IMPROVEMENTS IN EXPANDIBLE STOPPERS OR COVERS FOR THE MOUTHS OF JARS AND OTHER OPENINGS
Year: 1884

page_text: I GEORGE DOWNING of 8 Quality Court, Chancery Lane, London in the County
of Middlesex, Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN EXPANDIBLE STOPPERS OR COVERS FOR THE MOUTHS OF
JARS AND OTHER OPENINGS" and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:—
My Invention relates to improvements in apparatus for closing openings of
various section and making the same airtight.
In the Drawings
Figure 1 shows a section of the apparatus arranged as closure for a vessel.
Figure 2 is a top view of the upper plate of the apparatus.
Figure 3 is a top view of the lower plate.
Figure 4 shows the combination of three apparatus in a square.
Figure 5 is a section of Figure 4 on the lino a b.
The apparatus consists of an upper plate a lower plate b and square bolt c with
handle for connecting both plates. The upper plate a (Figure 2) is provided with
a number of slide guides on the inner side, in the present case 16, in which the
said arms e to els can be slid outwards in radial direction.
These arms carry a number of teeth f which are arranged in the form of a right
handed screw thread. The heads g of these arms are in the arrangement shown for
a vessel closure, semicircularly hollowed out whereas like cavities are formed in
corresponding parts of the vessel. The space so formed serves to receive packing
rings which are either arranged' in the hollow of the arms or in the rim of the
vessels h.
The lower plate 6 of corresponding form with the upper plate a carries a spiral
coil corresponding to the arrangement of the teeth f on the arms e to g¹ª¸
The bolt c which connects the two plates to each other is fixed in the upper
plate a and is moveably arranged in the lower plate b.
If the plate a is turned by means of the handle to the bolt c to the right, the
coil on the lower plate b slides between the teeth ƒ of the arms and compels the

page_text: said arms e to e¹ to move from the centre outwards. The ends g press hereby
equably on the packing ring d whereby a perfectly airtight closure is attained.
Three apparatus can be combined side by side as shown in Figure 4.
The centre apparatus i carries a right hand spiral thread. The right and left
haud apparatus and carry on the other hand a left hand thread.
The spiral is in this case cut or milled into the upper plates i kl and the edge of
each of these plates is toothed.
The central plate i is firmly connected to the bolt c.
A number of bolts are arranged to slide in the guides on the lower square
plate A.
The bolts m and m³ are arranged radial to a circular plate i, five bolts m³ m³
mmm radial to the one side plate, five bolts m³ m³ m10 m¹¹ m¹ radial to the
other side plate.
These bolts m¹ to m¹ are provided with teeth f which are spirally arranged in
correspondence with the aforenamed spirals.
If the centre plate is turned to the right by means of the handle to the fixed
bolt c not only the first five bolts m¹ to m' are moved from the centre outwards
but the rotary movement of the plate i is transferred to the side plates k and
so that the same are moved to the left and in consequence of the left hand
arrangement of the spirals the corresponding bolts moved from the centre
outwards.
The bolts catch in the rim n of the frame o and connect in this manner the
plate a with the frame o.
In this manner it is possible to close openings of any desired section by adapting
one or a combination of several apparatus to the same.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to or may be performed I declare that
what I claim is:-
The construction arrangement and application of the apparatus or device for
stoppering and making airtight closures for openings of various cross sections by
means of the direct straight movement of the arms c¹ to e¹ which are carried in
radial guides and are provided on the one side with suitable spirally arranged
teeth in combination with a plate b which said plate is provided with spirally
arranged grooves and ribs corresponding to the teeth on the arms e¹ to eig
substantially as described in the foregoing Specification and shown in the
accompanying Drawings.
Dated this 16th day of May 1884