IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES."
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hector Aylesbury, of the City and County of
Gloucester, Mineral Water Manufacturer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hector Aylesbury at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 25th January 1872.
I, HECTOR AYLESBURY, of the City and County of Gloucester, Mineral
Water Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES," to be as follows:-
My Invention particularly refers to the stoppers for bottles containing
mineral and other aërated or effervescent liquids, and it is adapted to
those bottles containing liquids from which it is sometimes required to
draw a portion of the contents and not the whole, while the remaining
portion still keeps in the same state as it was before a portion of the
contents of the bottle had been withdrawn.

page_text: Heretofore the stoppers of this class have been such that dirt and
other extraneous matters have collected or formed in or about the neck
of the bottle, so that when the neck is free to admit or to discharge
liquid this dirt or other matter has been liable to get into and to mix with
the contents. Now by my Invention no dirt or other matter can
possibly collect or get into the bottle because the surface is left quite
flush and free, as if the top of neck were covered with a capsule.
I make the plug hollow with a flange at top and closed at bottom, as
hereafter described; the part below the flange is made for a portion of
its length to correspond with the shape of the neck of the bottle, and
below a portion is cut away and open at the sides, whereby the liquid is
admitted and escapes as hereafter described. Through the base of the
plug a slide passes carrying at its lower end a rod with washer, and at
its upper a rod with disc, the latter corresponding in size exactly, or as
nearly so as may be, with that of the interior of the plug. Now sup-
posing the plug proper to be in an empty bottle, and the disc and
washer to be pushed down so that the latter comes clear of the root or
lower part of the neck, liquid can then be admitted, which if aërated
gradually causes the washer and with it the slide and disc to rise until
the bottle is full. By this time the washer is pressing against the inner
faces of the lower part of the neck, and the disc has risen flush with the
flange of the plug, when by giving the flange a quarter or half turn the
slide is also turned, and thereby caused to abut against the base of the
plug when the fastening is perfectly secure.
To unfasten the stopper the flange is turned and pulled up, when the
disc descends and the apertures in the plug are open, so that liquid can
be withdrawn until the flange is pushed back.
By another arrangement I make the slide with a screw thread which
takes into a corresponding screw thread in the base of the plug, so that
by turning the flange in one direction the disc is brought up flush with
it, and the fastening secure, and by turning it in the contrary direction
the disc is lowered and the stopper opened.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hector Aylesbury in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 25th July 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HECTOR
AYLESBURY, of the City and County of Gloucester, Mineral Water
Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Hector Aylesbury, Her special licence that I,
the said Hector Aylesbury, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Hector Aylesbury, my executors, administrators,
and 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 STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hector Aylesbury,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my,
or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hector Aylesbury, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 of reference marked thereon, that is to
say:
My Invention particularly refers to the stoppers for bottles containing
mineral and other aërated or effervescent liquids, and it is adapted to
those bottles containing liquids from which it is sometimes required to
draw a portion of the contents and not the whole, while the remaining

page_text: portion still keeps in the same state as it was before a portion of the
contents of the bottle had been withdrawn.
Heretofore the stoppers of this class have been such that dirt and
other extraneous matters have collected or formed in or about the neck
of the bottle, so that when the neck is free to admit or to discharge
liquid this dirt or other matter has been liable to get into and to mix
with the contents. Now by my Invention no dirt or other matter can
possibly collect or get into the bottle because the surface is left quite
flush and free, as if the top or neck were covered with a capsule.
I make the plug hollow with a flange at top and closed at bottom as
hereafter described; the part below the flange is made for a portion of
its length to correspond with the shape of the neck of the bottle, and
below a portion is cut away and open at the sides, whereby the liquid is
admitted and escapes as hereafter described. Through the base of the
plug a slide passes carrying at its lower end a rod with washer, and at
its upper a rod with disc, the latter corresponding in size exactly or as
nearly so as may be with that of the interior of the plug. Now sup-
posing the plug proper to be in an empty bottle, and the disc and washer
to be pushed down so that the latter comes clear of the root or lower
part of the neck, liquid can then be admitted, which if aërated gradually
causes the washer and with it the slide and disc to rise until the bottle
is full. By this time the washer is pressing against the inner faces of
the lower part of the neck, and the disc has risen flush with the flange
of the plug, when by giving the flange a quarter or half turn the slide is
thereby caused to abut against the base of the plug when the fastening a

page_text: the shut position; Fig. 2 is a vertical section through the plug when
open; Fig. 3 is a plan section on the line A, A, Fig. 1.
The body of the plug is hollow and lantern shaped or open sided for
part of its length, as shewn. It has a flange a, by preference with
milled edge at the top. For a portion of its length the body of the plug
is bevelled to correspond with the shape of the neck of the bottle, an
india-rubber washer 6 forming a yielding and air-tight joint between
both. A sliding rod c passes through a hole in the bottom; the shape
of the hole is shewn at Fig. 3. The sliding rod c carries a disc c³, and an
india-rubber washer d at its lower end is for part of its upper length.
formed with one or more feathers (two shewn here), and terminates at
its upper end in a disc e which corresponds in size with the interior of
the plug. Now supposing the body of the plug to be in an empty
bottle and the disc c¹ and india-rubber washer d to be pushed below
the root of the neck, as shewn at Fig. 2, then the liquid can be admitted
which, if aërated, gradually by its pressure pushes up the washer d,
forming when the bottle is full a joint against the root of the neck, and
at the same time of course raising the sliding rod c; the disc e on the
upper end of it is then flush with the projecting rim on the outside face
of the flange a. On giving the latter a quarter or half of a turn the
sliding rod c is in an altered position as regards the hole in the bottom
of the body of the plug, and is caused to abut with its feathers against
the bottom or base of it.
To unfasten the stopper the flange a is turned and pulled up, when the
disc e descends with the sliding rod, and the disc c' and washer d on its
lower end; the liquid can then escape through the lantern openings in
the body of the plug into the interior of the same, and out at the
opening at the top. When enough liquid has been drawn off the sliding
rod is raised and the flange turned back to its former position, and the
pressure of the liquid remaining makes a joint by pushing the washer d
up against the root of the neck of the bottle as before.
The sliding
Fig. 4 is a sectional view of another arrangement.
rod c is here made with a screw thread which takes into a corresponding
screw thread in the base e¹ of the body of the plug, so that by turning
the flange a in one direction the disc e is brought up flush with the
projecting rim of the flange a, and the fastening made secure, and by
turning it the other way the disc e is lowered, and the stopper
opened.

page_text: And having now fully described the nature of this Invention, and the
manner of carrying it into effect, I declare that I claim, the com-
bination of a lower flexible washer seating itself against the root of the
neck of a bottle, a lantern shaped hollow plug body, and a sliding
rod, all substantially as and for the purposes herein-before set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hector Aylesbury, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
two.
HECTOR AYLESBURY. (L.B.)