IMPROVE- MENTS IN STOPPING BOTTLES CONTAINING AERATED LIQUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields,
in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STOPPING BOTTLES CONTAINING AERATED LIQUIDS."-A communi-
cation from abroad by Edward Hamilton, of Chicago, in the United
States of America.
Sealed the 14th June 1864, and dated the 26th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th January 1864.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of
5 Middlesex, Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPING BOTTLES CONTAINING AERATED LIQUIDS," a com-
munication to me from abroad by Edward Hamilton, of Chicago,, in the
United States of America, to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a peculiar mode of stopping bottles containing
or intended to contain liquids charged with gases or fixed air, wherein the
stopper is closed from within the bottle by the pressure of the gas or air
contained therein without the aid of springs or other contrivances for
holding the plug or stopper in its place, whilst at the same time a permanent
connection between the bottle and stopping device is obtained without
offering any impediment to the cleaning or rinsing of the bottle.

page_text: According to this Invention it is proposed to employ a ball or stopper com-
posed of any suitable light elastic substance, vulcanized india-rubber being
preferred, the ball or stopper in such case being made either hollow or solid;
but when solid, its interior should be of a light spongy texture, and be sur-
rounded externally by a smooth skin or covering. This ball or stopper is to be
forced into the interior of the bottle before charging the bottle with liquid,
and should fit the neck sufficiently tight to require more force to introduce it
into the bottle than will be exerted upon it by the pressure of the gas or fixed
air when the bottle is charged, thereby preventing all chance of the stopper
being expelled again by such internal pressure, which will merely keep the
ball or stopper firmly and tightly wedged inside the bottle neck. In order to
open the stopper, it may, if the bottle neck be wide enough, be pushed from its
seat by the direct pressure of the finger, or a wooden plug may be employed
for that purpose, furnished with a cap, which closes down upon the bottle neck
after the stopper is unseated, and confines the liquid until slightly released by
relaxing the pressure thereon; or a sliding tube, perforated laterally near its
inner extremity, may be used, sliding fluid and air-tight through a collar fitted
into the bottle neck. This tube may be drawn inwards by suitable attach-
ments fitted thereon for the fingers to take hold of, and when so drawn
inwards is made to displace the ball or stopper and allow the liquid to escape
through the perforations and out by the end of the tube. In all cases the
ball or stopper remains within the bottle, and should be sufficiently buoyant to
float upon the surface of the liquid when it is displaced from its seat in the
neck of the bottle.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Middlesex,.
Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent; bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her special license that I,
the said John Henry Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,

page_text: or such others as I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPING BOTTLES
CONTAINING AERATED LIQUIDS," a communication to me from abroad by Edward
Hamilton, of Chicago, in the United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
or under the hand and seal of one of them, should particularly describe
and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great
Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately after
the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Henry Johnson, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:-
The said Invention relates to a peculiar mode of stopping bottles containing
or intended to contain liquids charged with gases or fixed air, wherein the
stopper is closed from within the bottle by the pressure' of the gas or fixed
air contained therein without the aid of springs or other contrivances for
holding the plug or stopper in its place, whilst at the same time a permanent
connection between the bottle and stopping device is obtained without offering
any impediment to the cleaning or rinsing of the bottle.
According to this Invention it is proposed to employ a ball or stopper com-
posed of any suitable light elastic substance, vulcanized india-rubber being
preferred, the ball or stopper in such case being made either hollow or solid;
but when solid, its interior should be of a light spongy texture, and be
surrounded externally by a smooth skin or covering. This ball or stopper is
to be forced into the interior of the bottle before charging the bottle with
liquid, and should fit the neck sufficiently tight to require more force to
introduce it into the bottle than will be exerted upon it by the pressure of
the gas or fixed air when the bottle is charged, thereby preventing all chance
of the stopper being expelled again by such internal pressure, which will
merely keep the ball or stopper firmly and tightly wedged inside the bottle
neck. In order to open the stopper, it may, if the bottle neck be wide enough,

page_text: be pushed from its seat by the direct pressure of the finger, or a wooden
plug may be employed for that purpose furnished with a cap, which closes
down upon the bottle neck after the stopper is unseated, and confines the
liquid until released by relaxing the pressure thereon; or a tube perforated
laterally near its inner extremity, may be used, sliding fluid and air-tight
through a collar fitted into the bottle neck. This tube may be drawn or
forced inwards by suitable attachments fitted thereon for the fingers to
take hold of, and when so drawn or forced inwards is made to displace the
ball or stopper and allow the liquid to escape through the perforations and
out by the end of the tube. In all cases the ball or stopper remains within
the bottle, and should be sufficiently buoyant to float upon the surface of the
liquid when it is displaced from its seat in the neck of the bottle.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood, I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
I shall refer to the several Figures on the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all the
Figures.
Fig. 1 of the Drawings represents a partial sectional elevation of a bottle
stoppered or closed from the interior according to this Invention; Fig. 2 is
an elevation of the same, showing the mode of opening the stopper; Fig. 3 is
a detail of the wooden plug employed for opening or removing the stopper
from its seat; Fig. 4 represents another arrangement for opening the bottle;
and Fig. 5 is a separate detail of the same.
A is the bottle, and B the spherical stopper which is forced into the
bottle through the neck, and is intended always to remain inside the bottle
whether the same be full or empty. The stopper is represented as being
compressed into the narrow part of the neck by the pressure of the fixed air
or gases in the liquid contents of the bottle. The opening of the bottle may,
where a wide-mouthed bottle is used, be effected by pressing the spherical
stopper B inwards with the finger, but in cases where the neck of the bottle
is too contracted to admit of the introduction of the finger therein, then the
Inventor proposes to employ a small wooden plug C of less diameter than the
internal diameter of the bottle neck as shewn in Figs. 2 and 3, which plug is
formed with an expanded head or cap c, made to fit the rim of the bottle neck
when the plug C is forced inwards, a packing being provided or not as required
on the under side of the head or cap, so as to enable it to fit fluid-tight on the
rim of the neck; this plug, on being inserted into the bottle neck, will bear
against the spherical stopper B, and by pressing the plug inwards the stopper
B will be forced from its seat and the liquid allowed to escape. By holding

page_text: the head or cap of the plug well down upon the neck the escape of the liquid
may be checked until a vessel is ready to receive it, when by allowing the
plug to rise slightly, so as to uncover the neck of the bottle, the liquid will be
free to escape.
In the device for opening the bottle illustrated by Figs. 4 and 5, a tube D
is employed, provided with a shoulder or collar E covered or not with india-
rubber, and made to fit inside the neck of the bottle; F, F, are rings attached
to the tube, extending laterally and downwards so as to be conveniently seized
by two fingers of the hand holding the bottle as shown in Fig. 4. At its
inner or lower end the tube D is perforated so as to allow of the escape of the
liquid and gases or fixed air when its inner end has been forced inwards
sufficiently to displace the spherical stopper B. The collar or shoulder may
either be fixed to the tube D, and slide down the inside of the neck with the
tube when acted on by the fingers, or the tube D may be made to slide through
the collar or shoulder E, which in that case would be stationary inside the
bottle neck; of course the same result (namely the closing of the bottle neck,)
will be obtained whether the liquid in the bottle be subsequently charged
with air or gases whilst in the bottle, or whether the liquid be previously
charged with air or gases before being bottled.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the said
Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used or carried
into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-
before in part recited Letters Patent is, the mode of closing or stopping
the necks of bottles containing aerated liquids by means of a suitably
shaped elastic and impervious ball or stopper placed inside the bottle and
forced into the neck thereof by the pressure of the gas of the liquid in
the bottle without the intervention of springs or other equivalent mechanical
contrivances.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Henry Johnson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Twenty-fifth day of July, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-four.
J. HENRY JOHNSON. (L.S.)