IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STOPPERING BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING GASEOUS AND AËRATED LIQUIDS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Rule, of Gilesgate, in the City of Durham, in the
County of Durham, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
STOPPERING BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING GASEOUS AND AËRATED LIQUIDS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Rule at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st July 1876.
THOMAS RULE, of Gilesgate, in the City of Durham, in the County of Durham.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR STOPPERING BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING
GASEOUS AND AËRATED LIQUIDS."
This Invention consists in certain improvements in the construction of apparatus
belonging to that class of arrangements for stoppering bottles, in which the stopper
is contained within the bottle and below the neck thereof.
The stopper is formed of soft india-rubber or other suitable elastic material, and
of an oval, oblong, or conical formn, the same being hollow, and having in the interior
thereof an oval, elongated, or, by preference, a dumb-bell shaped core or centre
piece of any suitable and desired size, the same being formed of vulcanite, glass,
metal, stone, earthenware, or any other suitable heavy material.
The stopper being of an elongated form, and so shaped as to possess a larger
amount of india-rubber or other elastic material around the centre thereof, is readily
compressed so as to be easily passed through the neck into the interior of the bottle,
and having been so introduced into the latter it is forced by the gaseous
or aërated liquid contained in the same, or the gas or fixed air liberated therefrom,
into the lower portion of the neck of the bottle, or against the shoulder or seat
formed at the junction of the neck of the bottle with the lower and larger part
thereof.
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The stopper being of an elongated shape, and the central core of a hard substance,
is easily forced downwards, and thereby all necessity for an opener" obviated,
whilst it falls by reason of its own gravity, and readily adjusts itself in position
upon the requisite pressure of liquid gas or air being exerted thereon.
The external elastic portion of the stopper may be of any desired colour, but
when india-rubber is employed it is preferred to use white india-rubber as being
cleanly in appearance, and comparatively free from smell and taste.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Thomas Rule in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 30th December
1876.
THOMAS RULE, formerly of Gilesgate, in the City of Durham, in the County of
Durham, but now of Leeds, in the County of York. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR STOPPERING BOTTLES FOR CONTAINING GASEOUS AND AERATED LIQUIDS."
My said Invention consists in certain improvements in the construction of
apparatus belonging to that class of arrangements for stoppering bottles for con-
taining gaseous or aërated liquids, in which the stopper is contained within the
bottle and below the neck thereof.
The stopper is formed of soft india-rubber or other suitable elastic material, and
of an oval, oblong, or conical form, the same being hollow, and having in the
interior thereof an oval, elongated, or by preference, a dumb-bell shaped core or
centre piece of any suitable and desired size, the same being formed of vulcanite,
glass, metal, stone, earthenware, or any other suitable heavy material.
The stopper being of an elongated form, and so shaped as to possess a larger
amount of india-rubber or other elastic inaterial around the centre thereof, is readily
compressed so as to be easily passed through the neck into the interior of the bottle,
and having been so introduced into the latter it is forced by the gaseous or aërated
liquid contained in the same, or by the gas or fixed air liberated therefrom, into the
lower portion of the neck of the bottle, or against the shoulder or seat formed at
the junction of the neck of the bottle with the lower and larger part thereof.
As the stopper is of an elongated shape, and the enclosed core is formed of a hard
substance, it is easily forced downwards, and thereby all necessity for an "
opener"
obviated, whilst it falls of its own gravity, and readily adjusts itself in position
upon the requisite pressure of liquid gas or air being exerted thereon.
The external elastic portion of the stopper may be of any desired colour, but
when india-rubber is employed it is preferred to use white india-rubber as being
cleanly in appearance and comparitively free from smell and taste.
I will now refer to the annexed Drawings, from which the nature of my said
Invention will be more clearly understood.
Figure 1 is an oval or egg shaped stopper shown in elevation; Figure 2 is a
longitudinal section of the same, shewing a dumb-bell shaped core; Figure 3 is a
cross section of the same; and Figure 4, a detached view of the dumb-bell shaped
core.
Having thus declared and ascertained the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I would observe in conclusion that what
I consider novel and original and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by
the said herein-before in part recited Letters Patent are,-
First. The construction of the hollow elastic stoppers of an oval, oblong, or
conical form, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before described and set
forth, and
And, Secondly. The combination of the hollow elastic stopper with a core or
centre piece constructed of a suitable heavy material, and of an oval, elongated, or,
by preference, a dumb-bell shape, substantially as and for the purposes herein-before
described and set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Rule, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this twenty-seventh day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.