Improvements in Stoppering and Sealing Bottles and like Receptacles.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd Jan., 1895-Accepted, 16th Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stoppering and Sealing Bottles and like
Receptacles.
We, WILLIAM BRAYTON MANN, of 707 North Howard Street and WILLIAM
TECUMSETH STILWELL of Fireman's Building, both in Baltimore, in the State
of Maryland, United States of America, Gentlemen, 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 :-
Our present invention relates to a new and improved means and method for
sealing bottles and other like receptacles intended for the reception and storage of
fluids, especially such as are maintained under pressure as for example beer,
wine etc., but likewise applicable where such pressure is not generated or
maintained; and it has for its object to provide a cheap convenient and efficient
means for at once supplying a stopper to close the orifice and form an air tight
joint.
In the accompanying drawings
.
:-
Figure 1 is a sectional view of a portion of a bottle with stopper inserted.
Figure 2 is a similar view with stopper expanded to form the seal.
Figure 3 illustrates the manner of applying an extractor for unsealing the bottle
and removing the stopper..
Figures 4 and 5 illustrate modified forms of bottles for receiving the stopper.
Figure 6 illustrates a modified form of stopper.
Similar letters of reference in the several figures indicate the same parts.
There are many varieties of stoppers now in use designed, as this is, to retain
liquids and fluids under pressure, but they exhibit in practice objectionable features
due in some instances to the presence of objectionable materials in others to the
insufficiency of the sealing properties, and in others still to the complicated,
expensive and unstable character of the fittings employed. Thus objectionable
odors spring from the use of rubber and similar materials; leakage due to defective
cork, or other packing material; accidental displacement of the stopper resulting
in the unsealing of the receptacle ; difficulty in readily and conveniently effecting
the unsealing when it is desired to remove or permit access to be had to the
contents, and numerous other defects incident to the special constructions and
materials which go to make up the sealing devices.
The invention is designed to avoid all these and in its simplest form of
embodiment it involves the use of a bottle or other receptacle provided with a seal
or sealing chamber, the exterior or sealing walls of which are either substantially
parallel or slightly inclined, as by bevelling or undercutting, and a seal or stopper
composed in whole or in part of malleable or ductile material, such for example, as
lead and its alloys, the two being united and firmly held together to form a tight
joint at the points of contact of the one with the other by the application of
pressure to the material of the seal or stopper in a direction to displace spread or
expand the material of the seal laterally against the walls of the sealing chamber.
or seat forming a close contact which is maintained by the changed condition or
arrangement of the material composing the seal.
One of the preferred forms in which the invention has been embodied is
represented in Figures 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, wherein A designates the top or
upper end of a bottle, and B the seat or sealing chamber formed therein. In this
instance the sealing chamber is formed with a slightly undercut wall 1, the mouth or

page_text: entrance to said chamber being slightly smaller than the portion 2 forming the
seat for the edge of the seal or stopper C. Below the seat 2 is formed a ledge
or shoulder 3 extending inwards slightly beyond the mouth or entrance to the
seating chamber, said ledge constituting an anvil for the purpose hereinafter
described:
.
The cap, seal or stopper C is cut, cast or struck up from lead or other malleable
and ductile material, preferably metallic, in the form of a concavo-convex disc of a
size adapted to readily enter the mouth. of the sealing chamber wherein it is
inserted with the concave surface downwards and resting upon the ledge or anvil 3,
as shown in Figure 1. The seal, cap or stopper C having thus been brought into
position pressure is applied thereto, preferably by means of a spinning tool or
roller, in a direction to flatten out the margin and condense the latter so that
the edge of the disc will be expanded and pressed laterally against the walls of
the sealing chamber, at once forming a tight joint and maintaining the same, the
ductile material flowing or being expanded by the pressure and becoming set
tightly against the surrounding wall of the sealing chamber so that upon the
removal of pressure, the seal will not yield or spring, and thereby destroy the seal.
The ledge 3 serves as a convenient support for resisting pressure during the
spinning or compressing operation, and it also determines the plane and position
of the under surface of the concavo-convex disc when pressure is applied to
flatten it.
It will be observed that the seal stopper or cap C is of such shape and
dimensions that it can readily be inserted within the sealing chamber in the mouth
of the receptacle without compression, in other words, it is normally of smaller
diameter than the mouth of the chamber, that it is composed of a material
impervious to fluids and of such a degree of malleability and ductility that it can
be displaced or expanded laterally to form a tight joint, or packing and that it is
of such strength and rigidity as to resist the pressure within the bottle or receptacle
and maintain its sealing position.
For ordinary purposes sheet lead of from No. 18 to No. 20 wire gage has been
found in practice to furnish a seal capable of resisting a pressure from within the
bottle of from 40 to 80 pounds and when lead is employed, if for any reason it
should be desired to prevent the contents of the bottle from coming in contact
with the lead, a thin coating of tin or other protecting media may be applied to
the face of the stopper, seal or cap either before or after it has been struck up into
form and previous to its insertion and fixing within the bottle.
The seal can conveniently be removed by a puncturing instrument, such as that
shown in Figure 3, the point penetrating the raised central portion of the seal,
and by its leverage against the mouth of the bottle bending and withdrawing the
seal therefrom.
It is obvious that the invention can be embodied in and practised by the use of
other forins of seals, stoppers or caps, and sealing chambers, the essentially novel
feature being the formation of the seal between the stopper and the walls of the
sealing chamber by the lateral displacement of a portion of the material forming
the seal or stopper, and, further, that any metal alloy or material possessing
sufficient strength, malleability and ductility for the purpose may be employed as
an equivalent for lead.
Although it is feasible to effect the necessary lateral displacement of the metal
by pressure applied in various ways, I prefer the spinning process because there is
less liability of breaking the bottle, and while the anvil or ledge 3 is very
convenient as an aid in effecting the sealing operation it is not essential.
.
In illustration of some of the many forms or modifications of which the
invention is susceptible, there are shown in Figures 4 and 5. two forms of. sealing
chambers and in Figure 6 a modification of the stopper, seal or cap. The seating
or sealing chamber B of Figure 4 is formed with substantially parallel walls and with
an anvil or ledge 3. In. Figure 5 the sealing seat. or chamber B is formed in the
end, instead of within the mouth of the bottle and its outer: walls are undercut, to
165

page_text: assist in forming a tight joint and retaining the stopper, cap or seal, which latter
may be of the form shown in Figure 1.
The stopper or seal represented in Figure 6 is made in the form of a flat disc of
ductile and malleable material, such as lead, and is of proper dimensions to readily
enter the sealing chamber or seat B, as in Figures 1 or 4, after which it is secured
in position and caused to form a tight joint by the compression and lateral
displacement of its periphery by pressure applied to the surface at or near the
margin of the disc.
Should it be desired, for any purpose to isolate the stopper or seal from the
contents of the bottle or to supplement its action by the addition of packing or
sealing material, the latter may be introduced beneath the stopper or seal before
the latter is subjected to pressure as described.
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
clain is-
1. The hereinbefore described improvement in the art of sealing the mouths of
bottles and like articles to form a liquid and air tight stopper which consists in
inserting a disc of malleable material, such as lead, within a sealing chamber and
subsequently compressing the said material at or near the margin by the gradual
and progressive application of pressure as by a spinning operation the pressure
being applied in a direction to cause lateral displacement or flowage of the material
against and into intimate contact with the surrounding walls of the sealing chamber
substantially as described.
2. The hereinbefore described improved bottle stopper the same comprising the
bottle having a sealing chamber and a seal or stopper composed of ductile material
having its margin compressed and the material thereof displaced or flowed laterally
as by spinning against the surrounding wall of the sealing chamber.
3. In a closure the combination with the vessel mouth having a sealing chamber
and an anvil extending inwardly therefrom of a seal of ductile material such as lead
resting on the anvil and sealed by having its margin compressed against the anvil
as by a spinning process flowing and condensing the material of the seal in the
sealing chamber and forcing the same into intimate contact with the wall of said
chamber; substantially as described.
Dated this 22nd day of January 1895.
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicants.