Improvements in the Manufacture of Fastening Devices or Bails, Chiefly Designed for Use in Connection with Bottles or similar Vessels.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by GEORGE ARTHUR FULLERTON, of Boston,
Massachusetts, United States of America, Mechanic.]
Improvements in the Manufacture of Fastening Devices or Bails,
Chiefly Designed for Use in Connection with Bottles or similar
Vessels.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents
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 :-
My new bail relates to that class of receptacles which are formed with grooves
to receive inwardly turned ends of the legs of a bail, and the object of inven-
my
tion is to produce not only a neat, light and stiff bail for receptacles of this class
but also one which is easily manipulated.
My invention consists, first, in a sheet metal bail having stiffened legs; secondly, in
a bail the ends of the legs of which are turned inwardly and formed with smoothed
inner surfaces; thirdly, in the method of making bails hereinafter set forth; and
fourthly, in the combination of a bail having inwardly turned ends with bearings
mounted thereon.
My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which:
Figure 1, shows a blank of sheet metal from which my new bail is formed.
Figure 2, shows the blank after it has been punched to receive the stopper stud, and
has had its extremities troughed shaped and slightly ribbed.
Figure 3 shows the blank in the next stage of manufacture as now practised, the
troughed shaped ends having been rounded up.
Figure 3, shows the leg-forming portions bent substantially parallel one with the
other and ribbed lengthwise to give requisite stiffness to the legs.
Figure 4, shows the bail ready to receive the stopper and its parts, the rounded
ends being bent inwardly.
Figure 5 is a section on line 5. 5 of Figure 6, to more clearly show the ribs by
means of which the bail legs are stiffened.
Figure 6 shows a bail ready to be applied to the receptacle.
Figure 7, shows my new bail in use.
Figure 8, is a central sectional elevation of part of a bottle provided with my new
bail, in its preferred form, combined with bearings.
Figures 9 and 10, are elevations partly in section of a part of a bottle provided with
my new bail combined with other forms of bearings.
In the aforesaid drawings, in which my invention is shown embodied in the best
form at present known to me, a is a blank of sheet metal from which my new bail is
made. This blank is readily formed with a die and is then, (following the present
method of manufacture) punched at a', and trough shaped at its extremities a². The
troughed extremities a² are subsequently rounded up as shown in Figure 3 to give
comparatively smooth and regular bearing surfaces a³. It is highly desirable that
the upper surfaces a³ of the extremities a², should be nicely finished because those
surfaces bear against the side walls of the horizontal grooves in the neck of the recep-
tacle which is commonly of glass. When these surfaces of the inwardly turned ends
are rougb, as heretofore, the glass is sometimes fractured in turning the stoppers into
place and the friction is at all times undesirable. This feature of my construction is
one feature of my invention, but the main feature of my invention is a sheet metal
bail with its legs stiffened. The legs, may of course, be stiffened in many ways, but by
far the cheapest and simplest way to stiffen them is to form the legs with ribs a' and
this is conveniently done in dies to which the blank shown in Figure 3 is subjected to

page_text: form it as shown in Figure 3. The rib a greatly stiffens the legs of the bail as will
be clear to all metal workers and adapts the bail to keep its proper form in spite of the
repeated turnings, tending twist the legs out of shape, to which the bail is subject
when in use.
After the blank is brought to the shape shown in Figure 3ª I turn the
ends of its legs inwardly as shown in Figure 4 and subsequently secure the washer
and stopper carrier to the bail as shown in Figure 6.
The advantages of bails embodying this part of my invention are cheapness, light-
ness, strength and neatness. They are readily turned to secure and remove the stopper
and when plated or otherwise finished are elegant in appearance and far better suited
for table use than any articles of this sort hitherto in use.
Two new methods, which are substantially the same, although the steps are taken in
different order, are of my invention. In practising my new method in the preferred
manner, I take a blank of proper form, say a blank such as shown in Figure 1, and
trough-shape its ends, next I round up the trough-shaped ends, then I rib its legs and
finally bend the ends of its legs inwardly; but it will be plain that the blank may be
first trough shaped at its ends, then ribbed and afterwards rounded up and have its
ends turned inwardly. To produce my new bail by taking these steps in different
order is to practise one and the same method in substance, but for greater caution in
setting forth this feature of my invention I have taken pains to set forth both orders
of procedure. The steps are necessarily taken, in one or the other of the orders set
forth, in order to produce my new sheet metal bail with stiffened legs. Of course the
blank may be bent into bail-shape either before or after the said steps are taken; but
when the rib extends well towards the cross piece of the bail the legs must be bent
before they are ribbed.
My new bail is greatly improved in its operation by combining with the inwardly
turned ends of its legs bearings of some suitable form and material, for however nicely
the surfaces a above explained are finished they are practically less desirable bearing
surfaces than the outer surfaces of bearings mounted on the inwardly turned ends.
In Figures 8, 9 and 10 this feature of my invention is illustrated, the inwardly
turned ends of the legs of the bail being provided with bearings b.
The preferred form of bearing is an eyelet which is slightly tapered from head to
foot as shown in Figure 8.
The inwardly turned ends a² should be slightly tapered as shown in Figure 8, so
that when the parts are assembled, the inwardly turned ends are made fast in the
eyelet. The head of the eyelet bearing bears against the inner surface of the band
and so tends to prevent the bail from being sprung off the receptacle. I prefer to
make the bearings of brass or other soft metal and to have them in the form of an
eyelet, but they may be of other metal and also of other forms as will be plain from
Figures 9 and 10.
The parts are readily assembled by placing a bearing in a groove in the neck, placing
a band around the neck of the bottle in such wise as to bring the perforation in the
band over the hole through the bearing, inserting one of the inwardly turned ends
of the legs of the bail through the perforation in the band and into the hole in the
bearing, and then inserting the other inwardly turned end through the band and
into a hole in the other bearing. When thus assembled I gently tap the heels of
the legs of the bail to force the inwardly turned ends snugly into the bearings.
By providing the inwardly turned ends of the bail legs with bearings, the stopper
carrier is much more easily turned to secure or remove the stopper, and the
tendency of the inwardly turned ends to fracture the walls of the grooves in the
receptacle is minimized.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention 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 :-
First. A sheet metal bail having stiffened legs, substantially as and for the purpose
set forth.

page_text: Second. A sheet metal bail having legs with inwardly turned ends which are
smoothed on their upper surfaces, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Third. The herein described method of making sheet metal bails consisting in
troughing, rounding and ribbing its legs, substantially as set forth.
Fourth. The combination of a bail having legs with inwardly turned ends with
bearings on the inwardly turned ends substantially as and for the purpose set
forth.
Dated this 31st day of August 1889.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.