Improvements in Bottle Stoppers.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 14th July, 1888
Complete Specification Left, 5th Mar., 1889
Complete Specification Accepted, 6th Apr., 1889
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Bottle Stoppers.
I DAVID FULTON of 1 St. James Square, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Civil and Consulting Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be
as follows:-
My said Invention relates to stoppers for bottles containing ale, stout, wine, spirits
and other fermented and nonfermented liquors, aerated and natural waters and the
like. My improved stopper is adapted for application to the ordinary bottles so
that it does not require a bottle of special make or shape. My improved stopper
consists of a disc of thin metal which carries two or more gripping toes, pro-
jections or claws which are at right angles to the disc and which pass easily over
the outside of the bottle mouth. The said claws are so formed as to lie excen-
trically with relation to the centre of the disc and of the bottle neck and so as
to present planes or surfaces which are inclined or progressive with relation to the
centre of the stopper. To the centre of the stopper I pivot loosely a lever or arm
which lies across the top of the disc and which has projections or wings standing at
right angles to the said lever or arm and capable of acting upon the aforesaid inclined
claws in such a manner that when the lever is turned upon its pivot the said wings
slide over the said inclined claws and by reason of their inclination press the claws
inwards so as to make them take a firm hold of the bottle neck. The disc is provided
with a pad or seating of cork or it might be of rubber or other yielding material
which presses upon or enters the mouth of the bottle and securely stops it. I
preferably arrange the claws to be of such a length that the toes will bear upon
the lower part of the swell or band at the top of the ordinary bottle neck so that
when the pinching or closing pressure is applied by turning the pivotted arm, the
toes tend to slide down the incline and thus draw the stopper more closely down
upon the mouth of the bottle. This has the effect of more securely sealing the
bottle and preventing the escape of carbonic acid and other gases thus preventing the
liquor from becoming flat in the hottle. In applying the stopper to a bottle
the pivotted lever is turned so as to leave the claws free. The stopper is then
placed on the bottle mouth and the lever is turned until the wings slide over the
[Price 8d 1

page_text: inclined claws and press them inward causing them to converge and take a firm
hold of the bottle neck and drawing the cork or rubber pad firmly down upon the
bottle mouth. The sealing pressure being directly vertical there is no danger of the
stopper being canted to one side and thus permitting the escape of gas or liquid. I
do not limit myself to the number of the holding claws on the stopper nor to the
number of corresponding projections on the pivotted lever, and instead of a lever
I might have a pivotted disc with overhanging wings to act upon the inclined claws
and might provide such lever or disc with a thumb piece to assist in turning it. The
claws may be formed in one piece with the disc or they may be attached or hinged
thereto. Instead of causing the overhanging wings of a lever or disc to act upon the
compressible claws I might use a revolvable ring having an excentric or cam shaped
internal periphery or a series of such which would act upon the claws so as to
compress them the said ring being either pivotted to the stopper or loose thereon.
When intended for table use or to reclose bottles from which a portion only of the
liquid has been drawn, my improved stopper may be made ornamental in shape aud
design and may be electro-plated with or manufactured from silver or other precious
metal.

page_text: I DAVID FULTON of 1 St. James Square, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster,
Civil and Consulting Engineer, 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 and accompanying drawings :-
1-
My said Invention relates to stoppers for bottles containing ale, stout, wine, spirits
and other fermented and nonfermented liquors, aerated and natural waters and the
like. My improved stopper is adapted for application to the ordinary bottles so that
it does not require a bottle of special make or shape. My improved stopper consists
of a disc of thin metal which carries two or more gripping toes, projections or claws
which are at right angles to the disc and which pass easily over the outside of the
bottle mouth. The said claws are or may be so formed as to present planes or
surfaces which are inclined or progressive with relation to the centre of the stopper.
To the centre of the stopper I pivot loosely a lever or arm which lies across the top of
the disc and which has projections or wings standing at right angles to the said lever
or arm and capable of acting upon the aforesaid inclined claws in such a manner
that when the lever is turned upon its pivot the said wings slide over the said
claws and by reason of the inclination formed either on the claws or on the wings
the said claws are pressed inwards so as to make them take a firm hold of the
bottle neck. The disc is provided with a pad or seating of cork or it might be of
rubber or other yielding material or a combination of such materials which pad
presses upon or enters the mouth of the bottle and securely stops it.
In order that my said invention may be properly understood I will now proceed
more particularly to describe the same with the assistance of the annexed sheet of
drawings which illustrate a convenient mode or convenient modes of carrying my
invention into effect.
Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a stopper of my improved construction fixed in
position upon a bottle mouth.
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of a stopper nearly similar to that shown in Fig. 1 and
applied to a bottle mouth which is also shown in section.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the stopper shown in Fig. 2 and removed from the
bottle.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of the stopper in Fig. 2.
Fig. 5 is a view of the same from the under side.
Figs. 6 7 and 8 illustrate modified constructions of stoppers.
Referring in the first place to Fig. 1 and afterwards to the other Figs. I will
briefly describe the construction of the improved stopper.
As already set forth in my provisional specification one of the primary objects
of my invention is to produce a stopper of neat appearance which can be used in
conjunction with bottles of the ordinary construction and which can be easily
applied and removed. The stopper consists generally speaking of three principal parts,

page_text: namely the metal cap a with spring claws a¹ a¹, the attached pad b of cork, rubber or
other suitable substance for closing the mouth of the bottle and the bar c loosely
pivotted to the centre of the cap a and formed with wings c¹ c¹ intended to act upon
the spring claws a¹ a¹. The cap a is made of thin sheet metal of any suitable
description and the spring claws a¹ a' may either be formed in a single piece with
the cap a or may be made separately and attached thereto. In the drawing they are
shown in one piece with the cap a and are bent at right angles thereto as clearly
shown. The foot of each claw is slightly turned inwards at a² so as to bear upon the
lower side of the swell or bulb r at the bottle mouth and as most clearly seen at Fig. 2.
The same Fig. clearly shows the pad b which might be cemented or otherwise attached
to the cap a, but which is most easily secured by the rivet or stud d by means of
which the bar c is loosely pivotted to the centre of the cap a.
The rivet d passes
through the bar c the cap a and the pad b and is closed over a metallic or other
washer e which prevents the withdrawal of the rivet. The wings c¹ c¹ of the bar c
may be made either of the form shown at Fig. 1 or as shown at Figs. 2 and 3. In
both cases they are arranged to slip over and bear upon the lower part of the spring
claws a a¹ and pinch them inwards against the swell on the bottle mouth. By
being thus compressed or pinched inwards, the bent in toes a² slide down the smooth
glassy slope of the lower side of the swell or bulb æ and thus draw the pad 6 firmly
down upon or into the bottle month and securely confine the liquid in the bottle. By
turning the bar e into the position indicated at Figs. 3 and 5 and in dotted lines at
Fig. 4, the spring claws a¹ a¹ are allowed to resile outwards thus freeing the stopper
and allowing of its ready removal from the bottle. To enable the wings c c to slip
readily over the spring claws a¹ a¹ and to generate the gradual pinching inwards of
the said claws, it is necessary either to form the spring claws with faces not truly
concentric with or struck from the centre of the cap a or else to form such inclined
faces on the inner sides of the wings c¹ c¹ or to form such surfaces on both claws and
wings. For example referring to Fig. 3 it will be evident that if the wings e¹ c¹ are
to exert any inward pressure upon the claws a' al when the bar c is turned in the
direction of the arrows into the position shown in full lines at Fig. 4, then the point a
at the centre of the claws a¹ a¹ (see Fig. 3) must be further from the centre of the cap a
than the points y at the sides of the claws or otherwise there would be no pinching
pressure at all, and the wings would simply pass over the claws without pressing them
inwards. But by forming the claws non-concentrically to the cap as shown at Figs. 4.
and 5, or by forming the claws with progressively inclined surfaces on one or on both
sides, or by forming the inward sides of the pinching wings el c₁ with similarly
non-concentric or inclined surfaces I obtain the result that though the wings of the
bar c slip easily into first contact with the claws a¹ a', by continuing to turn the bar c
up to a certain point (say for example to the centre of the claws) the claws are
gradually forced inwards with the already described result that the stopper is drawn
tightly down upon the bottle mouth and firmly held there. When formed as in
Figs. 4 and 5 the bar c may be turned in either direction to secure the stopper. When
inclines are formed on the wings c¹ c¹ alone, the claws a¹ a¹ may be made concentric
with the cap. The number of the claws a¹ may be varied. For example in Fig. 6.
four such claws are used with a corresponding number of wings c². The wings care
operated from a central thumb piece g by turning which the stopper is secured and
released. In such an arrangement as the latter the wings c¹ might project from a
disc lying upon the cap a. Instead of the wings e acting directly upon the claws a
the bar c or corresponding disc might carry a ring having inclined surfaces to act
on the claws; or the ring-bar c or disc might be entirely dispensed with and a ring
only applied to the stopper as shown at Fig. 7. The said ring his held in depressions
in the claws a¹ or it might be retained in eyes formed on the claws as shown at i
so as to prevent it from becoming detached from the stopper. On the inner circum-
ference of the ring I form inclined or cam surfaces k. k so that when the ring is
turned by means of the handles or lugs 1. 1 on the outside these inclined or cam
surfaces act on the claws a¹ a' and force them inwards so as to grip the bottle.
Instead of inclined surfaces on the ring the ring itself might be bent, cranked or

page_text: otherwise so formed as to force in the claws when the said bent or cranked parts
are brought opposite to the claws. Instead of being rigidly connected to the cap a
the claws a¹ a might be hinged to the cap. In Fig. 8 the cork pad is shown
supplemented by a thickness of rubber m which is interposed between the metal cap a
and the cork b. The addition of the layer of rubber not only increases the elasticity of
the pad but also prevents the liquid from soaking through to the metal cap if the
cork should happen to be porous as might be the case. In punching or pressing
the metal cap a it might be formed with an enclosing flange or lip to box in or enclose
the cork or other pad. The whole of the metal parts of the stopper are capable of
being easily and cheaply manufactured by punching, stamping or pressing. None of
the parts of the stopper are necessarily separable from each other and as no attach-
ments to the bottle are requisite the use of my improved stopper does not interfere
with the perfect cleansing of the bottles. In the case of stoppers intended for table
use or to re-close wine bottles from which a portion only of the liquid has been
withdrawn the improved stopper may be made ornamental in shape and design and
may be electro-plated with or manufactured from silver or other precious metal.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
(1) The general arrangement and combination of parts composing the improved
stopper substantially as described and shown.
(2) The improved stopper consisting of the cap a with claws a¹ the cork or rubber
or other pad b and the centrally pivotted bar c or equivalent disc with wings cl
the whole of the parts being held together by a central rivet or stud d and all
combined, formed and acting substantially as described and shown.
(3) In stoppers of the indicated nature the centrally pivotted bar c having wings c¹
which act upon claws extending from or attached to the cap of the stopper so as to
cause the the said claws to grip the neck of the bottle and hold the attached pad or
cork of the stopper securely against or within the bottle mouth, substantially as
described and shown.
(4) In stoppers of the indicated nature the ring h embracing the claws a¹ and
formed with inclined surfaces or bent or cranked in such a manner as to press the said
claws inwards and cause them to grip the bottle neck when the ring is turned
substantially as described and shown.
D J
3
DUTTON & FULTON,
1, St. James Square, Manchester,
Agents.