IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING BOTTLES TO PREVENT FRAUDULENT ABSTRACTION OF CONTENTS OF SAME."
Year: 1879

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Erasmus Phillipson, of the City of Dublin, Ireland,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERING BOTTLES TO PREVENT
FRAUDULENT ABSTRACTION OF CONTENTS OF SAME."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Erasmus Phillipson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st August 1879.
HENRY ERASMUS PHILLIPSON, of the City of Dublin, Ireland. "IMPROVEMENTS
IN STOPPERING BOTTLES TO PREVENT FRAUDULENT ABSTRACTION OF CONTENTS OF
SAME."
The object of this Invention is to prevent a bottle once filled and closed from
being used for any other purpose than that for which it was originally intended,
thereby preventing refilling with other or inferior liquids or solids, and guarding
the purchaser against deception, also protecting the makers of well known articles
against piracy.
For this purpose I so form the bottle that the part to be opened is formed and
sealed before the bottle is filled, or, in other words, I form the bottle in such a
manner that by melting a piece or button of glass or other suitable material on to
same, by the breaking of which an opening is made for the removal of contents, the
bottle is rendered useless, nor can the piece so-broken off be again-fixed without
detection.
For filling the bottle I provide an opening in any suitable place in bottle, which
may be in bottom or side, or in top, or through the button or part made to break
off for opening bottle. When the bottle is filled this hole is closed either by
melting the glass or by stoppering with glass or other suitable material and
cementing same with cement that cannot be removed without spoiling or wasting
contents or destroying bottle, or the bottle may be sealed with metal or other
capsules.
The bottle may be made of glass, stoneware, porcelain, metal, or other suitable
material for holding any solids or liquids, such as spirits, wine, acids, alkalis,
or mercury.

page_text: And in order that this my Invention may be fully understood I will now proceed
to describe the same with reference to the accompanying Drawings, shewing:
different modes of carrying out my Invention with reference to bottles or jars of
glass, china, stoneware, or other suitable materials. Similar letters of reference
refer to like parts in all the Figures where the same occur.
Figure 1, is a view of a bottle, partly in section, constructed according to one
arrangement; here the bottom of the bottle is shewn formed with a recess hole,
which serves for the filling of the same. a is the top or neck of the bottle, which
in this case is formed as shewn, and is made of a piece or button of glass or other
material suitable for uniting with the neck of the bottle while this latter is in a
more or less melted or plastic state by heat; f shews the aperture in bottom of
bottle, whereby it is in this case filled.
The bottle is charged with the liquid or solid substance which it is intended to
contain through this hole f in the bottom; b is the plug inserted in the aperture f
and there secured with cement c. This cement c (or it may be sealing wax) may
receive any impression, such as a trade mark or other seal, see Figures 1 and. 2.
When it is desired to empty part or the whole of the contents of the bottle the
button a is knocked off by a sharp blow by any suitable instrument, or the
apparatus shewn in Figure 14 may be used to take off the top and prevent it flying,
but to which said apparatus, shewn in Figure, 14, no claim is hereby made.
'
Figure 2 shews a bottle similar to Figure 1, but in place of a plug, as..before.
described, I shew a metallic or other capsule b covering the bottom opening f, and
with cement or sealing wax rum around it.
Figure 3 shows the bottom of a bottle stopped with a plug, and Figure 4 stopped
with a glass or porcelain capsule; 6 shows the plug in Figure 3, and b the glass or

page_text: porcelain capsule in Figure 4. In Figure 3 a¹ is a glass or metal disc, against which
the plug b abuts; c is the cement.
Figures. 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, and. 13. shew various other modifications in
which my Invention may be carried into effect when the filling is effected by or
through the neck of the bottle, jar, or other vessel. In all these examples A, B, is
the line of breakage.
Referring to Figure 5, where the charging aperture is formed through the
enlarged top part or button a of the bottle, g is projecting portion or ring in the
interior of this top-part a, on which the metal, cork, or other disc a rests, and b is
the plug, which may be of any suitable material. This plug b is enlarged at the
top, as shewn at 61, and fits into a corresponding recess or groove in the top part a
of the bottle. The plug 6 is secured by cement c, and the enlarged part 6' of the
plug 6 forms a cover for the cement and protects it.
Referring to Figure 6 b is the plug of glass or other suitable material, with its
sides parallel; in this arrangement the top part a of the bottle is recessed to receive
the cement c; a¹ is the metal, cork, or other disc on which the plug b rests.
Figure 7 shews another modification similar to Figure 5, but having a contracted
neck to receive a cork e after the vessel is filled. The top part a is broken off in
the usual way, but the cork has to be drawn before getting at the contents of the
bottle.
In Figure 8 I have shewn another modification in which the neck of the bottle
is first closed by a cork e. A button a¹ is cemented in the top of the bottle, and
the whole covered over with a glass or other capsule b, similar to the capsule shewn
at Figure 4.
In some cases I cement the capsule b on to the bottle, as shewn at Figure 9. In
this case I dispense with the button a¹, as described with reference to the previous
Figure. The neck may be so constructed as to receive a cork e similar to. Figures 7
and 8, and as I have shewn it in the Drawing.
In Figure 10 I have shewn an arrangement similar to Figures 5 and 6, but on
the top of the plug b there are screw threads, and I make the contracted part of the
neck with corresponding threads, so that when the top part a of the bottle has
been broken off on the line A, B, it' may be reversed to screw into the neck of the
bottle, as shewn at Figure 11, and thus a temporary stopper is formed.
Figures 12 and 13 shew modifications in which the cap or capsule b is cemented
on to the top part a of the bottle, as shewn; A, B, is the line of breakage, as in the
previous Figures.
Various other modifications of my Invention may be devised without departing
from the same, but I believe I have described sufficient to fully illustrate how the
Invention is or may be carried into effect, and how the essential object of the
Invention is to be obtained, viz., to prevent wine, spirit, beer, or other bottles or
receptacles which have been once opened from being ever used again for a similar
purpose, and fraud thus prevented, whether it be by abstraction, refilling, or
adulteration.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and in what manner the
same is to be perforined, I declare that I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim simply in itself the mode of closing a bottom aperture of a bottle or other
vessel, except in combination with other parts and for the purpose of preventing
fraudulent refilling of bottles and other vessels, nor do I claim closing a bottle
neck by a plug and cement, except in a special manner, for the purpose of pre-
venting fraudulent refilling of bottles and other vessels, but I claim as my
improvements in stoppering bottles to prevent fraudulent abstraction of contents of
same,
The mode or modes hereinbefore described and illustrated in the Drawings here-
unto annexed of stoppering bottles and such receptacles, whereby it becomes
necessary in order to use or get at the contents of the bottle or receptacle to so
injure the bottle or receptacle that it cannot be again used for the same purpose as

page_text: before, and thereby fraudulent abstraction of the contents, refilling, and adulteration
are prevented.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Erasmus Phillipson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty ninth day of January, in the year of our
Lord. One thousand eight hundred and eighty.
HENRY E. PHILLIPSON. (L.S.)