AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BOTTLE OR VESSEL FOR KEEPING THE LIQUOR IN THE BOTTLE AIR-TIGHT WHILST PORTIONS OF THE LIQUOR ARE BEING DRAWN FROM THE BOTTLE OR VESSEL."
Year: 1878

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Davies and William Henry
Stacpoole at the Office of the Commissioners. of Patents on the 25th April
1878.
THOMAS DAVIES, of Clifford's Inn, in the City of London, Gentleman, and
WILLIAM HENRY STACPOOLE, of the Inner Temple, also in the City of London,
Esquire. "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF BOTTLE OR VESSEL FOR KEEPING
THE LIQUOR IN THE BOTTLE AIR-TIGHT WHILST PORTIONS OF THE LIQUOR ARE
BEING DRAWN FROM THE BOTTLE OR VESSEL."
In bottles, others than those in which patent stoppers are used, it is necessary to
fix corks, and in case of effervescing liquids no small amount of labour and risk is
entailed by the amount of force required to press the cork into the neck of the
bottle so as to make it air-tight. The taking the cork out involves considerable
trouble, and those bottles having patent stoppers objection is made to them, as in
forcing the stopper down into the bottle the effervescing liquid rushes out over the
hand, thereby creating a distaste to the contents, besides causing a waste. Again,
in opening bottled beer, it is almost impossible to pull the cork out without dis-
turbing the sediment contained in it, and the same remark is also applicable to other
liquids in which it is not desirable to disturb them.
In cases where it is desired to take out of a bottle only part of the contents the
process of corking the remainder will have to be gone through under disadvantages,
and in most liquids this re-corking what is left will be ineffectual in preserving
what remains, as the air will have gained admittance, and there is also the difficulty
of doing so to make the bottle air-tight.
In bottles containing such as champagne, considerable waste takes place in opening
them.
It is obvious that with the present bottles considerable trouble and waste are
experienced in uncorking, that the pulling out the cork in bottled beer disturbs the
sediment, that in cases where it is desirable only to take out part of the contents the
air is admitted, and that in corking champagne and other liquors serious accidents
arise from the force used in pressing the cork home. A bottle then so constructed
as to ensure against such disadvantages would be a great desideratum.

page_text: '
Such is the object of our Invention, which we carry into effect by so constructing
a bottle as to have a well of the same material as the main bottle, and forming a
part of it (or, in the case of decanters, forming a part of the stopper of the decanter).
This well will have a communication with the principal bottle and the outside air
through two small holes. This well can preferably formed in the neck of the
bottle, or the neck may be turned, the well having a partition nearly across the
bottom of the neck of the same material as the bottle, leaving only at the foot, space
for the liquid to go to the hole that is formed at the side of the well near the
bottom of it. Exactly parallel with this hole will be likewise one in the neck of
the bottle or the outside of the well. It will be thus seen that there is a hole from
the main bottle to the well, and one from the well to the outside air.
It is proposed to put in this well a stopper made of cork or glass or other material
so perforated that when turned will give egress to the liquid, or prevent it from
coming out.
It is proposed to encircle round the bottom of well, except the holes of the well, a
coating of cork or other material, so that when the stopper is pressed home the bottle
becomes air-tight, and can be so used used like an ordinary vessel with a tap or cock in
it. This stopper will have preferably a hole through it, so that when turned, so that
this hole is in a line with the one in the main bottle and the one on the outside,
easy egress will be given to the liquid; turn the stopper, and the bottle will be
corked. The object of this well is to afford protection to the stopper and facilities
for using it. As it also excludes nearly the whole of the stopper from the action of
the gases, there is but little of its surface to come in contact with the propelling
power of the gases, namely, that part of the stopper which closes the hole in the
well to the main bottle. Even that little part of the stopper, in consequence of
being on the side, will not be liable to the amount of pressure it would other-
wise have to stand if placed like a cork perpendicularly to the liquid. Such
being the case there will be no difficulty in making a stopper of cork or other
material perfectly air-tight in this well, and the stopper can be made to work with
the same ease and facility as an ordinary tap.
The stopper can be so constructed as to admit of the liquid being locked as if in a
barrel.
This well, to suit large table decanters, can be formed in the side, or in fact, in
any part of the bottle with equal effect.