AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE TO BE USED IN WITHDRAWING AERATED LIQUORS FROM BOTTLES
Year: 1882

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Erskine Wood of Workington in the County
of Cumberland Iron and Machinery Merchant for an Invention of "AN
IMPROVED APPLIANCE TO BE USED IN WITHDRAWING AERATED LIQUORS
FROM BOTTLES”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Erskine Wood at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd February 1882.
FREDERICK ERSKINE WOOD, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland,
Iron and Machinery Merchant, "AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE TO BE USED IN
WITHDRAWING AERATED LIQUORS FROM BOTTLES."
This Invention relates to an improved appliance to be fitted to bottles containing
acrated or effervescent liquors or beverages, for the purpose of displacing the stoppers,
and enabling the liquor to be withdrawn as required, and without waste. In the
usual mode of withdrawing such liquids from bottles in which the stoppers close
from the inside, the stopper or ball is pressed down by any convenient opener, and
a quantity of the liquid is commonly spilled. The carbonic acid or other gas also
escapes, and the whole contents of the bottle must be made use of at once; but by
the present Invention, an improved portable appliance is fitted to the mouth or
head of the bottle which opens or presses down the stopper, and not only prevents
the sudden escape of the liquid and gaseous contents, but enables any portion
of the liquor to be withdrawn at any time without deterioration of what may
remain.
The improved appliance comprises a slightly tapered or conical tube of wood,
metal, or other suitable substance which is covered a part of its length by a rubber
band or ring fitting by preference into grooves in the tube, so that the tube piece
may be inserted into the mouth of a bottle to press down the rubber or. glass ball
or stopper, and while doing so fit quite tight within the mouth of the bottle. A
small outlet tube is fitted in the side of this tubular opener, and into the upper end
of the tubular opener is fitted a cock or valve, attached to a cap or disc outside,
which is used for turning the valve to open or close the outlet tube.
In using the improved opener or appliance, the opener is inserted into the mouth
of the bottle to depress the stopper, and by means of the rubber ring acts itself as
a stopper while the valve is closed. When a quantity of the liquor within the
bottle is wanted for use, the valve is turned to open the outlet tube through which
the liquor is forced by reason of the pressure of the gas in the liquor, and when the
requisite quantity is supplied the valve is turned to close the outlet.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Frederick Erskine Wood in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
29th July 1882.
FREDERICK. ERSKINE WOOD, of Workington, in the County of Cumberland,
Iron and Machinery Merchant "AN IMPROVED APPLIANCE TO BE USED IN
WITHDRAWING AERATED LIQUORS FROM BOTTLES "
My said Invention relates to an improved appliance to be fitted to bottles con-
taining aerated or effervescent liquors or beverages, for the purpose of displacing
the stopper, and enabling the liquor to be withdrawn as required, and without
waste.
In the usual mode of withdrawing such liquid from bottles in which the stoppers
close from the inside the stopper or ball is pressed down by any convenient opener
and a quantity of the liquid is commonly spilled. The carbonic acid or other gas
also escapes and the whole contents of the bottle must be made use of at once; but
by the present Invention, an improved portable appliance is fitted to the mouth or
head of the bottle, which opens or presses down the stopper and not only prevents
the sudden escape of the liquid and gaseous contents, but enables any portion
of the liquor to be withdrawn at any time without deterioration of what may
remain.
The improved appliance comprises a slightly tapered or conical tube of wood,
metal, or other suitable substance, which is covered a part of its length by a
rubber band or ring held by flanges or fitting into grooves in the tubes, so that the
tube piece may be inserted into the mouth of a bottle to press down the rubber or
glass ball or stopper, and while doing so fit quite tight within the mouth of the
bottle.
A small outlet tube is fitted in the side or top of this tubular opener, and into
the upper end of the opener is fitted a cock or valve attached to a cap outside
which may be used for turning the valve to open or close the outlet tube, or for
holding while the tap is being turned.
In using the improved opener or appliance, the opener is inserted into the
mouth of the bottle to depress the stopper, and by means of the rubber ring acts
itself as a temporary stopper for the bottle while the valve is closed. When a
quantity of the liquor within the bottle is wanted for use the valve is turned to
open the outlet.tube through which the liquor is forced by reason of the pressure
of the gas in the liquor, and when the requisite quantity is supplied the valve is
turned to close the outlet.
In order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the same may
be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of explanatory Drawings,
in which Figure 1 is a vertical section of a modification of the improved bottle
opening and stopping appliance to an enlarged scale, and Figure 2 a similar view
of the appliance fitted into a bottle.
The appliance shown in the Drawing comprises a small tube A, which is covered
on the outside with an annular layer of vulcanised rubber B, retained at the lower
end by means of a flange or ring a on the tube A. On the upper end of this tube A
is screwed a cap C which covers the mouth of the bottle when the appliance is
used, as is shown in Figure 2. The tube A is screwed internally, and within it is
fitted an inner tube D, screwed on the outside to fit it either for the whole or part
of its length, the screw being by preference a fast one, that is, of a coarse pitch.
The lower end of the inner tube D projects some distance beyond the outer tube A,
and is fitted with a flange or ring d, holding over it a conical washer d¹, and

page_text: between this washer and the upper flange a is fitted a ring or thick washer of
rubber. E. The upper end of the tube D is fitted with a tap or cock F, and a
discharge nozzle G which may be bent over instead of being straight as shown.
In using the improved appliance, it is inserted into the mouth of the bottle to
displace the internal stopper, or in the case of bottles containing such beverages as
champagne, it is used to replace the cork when it is drawn, the rubber fitting close
into the bottle. When fully inserted the upper end of the inner tube D is turned
or screwed in the other A, and this action brings the washers a d close together.
The rubber ring or washer E is thereby compressed, and owing to the conical shape
of the washer d, is extended in diameter to fit close and be fast hold in the neck or
month of the bottle, so that this temporary stopper cannot be forced out. By
turning the tap or cock F the liquid contents of the bottle can be withdrawn as
required without allowing the escape of the air or gas and consequent deterioration
of the liquid.
Having thus described my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same, I have to state that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein
described or delineated, but what I consider novel and original and therefore
claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
First. The construction or combination of the parts of portable appliances for
displacing internal stoppers of bottles containing aerated or effervescent liquids,
and for acting as temporary stoppers through which the liquid may be withdrawn
from such bottles, substantially as and for the purposes herein set forth.
Second. As means for withdrawing aerated or effervescent liquids from bottles
containing thein, the combination of screwed tubes A, D, rubber washer E, and cock
or tap F, substantially as described in reference to the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof I, the said Frederick Erskine Wood, have hereunto set
my hand and seal this Twenty-sixth day of July, in the year of our Lord,
One thousand eight hundred and eighty two.
FREDERICK ERSKINE WOOD. (L.S.)