IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING OR CLOSING BOTTLES, JARS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Sceats, of King's Road, Norbiton in the county of
Surrey for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING OR CLOSING
BOTTLES, JARS AND OTHER VESSELS"
(Void by reason of the Patentee having neglected to file a Specification in
pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Sceats at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 17th January 1883.
JAMES SCEATS of King's Road, Norbiton, in the County of Surrey "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STOPPERING OR CLOSING BOTTLES, JARS, AND OTHER VESSELS
"
This invention relates to an improved method of and apparatus for stoppering or
closing bottles, jars and other vessels and is particularly applicable to the stoppering
of bottles containing aërated or gaseous liquids as the bottle can be easily and
quickly opened or closed.
In carrying out my invention instead of the top of the lip of the bottle as
ordinarily made being finished evenly all round its circumference I raise the lip of
the bottle at two opposite portions above the level of the ordinary lip thereby
leaving two equal spaces and from the level of the ordinary lip and in continuance
of it an incision or groove is made on the inside of the two raised portions.
Or instead of forming the lip of the bottle as aforesaid I provide two catches
fixed either by wire or forming part of a ring made of metal or other suitable
material and so fixed that they are raised just above the lip of the bottle on
opposite sides and such catches answer the same purpose as the hereinbeforo
described grooves in the neck of the bottle.
I provide a plate of an elliptical shape; or it may be circular with extensions on
two opposite edges of its circumference or square or of other suitable shape the said
plate is placed over the mouth of the bottle and is attached to the bottle at one
extremity by a suitable hinge and at the other it is slightly extended to afford the

page_text: means of opening which is readily performed by pushing the plate back to the
position it occupied when it was first placed over the mouth of the bottle as is
hereinafter described.
On the underside of the said plate and fixed thereto by means of a pin passed
through the centre of the plate I provide a stopper the plate rotating on the pin. 5
The said stopper will be composed of cork adapted to the neck of the bottle and
having between itself and the plate a thin piece of india rubber, or it may consist
of a piece of cork only. The stopper may also be made of porcelain, wood, metal
or other suitable material surrounded with india rubber
By this arrangement if the bottle or the plate be turned slightly round, the plate 1
will become fixed in the grooves of the bottle or by the catches affixed thereto, and
the stopper will be securely held in the mouth of the bottle. To open the bottle
the plate has merely to be pushed back until its edges are free of the aforesaid
grooves or catches, and the stopper and plate will then be forced open by the
internal pressure, or, in the case of non-gaseous liquids the stopper would be opened 1
by hand. To close the bottle the stopper is replaced in or over the mouth of the
bottle and the plate being turned will be fixed as hereinbefore described.