An Improvement in Bottle Caps and Seals.
Year: 1895

page_text: Date of Application, 21st Feb., 1995-Accepted 23rd Mar., 1895
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improvement in Bottle Caps and Seals.
I, WILLIAM HENRY NORTHALL, of the City of Evansville, County of
Vanderburg, State of Indiana, United States of America; a Machinist by
occupation, 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 :-
My.invention consists of a cap designed to fit over the top of a bottle and hold
the cork in place. It is particularly adapted. for use in connection with bottles
containing aerated liquids, or liquids charged with gas, where there is a pressure
from the inside. tending to force the cork from the bottle, and may be used either
with a thin cork resting partly on top of the bottle (known in this art as a seal) or
with a full sized. cork in the neck of the bottle. The object of the invention is to
provide a bottle cap which will be at once economical in construction and efficient
in service, and which, while capable of being conveniently applied, may be removed
without the use of tools.
Reference being made to the annexed drawings
Fig. 1 represents in elevation one form of my improved bottle cap in position
upon a bottle neck.
Fig. 2 represents the bottle neck without the cap, showing the groove used with
this form.i
Fig. 3 represents the cap in the form in which it is applied to the bottle.
Fig. 4 represents the same, being a vertical section through the center of the cap,
and shows the form of cork used.
Fig. 5 represents the blank from which the cap-is made.
Fig. 6 represents another form of cap used with the same grooved bottle head.
Fig., 7 represents the cap in plan, the legs being spread out into a plane'parallel
with the top for convenience of illustration.
Fig. 8 represents a cap applied to a bottle head without the groove.
Fig. 9 represents the same form of cap with the tying cord removed.
Fig. 10 represents the same form with the legs spread out into a plane parallel to
the top of the cap..
:
Fig. 11 represents a form of cap for use with the ordinary ungrooved bottle head,
with a metallic tying band.
Fig. 12 represents the same with the band removed.
Fig. 13 represents the same form, being a horizontal section on the line 13' 13 of
Fig. 11.
Fig. 14 represents the same form; being a vertical section through the center of
the cap on a line corresponding to the line 14-14 of Fig. 15.
Fig. 15 represents the blank from which this form of cap is made.
Figs. 16.and: 17 represent the tying band used.
Fig., 18 represents on an enlarged scale the foot of one of the legs of this form of
cap.
The cap is composed of a capping portion which fits over the top of a bottle and
a tying-cord. which serves to hold the same in place. The capping portion, which
can be stamped out of a single piece of metal, consists of a plate A "having a
plurality of legs B projecting therefrom. The form of cap shown in Figs. 1, 3, 4
and 5 is applied to the bottle with each alternate leg bent down-the intermediate
ones projecting at substantially right angles as shown. The cord is passed around

page_text: the legs already bent down and drawn taut and the other legs are bent down tightly
upon it, forcing it in toward the bottom of the groove. The cord thus lies in
a sinuous line, being bent backward and forward by successive legs. It is thus
prevented from slipping, and it is unnecessary to tie the ends.
In the form illustrated in Figs. 6 to 10, the cap is applied with all the legs bent
down so as to encompass the bottle head, but with the lips C projecting at
substantially right angles to the legs. The cord is then passed around the legs and
the lips C bent up tight-upon it, as shown, thereby compressing the cord and
preventing it from slipping and thus obviating the necessity of a knot. In both
these forms the cap is loosened simply by pulling on the cord and unwinding it, it
being unnecessary to cut it.
In the form illustrated in the remaining figures, a metallic tying band D is used.
It has its end E bent back into a hook and it passes through the sleeve F formed
on the foot of one of the legs, the hook hooking under the foot and the band passing
around the bottle neck over the legs and passing again through the sleeve. Its
forward end is then bent back upon itself, the stiffness of the metal holding the same
in place. The lips G hold the band against the legs and together with the flange H
(shown best in Fig. 18) at the bottom of the feet maintain the cap very securely
against upward pressure. The cap is supplied to the bottler with the band in
position, but not drawn up tight, the forward end of the band just passing through
the sleeve and its projecting extremity being slightly bent back. The cap is
loosened by simply bending forward the end of the band and allowing it to slip
through the sleeve.
In the caps shown in Figs. 4 and 6 a thin cork or seal I is illustrated and in those
in Figs. 8 and 11 a full sized cork J, but either form of cork can be used with any
of the caps shown.
Having 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. In a bottle cap, in combination, a capping portion formed of a plate having a
plurality of legs projecting therefrom, said legs being bent downward so as to lie
around the sides of a bottle head, and a tying-cord which passes over some of said
legs and under others, the relative position of the legs over which and those under
which it passes being such that the said tying-cord is bent backward and forward,
substantially as described.
2. The combination with a bottle neck having a shoulder thereon, of a bottle cap
consisting of a plate, having a plurality of legs projecting therefrom, and a
removable tying-cord which lies under the said shoulder of the bottle and over
some of said legs and holds them against said neck-others of said legs being bent
down upon the tying-cord and kinking the same sufficiently to prevent slipping,
substantially as described.
3. In a bottle cap, a capping portion consisting of a plate having a plurality of
legs formed integral therewith, in combination with a removable tying-cord which
surrounds the bottle neck and passes over alternate legs and under the intermediate
legs passing at least twice under one of said intermediate legs, substantially as
described.
4. The combination with a bottle-neck having a shoulder thereon, of a bottle
cap consisting of a plate having a plurality of legs projecting therefrom, and a
removable, flexible, compressible cord which encircles said neck beneath said
shoulder, said cord making more than one complete encircling of the neck and
passing twice across one or more of said legs, the extremity of the legs beneath said
cord being bent back upon the cord and compressing it to an extent sufficient to
prevent it from slipping, all constructed and arranged substantially as described, for
the purpose specified.
5. In a bottle cap, a capping portion formed of a plate having a plurality of legs
projecting therefrom, at the foot of one of said legs there being formed a sleeve and

page_text: at the feet of others upturned lips, in combination with a tying band adapted to lie
between the upturned lips and the legs and to pass through the sleeve, substantially
as described.
6. The combination with a bottle neck having a shoulder thereon, of a bottle cap
consisting of a plate, having a plurality of legs projecting therefrom, and a tying
band which lies under the said shoulder of the bottle and passes twice through a
sleeve formed at the base of one of said legs and is held at others of said legs by
upturned lips thereon, substantially as described.
7. In a bottle cap, a capping portion consisting of a plate A having a
plurality of legs B formed integral therewith, each leg having its lower end
flaring into feet, there being formed on one of said feet projections which are
bent over to form a sleeve F, and on other of said feet the upturned lips G,
in combination with a separate tying-band formed of a single strip of metal D,
all constructed and arranged substantially as described and for the purpose
specified.
Dated this 21st day of February 1895
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.