IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS AND STOPPERING BOTTLES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Kay and Thomas Kay, of Stockport, in
the County of Chester, Chemists, for the Invention of “IMPROVEMENTS
IN STOPPERS AND STOPPERING BOTTLES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Kay and
Thomas Kay at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 31st May 1873.
We, SAMUEL KAY and THOMAS KAY, of Stockport, in the County of
Chester, Chemists, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS AND STOPPERING BOTTLES," to be as
follows:
Our Invention relates to that kind of stopper which is adapted to seal
or hermetically close bottles containing effervescing liquids, aerated
drinks, such as soda and other waters, and liquids containing gaseous
fluids or fixed air; the stopper always remaining within the bottle is
floated up and closes against that part or shoulder of the bottle which is
contracted to form the base of the neck. It consists in the use for this

page_text: purpose of a hollow flexible ball made of vulcanized india-rubber or
other suitable material. This ball, which we prefer shall have the form
of a perfect sphere, must have sufficient elastic power as to be capable
of distending itself, and of assuming or recovering its normal shape after
having been flattened, and then folded again or rolled up into an ovate
form for the purpose of passing it through the neck into the body of the
bottle, the air contained in the ball being forced out by the flattening,
folding, or rolling process through a small neck or puncture, made
through the material of the stopper by a lancet or other suitable
instrument capable of making a clean incision, which after the stopper
in its folded or rolled up state has been passed into the bottle and has
recovered its spherical form is held open by a small instrument whilst a
plastic or other cement consisting of india-rubber in solution, coaguline,
or other suitable adhesive substance is applied between the lips of the
puncture. By this means the lips become united, and the spherical
stopper is thereby hermetically sealed. The cement may be applied,
and the small instrument inserted in the puncture previous to passing
the stopper through the neck into the bottle, where it should remain and
hold open the puncture until reinflation is complete.
During the process of filling the bottle it is placed in an upright
position, the ball floating as the bottle fills gradually rises to the
opening or base of the neck, and when full and the supply is shut off
the upper side of the stopper is forced by the expansible pressure of the
liquid in the bottle into the bell-mouthed opening, whilst the under side
of the ball stopper is forced inwards or collapsed. By this means the
bottle is stoppered or closed. The air inside the indented ball becoming
compressed, causes its upper surface to adjust itself to any existing
inequalities in the form or surface of the glass, so that the two surfaces
(viz., the rubber and the glass) are thus brought into intimate contact.
When required to unstopper the bottle, a blunt bodkin or instrument
or a tubule is passed down the neck of the bottle, and forced (at one
side) between the outer surface of the stopper and the glass, so as at
that part to separate the two surfaces and permit of the gradual escape of
the air or gas, which may be regulated with the greatest nicety. The
efflux of the water or liquid is not impeded by the ball, which, being
relieved from the pressure, rolls to the upper side when the bottle is held
in a horizontal position, and gradually inverted to permit of the water or
liquid running out.

page_text: FICATION I pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Kay and Thomas Kay in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 28th November 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, SAMUEL
KAY and THOMAS KAY, of Stockport, in the County of Chester, Chemists,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Samuel Kay and Thomas Kay, Her special
licence that we, the said Samuel Kay and Thomas Kay, our executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Samuel
Kay and Thomas Kay, our 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of
Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS AND STOPPERING BOTTLES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said Samuel Kay and
Thomas Kay, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under our, 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 we, the said Samuel Kay and Thomas Kay, do
hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, that is to say :—
Our Invention relates to the means we have devised for bringing into
practical use an elastic hollow spherical ball stopper, which we thereby
adapt to the sealing or hermetically closing of bottles containing
effervescing liquids, aerated beverages, such as soda and other waters,
and liquids containing gaseous fluids or fixed air. The spherical stopper
having been passed into the bottle is always intended to remain there,

page_text: and the means we employ for introducing the stopper into the bottle
forms one of the most important parts of our Invention, as it is
absolutely necessary in order to pass it through the bottle neck that its
spherical form be materially altered, in fact it must be so elongated,
folded, or crimpled and compressed, that its size transversely is reduced
to about one-third only of the area of the plane of its diameter. Theso
pure india-rubber
hollow elastic ball stoppers we prefer to have made of
vulcanized, in size and thickness of material proportioned to the shape
of the bottles they stopper, and the amount of pressure they have to
resist, varying from 40 to 80, and in some cases 100 lbs. or more on the
circular inch, and our chief object is, not to attempt to drive the
stoppers into the bottles by means of force superior to the above
pressures, but to effect their introduction by the use of the folding and
compressing instrument which we have adapted to the purpose, and
herein-after described with reference to the Drawing annexed.
In some cases before modifying the form of the stopper previous to
passing it into the bottle we prefer to expel its aeriform contents, and
for this purpose we puncture the ball by means of a short tubular lancet
which is left in the puncture, and answers the double purpose of an air
passage through which in the first place the air is expelled, and secondly,
through which it is readmitted after the stopper has been passed through
the bottle neck; when stoppers thus punctured have to withstand high
pressures, before withdrawing the puncturing tube, we pass through it
a thin wire pin charged at the end with a solution of india-rubber or
other suitable cement, which is left between the lips of the puncture
when the tube and pin are afterwards withdrawn together. The use of
the cementing pin however is not always necessary, for as our puncturing
tube is extremely fine, with a bore of not more than the sixty-fourth
part of an inch in diameter, we find that in cases where the shell or
material of the stopper is sufficiently thick, the small puncture will close
and become air-tight, an effect which is due to the reaction of the elastic
material of which the stopper is composed.
Sometimes in order to prevent the choking of the puncturing tube
with the cement, we use another finer tube which slides into the
puncturing tube. This inner tube carries the cement, a minute bead of
which is forced out of the end of it by the cementing pin before the
tubes and pin are withdrawn,

page_text: For the purpose of compressing, folding, elongating, and thereby
altering the form of the stoppers, and for passing them through the
bottle necks, we make use of three kinds of instruments, either of which
will effect the desired result, although they respectively differ in con-
struction and the manner in which they operate. One of these, which
we call our compressing instrument, and shall first describe, compresses
and folds or crimples the stopper by means of the simultaneous lateral
pressure of four spring steel prongs. The second instrument which we
term our dragging instrument also reduces and folds the stopper by
lateral compression; it nips the material of the stopper by means of a
tongue jointed to its fore end, and when it is thrust into the bottle
neck it folds and compresses and drags the stopper through. The third
instrument, which acts after the manner of a pair of tongs, also causes
the lateral compression of the stopper, which is seized by its nipper ends
and dragged into the bottle when the legs of the tongs are thrust into
the bottle neck, during which operation we turn cither the instrument
or the bottle, which has the effect of twisting as well as compressing the
stopper laterally, and when we do not expel the air, we avail ourselves
of its presence in the stopper, as the air when the stoppers are under the
action of either of the compressing instruments is driven towards the
ends, and acting as an internal force assists in causing their clongation.
Fig. 1 shews a spherical stopper (a), and Fig. 2 a stopper in section,
pierced by the puncturing tube; Fig. 3, the puncturing tube b; Fig. 4, the
cementing pin c; Fig. 5 exhibits our four prong compressing instrument d.
This instrument, it will be seen, operates upon the stopper by the lateral
simultaneons closing of its four steel prongs e, e, e, e, which are caused
to converge laterally upon and compress and fold the stopper by means
of the collar when the latter is slid towards the free ends of the spring
prongs. The effect of this compression is shewn by the Fig. 6, which
exhibits a transverse section of the prongs and the stopper in its com-
pressed form, as shewn by Fig. 7 and also by Fig. 20, where the stopper
(a) is seen in its altered form in the act of passing through the neck of
the bottle, the collar h, having been slid outwards, has closed the prongs
which are again set free when the collar is slid back towards the handle
of the instrument upon its coming in contact with the top of the bottle
neck, whereupon the prongs open and the stopper, which immediately
recovers its normal form, is liberated. We also use these instruments
constructed with only three prongs, and at other times instruments with
five or six prongs are used with advantage.

page_text: Fig. 8 shews our tongue instrument f, which we also employ for
folding and compressing, and for passing the stoppers through the bottle
necks. This we call our dragging instrument, because although it also
folds and compresses the stopper laterally, it firmly nips the fore end of
the material of the stopper by means of the tongue g, which is hinged
to its extreme end, and when closed against the back or stem of the
instrument, which at that part is made thin and transversely concave,
the stopper is compressed and folded, as shewn by the section Fig. 9 into
the requisite form for insertion in the bottle, through the neck of which
it is dragged when the instrument is thrust forward by the handle. Fig.
10 shews this dragging instrument with the stopper nipped, compressed,
and folded by the tongue 9, and it will be further elongated whilst being
pushed through the bottle neck; the tongue will open on its hingo so
soon as it has passed the contracted area of the neck, and the stopper
will be liberated.
The third instrument which we employ for inserting the stoppers also
causes their lateral compression as well as drags them into the bottles.
This instrument will be seen by Fig. 11, which is a side view of our
compressing and dragging tongs, by Fig. 12, which is a flat view of
the same, and by Fig. 13, which is an end view. The mode of using
these tongs differs from our manner of operating with the other instru-
ments, for when using the tongs we, by turning either the bottle or the
tongs whilst thrusting them through the bottle neck, cause the stopper
to twist when passing through, and this twisting has the effect of laterally
compressing and reducing the size of the stopper, and also causing its
elongation. The stoppers a, in the Figs. 11 and 12, are shewn in the
twisted form. This instrument will also effectually insert the stopper
simply by a direct thrust, but it requires more force than we consider it
advisable to use, or when the instrument or bottle is turned. The com-
pressing instrument (d) may be employed to compress and fold a number
of the stoppers, which may be secured in their altered form by binding
twine, fastened by a slip knot (as shewn by Fig. 14) and kept in
readiness for being passed through the necks of bottles by hand as
occasion may require.
In all cases before attempting to insert a stopper, whether by hand or
by either of the instruments, it is necessary to alter its form by lateral
compression either before or at the time of passing through the neck by
dragging or by twisting, or both combined, and in order that it may

page_text: slip easily through the contracted area of the neck of the bottle it is an
essential part of our system of insertion that the stopper be well wetted
externally, either with hot or cold water, soap water, or with any alkaline
solution, whether inserted mechanically or by hand.
During the process of filling, which is effected by any of the machines
in general use for that purpose, the bottle is placed in an upright position,
the ball floating gradually rises to the mouth of the opening or base of
the neck, and the moment the external pressure is shut off the internal
pressure forces and fixes it there against the shoulder, and forcing its
surface into intimate contact with the glass, compels it to take the form
shewn in Fig. 16, which exhibits in section a stopper fixed by internal
pressure in the base of the neck of a bottle, which pressure (as shown)
causes the indentation of its under side.
When required to unstopper or open a bottle it is effected by the
application of what we call our opening probe (k), which, is shewn at
Fig. 8, and consists of either a piece of solid wire, by preference bent at
the end to correspond with the internal curve of the bottle neck or of a
tube bent in the same manner; each having a blunt smooth end. The
curved end of this opening probe, which may be of metal, bone, or other
suitable material, is thrust down at the side of the neck of the bottle
between the surfaces respectively of the stopper and the glass, which are
thus at that point separated so as to permit of the gradual escape of the
fixed air or gas, the emission of which may be regulated to a great
nicety. When the pressure is sufficiently exhausted the stopper either
falls from its seating or is pushed down by a lateral projection (m) on the
probe and floats upon the liquid, the bottle being held in a horizontal
position, as shewn at Fig. 18, so that the stopper offers no impediment
to the outflow of its contents.
We propose to adapt our method of inserting stoppers under lateral
compression to machines or apparatus somewhat similar in construction
to drilling and other machines, which by means of a treadle or other
device bring down a vertical shaft, to the lower end of which our
compressing instruments, or other similar contrivances operating on the
lateral compression principle, will be attached.
Instead of bringing down the compressed stopper and instrument we,
in some cases, propose to make the instrument or compressing part of
the apparatus stationary, and cause the bottle to rise or advance towards

page_text: the compressed stopper and instrument, the amount of pushing force
required being communicated to that part of the apparatus upon or in
which the bottle rests.
It may be gathered from the foregoing description that the main
features of our Invention consist in,—
First. The means we have devised for bringing into practical use the
hollow elastic spherical stopper.
Second. The use of lateral compressing instruments, such and similar
to those we have described, whether operated by hand or mechanically,
as adapted to the purpose of compressing, elongating, folding, and
otherwise temporarily reducing laterally the form of hollow spherical
stoppers, whereby aided by such instruments or apparatus we are enabled
to pass such stoppers into bottles with neck openings measuring only
about, say one-third more or less of the area of the diametral plane of
the stopper.
Third. Expelling the aeriform or other fluid contents of stoppers
through a puncturing tube preparatory to reducing the form of such
stoppers by lateral compression, and previous to passing them into
bottles and allowing such tubes to remain in the puncture until by the
reaction of their own elasticity the stoppers have reinflated themselves
by drawing air through the tube.
Fourth. The probe or apparatus we have described and the method of
using it for the purpose of opening bottles sealed or closed by spherical
or other stoppers.
Fifth. The use of the cementing pin and cement for the purpose of
closing the puncture in stoppers in the manner described, the conditions
in all cases with regard to the stopper being that its strength or the
elastic material of which it is composed must be of sufficient thickness
to enable it to withstand the requisite amount of external and internal
pressure without bursting; that it must possess such an amount of
expansibility as to be able to distend or reinflate itself after compression
and so recover its normal form, and when in the bottle it must be
perfectly air-tight.
Having described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is or may be performed, we wish it to be understood
that our claims cover all that we have set forth and described, as the

page_text: main features of our Invention and the manner in which they are or
may be adapted and applied to and for the purposes herein set forth.
In witness whereof, we, the said Samuel Kay and Thomas Kay,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-fifth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
SAM. KAY.
(L.S.)
THOMAS KAY. (L.S.)