Improvements in Bottle-sealing Devices.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 28th Sept., 1897--Accepted, 5th Mar., 1898
Improvements in Bottle-sealing Devices.
I, LEWIS KALLING, of 1517, West Lombard Street, in the City of Baltimore, and
State of Maryland, United States of America, Bottler, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained, in and by the following statement: —
This invention consists, first, in the formation of a joint between the bottle head
and the sealing cap by means of a compressible gasket, which is so drawn and
flattened as to present only a feather or knife edge to any liquid that may pass over
the bottle lip, or between the lip and the inner surface of the cap with which the
said lip is in contact.
By this means, rubber, or any other substance which is well adapted as a joint-
forming material, may be used without danger of its contaminating or injuriously
affecting the contents of the bottle, as will hereinafter fully appear.
The said invention consists, secondly, in the combination with a bottle having
a lip with an inclined, beveled or rounded exterior surface, of a flexible sealing cap
of such shape that when it is brought in contact with the upper end or edge of the
bottle lip, it will stand away from the said inclined, beveled or rounded surface,
and thereby form a space for an annular compressible gasket, as hereinafter more
particularly described.
In the further description of the said invention which follows, reference is made
to the accompanying drawing, forming a part hereof, and in which―
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the upper part of a bottle and a sealing cap of
the character shown and described in Letters Patent No. 2031, dated the second
day of February, 1892, for bottle-sealing devices, the same being provided with a
joint-forming gasket in accordance with the present invention, and illustrating the
position of the gasket before the same is compressed.
Fig. 2 is a view similar to Fig. 1, except that the cap and gasket are shown in
the positions which they occupy after the joint is formed.
Fig. 3 is a top view of the cap.
Figs. 4, 5 and 6 show the invention as applied to the sealing device, patented to
George A. Boyden, March 6, 1894, under No. 4650.
Figs. 7, 8 and 9 illustrate the application of the present invention to the bottle
sealing device, dated the 9th day of June, 1896, and numbered 12649.
In the Patent 2031 referred to, the flange portion of the sealing cap a is corru-
gated, the corrugations being divided into classes, termed in the specification, the
inner and the outer ones; and the cap is secured to the bottle by forcing the inner
corrugations under a shoulder formed on the bottle neck.
Instead of the sealing disk shown in the said former Patent, No. 20312 I place
within the cap, which does not fit the outer surface of the bottle lip immediately
below its extreme end, an annular gasket a, of some compressable substance, prefer-
ably rubber, which has an inner diameter greater than that of the upper edge of the
lip of the bottle. This gasket, as the cap is forced down and its inner surface
brought into contact with the extreme upper edge of the bottle lip, is confined in a
space between the cap and the surface b of the bottle lip formed by the difference

page_text: in configuration of the two parts, and is flattened and spread over a large portion
of the said inclined surface, its upper end forming a feather or knife edge below the
extreme end of the bottle head. By this means, while the joint formed between
the glass and the metallic cap may not be water-tight, the portion of the gasket
exposed to the liquid in the bottle has practically no thickness, and it cannot, there-
fore, it any way affect it.
The substitution of this annular gasket, made of some cheap substance, such as
rubber for a cork disk, very materially cheapens the sealing device without detract-
ing in any manner from its efficiency.
It will be seen that the lower end of the gasket is also feather or knife-edged,
but this is only incidental to the shape of the shoulder and the cap; and the result
will be the same if the thickness of the gasket at the centre be continued to the
bottom, as it is not in contact, with the fluid in the bottle...
From the foregoing it will be understood that the distinguishing feature of this
joint is the contact of the cap with the bottle and the drawing of the gasket so as
to produce a knife edge at its upper end which is on the exterior rounded or beveled
surface of the bottle lip.
While I have stated that the inner surface of the cap is in contact with the
extreme end of the bottle lip, I do not debar myself from coating the inner surface
of the cap with some innocuous varnish made from paraffine or some suitable
resinous substance to prevent the contents of the bottle coming into contact with
the metal of the cap, the intention of the invention being to dispense with a disk
or gasket which is inserted in the cap to form a joint between its inner surface and
the extreme end of bottle lip.
The employment of a disk between the upper edge of the bottle and the cap,
would, in the compressing operation to which the gasket is subjected, cause a
portion of the same to enter to some extent the throat of the bottle and bring it
into contact with the liquid therein, a result which with my invention is entirely
obviated.
The Boyden cap, shown in Figs. 4, 5 and 6, is held to the bottle head by friction
alone, the head of the bottle being ground to give it accuracy in diameter and ä
true surface over which the cap is drawn in the joint-forming operation.
The gasket a is applied to the Boyden cap in the same manner as the cap
described in the said former Patent No. 2031 of 1892, and presents a knife edge
to any liquid which may pass over the bottle lip.
To adapt the gasket to my patented cap which is shown in Figs. 7, 8 and 9, the
gasket is made somewhat wider than the hollow bead in the cap, as shown in Fig. 7,
so that in the compressing operation a portion of the gasket will pass upward
towards the end of the lip of the bottle and terminate in a knife edge as shown in
Fig. 8.
By reference to the drawing, it will be seen that in all cases the curvature or
configuration of the inner surface of the sealing cap differs from that of the outer
surface of the bottle lip immediately below the extreme end thereof, so that a space
is left for an annular gasket.
I have illustrated the application of my invention to three distinctive types of
sealing caps, but it is evident that it is applicable to others, provided the cap is
made to stand away from the inclined, beveled or rounded outer surface of the
bottle lip, so as to give space for an annular gasket which is compressed in the said
space.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:-
A bottle having a lip with an inclined, beveled or rounded exterior surface, and
a flexible sealing cap the annular wall of which immediately below the crown
thereof has an inclination, bevel or curvature, different from that of the exterior
of the lip of the bottle so as to form an annular space immediately below the upper

page_text: edge of the lip, but which annular wall at its lower edge is in contact with and
clamps the bottle head, combined with an annular compressible gasket which is
inclosed within and entirely fills the said space, substantially as specified.
Dated this 30th day of August 1897
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
LEWIS KALLING.
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.