An Improved Tip or Cap for Bottles and the like for Distributing Fluid and Semi-fluid Materials.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Feb., 1890-Accepted, 29th Mar., 1890
COMPLETE
SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Tip or Cap for Bottles and the like for Distributing
Fluid and Semi-fluid Materials.
A communication from abroad by WALTER HUNNEWELL UNDERWOOD, Manufacturer,
of No. 140, Nassau Street, New York, in the United States of America.
I, PHILIP MIDDLETON JUSTICE of 55 and 56 Chancery Lane, in the County of
Middlesex, Fellow of the Institute of Patent Agents, 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 has for its object to provide a substitute for brushes, pads, etc., long
employed in applying paste, dyes, paints and other materials to different surfaces,
and further to improve a class of flexible tips which has recently been used as a
substitute for brushes for such purpose. To this end the invention consists of a hollow
flexible tip adapted to be applied to or combined with a bottle or other receptacle as
described hereinafter and as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:
Fig. 1 is a view of a bottle provided with the improved tip.
Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of a part of same, the dotted lines showing an
alternative arrangement.
Fig. 3 is a sectional view showing the manner in which the device is used.
Fig. 4 is a cross section on the line 4, 4, Fig. 2.
Figs. 5, 6 and 7 are views illustrating modifications.
The objections to the use of brushes, sponges, and other articles for applying
mucilage, paint and other fluids or semi-fluids that have to be deposited upon surfaces,
are well known and have led to the use of hollow tips or nozzles appled to receptacles
and used for distributing limited portions of the contents from time to time as
required.
As heretofore made, such tips while superior to brushes and sponges, have been
defective from the liability of the contents of the receptacle to remain upon the tip
after the latter has been used for coating any surface, to such an extent as to form
a thin coating which hardens in its place and which is overlaid by another coating
which also hardens and obstructs the operation of the tip. In order to obviate these
objections the improved tip is made in substantially the manner indicated in the
accompanying drawing and hereinafter described.
The said tip A is of any suitable material preferably rubber, the neck or base b of
which may be reinforced by a rib f and is adapted to be applied to and clamp the
neck of the bottle or other receptacle B. Any other means of attachment may,
however, be employed, and the portion 6 of the tip may be of metal, glass, or other
substance, with an extension which is termed a "spreader" d, closed at the outer end
and provided with a transverse slit a, which while capable of being opened by the
bending of the tip will remain normally closed with its lips pressing together so as to
prevent the escape of the contents of the receptacle.
While the projecting hollow portion or finger of the tip may be of different forms
it is essential that it have a spreading face, and. further that this spreading face
shall be of such a conformation that after the tip has been used to deposit a layer of
mucilage or other material upon a surface the said spreading face may be applied
without opening the slit to the surface in such manner that all portions of the surface x
may at once or successively be rubbed upon the contacting surface so as to wipe
from the surface & all traces of the fluid which is thus prevented from hardening upon
and coating the tip.
The best form in which to make the tip to accomplish the desired end has been
shown by practice to be slightly convex transversely as shown in Fig. 4, and convex
lengthwise as shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3, but the surface may be perfectly flat as
:

page_text: shown in Fig. 6. By making the tip slightly convex in cross section the wiping
of the surface a upon a flat surface will tend to flatten the tip and bring the lips of
the slit a close together. The terminal portion of the tip is preferably made solid
as shown in Figs. and 3, so as to resist the pressure when the tip is applied
against the surface to be coated, whereby the end portion is forced laterally to one
side carrying one lip of the slit away from the other and opening the slit for passage
of the fluid as shown in Fig. 3. The tip may have only one spreading surface as
shown in Figs. 1 to 4, or it may have two such surfaces, one on each side as shown
in Fig. 5, in which case there may be a slit in each surface.
In order to permit the application of sufficient pressure to insure the opening of
the slit even if the tip is stiffened by a coating of mucilage as sometimes is the
case, and to prevent the tip from buckling or breaking down when such extra
pressure is applied it is desirable to reinforce the tip at the side opposite the slit.
This may be done in different ways, as by increasing the thickness of the material
constituting the side s, Fig. 2, so as to form a rib or brace, or a preferable
manner is to reinforce the tip by means of a separate bracet more or less flexible,
of any suitable material, preferably metal.
The brace or stiffener t may be of wire, or a plate, and may conform to the
outline of the side s, and may be fitted at the lower portion with a clamp u,
receiving the edge of the tip as shown in Fig. 6, or the clamp u may be in the form
of two wings as shown in Fig. 7, embracing the body of the tip. By this means the
reinforcing plate or piece may be applied to tips already manufactured. It is
desirable that the termination of the brace or stiffener should be at a point opposite
the slit so that the portion beyond the slit shall bend more readily under pressure
than the remaining part, thus insuring the opening of the slit.
Instead of applying the reinforce or brace to the outside of the tip, it may be
embedded in, attached to, or formed with the material itself in the process of
manufacture, or it may be constructed in any other suitable manner.
In dotted
lines Fig. 2, the brace t is shown in position inside of the tip in which case it
preferably bears against the slit side, its point extending to or nearly to the point
where the slit is situated.
Instead of being slit the tip may be perforated in any way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. A flexible tip for fluid receptacles concave on one side and having at its opposite
side a spreading surface all parts of which can be brought into contact with a plane
surface without bending the tip, and with a perforation in the spreading surface,
substantially as described.
2. A spreading tip for the distribution of liquids and semi-liquids provided with a
distributing perforation and having a surface all parts of which may be applied to a
wiping surface without any pressure tending to open the perforation, substantially as
set forth, whether the said tip be separate from or combined with. a receptacle for the
liquid to be distributed.
3. A flexible distributing tip provided with a transverse slit located in a spreading
surface of a contour adapted to be applied to a wiping surface without opening the
slit substantially as set forth.
4. The within described tip provided with a perforation and with a spreading
surface which is convex longitudinally, or transversely or both.
5. The tip constructed substantially as illustrated and described for the purpose
set forth.
6. A tip having a perforation in one side and reinforced at the other by increasing
the thickness or rigidity of said side as set forth.
7. The combination with the tip having the perforation at one side of a reinforcing
plate at the opposite side secured detachably or undetachably to or embedded in
the tip, substantially as set forth.

page_text: 8. A tip supported by a brace with a perforation at one side, substantially as
described.
9. A hollow perforated tip braced at one side to a point adjacent to the perforation,
8. A tip supported by a brace with a perforation at one side, substantially as
described.
9. A hollow perforated tip braced at one side to a point adjacent to the perforation,
substantially as set forth.
1000
PHILIP M. JUSTICE.