Improvements in or Connected with the Unstoppering of Internally Stoppered Bottles and in the Apparatus therefor.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Sept, 1887
Complete Left, 17th Mar., 1888
Complete Accepted, 20th Apr., 1888
Improvements in or Connected with the Unstoppering of Internally
Stoppered Bottles and in the Apparatus therefor.
I FREDERICK ARTHUR WALTON trading as C. F. Palmer & Co. 54 Hylton Street.
Birmingham in the county of Warwick Mineral water manufacturer, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to improvements in the unstoppering of internally stoppered
bottles used for aerated waters, and the objects of my improvements is to provide an
opener which shall be fixed upon, or permanently attached to such bottles.
Hitherto it has been customary for openers to be separate and independent of the
bottle, but by making them securely attached to the bottle, that is, each bottle pro-
vided with its own opener, much inconvenience is avoided, and a contrivance made
which enables the operator to readily and. easily draw off their contents.
I may carry out my invention in several ways, embracing either a lever action or a
screw action.
In the former I may proceed somewhat thus :-A metallic ring would
be secured underneath the external projection of the mouth of the bottle at the upper
end of the neck. To this metallic ring 1 form and attach a link, capable, at one end,
of a hinge motion with the aforesaid ring, or otherwise capable of a freedom or
flexibility of motion necessary for its purpose, and which is of a suitable length. At
the other end a second (shorter) link is attached, and to this second link 1 attach a
lever, such point of attachment forming the fulcrum of the said lever.
At the point
or operating end of such lever, I make a depresser, which shall come in contact with
the ball or other internal stopper. The depresser may consist of a ring or cup,
baving an extension upon its rear part by which it may be attached to the end of the
lever, but generally I should prefer to provide upon the end of the lever two revolving
discs, which discs may be more or less cupped. These discs would be mounted one
upon either side of the said lever, in such a manner, as that when pressed in working
position, they may roll upon the stopper.
Instead of having two links as described, I may only provide one of such links,
and bend or crank such link to suit, but at present I prefer using two of such links.
Also these links may consist of two or more links or chain, or may be made of other
suitable flexible material.

page_text: Again, I may only provide one link, or, make such link in one with the metallic
ring around the neck of the bottle, and provide a compensating fulcrum slot in the
lever, or such slot may be made in the metallic ring.
Further, I may arrange this my fixed opener by providing a screw thread upon
the head of the bottle, either externally or internally and in combination therewith
provide an annular formed screw, provided with a projection which shall when in
operation, come in contact with and push off the stopper; such screw would be made
unremovable from the bottle.
In each case the mechanism would be capable of being placed out of the way as
not to interfere with the filling of the bottles, and also to present a neat and tidy
appearance when in transit, or, ready for use.
It will be easy to protect such openers from unlawful use, or from the possibility of
accidental opening, by gumming a label or strip, or wire, around the lever, (which
falls neatly by the side of the neck, or in the case of the screw, around such screw
and part of the neck of the bottle.
In mentioning these methods of carrying out my invention, I do not confine myself
to their details as such may be modified to suit requirement or design, such as the
changing of the position of the fulcrum in the levers, or similar modifications.
Dated this 13th day of September 1887.
CHARLES T. POWELL,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: Stoppered Bottles and in the Apparatus therefor.
FREDERICK ARTHUR WALTON, trading as C. F. Palmer & Co., 54 Hylton
Street, Birmingham, in the county of Warwick, Mineral water manufacturer,
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:-
This invention relates to improvements for the unstoppering of internally stoppered
bottles used for aerated waters or other liquids, and the object of my improvements
is to provide an opener which shall be fixed or attached to the bottle, and operating
by means of a lover.
Hitherto it has been customary in most if not all cases, for openers to be separate,
and independent of the bottle, but by making them securely attached to the bottle,
that is, each bottle being provided with its own opener, much inconvenience is
avoided, and a contrivance made, which enables the operator to readily and easily draw
off their contents.
In carrying out my invention I may proceed somewhat thus:-A metallic ring
would be secured underneath the external projection of the mouth of the bottle at the
upper end of the neck. To this metallic ring I attach a link, capable of a hinged
motion at its one end with the aforesaid ring, or otherwise capable of a freedom
or flexibility of motion necessary for its purpose, and which is of a suitable length.
At the other end a second (shorter) link is attached, and to this second link, I attach
a lever, such point of attachment forming the fulcrum of the said lever. At the
point, or operating end of such lever I make a depresser which shall.come in
contact with the ball or other internal stopper. The depresser may consist of a
ring or cup, having an extension upon it, by which it may be attached to the end of
the lever, but generally I should prefer to provide upon the end of the lever two
revolving discs, which discs may be more or less cupped. These discs are mounted,
one upon either side of the said lever in such a manner, as, that when pressed in
working they roll upon the stopper.
Instead of having two links as described, I may provide only one of such links,
and bend or crank such link if necessary; or these links may consist of two or
more links of chain, or, it may be made of other flexible material. Or again, I may
provide one link, or make such link in one with the metallic ring, by extending such
ring upwards to such point of attachinent to the lever, and in combination with such
one link, a compensating fulcrum slot in the lever, or such slot may be made in the
upper part of the extension of the ring or link. Preferably however, I should use
the two links as heroinafter described and illustrated.

page_text: .
In either case the mechanism would be capable of being placed out of the way,
so as not to interfere with the filling &c. of the bottle, and also to present a neat and
tidy appearance when in transit, or ready for use.
It will be easy to protect such openers from unlawful use, or from the possibility of
accidental opening, by gumming à label or strip, or by attaching a wiro around the
lever and the neck of the bottle.
Having now described the nature of this my said invention, I will now proceed to
explain more fully how it may be performed, having reference to the accompanying
illustrative sheet of drawings, upon which are figures and letters of reference, similar
letters referring throughout the several views to the same thing or part.
Fig. 1, shews in side elevation an arrangement constructed according to my
invention.
Fig. 2 is a part sectional view of the arrangement immediately before the
unstoppering takes place.
Fig. 3 is a plan of Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is an elevation shewing a modification of lever, and depresser &c.
Fig. 5 shews a detail or front view of the depresser in Fig. 4.
Figs: 6, 7, 8 & 9 shew details of parts of the arrangements.
Fig. 10 shews another modified form of lever.
a, is the neck part of the bottle, b, the stopper, shewn for the sake of illustration
as a ball stopper, but it will be readily seen that my invention will equally apply to
other similar forms of internal stoppers. c is a metallic ring, secured underneath
the external projection d of the bottle, by soldering at e, or otherwise, and being
shaped at to form a joint.
To this metallic ring I attach a link g capable of a hinge motion upon the joint f
At the upper end of this link g I attach a second link h, which in its turn is attached
to the lever i. is the operating lever. Upon the fore end of the lever I
provide two revolving discs j, j which are preferably somewhat of a cup or dished
form, as shewn more clearly in section in Fig. 9. These discs are carried upon a joint
pin k.
The operation of this arrangement will now be readily seen upon referring
to Fig. 2, where the lever is shewn in the position of being just ready to force down
the stopper b.
Having forced the stopper b, the mechanism may if desired be readily thrown
back out of the way as indicated by the dotted lines in Fig. 2, or, may be so placed
during the operation of filling &c.
In Figs. 4 & 5 I have shewn a modification in the form of the lever, link, and the
depresser, in which the depresser l, consists of a ring form, having an extension, by
which it is attached by a joint to the fore end of the lever ; the said lever being
further provided with a compensating slot m, which receives the joint pin at the
upper end of the link g¹, which said link is attached to the ring c as before
described..
In Fig. 10 another modified form of lever is shown, in which the lever is
arranged with its fulcrum at the end, and the depresser attached thereto in a mid
position. The operation of both these modifications will be readily understood to be
similar to that described for Figs. 1, 2, & 3. Generally however I should prefer the
arrangement shown in Figs. 1, 2, & 3.
Such openers will be easily and neatly, protected from unlawful use, or from
accidental opening, by gumming a label, or by attaching a wire around the lever and
Deck of the bottle.
In Fig. 1 the lever is shewn placed close to the side of the said neck, in a manner
well suited for transit &c., the dotted lines n indicating the position of a gummed label
retaining the handle of the lever in such a position, the said label being readily torn
away when the bottle is to be unstoppered.
4
By my improved arrangement for unstoppering internally stoppered bottles con- 5
taining aerated or gaseous liquids it is found that little if any waste takes place, by
reason of the depresser being of such a form which allows of a large quantity of

page_text: gas to readily pass out of the bottle, and thus to quickly reduce the pressure
of the said gas in the bottle, which thereby prevents an outrush; most if not
all unstoppering devices made up to the present, being so bulky as to choke up
the opening, and hence an inevitable 'outrush of the contents before sufficient
gas can pass out of the bottle to prevent it.
In describing and illustrating these methods of carrying out my invention, I do
not confine myself to their preciso details, as such may be varied without departing
from the nature of my invention to suit design or other requirement.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that
what I claim is :-
1. In the unstoppering of internally stoppered bottles, the use of an attached lever
device, having a depresser formed upon or attached thereto, substantially as herein-
described, and illustrated, and for the purposes set forth.
2. The combination and arrangement of the parts constituting an internally
stoppered bottle opener, of the ring c, links g & h, lever i, and depresser j, j or their
equivalents, substantially as, and for the purposes hereindescribed and illustrated in
Figs. 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8 & 9.
3. The combination and arrangement of the modification of the parts constituting
an internally stoppered bottle opener, of the ring c, link g', lever i and depresser ĭ,
as described and illustrated in Figs. 4 & 5.
4. The combination and arrangement of the modification of the parts, constituting
an internally stoppered bottle opener, as described and illustrated in Fig. 10, or
other substantially similar combination of an attached lever opener for the purposes
specified.
Dated this 16th day of March 1888.
CHARLES T. POWELL,
12, Cherry Street, Birmingham,
Applicant's Agent.