Bottle Stoppers with a Sediment Trapping Device.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 18th Oct., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 18th July, 1891-Accepted, 22nd Aug., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Bottle Stoppers with a Sediment Trapping Device.
I, CHARLES EBENEZER CHALLIS of No. 30 Navarino Road, Hackney London
N.E. Machinist do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Fermented liquors such as beer etc. when bottled after a time deposit a sediment
of slightly greater specific gravity than the liquor, the difference however being
so slight that the least agitation of the vessel again disseminates the sediment
throughout the liquors; and even when the bottle is handled carefully a doubt
exists as to the quantity of liquor that ought to be left in the bottle; sometimes a
large quantity is thereby wasted and sometimes the liquor is poured out slowly
until the thick matter appears and begins to cloud the liquor; thus one method
wastes liquor, the other time:
'
To overcome these objections I make a hollow cap or stopper with an internal
partition through which a tube projects to within a short distance of the top of
the cap; thus forming a receptacle similar to the well known unspillable ink bottle
in the upper part of the stopper or cap. The edge of the cap may be extended
downwards with an internal thread in it to fit on a bottle neck screwed externally,
the top of the bottle r neck being bevelled forms an airtight joint by pressing a
rubber ring against the lower side of the partition; or the stopper may have an
external thread and the bottle an internal; or instead of being screwed the cap
or stopper may engage in lugs in or on the bottle neck; or any other fixing device
may be employed that is deemed advisable or convenient.
The action of the sediment trapping device is as follows:-The bottle of liquor
sometime previous to being used is racked or stood upside down and the sediment
gradually falls through the tube into the hollow cap, when the liquor is cleared
the bottle may be placed in any position without the sediment returning, or the
stopper may be removed and the liquor poured out clear and bright to the last
drop:
The stoppers are easily cleaned by a jet of water.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Bottle Stoppers with a Sediment Trapping Device.
I, CHARLES EBENEZER CHALLIS of No. 30 Navarino Road, Hackney, London
N.E. Machinist, 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 :-
The object of my invention is to trap the sediment contained in bottled beers,
wines &c. by an inexpensive automatic method, and thus render the liquor bright
and clear.
...
This is accomplished by making the stopper or cap hollow, or with a hollow
chamber attached, into which a tube or its equivalent projects to somewhere
about the centre of capacity so that in whatever position the stopper may be held
it can neither be completely filled with or emptied of liquor by simple gravity,
but only that portion below or above the mouth of tube as the case may be,
the other portion being occupied by air. Thus forming a reliable trap without
Pre 8d 1
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page_text: the use of valves or moving parts, the principle being that of the "unspillable ink
bottle."
In operation the bottle is racked or stood upside down, the (then) lower portion
of stopper fills with liquor and into this the whole of the sediment gradually
subsides by gravity. When the liquor is cleared and as the bottle is being righted
the sediment liquor in stopper naturally follows round the lowest point of chamber;
when the bottle is completely righted the mouth of the tube is somewhat above
the level of the sediment so that a reasonable amount of agitation would not cause
the sediment to slop back into the bottle.
A conical projection in the chamber opposite the mouth of tube may be employed
in order to modify the "gulp" occasioned by the parting of the liquor in the
bottle and stopper when the bottle is righted, and also to prevent any sediment
settling immediately opposite the orifice, thus reducing the chance of any sediment
being sucked back into the bottle when it is righted.
These stoppers may also be used to retain the bulk of any substance with which
it is desirable to infuse the liquor.
The application of the principle to bottle stoppers for the purpose indicated is
shown in various forms in the accompanying drawings:
Fig. 1 shows a section and elevation of a bottle, tapered to avoid lodgment for
sediment, marked A, and the stopper marked B, in which C is the hollow chamber,
D is the tube or partition, and E is a rubber ring which makes an airtight joint
between the bottle and stopper and is at the same time practically out of contact
with liquor.
Fig. 2 shows a somewhat modified form suitable for an internal screwed bottle;
A, being the bottle, B, the stopper, C the chamber, D the tube or partition, which
is prolonged into the neck of bottle, and E is the rubber ring.
Fig. 3 shows another form suitable for either external screw or lugs; A being
the bottle, B the stopper, C the chamber, D the tube or partition, and E the
rubber ring.
Fig. 4 shows a stopper with internal conical projection to prevent sediment
settling opposite orifice, A is the bottle B the stopper, C is the chamber D is the
tube or partition, and E is the rubber ring.
The stoppers shown are to be regarded merely as types of stoppers adapted to
this principle and many other slightly modified forms might be shown without
departing from the principle involved, for instance, the stopper may be made of a
nearly spherical form and the inner partition of a rather smaller diameter; and
these forms may be modified or combined to meet special uses, and to suit various
styles of bottles, or to allow of their being manufactured in different materials
and compounds, and being made in one or several pieces as may appear advisable;
the trapping device being sometimes clamped to the bottle by a separate fixing
attachment which engages in lugs on the bottle or otherwise.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1st. Bottle stoppers with a sediment trapping device constructed substantially
as set forth, and shown in Fig. 1.
2nd. Bottle stoppers with a sediment trapping device constructed substantially
as set forth, and shown in Fig. 2.
3rd. Bottle stoppers with a sediment trapping device constructed substantially
as set forth, and shown in Fig. 3.
4th. Bottle stoppers with a sediment trapping device constructed substantially
as set forth, and shown in Fig. 4.
5th. Bottle stoppers with a sediment trapping device being a combination of the
forms set forth, and shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 4.
6th. Trapping the sediment contained in liquors by means of a chamber having

page_text: a tube, partition, or an equivalent, projecting therein, to about the centre of
capacity, (similar in principle to the "unspillable ink bottle") attached to or
forming part of a bottle stopper, substantially as set forth.
Dated this 18th day of July 1891.
C. E. CHALLIS.