Improvements in Means for Closing the Mouths of Bottles or other Hollow Articles and for Holding the Cork or other Stopper Securely in Position.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 24th Nov., 1887
Complete Accepted, 6th Jan., 1888
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Means for Closing the Mouths of Bottles or other
Hollow Articles and for Holding the Cork or other Stopper
Securely in Position.
We JAMES MCEWEN, of 11, Rushton Street, Embden Street, Hulme, in the City of
Manchester, Mineral Water Machinery Engineer, and DAN RYLANDS, of Hope Glass'
Works, Stairfoot near Barnsley in the County of York, Glass Bottle Manufacturer do
hereby declare the nature of our said invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS FOR
CLOSING THE MOUTHS OF BOTTLES OR OTHER HOLLOW ARTICLES AND FOR HOLDING THE
CORK OR OTHER STOPPER SECURELY IN POSITION to be as follows:-
The objects of our present invention are to provide a simple means for holding the
cork securely in position in Bottle mouths and also to facilitate the releasing of the
cork when it is desired to open the bottle.
To attain these objects we make use of discs which may be circular or of any other
approved shape and which may be made of wood or any other suitable material;
these discs being used in combination with .bottle mouths of special shape internally.
In order that our idea may be clearly understood we furnish the annexed drawings,
but we would remark that these drawings are simply to show what it is we aim at
accomplishing and we do not limit ourselves to the exact details of these drawings
accompanying the Provisional Specification.
Fig. 1. shows a section of a Bottle mouth made in accordance with our present
improvements. The portion d of mouth A below the groove b may be either of the
shape shown at Fig. 1. or of the shape shown at Fig. 2. or of any other suitable
shape.
After
After making a bottle of this shape by means of suitable tools (of which we shall
furnish drawings in our final specification) we in order to close such bottles take the
cork E (Fig. 3) which may be of about half or one-third the usual length.
placing this cork in the nozzel of the corking Machine we place on the top of this
cork a disc as already referred to, one shape of which disc F, is shown at Figs. 4
and 5. When made of wood these discs may be soaked in water before being used
in order to make them more pliable.

page_text: By the pressure in the corking Machine the cork and disc are both forced into the
bottle mouth A, and the disc is made of such a size that by its being slightly bent
when being forced by the Machine the disc will pass the part of the hottle mouth;
but immediately it comes into the annular groove b, the disc at once expands to its
full size and thereby lodges on the groove b and securely holds the cork E in the
portion B of bottle mouth.
In the centre of the disc F we form a hole f¹ which may be of any suitable shape
and size, and when it is required to open the bottle all that is necessary to do is to
introduce a sort of pointed instrument into this hole and by leverage split the wood
thus allowing the cork E to blow out or be removed from the bottle mouth.
In some cases it may be preferable to use only a top ledge 6¹ as shown at Fig. 7.
In some cases too where it is preferred to make the discs of more costly material, the
discs may be made having two projections shown at Fig. 8, and the mouth A will
he made with two corresponding slots 62 as shown at Fig. 9.
It may also be possible to form the mouth in some instances of an elliptical form
so that the discs catch under two portions of the mouth but when twisted in an
opposite direction they will allow the cork to leave the bottle mouth.
In some cases too the top portion of the mouth may be made in the form of a
female scew and the dise may he of sufficiently soft material that it may be so formed
as to screw in and out again and so release the cork.
Our invention is also applicable to jars or other hollow vessels as will be well
understood and to stoppers of any suitable material besides cork.

page_text: Improvements in Means for Closing the Mouths of Bottles or other
Hollow Articles and for Holding the Cork or other Stopper
Securely in Position.
We, JAMES MCEWEN of 11 Rushton Street Embden Street, Hulme, in the City of
Manchester mineral water machinery engineer, and DAN RYLANDS of Hope Glass
Works, Stairfoot, near Barnsley, in the County of York, Glass Bottle Manufacturer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to bo
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
Our invention relates to Bottles or other Hollow Articles which are hermetically
sealed by means of corks or other similar stoppers, and the objects of our invention
are to provide a simple means for holding the cork securely in position in the mouth
of Bottles or other Hollow Articles and also to facilitate the releasing the cork or
other similar stopper when it is desired to open the bottle.
To attain these objects we employ discs of a circular or other suitable shape and
made of wood or any other suitable material, we construct the Bottles or other Hollow
Articles and use the before-mentioned discs in the manner illustrated in the drawings
annexed of which the following is a description
Figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, 16 and 19 are sectional elevations of bottle necks showing our
various improved methods of using the discs.
Fig. 14 is a plan of mouth of bottle shown at fig. 13, and fig. 15 is an elevation
of a modified form of disc to suit said mouth.
Fig. 17 is a plan of mouth of bottle shown at fig. 16, and fig. 18 is an elevation of
a modified form of disc to suit said mouth.
Fig. 20 is an elevation and fig. 21 a plan of modified form of disc to suit the mouth
of bottle shown at fig. 19.
Fig. 22 is a plan of tools we employ for forming one class of our improved bottles
or other Hollow Articles.
In fig. 10, the mouth a has a tapered portion &, a groove b, and a tapered portion d
below said groove b. In figure 11 the bottom of the tapered portion d has a ledge c.
In fig. 12 instead of a groove b there is only a top portion 6' and the tapered
portion d.
After forming the bottle mouth as before described by means of the special tools
shown at fig. 22, we in order to hermetically seal such Bottles place the shallow
cork E in the nozzle of a corking machine with the disc Fat the top of said cork.
When the discs F are made of wood they are preferably soaked in water previous to
being placed in corking machine as just described by which means they are rendered
inore pliable.

page_text: By the pressure from the corking machine the cork and disc, are both forced
simultaneously into the bottle mouth a. The disc F is made a little larger in diameter
than the diameter of the portion of mouth of bottle, and when being forced past
such portion it becomes slightly bent until it has passed the said portion b when it
expands and regains its original form thus lodging its periphery in the groove
(figs. 10 and 11) or under the portion (fig. 12), by which means the cork E is
securely held in bottle mouth and the bottle thereby hermetically sealed.
In the centre of the disc F a hole is formed which may be of any suitable
shape, and when it is required to release the cork E from the bottle mouth it is only
necessary to introduce the point of a suitably pointed instrument into said hole f¹
and by pressing the other end of said instrument a fulcrum is formed on the edge
of bottle mouth and by leverage the disc F is prised out of the groove thus allowing
the cork E to be blown out or removed from mouth a of bottle."
Where the mouths of botiles are formed as shown at fig. 12, that is with only a
top ledge or portion 6 to open such bottles the disc F is prised in the manner
hereinbefore described from under said ledge . When it is preferred to make the
disc of a more cosily material and design they are formed with two or more pro-
jections, shown at figs. 13, 14, and 15, and the mouth a of bottle is made with
slots 62, corresponding in number and shape to the projections f formed on disc F.
The disc F may either have a hole formed through its centre see fig. 13 or a
vertical projection f³ (see fig. 15.).
Referring to figs. 16, 17 and 18, the interior of mouth a is made eliptical as shown
at fig. 17.
The disc F is also eliptically formed and corresponds to the top portion of mouth a.
The disc F may either have a hole for a vertical projection f³.
To hermetically seal and open the mouths of bottles shown at figs. 13, 14, 16 and 17
the cork E is placed in the nozzle of a corking machine with the disc F at the top of
it, they are both pressed simultaneously into mouth of bottle the projections of
disc F passing down the slots 62 or the eliptically formed disc F passing vertically
down and past the cliptically formed portion of mouth a. After the discs F have
gót below the portions they are partially turned either to the right or left thus
causing the projection for the transverse ends of discs F to either lodge under
the portion 6, or (where a groove b is formed) within said groove b, and so secure
the corks F within the bottle mouths a.
To open Bottles or other Hollow Articles thus stoppered it is necessary to turn the
discs F in either direction until the projections 2 come into a vertical line with the
slots b², or until the transverse ends come vertically in line with the transverse
ends of mouths a: this is accomplished with the fingers when the discs F are
formed with vertical projections f³, or with an instrument formed with one end to
suit the square or other hole f¹as will be,well understood. When the discs F are
brought into position as described they may be easily removed and the cork E taken
out, or where pressure is within the bottle immediately the discs are turned into
position described the corks E fly out forcing the discs F before them.
Referring to figs. 19, 20 and 21 the top portion of interior of mouth a is threaded.
To hermetically seal bottles constructed in this manner the corks E and discs F are
forced simultaneously into bottle mouth a during which operation the disc F is given
a twist or turn, the said disc F being made of soft wood or other pliable material,
threads itself into the mouth a and securely holds the cork E down therein. To open
bottles thus closed the disc F is unscrewed either by hand when it is formed with a
vertical projection f³, or by means of a suitable instrument when it is formed with
a square or other hole f¹.
The tools shown at fig. 22 are those we use for forming bottle mouths of the class
shown at figs. 10, 11, 12, 13, and 16 and are made after the principle of Dan Rylands'
and Benjamin Stoners' patent No. 8299, of July 9th 1885.
When the handles H are pressed to the parts of plug P open and form the interior
of the mouth and at the same time the dies D form the exterior. The tools for
forming the mouth a, shown at fig. 19, are made with a plug which when the dies D

page_text: are closed up to form the mouth of bottle the said screwed plug permitted to revolve
with the bottle, but when the handles H are released and the dies D spring apart the
plug P becomes locked and the bottle mouth is screwed from said plug, thus a
suitable thread is formed in bottle mouth. Our invention is applicable to jars or other
hollow vessels as will be well understood and to stoppers of any suitable material
besides cork.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is :-
:―
The application of discs of wood or other substance F for the purpose of securing
stoppers of cork or other substance E within the mouths of bottles or other hollow
articles substantially in the ways described and illustrated at figs. 10 to 21 of the
accompanying drawings or any mere modification of the same.
Dated this 22nd dose £ AL
1
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