Improvements in Stoppering or Sealing Bottles.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Mar., 1894-Accepted, 7th Apr., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stoppering or Sealing Bottles.
I, GEORGE ALBERT BOYDEN, of No. 544 Equitable Building, City of
Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, United States of America, Mechanical
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 :-
cap
My invention relates to a bottle-seal of that class which employs a hard metal
and au elastic or compressible sealing device within the cap.
My invention consists in providing a hard-metal cap having a cylindrical flange
and secured to the bottle by forcing the cylindrical flange over a contact surface on
the bottle which is primarily larger in diameter than the diameter of the said
cylindrical flange, thus expanding the said flange as it is forced on and thereby
producing a frictional contact between the internal wall of the flange and the
exterior of the said contact surface sufficiently great to resist the pressure of the
gases confined in the bottle, and combining said cap with a sealing device to
prevent the leakage of the gases.
The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which,―
Figure 1 shows a top and a side view of the cap.
Figure 2 shows two views of the sealing device in the form of an elastic disk.
Figure 3 shows a section of the metal cap and disk.
Figure 4 is a side view of a cap and the neck and mouth of a bottle adapted to
receive the cap.
Figure 5 is a side view of the neck of a bottle and shows a cap partly forced onto
the bottle-mouth and illustrates the expansion the flange of the cap undergoes when
it is forced on the bottle-mouth.
Figure 6 shows a cap attached to the bottle-mouth complete.
Figure 7 is a section of a bottle-neck and shows the cap and sealing-disk in
position thereon.
Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 6, but showing a bottle-neck of different
exterior shape.
Figure 9 is a section showing the cap and a plug cork as the sealing device.
Figure 10 is a side view of the cap without a flared edge.
Figure 11 is a section of the cap with two disks instead of one.
Figure 12 shows two views of a ring-washer as a sealing-disk.
I will first describe one form of embodiment of my invention and the method
involved as follows:
The bottle to be sealed may be of any form or shape having an ordinary
mouth, a, a short distance below the mouth the bottle has an exterior annular
flange, rim or collar, c, whose opposite sides are straight or parallel, and this is the
contact surface which is preferably provided with a rough-ground face, as indicated
by the speckled appearance in the drawing. An expanding lip, b, connects between
the bottle-mouth, a, and the exterior rim or contact surface, c; this lip may be
curved or inclined, like the section of a cone. Immediately below the rim or collar
is the contracted part, d, of the neck and this causes the formation of a shoulder, d';
this shoulder, however, has nothing to do with the attachment or application of the.
sealing-cap. The bottle is made or blown, as usual, in a mould, and the exterior
annular rim or collar, c, and expanding lip, b, are formed at the time the mouth, a,
is finished. After this the bottle is turned as in a lathe, and suitable grinding
mechanism is employed to grind the surface of the said rim or collar, c, to a true
round or cylindric shape and at the same time reduce it to some predetermined or

page_text: definite size, as, for instance, and for the purpose of the explanation hereinafter
made, say, an external diameter of one inch and one thirty-second of an inch. Of
course it may have any other definite size to suit the cap that is to be used. The
surface of this rim or collar will preferably not be smooth or polished, but will have
a roughness such as that produced by an emery or corundum grinder. The
roughness of the contact surface, however, is not essential.
The metal cap is made of a hard metal preferably of tinned-iron plate, or steel
plate; it has a crown or top, e, and a cylindric pendent flange, f; it also has a
curved or rounded part, e', where the crown or top and the vertical flange join;
the vertical flange of the cap also has, preferably, a slightly flared or bell-mouthed
edge, f, though this is not requisite in all cases. It is essential to my invention that
the internal diametrical measurement across from one side of the cylindric flange of
the cap to the opposite side shall be initially or primarily less than the external
diameter of the said bottle-rim or collar, c; as already stated, if the rim, c, is one
and one thirty-second of an inch, the inner diametrical measurement of the flange, f,
should be, say, one inch, in order to provide for the expansion and tight fit of the
flange.
The sealing device may be made of any suitable material, and I contemplate
various materials, but prefer cork; when a disk, g, or ring-washer, g², are used its
dimensions, diametrically, must be sufficient to completely cover the mouth-end of
the bottle and so that the rim of the disk or ring-washer will fully cover and rest
upon the annular lip, b, of the bottle-mouth. This elastic sealing device, 9, or, g²,
is within the metal-cap, as shown in Figure 3, where it is slightly contracted within
the cylindric flange. The disk or ring-washer has a greater diameter than the
curved or rounded part, e¹, of the metal cap; this contracting of the sealing device
into the cap, as stated, ensures its retention there while the cap is being handled in
the commercial transactions of sale and shipment, and previous to its final attach-
ment to a bottle.
My invention contemplates that the cylindric flange, f, shall be expanded as it is
forced onto the bottle-mouth, and consists in placing in position upon the mouth of
the bottle the hard metal cap having an elastic sealing device within the cylindric
flange whose internal diameter is smaller than the external diameter of the mouth-
rim, or contact surface, and then forcing the cap down over the bottle-mouth
thereby simultaneously expanding the said flange and compressing the elastic
sealing device, whereby, when the external pressure which forces the cap is
removed, there will be no relaxing of the compression of the sealing device because
the cap will remain, in every case, absolutely in the same position to which the
external mechanical pressure forced it.
An ordinary plug cork, g', may be used with my cylindric cap, as shown in
Figure 9.
The essential characteristic of the sealing device which co-acts with the cylindric
metal cap, is, that it shall prevent the leakage of gases contained in the bottle; it
is unimportant, however, as to how the said sealing device is constructed or of what
material it is composed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the saine is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is,
1. The combination of a bottle provided with an exterior annular rim or collar
having a rough-ground surface; a metal cap having a cylindric flange; and a
sealing device to prevent the leakage of gases, said sealing device and cap being
held in their position by the close frictional contact of the cap-flange with the said
roughened bottle-rim or collar.
2. The combination of a bottle provided with an exterior annular rim or collar
having straight sides and also provided with an annular curved or inclined lip
connecting the mouth and said rim or collar; a hard metal cap having a cylindric
flange which is secured to the said bottle-rim or collar by close frictional contact

page_text: therewith-having been expanded thereon; and a sealing device to prevent the
leakage of gases.
3. The combination of a bottle provided with a contact surface adjacent its
mouth; a metallic cap provided with a cylindric flange which engages with the said
contact surface and is secured thereto by means of its frictional grip so as to resist
the pressure of the gases confined in the bottle; and a sealing device to prevent the
leakage of the gases.
Dated this 13th of February A.D. 1894.
GEORGE ALBERT BOYDEN.