the stopper,or some yield-' sealing by compression, which is an equiva thebottle or vessel, and itis then ready to be exhausted and sealed. To prepare the exhausting apparatus for this operation the lever (1 must be raised and fastened up. The remaining empty space in the chamber d must then be filled completely with the same liquid used in the vessel. If no liquid be used in the vessel, then water may be used for expelling the air from the chamber, and when the scaling is to be accomplished, by plugging the stopper 1) the steel tube j must be taken from the mouth of the chamber and pressed through a slice of potato about one-fourth of an inch in thickness, by which process the tube cuts out and retains plug i, which is exactly suited to the purpose. Then the tube j, containing the plug, may be dropped into the mouth of the chamber a, the upper end of the plunger h passing into the tubej,resting against the plug i, supporting it and the tube, as represented in the drawings. Both the apparatus and the bottle are now ready for the process of exhaust ing and sealing, which is accomplished by turning the vessel bottom up ard and placing tube R of stopper 1) in the mouth Z) of the chamber, as represented in the drawings. Then by depressing lever d a vacuum is opened in the chamber, which must be of sufficient capacity to contain all the liquid in the vessel. As soon as the vacuum is formed in the chamber,the liquid begins to flow through the stopper 1) into the neck 1* of the chamber, then through openings '10 w in the flange of the plunger into the chamber, and continues to flow till it is all down, leaving a perfect or nearly perfect vacuum in the vessel.

In case no liquid be used in the bottle or vessel exhausted, the chamber should be much larger than the vessel, because in that case the larger the chamber a is in comparison with the space occupied by air in the vessel the more perfect will be the vacuum when produced. If it be necessary to make the vacuum still more perfect without the use of a liquid in the vessel, it is only required to warm it with its contents as much as may be without softening the cement around the stopper. By this heating a large portion of the air is driven out by expansion; but when the vessel is exhausted the little air remaining in it is expelled almost completely by the vapor arising in the vessel in consequence of removing the weight of the atmosphere from its contents while in a slightly-heated condition This heat is used in combination with the mechanical action of the exhausting apparatus to aid in producing a more perfect result. WVhen exhaustion is completed, to seal the vessel it is only necessary to depress the sealing-lever S, which causes the plunger h to rise, carrying up with it the tube j and plug z until the tube j stops against the tube R of the stopper; but the plunger h, continuing its motion, carries the plug 03 out of tube 9' into tube R, and thus temporarily seals the Vessel. The permanent seal consists of a cap, I), Fig. 5, which is placed upon the tube R of the stopper with a little into the vessel.

cement under it. The position of the plug 2' in the stopper is represented in Fig, 5.

The process of sealing the vessel by compression after it has been exhausted, as above described, is effected in the following manner: Close the jaws of the sealing-device h h, Fig. 3, upon the neck of the stopper 1), while the vessel is in an exhausted state, by means of the thumb-screw S, and the neck a will be cut through, and at the same time so thoroughly compressed as to form a perfect seal, as represented in 2", Fig. 6. The sealing may then be finished by plunging'the stopper into melted wax or cement.

The most suitable material for plug 71 is potato, in consequence of its peculiar natural qualities, as well as its cheapness and the facility with which it may always be obtained. hen this material is fresh and placed in a stopper, the tube of which is slightly tapering, it is capable of resisting the weight of twelve atmospheres without being driven through No particular form, however, is necessary to success. A cap of the same or any yielding material may be carried by the plunger IL, or some equivalent device, and placed upon the end of the tubular stopper. The steel tube j, which cuts out the plug and holds it upon the end of the plunger, may be dispensed with, and the plug 2' held by other means.

The stopper 19 may be so constructed as to contain the plug at one part of the tube R and let the fluid contents of the bottle pass out by it, and when exhaustion is complete it may be driven farther into the stopper by the plunger, to a point where it fills the tube R perfectly, and so seal the vessel, thus making the stopper serve one of the purposes for which the steel tube j is used; but the simplest of all these equivalent devices are those represented in the drawings.

In selecting a liquid for expelling the air from the vessel previously to exhausting it,

one should be chosen which could have none but a preservative influence upon the preserved substance.

All kinds of fruits are preserved in sirups; most kinds in brandy; animal substances in brine. Any of these may be used in their proper place as a device for exhausting when a perfect vacuum is necessary; but when aperfect vacuum is not necessary to success the air may be expelled from the chamber by water.

When the substance to be preserved. or improved is a liquid, then the vessel should be perfectly filled, and the chamber also with the same liquid, and only a portion of the liquid removed from the vessel before sealing.

The projections G and perforated plates 00 within the concavities of stoppers p and p are equivalent devices, their object being to prevent the contents of the vessel from closing the tube R.

Among the important devices combined in this invention are the following, viz: The use of a liquid for expelling the air from the vessel and the force (viz. gravity) made use of for removing said liquid from the vessel; the use of a liquid for expelling the air from the chamber; the use of lever (Z in connection with the chamber a and its elastic movable portion 6 e; the combination of the yielding lining of the mouth of the chamber, which secures an airtight connection between the chamber and the vessel exhausted with the other devices of the exhausting apparatus; the seal or plug r, so arranged that during the process of exhaustion it leaves the mouth of the vessel open, but when exhaustion is completed is carried to its place in the stopper 1? by plunger h, so as to seal the exhausted vessel, said plunger being operated by lever S or any other mechanism applied for the purpose, the sealing devices, Fig. 3, and seal 1', Fig. 6, used in connection with devices of the exhausting apparatus.

It may be seen that valves have been avoided in the arrangement of the devices of this apparatus, and the reasons for avoiding them are that they would make the apparatus more complicated, and consequently more expensive and more liable to get out of order. These obj ections'would render it unfit to be placed in the hands of common housekeepers. In case valves were used, both the inlet and outlet valve must be placed in the upper part of the chamber, above the liquid used for expelling the air, for reasons obvious. The mouth of the chamber need not necessarily open upward, except when the vacuum is to be pro- (luced by removing a liquid from the vessel, though such an arrangement of the mouth of the chamber is better adapted to the general purposes of the apparatus.

The movable bottom of the chamber 0 0 would work as well on the side of the chamber as in the position represented in the drawings, though not so conveniently, its principal object being to increase or decrease the capacity of the chamber for the purpose of pro ducing certain effects; and almost any one of the mechanical powers may take the place of lever d. A rack and pinion particularly would work with equal advantage. This combination of devices for exhausting may be used without expelling the air from the chamber by the use of a liquid; but the result would be far less perfect, for the reason that considerable space must be allowed within the chamber a, so as to give room for its elastic bottom 6 e to turn upon itself, which space must be 00- cupied by air unless said air be expelled by a liquid.

The special purpose of this invention is the exhausting and sealing of vessels containing substances which may be preserved or improved by being placed in or in connection with partial or perfect vacuum.

Having fully described my invention, I claim The yielding lining of mouth I), the chamber a,with its elastic movable portion e e, and the lever d, with or without the liquid used for expelling the air from the chamber a, or their equivalents,- when used in combination, operating in any manner essentially the same as herein described, and for the purposes herein set forth.

WV. H. ELLIOT.

'Witnesses:

B. K. MORSELL, JOHN NoRMiLn.

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