Improvements in or relating to Bottles and similar Vessels.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 9th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 10th Feb., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or relating to Bottles and similar Vessels.
A communication by HORATIO ROOT HARPER, of Sands Point, Queens County,
in the State of New York, United States of America, Publisher.
I, WILLIAM PHILLIPS THOMPSON F.C.S., M.I.M.E., of the Agency for
Foreign Patent Solicitors, 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, and 6, Bank Street,
Manchester, both in the County of Lancaster, and 323, High Holborn, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, 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 object of this invention is to provide a bottle or a similar vessel with an
automatic closing device such as will permit the liquid contents of the vessel to be
readily discharged, but will prevent the re-filling of the vessel in whatever position
it may be placed, so that a bottle provided with this invention cannot be re-filled
with spurious or other preparations after it has once been emptied.
In the drawings :
-
Figure 1 represents the neck of a bottle, partly in vertical central section,
containing this invention.
Figure 2 is a portion of the neck of a bottle showing another form of this
invention.
Figure 3 is a top view of the self-closing valve d.
Figure 4 is a top view of the strainer obstruction c.
Figure 5 is a top view of another obstruction b.
Figure 6 is a top view of another obstruction a.
Figure 7 is a top view of the ball valve and spring.
Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in all the drawings.
The invention consists essentially of a closing device for the outlets of bottles,
demijohns, jugs and kindred vessels, which device is provided with suitable means
to keep it normally closed against the ingress of liquids from without the bottle, etcetera,
in whatever position the same may be placed, but to permit the discharge of the
liquid contents from within the bottle: suitable means by which such closing
device can be held open to permit the first filling of the bottle, and can then be
readily removed and suitable guards or obstructions which will prevent access to
or improper tampering with such closing device after the bottle, etcetera, has been
once filled.
Two examples of the invention are described and illustrated.
A, represents the neck of a bottle, and B is the closing device which may be
made as an entire structure, or in sections, and separately from the bottle neck, and
then inserted into and suitably cemented thereto; or in parts, or sections; or
the whole may be made as an integral part of the neck, or made in part separate
and inserted into and secured within the neck, and in part integral with the neck
itself, as the exigencies of manufacturing the bottles, etcetera, may render expedient
and desirable.
In the example of the invention shown in Figure 1, d is a valve, adapted to close
down upon a suitable valve seat to close the bottle, and held normally to its seat
closed, by the action of a closing spring e, which may be wound around its pintle,
as clearly shown in Figures 1 and 3. Or, if desired, a spring f, shown by dotted
lines in Figure 1, may be substituted for such spring e to accomplish the same
purpose.

page_text: At a suitable point in this valve, an eye 1 is formed, and through this a suitable
lifting device, as a cord or thin wire, k, is drawn, both ends of which are then
carried through the strainer guard c, and beyond the other obstructions b a, to
without the bottle, where they are suitably secured, as by the seal m.
At a suitable position above the valve d, a perforated disc or strainer guard c is
secured in any suitable manner, which is to be placed far enough above such valve
to permit the same to be sufficiently opened to allow the egress of the fluid contents
of the bottle, and also to be drawn up by the temporary opening device, the
wire k, to permit the first filling of the bottle, etcetera.
Other obstructions or guards h, a, are arranged above the valve d, to further
guard against tampering with the closing device. The guards here shown consist
of disc-shaped obstructions, portions of which have been cut away on opposite sides
of the neck, so as to render it impracticable to reach the closing device from without
the bottle to open it for re-filling.
Figure 2 is an illustration of another example of the invention.
h
In this, the valve seat is formed by the annular contraction i, i, of the neck of
the bottle or of the closing portion, and the employment of a ball valve 9, with a
suitable spring h, to hold it in place, normally, in its seat. The spring ½ may be
curved to have its extremities bear against the under side of the strainer guards,
and its middle portion press upon the valve 9. An eye, 1, as in the other example of
this invention, is arranged to receive the lifting device or wire k, and suitable
obstructions, as the strainer guards c or other guards, are to be disposed above it
to prevent access thereto, as already described in relation to the example of the
invention shown in Figure 1.
The springs shown, as e, f, h, are to be of such power as to keep the respective
valve or closing device in place to close the orifice of the bottle, etcetera, in
whatever position the same may be placed, but not to be of sufficient power to
prevent the opening of such valve or closing device by the pressure of the
contents of the bottle when the same is suitably placed or turned to discharge
its contents; these springs, therefore, are to be adjusted to the weight or
resistance of the respective valves or closing devices on which they are to be
employed.
The bottle, etcetera, is to be filled by holding the closing device open by means
of the lifting device, as the wire, k, and, after the bottle is filled, this is to be with-
drawn, whereupon the contents of the bottle may be discharged at pleasure, but it
will not be practicable to fill the bottle again.
The closing device, valve and obstructions may be made of hard rubber, glass,
stone, pottery, porcelain, or other suitable material, and non-corrosive metals may
also be employed; and the springs e, f, h, may also be made of non-corrosive metal
or other suitable material, according to the purposes for which the bottle, etcetera,
are to be used.
The disposing of a valve in the neck of a bottle is not claimed broadly, nor the
arrangement of a guard or guards above a valve in the neck of a bottle; neither
is the invention limited to the valve shown, nor to the guards shown, nor to the
arrangement of the guards as shown, either in relation to each other or to the
valve, as these may all be varied without departing from the invention, but
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 device adapted to be disposed in the neck of a bottle to prevent re-filling
the same, provided with a valve d, having a spring e, obstructions c, b, a, above said
valve, and a wire k connected to said valve and passing outwardly beyond said
obstructions, substantially as described and shown.
b, a,
2. In a device to prevent the re-filling of bottles, the combination of a valve,
as d, held to its seat automatically by a suitable spring e, obstructions, as c,
above said valve, adapted to prevent access thereto, said valve connected to a part

page_text: of a wire, k, another part of which is carried beyond such obstructions, substan-
tially as described and shown.
3. In a device to prevent the re-filling of bottles, the combination of a valve
adapted to close the bottle opening, a spring adapted to hold said valve to its seat,
obstructions disposed above said valve, and a suitable retracting device, as the
wire k, connected to said valve and adapted to retract the same and to be
disconnected therefrom, substantially as described and shown.
4. In a bottle closing device provided with a suitable valve adapted to close the
neck of the bottle, and obstructions between such valve and the orifice of the bottle,
the combination, with such valve, of a retracting device connected therewith and
passing beyond such obstructions, substantially as described and shown.
5. A bottle provided in its neck with obstructions as a, b, c, a valve as d,
disposed interiorly of such obstructions, a wire k having a part connected to said
valve, and a part passing outwardly beyond such obstructions, in combination with
a suitable device, as the spring e, adapted to hold said valve closed against ingress
of liquid in whatever position the bottle may be placed, substantially as described
and shown.
Dated this 8th day of January 1894
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Agents for the Applicant.