IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPING AND UNSTOPPING BOTTLES, MORE PARTI- CULARLY WHEN SUCH BOTTLES CONTAIN AERATED LIQUORS FORCED IN BY MACETEDDY AD CREEDAMEN WILKIN
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edgar Breffit, of 83, Upper Thames Street, in
the City of London, Glass Bottle Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPING AND UNSTOPPING BOTTLES, MORE PARTI-
CULARLY WHEN SUCH BOTTLES CONTAIN AERATED LIQUORS FORCED IN BY
MACETEDDY AD CREEDAMEN WILKIN
"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edgar Breffit at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th October 1874.
I, EDGAR BREFFIT, of 83, Upper Thames Street, in the City of
London, Glass Bottle Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPING AND UNSTOPPING BOTTLES,
MORE PARTICULARLY WHEN SUCH BOTTLES CONTAIN AERATED LIQUORS FORCED IN BY
MACHINERY OR GENERATED WITHIN," to be as follows:-
1

page_text: trunculated cone, through which I force by compression a ball of
suitable yielding material or a plug of ridged material and flexible
washer or cover, either of which is held up by the pressure of gas from
within. I also employ a combination of glass and other material of
light gravity that will float the glass in water, into the lower portion of
which I insert a plug of glass, which is kept up by the tighter sub-
stance, and by the pressure of the gas from within keeps the bottle
mouth closed.
To unstop or empty such bottles I employ a tube, the upper portion
of which is surrounded by a flexible, conical, or annular washer, which ]
closes or covers the space between the outside of the tube and the
inside of the bottle mouth. This tube has lateral openings at its lower
portions, and while the ball or plug remains depressed by the tube,
which on being removed before the bottle is entirely emptied, the ball
or plug returns to its position as a stopper.
If the bottle is entirely emptied the ball or plug remains inside for
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Edgar Breffit in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 18th April 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDGAR
BREFFIT, of 83, Upper Thames Street, in the City of London, Glass
Bottle Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of October, in the year of our g
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Edgar Breffit, Her special licence
that I, the said Edgar Breffit, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Edgar Breffit, my executors,
administrators, and 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
-

page_text: Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STOPPING AND UNSTOPPING BOTTLES, MORE PARTICULARLY WHEN SUCH BOTTLES
CONTAIN AERATED LIQUORS FORCED IN BY MACHINERY OR GENERATED WITHIN,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edgar Breffit, my
5 executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Edgar Breffit, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawing
hereto annexed, and to the figures and marks thereon, that is to
say:-
In case of the Invention being applied to bottles containing aerated
drinks I adopt the method now in general use of filling the bottles in
an inverted position, and on its removal from the nozzle of the bottling
machine, the flexible ball, hemispherical, or cone-shaped stopper is held
up by the pressure of gas against the conical recess, valve seat, or pro-
jection formed in the upper or lower internal opening to the neck of the
bottle.
In case of the Invention being applied to liquids which generate their
own gas from within, such as beer, champagne, &c., the bottles are filled
in the ordinary way, and kept in an inverted position during such period
as the gas requires to generate. In the meantime, and in addition to
the internal ball or cone, I use a small ordinary cork or my expired
Patent stopper, which prevents leakage till sufficient gas is generated to
keep the ball, hemisphere, or cone in its position as a stopper or valve,
after which it either may or may not be removed. In the use of ordinary
corks for bottling beer and effervescing wine I make an annular incision
in such corks a short distance from the lower end, which lower portion
of the cork is intended to remain midway in the bottle neck after the
larger or upper portion of the cork is extracted, but which I depress with
the tap or tube, herein-after described, for depressing the balls, hemi-
spheres, or cones used in bottles containing aerated liquids. The

page_text: foregoing arrangement may be applied to ordinary corks used for
bottling aerated liquids.
The second part of my Invention relates to the unstopping or opening
the bottles to discharge their contents, and for this purpose I employ a
tube of slightly smaller diameter than the ball or small end of the
conical stopper, with which I depress the ball, hemispherical, or conical
stopper, and while so depressed or held down the liquid rushes through
the lateral openings up the tube, a portion of which is surrounded by
flexible packing of inverted conical shape, which closes the space between
the outer circumference of the tube and the inner circumference of the
bottle neck, with suitable provision for the admission of air when the
force of gases is expended as will admit of the continued flow of the con-
tents of the bottle. The top of the tube may be stopped with the finger
or plug, but I employ a tap, with the end bent so that the contents of
the bottle may be directed downwards into a drinking glass, which tap
should be closed at the time the ball or cone is pushed down, and opened
to admit the flow of the contents of the bottle. The latter arrangement
I consider an important part of my Invention, as without the use of the
tube the ball or cone would not be held down so as to admit of the flow
of the contents through the side openings of the tube. Gutta percha
variously prepared may be used for the balls, but in case of this being
objectionable I employ balls of cork or any other less objectionable
flexible material. I further, in case of using conical corks, plugs, or
hemispheres, insert a plug of glass of the form marked J in the Drawing
annexed hereto, which plug being firmly driven into the base of the
conical cork, hemisphere, or plug keeps the small end upwards whenever
it floats, so as to enter the inside of the lower portion of the bottle neck
in its proper position to stop the same. To prevent breakage of the glass
plugs here named I cover the portion marked P, or form a countersink
in the base of the cone or hemisphere to receive the same.
Another portion of my Invention has reference to an arrangement for
affecting the same kind of stopping, but instead of employing a flexible
ball I use them of glass or other rigid material, surrounded if necessary
with a flexible ring or covering.
Another portion of my Invention is to affix a ring or valve seat of
glass within the mouths of ordinary bottles. "This I am enabled to do by
inserting the same within the bottle mouth; and by the use of a vitri-

page_text: M, M, is the aperture communicating with a small tube or notch in
the tap for the admission of air.
N is the side opening in the tube through which the liquid flows the
moment the ball or plug is depressed.
O is an hemispherical stopper, with the plug J inserted in its base.
Having now described my Invention and the manner of performing
the same, what I claim is, the application of the tubes or taps for
depressing the ball or plug for emptying the bottle of its contents, and
also the application of the balls, plugs, and conical corks in combination
with the tube for the purpose of stopping and unstopping bottles, in the 1
manner described and shewn in the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edgar Breffit, have hereunto set -
my hand and seal, this First day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five.
EDGAR BREFFIT. (L.S.)
Signed, sealed, and delivered by
the said Edgar Breffit, in the
presence of
WILLIAM EVAN RICE,
Clerk to Alfred Jones, Tindale, & Grove,
Solicitors,
7, Queen Street,
Cheapside.