Improvements in Stoppers, and in their Application to the Neck of Bottles.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1891-Accepted, 2nd Apr., 1892
CORE RELE
Improvements in Stoppers, and in their Application to the Neck of
Bottles.
I, HERBERT JOHN ALLISON, of 52 Chancery Lane, London, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention (which
has been communicated to me from abroad by The De La Vergne Bottle and Seal
Company, Incorporated, of Foot East 138th Street, in the City and State of New
York, United States of America,) and in what mauner the same is to be
performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
The invention relates especially to that class of elastic and compressible stoppers
called bottle seals which, on account of their simplicity, have given greater
satisfaction than other and more complicated stoppering devices. A seal-stopper to
be efficient has a normal diameter greater than the aperture of the receptacle or recess
for holding it, and is insertible therein by contractile compression. The contraction
has heretofore taken place during the forcing of the seal through the tapering tube
or throat of a corking machine by means of which it is delivered to and seated in
the neck of a bottle, being externally removable therefrom whenever the contents
are desired for use. The most practical form of bottle-neck for receiving a seal-
stopper is that which has a conical groove or recess with an upwardly converging
peripheral wall. After the stopper is inserted the expansive force of the material
causes it to exert upwardly oblique pressure against the converging sides of the
recess, and the pressure of the gas from within the bottle tends to insure greater
tightness. The elastic and compressible stopper or seal, as first made and used in
a conical recess in the bottle-neck, produced a tightening joint to the maintenance
of which the pressure of the gas within the bottle contributed; and such com-
bination had the further effect of dispensing with the necessity of outside fastenings
or wire attachments for holding the stopper in place. Seal-stoppers are cheap to
manufacture and when used, in bottle-necks adapted to receive them, would fulfil
the essential conditions of a very superior stopper were it not for the trouble, which
from the outset was experienced, in withdrawing them from the bottle. In view
of this difficulty several impractical suggestions or proposals were made concerning
the manner in which the withdrawal might be effected; and, continued experiments
to overcome the objection led to the use of certain devices in the nature of pull-
wires attached to the seals, but even with such additions, an extracting-tool or
instrument was required to withdraw the stopper from a bottle.
The introduction of pull-wires added to the cost of manufacture, and was attended
with other objectionable features which became known from actual use of seals
provided with them. Pull-wires interfered with equable compression and free
expansion of the seal during and after insertion in a bottle, and consequently with
the tightness of the joint which in bottles containing liquids highly charged with
gas, or, beer subjected to the steaming process, should be as perfect as possible.
Moreover pull-wires passed through the stoppers and exposed the metal to the
action of the liquids and gases, and the corrosion or rusting thus occasioned
extended пр into the body or inferior material of the seal. This corrosion, besides
being detrimental to the liquids, gave rise to a liability of leakage or escape of gris,
in addition to such liability by reason of imperfect compression around the wire, or

page_text: the several parts which in certain formations thereof, penetrated the body of the
seal. Again, the pull-wires sometimes broke or tore through the material and
came out of the seal without extracting it.
The primary object of the present improvement is to produce a seal-stopper,
having the advantage of easy extraction in addition to the efficacy and simplicity
of those heretofore made, while being free from the objectionable features previously
present or introduced. The secondary object is to produce a sealed bottle, having
a tightening stopper joint to the maintenance of which the pressure of the gas from
within contributes, using therefor a specific form of bottle-neck and in combination
therewith the improved stopper herein described which however may be applied to
other styles of bottle as intended by the primary object before stated. To these
ends the improvements consist of the stopper, as an article of manufacture, as
hereinafter described and claimed, and the combination of the same with a specially
formed bottle-neck, as hereinafter also described and claimed.
In the accompanying drawings A represents the seal-stopper, a, the plug therein,
and b, the outer portion of the body which surrounds the plug, while c, represents
the hinge or unsevered portion in the figures which delineate such a construction;
and D represents the bottle having a conical recess d, in its neck. In these
drawings Figure 1 is a top plan view of a bottle seal having a cylindrical plug
formed integrant with and attached to the body thereof by a hinge c, as shown in
Figure 2, which is a bottom plan of the same, and Figure 3 is a central_vertical
section of the same form of a seal taken on the line a, a, of Figure 1 and
Figure 2.
3, y, of
Figure 4 is a central vertical section of a seal taken on the line, x, of Figure 1
showing the plug as being separate from the body of the seal, although forming a
component part thereof. Figure 5 is a central vertical section on the line x, x, of
Figure 1, showing a seal having a cylindrical plug where no portion of the incision
by which it is formed extends entirely through the body. Figure 6 is a bottom
plan view of a seal having a similarly formed plug made by an incision from the
under side which extends upwardly from the bottom to a point near the top of the
body as more clearly shown by Figure 7, which is a central vertical section thereof
taken on the line 2, 2, of Figure 6.
Figure 8 is a top plan view of a conical bottle seal having a conical plug therein
formed integrant with and attached to the body thereof by a hinge or unsevered
portion, the bottom plan of which would be similar to Figure 2; Figure 9 is a
central vertical section of the seal shown by Figure 8, taken on the line w, 10, of
that figure. Figure 10 is a like vertical section of a conical seal, having a conical
plug, the latter being separate from the body of the seal.
Figure 11 is a top plan view of a seal having a four-cornered or square plug
attached to the body thereof by a hinge or unsevered portion as shown in Figure 12,
which is a central vertical section thereof taken on the line u, v, of Figure 11.
Figure 13 is a top plan view of a seal having an equivalent of the plug in the form
of an elongated portion made by parallel incisions extending outwardly in one
direction to and cutting the periphery of the seal, and Figure 14 is a vertical
section thereof on the line i, i, of Figure 13.
Figure 15 is a central vertical section of a bottle-neck having a conical recess
with an upwardly converging peripheral wall, and of a seal therein having a plug
formed integrant with and attached to the body thereof by a hinge or unsevered
portion, while Figure 16 shows the same with the plug displaced and hanging by
the hinge. The displacement of the plug represented in the last-mentioned figure
takes place in practice by pushing against the same with an ordinary extracting-
tool, or other instrument, the end of which on effecting the displacement would be
in the opening or hole in the seal, and by a prying movement the extracting-tool
would tip the seal upwards while the sides thereof collapse in passing through the
aperture in the bottle-neck, from which it would then be lifted out with ease.
In practice the improved seal-stopper is of greater diameter than the bottle-neck
aperture, and may be composed either wholly or partially of elastic and compressible

page_text: material, but in any event the surrounding portion of its body should have sufficient
compressibility to permit the contraction necessary to its insertion into the bottle-
neck, and sufficient elasticity to cause expansion or force against the sides of the
same. The plug or its equivalent, being a component part of the body of the seal,
may be of elastic and compressible material, or of a different character, as wood,
metal, or composition, and when formed separately occupies an orifice adapted to
receive it. Such formations which are illustrated by Figures 4 and 10 are not
regarded as so desirable for the reason that when displaced the plug is liable to
drop into the bottle, and would of course have to be removed from the contents
when poured out. The plug may remain attached to the body by an unsevered
portion, as shown by Figures 5, 6 and 7, as may also equivalent formations,
examples of which are shown by Figures 13 and 14, and in such cases they are
intended to be broken away during the act of displacement. The plug is preferably
formed integrant with and attached to the body of the seal as such formation is
more desirable for use and more economical to manufacture. The formation of a
plug integrant with the body of the seal may be effected by the same machine that
cuts the seal out of the material.
It being a practice to isolate the upper portion or cheaper grade of material by
attaching to the under surface thereof a fine quality of waterproofed sheeting, the
latter serves the purpose of leaving the plug attached to the seal by a hinge, as c,
formed by having the incision extend all the way through the material, and leaving
the undercut incomplete so that a portion of the sheeting remains unsevered. When
the hinge formation is used the plug may be displaced by being pushed through the
seal and made to swing thereunder until it is out of the way of the extracting
instrument which tips the seal and plug and removes them together from the
bottle.
It is obvious that the plug may be of any conformation and for the purpose of
illustrating several forms and equivalents thereof, it is shown in the drawings as
cylindrical, conical, and four-sided, but may of course be triangular, diamond form,
star-shaped, or of other configuration and the equivalents thereof may be elonga-
tions or displaceable portions or other component parts of the body, as for example
the structure shown by Figures 13 and 14. The cylindrical and conical forms of
plug are however deemed best as they are simple, and when displaced leave a
circular opening, which by reason of its regularity and correspondence with the
peripheral wall of the bottle-neck are especially adapted to permit the desired
relief from the compressure during the extraction of the stopper from a bottle.
Moreover a conical plug being easily displaced in the direction of the enlargement
of the aperture occupied by it in the seal is, in that respect more desirable than
other forms. This ease of displacement is a feature of the seal in all cases of its
use if the plug is originally made conical. The same result may however be
practically effected by making a cylindrical seal with a cylindrical plug of com-
pressible material and combining it with a bottle having a conical form of recess in
its neck, in which case the joint would be of a tightening character both as to the
seal and plug. When inserted in such bottle-neck the seal and its plug would be
forced to conform to the convergence of the recess which, being in an upwardly
direction, would cause them to contract more at the top than at the bottom. The
displacement of the plug could then be effected by passing it downwardly through
the enlarged portion of the aperture produced by less compression and resistance
towards the bottom of the recess and seal. In such connection the cylindrical plug
fould be the equivalent of the originally formed conical plug, and in claiming such
conical form as a feature or element of the stopper or the combination produced I
wish to be understood as also claiming its equivalents.
By the use of a stopper provided with a plug or displaceable portion in a bottle-
neck having a conical recess for holding the same, the contractile compression has
the effect of making a tight joint around the plug as well as with the bottle-neck;
and the tendency of the pressure of the gas from within the bottle, to expel the
stopper therefrom is overcome by the convergence or stricture in the neck which,

page_text: besides preventing expulsion, is calculated to cause greater tightness of the stopper
in the bottle and greater tightness of the plug in the stopper. Moreover a stopper
having a displaceable plug as a component part of its body, when subjected to
contractile compression, is practically as solid and tight in the bottle as if the
continuity throughout the stopper were uninterrupted and consequently it possesses
the efficacy and simplicity heretofore found to be desirable.
The construction of a bottle seal-stopper, with a plug in its body, not only
affords accessibility to the stopper when it is desired to extract it from a bottle,
but also relief from the compressure which, though very desirable, has heretofore
been unattainable during extraction. The operation of withdrawing the stopper
consists merely in taking one of the ordinary extracting-tools already in use in
connection with seal-stoppers provided with pull-wires, or any other suitable
instrument, when by removing the plug the stopper is relieved from the central
pressure, and readily collapses as it is tipped up or drawn ont through the mouth
.of the bottle.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I am aware
of the Patent No. 11,604 of 1885 granted to Oliver Imray, and of the Patent
No. 18,655 of 1890 granted to The Bottle Seal Company Limited, and do not
desire to claim anything contained therein, but what I claim is :
1. An elastic seal-stopper having as a component part of its body, and integrant
therewith, a displaceable plug or portion, whereby relief from the compressure may
-be afforded during extraction of the stopper from a bottle.
2. An elastic seal-stopper having a displaceable plug or portion formed integrant
with and attached to the body thereof, whereby relief from the compressure may
be afforded during extraction of the stopper from a bottle.
3. An elastic seal-stopper having a displaceable tapering plug or portion formed
integrant with and attached to the body thereof, whereby relief from the
compressure may be afforded during extraction of the stopper from a bottle.
4. The combination of a bottle having in the neck thereof a recess with an
upwardly converging peripheral wall, and an elastic stopper having as a component
part of its hody, and integrant therewith, a displaceable plug or portion whereby
relief from the compressure may be afforded during extraction of the stopper from
a bottle.
5. The combination of a bottle having in the neck thereof a recess with an
upwardly converging peripheral wall, and an elastic stopper inserted in said recess
by contractile compression, said stopper having a displaceable plug or portion
formed integrant with and attached to the body thereof, whereby relief from the
compressure may be afforded during extraction of the stopper from a bottle.
6. The combination of a bottle having in the neck thereof a recess with an
upwardly converging peripheral wall, and an elastic stopper inserted in said recess
by contractile compression, said stopper having a tapering displaceable plug or
portion formed integrant with and attached to the body thereof, whereby relief
from the compressure may be afforded during extraction of the stopper from a
bottle.
Dated this 13th dox of October 1901
ALLISON BROS.,
Agents for the Applicant.