Improvements relating to Bottles and to Stoppers therefor.
Year: 1887

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by GEORGE ARTHUR FULLERTON, of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America.]
Improvements relating to Bottles and to Stoppers therefor.
I WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE of the firm of Haseltine Lake and Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex 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:-
This invention relates to improvements in bottle stoppers.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is an elevation of my combined bottle and stopper with the stopper in its
highest position.
Figure 2. is a view of my combined bottle and stopper with the stopper forced
home.
Figure 3 is a longitudinal section of the same.
Figures 4 and 5 are views of the band; and
Figure 6 is a side view of the stopper and its bail detached.
In the drawing, A is a bottle whose neck a has two grooves a¹ and shoulders a².
The stopper B is secured to a bail B. D is a strip of sheet metal perforated as
shown in Figure 4, and forming the band shown detached in Figure 5. The bail B'
is a malleable casting, and is so shaped that its ends may be sprung apart sufficiently
far to allow them to be passed over the rim of the bottle, and snapped into the holes
in the band D and into the grooves a¹.
The main advantage of this device is its cheapness of construction and the ease of
applying it to the bottle; and detaching it and re-applying it, when the stopper B
requires removal ; for although I have shown the stopper B as of rubber, it is for
some purposes made of cork, and requires renewal from time to time. In applying
this device, the band D is first placed around the neck of the bottle with its end holes
in line, and the bail B' is then spread (by pliers or otherwise) so that its inwardly
turned ends will snap into place, that is through the holes in the band D and into the
grooves a¹; this is done preferably when the band D, stopper B, and bail occupy the

page_text: position shown in Figure 1. The bottle is then ready to be filled, and when filled
the stopper B is forced home and the bail B₁ turned until its inwardly turned edges
engage the shoulders a³, as in other devices of this class.
When the cork stopper is to be replaced, the bail B' is sprung open far enough to
allow it to be removed from the bottle; the rivetted end of the cork spindle is cut off
with cut nippers, the old cork stopper and its spindle removed and a new cork stopper
and spindle put in its place the upper end of the spindle being rivetted to connect it with
the bail. The bail is then sprung open again and allowed to snap back into place on
the bottle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I wish it understood that I am aware that swing
stoppers are old and therefore do not broadly claim a stopper held to a bottle by a
bail and grooves in the neck of the bottle: but limit my claim to the novel features
of construction herein described by means of which I am enabled to produce a swing
stopper far cheaper and more readily applied than any heretofore known and yet
equal to any now in the market, that is to say I claim :-
A bottle A having grooves a¹ and shoulders a³ in combination with a stopper B,
bail B having inwardly turned ends and a band D, the ends of which are per-
forated and lapped to receive one of the inwardly turned ends of bail B¹ whose other
inwardly turned end is through another perforation in band D, the bail in place
having its inwardly turned ends extending through the perforations in band D into
grooves a¹, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Dated this 29th day of November 1887
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.