IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Con- STRUCTION OF BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING AËRATED OR GASEOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN SHADDERS FOR THE GAME "
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edward Davenport Risque, of Stockport, in the
County of Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Con-
STRUCTION OF BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING AËRATED OR GASEOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN
SHADDERS FOR THE GAME "
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edward Davenport
Risque at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 29th May 1873.
I, EDWARD DAVENPORT RISQUE, of Stockport, in the County of
Chester, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "In-
PROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING AËRATED OR Gaseous
LIQUIDS, AND IN STOPPERS FOR THE SAME," to be as follows:-
The Invention relates to the construction of that class of bottles for
containing aërated or gaseous liquids as are closed by means of stoppers
from the inside, which stoppers are kept in place by the pressure of the
fixed air or gas contained in the liquid.

page_text: Hitherto bottles of this class have been closed by wooden or other
internal stoppers provided with a ring or washer of vulcanized india-
rubber, and it has been found in practise that the aërated or gaseous
liquid has almost invariably become impregnated with the taste of the
sulphur contained in such india-rubber, and consequently such method
of stopping is objectionable.
According to my Invention I employ a simple stopper of wood (by
preference of lignum vitæ or other wood of greater specific gravity than
water) or of other suitable material not capable of giving any unpleasant
taste to the liquid, and not hard enough to endanger the breakage of the
bottle, the said stopper being made cylindrical at the upper part and
conical at the lower part, the base of the cone being of such diameter
as to be able to pass through the neck of the bottle, and the stopper
being of such a length that it cannot become turned over inside the
bottle after having been pushed in through the neck with the base of the
cone downwards.
The neck of the bottle is made with an annular recess round the inside
near to the mouth, and after the stopper has been pushed through into
the body of the bottle a ring of cork is compressed and fitted into this
recess, the central opening through which ring when expanded into this
recess being of a sufficient diameter to admit the cylindrical part of the
stopper, but not to allow the conical part to pass through.
The lower part of the ring is bevilled or bell mouthed, so that upon
reversing the bottle the stopper falls at once into this ring of cork and
effectually closes the opening; and it will be evident that if the bottle
be filled with any aërated or gaseous liquid the internal pressure will
keep the mouth effectually closed.
The cylindrical part of the stopper is of a sufficient length to project
beyond the mouth of the bottle, and all that is required on opening a
bottle is to force the stopper inwards against the pressure of the air or
gas, and as soon as thus liberated it falls to the bottom. The base of
the stopper I make hollow or concave, in order to present a larger
surface to the action of the fixed air or gas.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edward Davenport Risque in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDWARD
DAVENPORT RISQUE, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, send'
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in tho
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Edward Davenport Risque,
Her special license that I, the said Edward Davenport Risque, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Edward Davenport Risque, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF BOTTLES
FOR CONTAINING AËRATED OR GASEOUS LIQUIDS, AND IN STOPPERS FOR THE SAME,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edward Davenport
Risque, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed.
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edward Davenport Risque, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-,
tained in and by the following statement and accompanying Drawings,
(that is to say) :—
This Invention relates to the construction of that class of bottles for
containing aërated or gaseous liquids as are closed by means of stoppers
from the inside, which stoppers are kept in place by the pressure of the
fixed air or gas contained in the liquid.

page_text: Hitherto bottles of this class have been closed by wooden or other
nternal stoppers provided with a ring or washer of vulcanized india-
rubber, and it has been found in practise that the aërated or gaseous
liquid has almost invariably become impregnated with the taste of the
sulphur contained in such india-rubber, and consequently such method t
of stopping is objectionable.
According to my Invention I employ a simple stopper of wood (by
preference of lignum vitæ or other wood of greater specific gravity than
water) or of other suitable material not capable of giving any unpleasant
taste to the liquid, and not hard enough to endanger the breakage of the 1
bottle, the said stopper being made cylindrical at the upper part and
conical at the lower part, the base of the cone being of such diameter
as to be able to pass through the neck of the bottle, and the stopper
being of such a length that it cannot become turned over inside the
bottle after having been pushed in through the neck with the base of the 1
cone downwards.
The neck of the bottle is made with an annular recess round the inside
near to the mouth, and after the stopper has been pushed through into
the body of the bottle a ring of cork is compressed and fitted into this
recess, the central opening through which ring when expanded into this
recess being of a sufficient diameter to admit the cylindrical part of the
stopper, but not to allow the conical part to pass through.
The lower part of the ring is bevilled or bell mouthed, so that upon
reversing the bottle the stopper falls at once into the ring of cork and
effectually closes the opening; and it will be evident that if the bottle
be filled with any aërated or gaseous liquid the internal pressure will
keep the mouth effectually closed.
The cylindrical part of the stopper is of a sufficient length to project
beyond the mouth of the bottle, and all that is required on opening a
bottle is to force the stopper inwards against the pressure of the air or
gas, and as soon as thus liberated it falls to the bottom. The base of
the stopper may be made hollow or concave, in order to present a larger
surface to the action of the fixed air or gas.
Such being the nature and object of my said Invention, I will now
proceed to describe more in detail the manner in which the same is to be
or may be performed or carried into practical effect, and in order that

page_text: the same may be clearly understood I have annexed hereunto a Sheet of
Drawings illustrative thereof, and have marked the same with figures and
letters of reference corresponding with those in the following explanation
thereof.
In the annexed Drawing Fig. 1 is an external view, and Fig. 2 a
section of an aërated water bottle, showing the adaptation of my In-
vention thereto. a, a', is the bottle, and b, b¹, the stopper, made of
lignum vitæ or other suitable material of a greater specific gravity than
water. It will be seen that this stopper is made cylindrical at the part 6
and conical at the part 6', and is of such a length that when once
inserted into the bottle it cannot turn over (see Fig. 1), and the base of
the cone is of such diameter that it can pass through the neck a³ of the
bottle.
The neck of the bottle is made with an annular recess, in which a ring
of cork c, c, is fixed after the stopper has been introduced. This ring
of cork, which is slightly bevilled or bell mouthed at the bottom, may
be introduced and fixed in the neck of the bottle in a variety of ways.
At Figs. 1 and 2 the bottle is represented as having an annular recess
of a square section. This requires an expanding tool for its manu-
facture, but is perhaps the most secure way of fixing the ring, which
must be compressed before insertion.
Fig. 3 can be made in the same way as an ordinary bottle, but the
ring c, c, requires to be fixed with marine glue, shellac, or other cement
which will adhere to glass.
In Fig. 4 the recess is formed by tapering the mouth and turning
over the edge or rim d, d, during the formation of the bottle.
In Fig. 5 the recess is formed by making a suitable annular recess in
the mould, and blowing the material into it.
Other ways of forming the recess and fixing the cork ring therein
might be adopted.
Having now described the nature and object of my said Invention,
together with the manner in which the same is to be or may be per-
formed or carried into practical effect, I wish it to be understood that I
claim as my Invention, the employment or use of any internal stopper
of wood or other suitable material formed partly cylindrical and partly

page_text: conical, as herein-before described and shown on the annexed Drawings
in combination with a ring of cork fixed in a suitably formed recess in
the neck of the bottle.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edward Davenport Risque, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of 5
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.