Improvements in Bottle Stoppering Devices.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Feb., 1892-Accepted, 28th May, 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by WILLIAM PAINTER, 500, East Monument
Street, of Baltimore, in the State of Maryland, United States of America,
Manufacturer.]
Improvements in Bottle Stoppering Devices.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co. Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, 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:-
The objects of my invention are to seal bottles as effectually and reliably as can
be done by the use of corks and fastening wires or cords, and to do this with a
substantial saving in the cost of sealing materials as well as with economy in
applying the sealing devices to the bottles, it being understood that the said sealing
devices may be thrown away after having becu used once as is common with
ordinary corks.
For accomplishing the above mentioned objects the communicator has devised a
metallic cap embodying certain novel features which is used in connection with a
suitable sealing disc, and a bottle appropriately adapted thereto, in such a way that
a bottle, cap and disc united for use, constitutes a novel organization, when
considered as a means for bottling or storing liquids, in comparison with prior
combinations of bottles, corks, and fastening wires, or of bottles and metallic sealing
caps, whether used with corks or with sealing discs, and whether the said caps be in
the form of "capsules," or of the well known spring armed variety which engage
the arms in latch contact with the underside of the heads of bottles.
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The improved metallic caps are composed of strong hard metal, and they are
capable of performing complete "wiring" duty, and hence they are separate and
distinct from the old and largely used variety of thin soft metal caps known as
'capsules" which are generally used as ornamental bottling devices, with corks,
and usually with "
"wiring of some kind. The caps are equally separate and
distinct from such as are composed of hard metal, but have spring arms which
engage after the manner of latches with the bottle beneath its head.
"
The hard metal sealing caps are either initially so constructed or so applied to, or
combined with the heads of glass bottles that the pendant flanges of the caps are
forcibly bent or crimped into reliable locking contact with the bottle head in such
a manner as to obviate liability of breaking or fracturing the glass, even though
the portion of the bottle head with which the cap engages, is an annular locking
shoulder having an edge that can be quite easily fractured. I avoid said liability
of fracturing the glass shoulder by causing the flange of the hard metal cap to be
forcibly engaged with said shoulder, only at separated points, leaving the inter-
vening portions of the metal cap wholly free from contact with the glass so that
while forcing portions of the flange of a cap into locking contact with a glass
shoulder, the portions of the metal adjacent to or on either side of the portions in
contact with the bottle, will be forced to adjust themselves to such bends or crimps
as may be and are imparted thereto by the actual bending or crimping of those
other portions, of the metal, which are forced into close locking contact.
In their best form the sealing caps have flanges which are corrugated across their
width, the inner corrugations affording points of locking contact with a bottie, and
the outer corrugations serving as the intervening or self adjusting portions of the
flange of the cap.
If, however, the cap flange be plain and not initially corrugated but is corrugated

page_text: during its application to a bottle, some of the advantages of the initially corrugated
cap will be secured, because the metal flange will in a similar manner be engaged
with the bottle at separated points, around its shoulder, and in the intervening
portions of the flange the metal will be so accommodated at each side of the points
of contact, as to prevent the glass shoulder from breakage, either in applying or
detaching the cap. Such a plain flanged hard metal cap, when considered in its
combination with a sealing disc and a bottle having a locking shoulder on its head,
and when applied to a bottle as described, will therefore involve a portion of my
invention.
An initially corrugated cap constitutes the best embodiment of the main feature
of my invention because its interior corrugations may be bent or crimped into
locking contact with a bottle by the mere outside or peripheral compression of the
flange the pressure being applied to the outer corrugations only instead of applying
the pressure at or near the points of locking contact, as with the plain flanged cap
Moreover the corrugations secure in the flange, a desirable degree of expansibility
for enabling the cap to be applied to a bottle head somewhat larger in diameter
than the normal inside diameter of the cap.
The caps applied in accordance with this invention are so firmly locked to the
bottles that considerable manual force must be exercised for their displacement, and
hence I have provided for conveniently opening my bottles which although sealed
and closed as effectually as when corks and wires are used can be much more
promptly and easily opened.
In locking my caps to bottles by the best method the edge of the cap flange
performs no locking function this latter being restricted to portions of the flange
between the edge and the top, thus leaving said edge practically intact and
projected for engagement by a bottle opening device, which, acting as a lever may
have for its fulcrum either the top of the cap or the outside surface of the bottle
head when the latter is properly rounded outwardly below the cap, but for rendering
specially formed openers unnecessary, I provide for an annular space between the
flange and the bottle head below the points in locking contact to enable the cap to
be readily detached by the insertion into said space of a screw driver, nail, knife,
blade, or other usually accessible pointed instrument, of such size and strength as
will permit it to enter said space, and to be used in expanding the flange and prizing
the cap from the bottle.
Should my scaling cap be crimped at the edge of the flange so that it will afford
no projected edge some form of a loop is provided on top of the cap, or a central
hole is cut in the cap to enable the use of a corkscrew, but in such case a specially
thick heavy sealing disc must be used or said caps may be used as mere wiring
devices in connection with corks of the ordinary forms. The sealing discs used
with my caps may be varied in the matter of thickness and material but the best
results will be secured with thin cork dises.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1, in side view illustrates a bottle head adapted for use with my sealing
caps in their most approved form.
Figures 2 and 3 respectively illustrate in side view and section the bottle head
with one of my best sealing caps applied thereto.
Figure 4 in side and top views illustrates one of the caps prior to its application
to a bottle.
Figure 5 in top and edge view illustrates a thin flat sealing disc of the character
preferably and usually employed by me the same being composed of ordinary cork
cut crosswise of the pits or grains, and which although absolutely perforated, as
fairly indicated, may, when used with my caps be relied upon for securing and
maintaining a gas or air tight closure even under much higher pressures than are
ever incident to bottling operations.
Figure 6 illustrates a cork disc in the concavo convex form it is made to assume
within the cap.
Figures 7, 8 and 9 respectively illustrate a sheet metal blank from which the cap

page_text: is formed the shape first developed therefrom and the completed cap, these two
being in section and each containing a sealing disc.
Figures 10 and 11, respectively show in top and side view one of my caps having
a wide flange adapted for use with a thick heavy sealing disc and provided with a
loop by which it may be detached from a bottle.
Figure 12, illustrates in side view a bottle head with the cap Figure 10 applied
thereto.
Figure 13 illustrates the same cap and bottle head in section.
Figure 14, in side view illustrates one of my wide flanged caps having a slitted
flange adapted to be locked to a bottle as in Figure 13, but further specially
adapted to continued temporary use on the same bottle.
Figure 15, in side view illustrates an old form of sealing cap capable of being so
applied to a bottle that it will then be corrugated in the line of locking contact.
Figure 16 illustrates in side view and section, the cap Figure 15 applied to a
bottle head and locked thereto by corrugating the flange of the cap as by indenta-
tions at intervals, one form of bottle opener being shown in dotted lines.
Figure 17 is a lateral section of Figure 16, showing the corrugation of the flange
of the cap.
Commencing with the bottle head A, Figure 1 it is to be understood that the
form here shown is in every way suited for use with my caps in their most approved
form.
The bottle lip is well rounded, and so also is the exterior seal packing surface a',
these being essential, when the preferred thin sealing discs are used. The locking
shoulder at the lower portion of the packing surface, is accompanied by a deep
annular recess e below which as at c', the surface of the head is straight, or inclined
for a short distance, to the rounded or bulged surface of the head.
The metal cap B is composed of hard metal (preferably tinned roofing plate)
and is struck up in suitable dies from a disc d (Figure 7) into an intermediate
form B Figure 8, and then peripherally contracted, as clearly shown in
Figure 9.
The finished cap B has a pendent flange e which is rounded as at e', in conformity
with the rounded packing surface a¹ of the bottle head, and the lower portion of
the flange is ribbed or corrugated, so that the periphery of the flange includes the
exterior edge surfaces of the outer corrugation e² and the inner annular surface of
the cap in like manner, includes the inner corrugations e³. The edge of the flange
is outwardly inclined or flared as shown, the outer corrugations e2 being similarly
inclined, and the surfaces of the inner corrugations being partially inclined and
partially parallel with the axis of the cap, as is clearly indicated in Figure 4.
With this cap, a sealing disc C is used and although various kinds of discs may
be employed, thin concavo convex cork discs are relied upon by me for securing the
best results.
Now referring to Figure 3, it will be understood that a cap with its disc therein
is placed upon the head of the bottle, and heavy pressure applied to the top of the
cap which tightly compresses an annular portion of the cork disc between the
rounded portion of the cap at its top and flange and the extensive coincident
packing surface at a', as well as at the lip a of the bottle.
While the seal is thus heavily compressed and the flange of the cap proportionally
forced downwardly on the bottle head, the flared edge of the cap flange is reduced
in diameter by the application of peripheral pressure, thus causing the outer
corrugations e, to stand vertically as shown in Figures 2 and 3, and this change in
the form and position of said outer corrugations is accompanied by the inward
bending of the interior corrugations, into locking contact with and below the
locking shoulder on the bottle head, as at e' Figures 2 and 3.
The bending of the metal at these inner corrugations commences at the precise
points of contact of the metal with the locking shoulder, and therefore the cap
securely maintains the sealing disc under the same degree of compression to which
it was subjected during the cap setting operation, and hence permanent gas tight

page_text: sealing can be secured by the use of suitable sealing dises and these caps so
applied.
It will be seen that the metal is forced into contact with the engaging shoulder,
only at separated intervals, and that at each side of the points of contact the metal
as free to adjust itself laterally, and therefore the glass is not liable to be fractured
as would be the case if attempts were made to bend or crimp the hard metal against
the locking shoulder either in a continuous annular line, or in a line practically
continuous and with portions of the metal overlapped and compressed against said
shoulder.
It will also be seen, that by the application of peripheral pressure to the outer
corrugations, and the consequent bending of the inner corrugations into locking
contact, no portion of the metal which is in actual contact with the engaging
shoulder will have its outer surface under outside pressure, because only the outer
surfaces of the outer corrugations, can be in contact with the compressing surfaces,
and hence the flange of the cap will be forced into contact with the glass under no
greater pressure than that required for causing the metal to bend or crimp into
close conformity with the coincident surface of the locking shoulder.
The union of the cap and bottle head is so firm and secure that considerable
manual force must be exerted for opening the sealed bottles, and I specially provide
for the detachment of the caps, first, by securing a complete locking effect,
without forcing the edge e of the cap flange against the bottle head, thus
leaving said edge so far projected that it may be engaged by a specially formed
hooked shaped lever having its fulcrum on top of the cap, as indicated in dotted
lines in Figure 16, and, second by having a specially deep recess c on the bottle
head, and the straight inclined surface below said recess, so that between the
lower portion of the locked flange and the coincident surface of the bottle, a
free annular space f is afforded, as shown in Figure 3, for the reception of the
end of any thin pointed instrument such as a screw driver, a nail or a knife
blade, for use as a lever for prizing the flange outwardly, and then forcing the
cap from the bottle.
Now referring to the sealing disc C specially shown in Figures 5 and 6 it is
so be understood that it is composed of cork, thinly sliced crosswise of the pits
or holes commonly present in cork-and especially in the cheaper grades thereof,
which I use with absolutely reliable results, notwithstanding the fact that the
discs are freely perforated through and through as indicated in Figure 5. The
holes are surrounded by more or less solid portions of the cork which being
fully compressed into concavo convex form upon the lip and packing surface of
the bottle head by the correspondingly formed portion of the cap secures a
perfect sealing effect.
For protecting the liquids from contact with the metal surface at the interior of
the cap, the latter is coated with a film of tasteless and odorless material such as
thin shellac varnish, or a varnish composed of Egyptian asphaltum and aromatic
benzole, and the cork discs are also secured within the caps by the said material
which although previously well dried will when heated be sufficiently adhesive
to confine the discs against displacement during the handling of the caps con-
taining the seals. The perforated or open character of the cork discs described
renders the interior coating of the caps a matter of substantial consequence, and
the coating film is not of sufficient bulk to cause it when heated to flow and fill
the holes or pits in the cork.
Although the rounding of the top edge of the caps is an important feature
in securing extensive packing compression, such caps are also free from liability
to displacement or partial loosening under such edgewise shocks or blows as are
incident to handling filled bottles. Said rounded edge also prevents the metal
from rising out of packing contact, even if the centre of the cap should be
lifted or sprung outwardly under specially heavy gaseous pressure. If however
thick heavy sealing discs are to be used (or even if the caps should be used as
wiring devices with corks) the tops of the caps may be quite flat on top as for

page_text: instance, as illustrated in Figures 10, 11, 12 and 13, the cap B³, in this case,
having a wider flange which is corrugated in such a way that the inner corru-
gations may be and are bent or crimped into locking contact with the shoulder
on the head of the bottle as shown in Figures 12 and 13. This cap is applied
with the sealing disc under heavy compression so as to imbed the lip of the bottle
in the disc and the bent or crimped portions e, of the inner corrugations securely
maintain the sealing portion of the disc in its compressed condition. This cap is
provided with a detaching loop which is preferably formed integrally from a
portion of the metal in the top of the cap and as this makes an open tapped cap it
is obvious that the sealing discs used therewith must be quite thick, firm, and
absolutely impervious. Other forms of loops can be applied to these caps or instead
thereof, or employed therewith, the cap may be provided with a central hole, so
that the cap may be removed by the use of a cork screw.
9
Inasmuch as an important feature of my invention includes a flanged cap corru-
gated so that its inner corrugations may be bent or crimped into locking contact
with a shoulder on the bottle head, it is obvious that for some purposes in connection
with light bottling pressure and suitable discs or even corks, corrugated flanged caps
will be of much practical value even if the flanges be slitted at one or more
points as shown in the cap B³ Figure 14.
In all cases my caps are locked to the bottle in each case in exact accordance
with the advancement of the flange of the cap on the head of a bottle during the
compression of the sealing disc and therefore reliable sealing effects are secured,
and permanently maintained regardless of variations in the thickness and density of
the sealing discs or slight imperfections in the bottle head at or near its lip.
That feature of my invention which includes the cap with its flange bent or
crimped into locking contact with the locking shoulder on a bottle head at separated
points or intervals, extends beyond the use of a cap which has its flange initially
corrugated inasmuch as a cap with a flange originally plain is peculiarly bent or
crimped by me into corrugated locking contact, at the time of the union of the cap
with the bottle the latter being therefore free from liability to fracture. The
metal in the line of locking contact is in this case corrugated, because the metal is
forced into locking contact with the bottle only at separated points or intervals,
and this enables the metal at either side of such points to freely readjust itself and
to thus avoid fracturing contact with the bottle almost but not so surely as when
the initially corrugated caps are used.
As shown in Figures 15, 16 and 17, the cap B has initially a plain flange, and
separately considered this cap involves no novelty, but when this cap is applied to
a bottle having a locking shoulder with the metal of the flange e bent or crimped
at separated points or intervals as at e into locking contact with the bottle
shoulder the metal in the flange on the line of locking contact is corrugated, as is
clearly indicated in Figures 16 and 17. This plain flanged cap does not possess the
expansible capacity of the initially corrugated caps, and hence is not so well
adapted for use on heads variable in diameter nor can the plain flanges be so readily
drawn out in the dies by which they are made, and the metal is more liable to be
cracked and otherwise weakened, thus requiring better and more expensive metal
than is needed for the corrugated caps.
The edge of the flange of the cap of Figures 16 and 17 when left in a position
remote from the adjacent surface of the glass as shown, affords a projected edge
with which (as indicated in dotted lines) a suitable opener may be engaged, and
when the bottle head is shaped below the shoulder as in Figure I, an annular space
will be afforded for the insertion of any pointed instrument suitable for use as an
opener.
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 1 declare that what I claim is :-
First. The combination substantially as hereinhefore described.
of
hottla

page_text: having a head provided with an annular engaging shoulder, a sealing disc, and a
hard metal sealing cap having a flange which encircles the disc and is bent into
locking contact with said shoulder, and is corrugated in the bent portion in the line
of said locking contact.
bent
Second. The combination substantially as hereinbefore described, of a bottle
having on its head an annular engaging shoulder, a scaling disc, and a metallic
sealing cap which encircles the periphery of the disc and has a flange which
into locking contact with said shoulder, and which also has a projected edge to
afford a surface which a bottle opener may reliably engage for detaching the cap
from the bottle.
Third. The combination with a bottle having a head provided with an exterior
annular shoulder, of a sealing disc and a metallic sealing cap provided with a
corrugated flange and having its inner corrugations bent to conform with or to the
annular shoulder on the head of the bottle, substantially as described.
Fourth. The combination with a bottle, having on its head and between its lip
and neck, an annular locking shoulder, and a rounded packing surface above and
extending to the lip from said shoulder, of a metallic cap containing a thin concavo
convex heavily compressed sealing disc, and having a top which is rounded in
conformity with the packing surface on the bottle head, and has a flange which
is bent or crimped into locking contact with said shoulder, substantially as
described.
Dated this 2nd day of February 1899
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.