Improvements in Stoppers for Champagne, Sodawater, and other Bottles.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Jan., 1888
Complete Left, 26th Mar., 1888
Complete Accepted, 11th May, 1888
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Stoppers for Champagne, Sodawater, and other
Bottles.
I HARRY PETER CAPREOL of 16 Melrose Gardens, West Kensington Park in the
County of Middlesex Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
The object of my invention is to provide a Stopper for Champagne, Sodawater, and
other bottles which can be easily inserted or withdrawn at pleasure. I accomplish
this object by the means hereinafter described. I provide a circular collar or band
of brass or other suitable metal or material, which may be furnished with a washer of
rubber or other suitable material, and composed of two sections which are united at
opposite points in any convenient manner, as by a suitable hinge, or pin, or screw
passing through both or either of two sets of shoulders. This collar or band fits
tightly round the neck of the bottle under the mouth or nozzle thereof and over said
washer of rubber or any other suitable material as above mentioned, if employed, and
is furnished with a slidebar of brass or other suitable metal or material on each of the
aforesaid sections. The lower ends of said slide-bars are attached to their proper
sections of said collar or band by rivets, pins, or screws upon which said slide-bars
work as swivels, and are kept in check by two looks or stays which form parts of said
collar or band. I provide a suitable stopper of cork, rubber, or other suitable material
which is fastened in any convenient manner to a piece or plate of brass or other
suitable metal or material which is provided with shoulders or guides which slide up
and down on said slide-bars. Said slide-bars at their other (or top) ends form a bridge
through the centre of which a vertical rod or bar of brass or other suitable metal or
material passes. The lower end of this rod or bar is attached to the herein before
mentioned piece or plate of brass or other suitable metal or material, to which the
stopper of cork, rubber, or other suitable material is fastened, the upper end rises to
a convenient distance above the aforesaid bridge, and has a metal pin traversing it, or
a notch made in it by which the lever-handle hereinafter mentioned is attached to the
shoulder of the said rod or bar. I furnish this rod or bar with a lever-handle of
brass or other suitable metal or material which may be either removable or permanently
fixed. Between the said bridge and piece or plate to which the stopper aforesaid is

page_text: fastened is a spiral spring of steel or other suitable metal or material which bears upon
the aforesaid plate of brass or other suitable metal or material to which the stopper of
cork, rubber, or other suitable material is attached, and maintains the said stopper in
its proper position in the mouth or neck of the bottle. This spring may be enclosed
in a tube of any suitable material. When the aforesaid lever-handle is depressed the
aforesaid spiral spring is compressed and thereby the stopper is drawn up or raised
from the mouth or nozzle of the bottle, and kept suspended at some distance therefrom,
and all the parts hereinbefore described except the aforesaid collar fall on one side of
the neck of the bottle. When it is intended to cork or stop the bottle the aforesaid
parts (except the collar hinge pin or other appurtenances thereto) are raised over the
mouth of the bottle, and the action of the lever-handle is reversed. In order the better
to maintain the said spiral spring in position I may if necessary, use a pin or screw
which passes through the aforesaid vertical bar or rod, immediately under the aforesaid
bridge.

page_text: of the aforesaid lever-handle. In the said vertical rod or bar, el, and below said
notch, are two other notches f1, and 2, fig. 4 (one on each side of said vertical rod
or bar) into which notches the bridge e fig. 1. fits, when said vertical rod or bar is
raised by the lever-handle g figs. 6. 7. 8. and then partially revolved by the operator.
By these means the bridge, e, sustains the vertical rod or har, e¹, and its attachments
above the mouth of the bottle. The reverse partial revolution of said vertical rod or
bar, e', brings back the stopper to the mouth of the bottle. Between the bridge, e
fig. 1, and piece or plate c¹ figs. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5 is a spiral-spring, h figs. 1. 2. 3. which
bears upon said piece or plate c', and maintains the said stopper, e figs. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5
attached thereto in its proper position in the mouth of the bottle. This spring, h, may
be enclosed in a tube of any suitable material, and, if necessary, be sustained in its
position by means of a metal pin, or screw passing through the vertical rod or bar, e¹,
immediately under the bridge, e. The lower end of each of the slide-bars, b, is cut
away as shewn by the dotted lines in figs. 2, 3, for the purpose that such end shall act
as a stop or check when the reverse action of the lever handle, g, is caused as herein-
after described.
Having enumerated and illustrated the various parts of my said invention I now
proceed to explain its action.
The lever handle, g figs. 6. 7. 8. having been applied to the notch, figs. 1. 2. 3 in
the vertical rod or bar, el figs. 1. 2. 3. 4, said lever-handle is depressed by the operator
by which action the spiral-spring, h, figs. 1. 2. 3. is compressed and the cork or other
suitable material attached thereto are drawn upwards towards the bridge e fig. 1, the
shoulders or guides, c³ figs. 1. 2. 4. 5 sliding freely on the slide-bars, 6 figs. 1. 2. 3.
The stopper is now held in suspension above the mouth of the bottle, and the lever-
handle being turned outwards at right angles to the bridge the vertical rod or bar is
caused to revolve, and the stopper and its attachments can be made to fall on one side
of the neck of the bottle. The stopper is then brought back over the mouth of the
bottle, and the reverse action of the lever-handle restores the said stopper to its place
in the mouth of the bottle. When the bar-handle is employed the operator simply
pulls it upwards and thereby draws the stopper from the bottle.
Having now fully described and ascertained the nature of my said invention and
in what manner the same is to be carried into practice I wish it to be distinctly
understood that I do not claim such of the parts hereinbefore described as may be
already known or in use,
but what I do claim as novel and wish to secure by Letters
Patent is.
1-The vertical-rod or bar, spiral-spring, piece or plate of metal formed with
shoulders to which the cork, rubber, or other suitable material is attached, and the
lever-handle or bar-handle respectively mentioned in the foregoing specification as
and for the purposes therein described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2-The combination and arrangement of the vertical rod or bar, spiral-spring,
piece or plate of metal formed with shoulders to which the cork, rubber, or other
suitable material is attached, lever-handle or bar-handle respectively mentioned in
the foregoing specification as and for the purposes therein described and illustrated
in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 26th day of Manch 1000