IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO BOTTLE STOPPERS
Year: 1885

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I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co, Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature
of my invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN AND RELATING TO BOTTLE STOPPERS
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
This invention relates to the class of bottle-stoppers that open inwardly and
particularly to those stoppers in which the plug supporting stem has a central
perforation and carries an clastic plug with ports arranged to be opened by means
of an instrument introduced through the stem.
The said invention consists essentially in providing the lower end of the plug,
beneath the stem, with a imetallic re-enforce, but it also comprises certain details of
construction of the plug and its supporting stem as more particularly hereinafter
described.
In the accompanying drawing
Figure 1 is a sectional view of the upper part of a bottle, showing the mouth
closed by a stopper embodying my invention.
Figure 2 is a view in central vertical section of the plug with its parts in their
normal position.
Figure 3 is an exterior view of my improved plug.
Figure 4 is a view in central vertical section showing the position of the parts
of the plug when the valves are opened by means of a tubular stem, as when a
bottle is being filled.
Figure 5 is a similar sectional view of a stopper and an old form of plug,
showing the position of the parts in opening the valve.
Figure 6 is a section of the plug shown in Figure 3, on the line xx.
Figure 7 shows in plan and section, one form of metallic re-enforce used with
my improved plug.
'
Figure 8 is a view in vertical section of the nose of a bottle and a stopper of an
old form, illustrating the effect of outward pressure on a non-re-enforced valve.
Figure 9 is a view in central vertical section of an alternate form of the
re-enforced elastic plug, the re-enforce being of cup shape.
Figure 10 shows a plan and also a sectional view of the cup-shaped re-enforce.
Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several figures.

page_text: a denotes the bottle (the upper part only being shown), the mouth of which is
provided with a fastener b, of which the cap-plate c has a downward projecting
stem c', with a central perforation, c².
The stem is enlarged, preferably near the centre of its length, to form a shoulder
by means of which the plug d is held upon the stem.
The lower end of the stem c¹ is preferably tapered on the outside from the
broadened part to the end, forming the frustum of a cone, and the elastic plug d,
preferably of india-rubber, has a socket d'; that opens upward and is contracted at
its mouth so as to grasp the neck of the stem upon which the plug is sprung by
thrusting the stem into the socket.
The walls of the socket in the plug conform to the general shape of the stem ou
which the plug fits, except where a series of longitudinal grooves e, pierce the
walls (usually at an angle with the vertical axis of the plug) and these grooves
open on the outside and near the bottom in the ports e¹, of, which there may be
any convenient number.
This construction leaves the bottom of the plug, which I call the valve d²,
connected to the body part by a series of longitudinal strips of considerable strength
as compared with those of prior plugs.
The upper surface of the plug (see Figure 2) has a recess into which the lower
end of the stem closely fits (see Figure 1), and when the bottle is closed or corked,
as by means of the fastening device to which the plate c is attached, the ports are
tightly closed, and any outward pressure of contained gas or liquid under pressure
within the bottle causes the valve to close still tighter.
Within the body of the valve d² a thin disc f of some non-elastic material,
preferably of metal, as silver, is placed to form a. re-enforce and brace, that gives
the valve sufficient rigidity to operate uniformly under the thrust of the tubular.
stem g of a filling or draw-off device.
The re-enforce f has, preferably, a central opening and the down-turned feet f¹
on which it is supported in the bottom of the mould while the india-rubber is cast
about it, thus bringing the re-enforce within the body of the valve.
I do not limit myself to this method of placing the re enforce in the valve, as
a socket inay be cast and the disc forced into place by stretching the elastic
material of the valve, but I prefer the method illustrated.
By using a re-enforce in the valve I am enabled to use purer gum than when,
as in old devices it was necessary to make the valve thick and rigid by using a
very large per-centage of adulterants in the compound. With purer 'gum, I get
greater elasticity and better packing of the whole body of the plug under stress of
the fastener or pressure of the contained fluids.
My improved plug is also more durable as the strips that support the valve are,
in opening the latter, stretched to a less degree and also inore evenly than is the
case of the prior plugs as will be seen by comparing Figures 4 and 5..
Where the valve is not re-enforced it is, after a time, forced upward into the
stem as illustrated in Figure 8, and soon caused to leak.
An alternate form of elastic plug with a cushioned valve is shown in Figure 9,
the cushion being of service in taking the wear of the bottom end of the filling
tube and also useful to a degree in packing the opening into the stem. The form
of re-enforce shown in this latter figure, and also in detail in Figure 10, shows one
more of the many forms in which this feature of my invention may be made.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
First. An elastic bottle-stopper plug having a socket for a stem, valve ports, and
a valve re-enforced by a rigid material supported by the valve, all substantially as
described.
Second. An elastic bottle-stopper plug having a socket for a cap-plate stem, also
a series of grooves in the inner walls of the plug that open in ports near the lower

page_text: side of the plug, and a valve supported by the strips between the grooves, all
substantially as described.
Third. An elastic bottle stopper plug having a central socket for a cap plate
stem, the inner grooves terminating in ports and a valve re-enforced by a disc of
rigid material supported by the valve, all substantially as described.
Fourth. In combination, an elastic bottle stopper plug having a stem-socket and
a valve, and a re-enforce of rigid material cast within the valve, all substantially
as described.
Fifth. In combination, a bottle-stopper, a cap-plate having a stem tapered below
the shoulder, an elastic plug having a socket whose wall conforms to the outline of
the stem and grooves in the walls that terminate in ports, and a re-enforced valve
closing the bottom of the stem, all substantially as described.
United this Ind dass
1007
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicant.