Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Oct., 1887
Complete Left, 18th Jan., 1888
Complete Accepted, 25th May, 1888
We, THOMAS HENRY JOHNS Engineer and ANNIE JOHNS, Spinster both of
13 Blackfriars Street Manchester in the County of Lancashire do hereby declare the
nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object means for tightening & securing stoppers in
necks of Bottles. The portion of the Stopper which enters into the neck of the Bottle
is covered with Cork, or any other suitable material and a covering of Tin foil so that
the cork or composition which the Stopper is mnado of will not effect the liquid in tho
Bottle. The external portion of the Stopper has through its centro a cam or, an
eccentric which has a groove on its surface through which we place a wire so arranged.
as to attach it to the neck of the Bottle. At one or both ends of the said cam is a
small lever by moving same either way the stopper can be tightened or loosened as
required, I may mention that the cam can be used conveniently to stoppers that are
not attached to necks of Bottles.

page_text: We, THOMAS HENRY JOHNS and ANNIE JOHNS both of 13 Blackfriars Street,
Manchester in the County of Lancaster, 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 relates to improvements in stoppers for bottles for aerated or fermented 5
liquids such as wines, beers and mineral waters which contain gas under pressure and
require special precautions to prevent the corks or stoppers from being forced out, and
the object is to provide a closely fitting stopper with means for securing it against the
expansive force of the gases but which can be readily removed from the mouth of
the bottle without being detached from the neck and which can be replaced and 1
fastened when the bottle has been emptied and refilled or when a bottle has been
partially emptied and it is desired to preserve the remainder of the contents from
contact with the air. Many forms of stopper have been devised with a similar object
but they have been discarded after a trial in consequence of defects such as,
clumsiness, want of durability, loss of time in opening or liability to open accidentally i
which singly or combined outweighed the advantages derived from their use.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying drawings represents the neck of a bottle with our
improved stopper secured therein. Fig. a similar view with the stopper loosened
previous to removal and fig. 3 a view with the stopper removed.
A is the stopper consisting of a plug of wood or other suitable material surrounded 2
by a metal band a and provided with a washer a¹ of india-rubber or elastic material
fits into the mouth of the bottle B.
The head of the stopper is perforated transversely and within the cavity is placed
a small cylinder of metal C having a groove e formed longitudinally in its periphery
to receive a metal rod or wire D the ends d of which are bent downwards and inwards 2
towards the neck where they pass through a ring or band of metal E the whole
constituting a pivotted yoko or bridle for the stopper permitting it to be removed
from the mouth but preventing it from being detached from the neck.
A thumb piece or crank is fixed to one end of the cylinder by means of
which the latter can be turned around in the head of the stopper so as to place the
groove c either above or below the axis of the cylinder. The length of the yoke D
is so adjusted that when the groove c is in its lowest position the stopper can be
removed from the mouth of the bottle but if the cylinder be turned round so as to
place the groove in its highest position as shown in figure 1 the stopper is drawn
downwards by the yoke and forced into the neck of the bottle perfectly closing a
the same.
In practice it will be found advisable to pivot the ends of the yoke slightly to one
side of the vertical centre so that when the thumb piece is pressed downwards so as
to lie parallel to the yoke the groove c will be carried slightly past the centre line
on the opposite side to that on which the ends d lie and the elasticity of the washer a¹

page_text: or of the compressed gases tending to force the stopper out will also tend to make
the cylinder continue to move in the direction of the arrow but it will be prevented
from doing so by the contact of the thumb piece C and the yoke D.
The stopper thus becomes locked in its place and increase of internal pressure will
increase the effort required to release the stopper when it is desired to open the bottle
and accidental opening is rondered impossible. A similar result may be obtained by
altering the position of the thumb piece C¹ so that it will not come into contact with
the side of the yoke until the groove in the cylinder has passed the centre.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is :-
1. In a bottle stopper the combination with a yoke such as D pivotted upon the
neck of the bottle and passing through the stopper of a cylinder such as C also
passing through the stopper peripherally grooved to receive the yoke D and adapted
to be rotated within the stopper for the purpose of pressing the stopper into the
bottle substantially as described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
2. In a bottle stopper the combination with a yoke such as D of a cylinder such
as C by turning which pressure is applied to the stopper substantially as described.
3. The complete bottle stopper substantially as described and illustrated in the
accompanying drawings.