IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Rudkin, of the Slate Works, Groby, near
Leicester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR BOTTLES."
Sealed the 1st June 1860, and dated the 3rd December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Rudkin at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
3rd December 1859.
I, JOHN RUDKIN, of the Slate Works, Groby, near Leicester, do hereby
declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS FOR
BOTTLES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in stoppers for bottles. For
this purpose the stopper is composed of a tube of cork or other suitable
material, into which a plug of glass, earthenware, or other material screws.
The exterior of the tube is of a taper form, the larger diameter being at the
bottom; the interior of the tube is also tapered, the lesser diameter being at
the bottom. The screw plug is of the same diameter as the larger diameter
of the tube, and is of about the same length as the tube; on the top of the
plug there is a conical head, which, when the plug is screwed into the tube,
enters into the top of the tube and expands it. When closing a bottle with a
stopper of this description, the plug is screwed about three-quarters of its length
into the tube, and the stopper is inserted into the neck of the bottle, the plug
is then screwed home, when the bottom of the tube will be expanded by reason
of the plug being of greater diameter than the interior of the lower part of
the tube, and the top of the tube will also be expanded by the conical head of
the plug.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Rudkin in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
RUDKIN, of the Slate Works, Groby, near Leicester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Third day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Rudkin, Her special licence that I, the said John Rudkin,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Rudkin, 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 STOP-
PERS FOR BOTTLES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John
Rudkin, 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 John Rudkin, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in stoppers for bottles. For
this purpose the stopper is composed of a tube of cork or other suitable
material, into which a plug of glass, earthenware, or other material screws.
The exterior of the tube is of a taper form, the larger diameter being at the
bottom; the interior of the tube is also tapered, the lesser diameter being at
the bottom. The screw plug is of the same diameter as the larger diameter
of the tube, and is of about the same length as the tube; on the top of the
plug there is a conical head, which, when the plug is screwed into the tube,
enters into the top of the tube and expands it. When closing a bottle with a
stopper of this description, the plug is screwed about three-quarters of its length
into the tube, and the stopper is inserted into the neck of the bottle, the plug

page_text: is then screwed home, when the bottom of the tube will be expanded by reason
of the plug being of greater diameter than the interior of the lower part of
the tube, and the top of the tube will also be expanded by the conical head of
the plug.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will proceed to describe the Drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a side view of a stopper constructed according to my Inven-
tion; Figure 2 is a section; Figure 3, a plan; and Figure 4, an under side
view of the same. a is a tube of cork, or it may be of other suitable material,
into which a plug 6 of glass, earthenware, or other material screws; a section
of the tube a is shown separately at Figure 5; the exterior of the tube is, as is
shown, by preference slightly tapered, the larger diameter being at the bottom;
the interior of the tube is also tapered, the lesser diameter being at the bottom,
so that there is a greater thickness of cork at the bottom of the tube than at the
top. When the tube a is of cork, the cork is softened by preference by scalding
before screwing in the screw plug b; and when the plug is screwed in, it is left for
some time, so that the interior of the cork may set to the form of the exterior of
the screw plug. The screw plug is of the same diameter as the largest diameter
of the interior of the tube a; and on the upper end of the screw there is a conical
enlargement, which, when the plug is screwed into the tube, enters into the
top of the tube and expands it; the bottom of the tube will also at the same
time be expanded by reason of the plug 6 being of greater diameter than the
interior of the lower end of the tube a. For many purposes it is unnecessary
to unscrew the plug 6 before putting the stopper into a bottle, as for most pur-
poses it will hold sufficiently tight merely by being pressed into the neck of a
bottle; but when the stopper is required to hold very securely, the plug is first
partially unscrewed from the tube, and when the stopper is inserted into the
neck of the bottle, the plug is screwed home, so as to expand both the top and
the bottom of the tube a, as above explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Rudkin, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
JOHN RUDKIN. (L.S.)