Improved Means for Preventing the Fraudulent Refilling of Bottles.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 28th May, 1895-Accepted, 29th June, 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Preventing the Fraudulent Refilling of Bottles.
I, ESTANISLAO CABALLERO DE LOS OLIVOS, (Gentleman), of 34 West
15th Street New York City, in the County and State of New York, United States
of America, do hereby declare the nature of my invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
My invention relates to bottles and has for its object to provide means for so
corking a bottle that in the event of the bottle being refilled and recorked, this
manipulation will not escape detection.
To this end my invention consists in the novel construction and arrangement of
parts that will be hereinafter described and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawing, which represents, in central
vertical section, a bottle provided with my inprovement.
In carrying out my invention, I may give the bottle A any desired shape, and
preferably the bottle is formed with a contraction or annular interior shoulder A¹
at the neck A. During the process of making the bottle, I insert therein a ball B
which may be made of wood, metal or any other suitable material, but ordinarily it
will be preferable to employ a glass ball. This ball is to be of such a size that
after the bottle is made, the ball cannot get out of it, that is, the shoulder A¹
will be of smaller diameter than the ball, or the neck will be contracted at some
place to a smaller diameter than that of the ball. A piece of wire or other
resistant flexible material C is secured to the ball B, and when the said ball is made
of glass, the end of the wire will be imbedded in the glass in the process of manu-
facturing the ball. The wire C is of sufficient length to project to the outside of
the bottle A when the ball B is in contact with the shoulder A' or other contraction
of the bottle.
The bottle is corked in the following manner: The bottle being filled, the wire C
is pulled upward, so as to bring the ball B up against the shoulder A' or equivalent
part of the bottle. This may be done manually, or suitable machinery may be
provided for this purpose. While the ball is held in this position, the bottle is
corked, so that the wire will become wedged in between the cork and the neck of
the bottle as shown in the drawing. That portion of the wire which protrudes
from the bottle is then cut off flush with the outer surface of the cork.
If after removing the cork any person should attempt to cork the bottle again,
he will not be able to do so without holding the upper end of the wire C, since if
this end is not held stretched by some means, the wire will be carried downward
into the bottle when the cork is driven into the mouth of the bottle. Since, how-
ever, the end of the wire does not protrude from the bottle, it obviously will be
impossible to hold the upper end of the wire while corking the bottle. It follows
that the bottle can never be corked again in the same manner it was at first. Any
bottle which has not been opened after it was first corked, will be readily
distinguished by the following characteristics; The ball B will be up against the
shoulder A or equivalent contraction; the wire C will rim straight (not slack)
from the ball to the neck of the bottle at the lower end of the cork and then pass
upward between the cork and the neck; and the upper end of the wire will be flush
with the upper surface of the cork. If the wire is slack between the ball and the
cork, or does not reach to the upper surface of the cork or to the mouth of the
bottle, the prospective customer may safely assume that the bottle does not contain
the liquid originally filled into it.

page_text: It will be understood that my invention is to be applied principally to bottles
that are not intended to be refilled, or corked more than once.
Various shapes may be given to the ball B without departing from the nature of
my invention. The essential point is that it should be impossible to remove the
ball from the bottle. I desire it to be understood that where in the claims I use
the term "ball" I intend to include all other shapes of bodies that may be used as
equivalents of a spherical ball. The ball may be constructed as a float or may be
of a greater specific weight than the liquid the bottle is intended to contain, this
latter construction being preferable.
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,
1. As a new article of manufacture, a glass ball and a flexible connection, one
end whereof is free while the other end is imbedded in the ball, substantially as
described.
2. As a new article of manufacture, a glass ball and a wire, one end whereof is
free while the other end is imbedded in the ball, substantially as described.
3. A bottle provided with a coutraction, a ball located in the bottle and made
larger than the contraction so that the ball cannot be removed from the bottle, and
a flexible connection having one end secured to the ball and the other end free,
said free end being adapted to extend to the outside of the bottle through the neck
thereof, substantially as described.
4. A corked bottle, provided with a contraction below the lower surface of the
cork, a ball bearing against the lower or inner surface of the said contraction, and
a flexible connection, one end whereof is secured to the said ball, the said con-
nection extending from the ball to the neck of the bottle at the lower surface of
the cork and then upward between the cork and the glass, and the free upper end
of the connection being substantially flush with the upper surface of the cork,
as set forth.
Dated this 28th day of May 1895.
A. M. & WM.. CLARK,
53 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.