Improvements in Bottle-stoppers.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1892-Accepted, 31st Dec., 1892
Improvements in Bottle-stoppers.
I, JOHANN WEISSENBÖCK, of 1, Wildpretmarkt, Vienna I, in the Austrian
Empire, Merchant, 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 that class of bottle-stoppers in which a body of hard
material, such as china, earthenware, wood, wood-pulp or the like, carries below a
shoulder a packing-ring which is by preference made of rubber and in which
closing mechanism is adapted to act against the said body to compress the
packing-ring between the shoulder of the body and the top. end of the neck, of
the bottle.
The said invention has for its object to provide bottle-stoppers of the class
referred with simple and effective mechanism, by means of which the stopper can
easily be closed and opened, and which admits of a controlling seal of wax or lead
being applied thereto."
According to the said invention the body of hard material is connected with the
neck of the bottle by means of a link hinge, jointed to the said body and to a
inctal ring surrounding the said neck. In order to afford the possibility of using
the bottle-stopper with bottles the heads or thickened top portions of which are of
different breadths, the metal ring is made of a certain height or breadth and the
inge-joint for the connecting link is arranged near one edge of the ring, which may
be fixed to the bottle with either edge upward. As it is requisite that the stopper
should always turn its underside provided with the packing toward the mouth of
the bottle, a swivel joint is interposed into the link referred to.
The top surface of the stopper is provided with an incline descending from
about the central portion of the stopper toward its portion diametrically opposite
to the link, and over the top end of the said incline extends a transverse groove.
A yoke or stirrup, hinged to the portion of the metal ring opposite to the suspension
link of the stopper is destined to be pushed up over the incline until it engages
with the transverse groove on the top end of the incline, whereby, as will be
readily understood, the stopper is first lowered a certain distance and finally fixed
in its lowered position.
For thus engaging the closing yoke in the said groove and disengaging it from
the same, a double lever is provided pivotted to the stopper near the transverse
groove. When the bottle is to be closed, the longer arm of the said double lever
is passed through the erected yoke and by turning the lever about 100° the yoke is
caused to slide up along the incline and fix itself in the transverse groove.
Cranked portions of both parallel parts of the said longer lever-arm near the
pivot of the lever make it possible to turn the lever about 180°, when the said
cranked portions straddle the cross-piece or central portion of the closing yoke,
and the two parts of the lever-arm engage themselves below the projecting ends
of the hinge-pin of the suspension link, thus fixing the closing lever in its position.
To open the bottle the double lever is turned in the opposite direction, when its
short arm disengages the yoke from the groove.
To enable the invention to be fully understood I will describe the same in detail
with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which :-
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a portion of a bottle having my stopper applied
thereto and shewing the stopper in its closed position:
Figure 2 is a side elevation shewing the stopper and closing mechanism in the
position corresponding to the first stage of the closing operation, riz. with the
closing lever introduced into the yoke; and,

page_text: ;
Figure 3 is a similar view, with the closing lever moved so far that the yoke is
on the incline of the body:
Figure 4 is a top view of the closed stopper; and,
Figures 5 and 6 are front and rear elevations respectively of the metal ring by
means of which the stopper is connected with the neck of the bottle.
a is the body of the stopper made of any suitable hard material such as china,
earthenware, metal, wood, wood-pulp or the like. This body a is provided with a
lower projection a¹ of smaller diameter, forming a shoulder and surrounded by the
rubber packing-ring b. On the top side of the stopper a is a diametrically
arranged head a² of square or rectangular cross section designed to have the
several parts of the closing mechanism jointed to it.
The rebated rear end 3 of the head a² of the stopper a is pierced through and
carries the hinge-pin c² of a link c, c', connecting the stopper to the sheet metal
ring d, surrounding the neck of the bottle. The joint for hinging the link c, c'¹ to
the sheet metal ring d is formed of two flaps d, d, punched out from the ring and
bent up so as to serve as bearings, and of the lower transverse part e' of the link,
which may be described as a small shaft journalled in the said bearings d', d.
A swivel joint c³ is interposed between the upper yoke-shaped part e of the link
and its lower transverse part c¹ for the following reason. It is intended so to
construct the bottle-stopper as to provide for its being used with bottles of different.
sizes and shapes, in which the height or breadth of the head or thickened portion f
of the neck varies. To accomplish this, the distance at which the lower joint of
the link c, c is located below the head is made adjustable by arranging the
bearings d', d near one edge of the ring d. According to the height of the head,
the ring d is secured to the neck of the bottle with either edge upward, and the
swivel joint c affords the possibility of turning the lower part a' of the stopper
toward the mouth of the bottle as required.
'
The sheet metal ring d is by preference made open at its point diametrically
opposite to the bearings, and both free ends are bent outward to form
flaps d², d having holes d³, d³, d³. For securing the ring d to the neck of the bottle,
a screw-threaded pin g is passed through one of the pairs of corresponding holes d³,
nuts g being screwed onto the ends of the said pin and tightened. It is obvious
that one end of the pin g may be provided with a head, but two nuts are
preferred.
On the front portion of the head a² of the stopper a is formed an incline a',
sloping toward the free end of the said head a² and limited at the top by a transverse
groove a. As already explained, the said incline is designed for the closing yoke
to slide along it, whereby the stopper a is gradually lowered and the packing b
compressed, the transverse groove a serving to lock the closing yoke in its position
so as to keep the stopper lowered.
The said closing yoke his jointed to the ring d at a point diametrically opposite
to the suspension link c, c', and in the special case shewn in the drawing, when the
ring d is made open at this point and provided with a closing pin gas described,
the said pin g at the same time serves as a pivot for the yoke h. Although this
construction is preferred for the sake of simplicity, it will be readily understood
that the ring & may have its open point between the joints of the suspension link
and the yoke and that in this case bearings similar to ', d' may be formed for the
yoke h.
As the flaps d² on either side of the open portion of the ring d are
provided with three or more pairs of holes d³ located at different heights, one is
enabled to arrange the pivot of the yoke / lower or higher according to the pressure
on the stopper to be obtained.
Near the bottom end of the incline at on the head a of the stopper a is another
shallow transverse groove a into which the cross-piece of the yoke engages
immediately after it has been pushed on the incline, and which thus forms a kind
of intermediate resting-place, found advantageous in practice to prevent spontaneous
re-opening during the action of closing and too rapid opening.
The closing yoke is turned upward, and downward to close and open the bottle,

page_text: respectively, by means of the double lever j, j³, the pivot-pin 2 of which passes
through the head a² of the stopper a somewhat in front of and below the transverse
groove a. Properly speaking and as clearly shewn in Figure 4, there are two
angular levers j, j', one on each side of the head a² of the stopper, and the free
ends of the longer arms j, j are connected by a cross-piece 3, by preference made
ntegral with them, as the whole is punched out of sheet metal. To close the bottle,
the double lever-arm, is passed through the closing yoke as shewn in
Figare 2 and afterwards it is seized at its free end and turned in the direction of
he arrow, whereby the cross-piece of the closing yoke his first caused to slide
along the lever-arm j, j and thence to pass onto the incline a' of the head a² of
the stopper a, where it soon takes into the first transverse groove a and is thereby
provisionally locked, this position is represented in Figure 3. By turning the
double lever j, j further the cross-piece of the closing yoke is disengaged
from the groove a and pushed up the incline a' thus lowering the stopper a
and compressing the packing b, until the said cross-piece falls into the groove a³
and thereby interlocks with the lowered and tightly closing stopper.
If he lever-arm j, j were straight, it would not be possible to turn them further
on after the engagement of the yoke in the transverse groove a³. As it is
desirable, however, to lock the closing lever in position against the stopper, cranks
or bends are provided in the portions of the arms j, j near the pivot so that the
cranks straddle the cross-piece when the double lever j, j, j is forced down over
the rear end of the head a² of the stopper. In moving downward, the lever-
arms j, j are slightly forced asunder by the projecting ends of the pivot-pin e of
the suspension link c, e as may be inferred from Figure 4, and below the said
projecting ends they wedge themselves upon the diverging legs of the part c of the
said link, thus being locked in position.
The opening of the stopper is effected by the shorter arms j¹ of the double lever,
these arms in conjunction with the leg of the bend adjacent to them being made
semi-circular in order to prevent the yoke / from accidentally passing over the
short arms while the stopper is being closed. It needs no further explanation to
shew that on turning the double lever j, j, j in the direction of the arrow y, Figure 1,
the short lever-arms j¹ carry along the cross-piece of the closing yoke
thereby disengage it from the groove a³.
and
The suspension link c, c', the yoke and the lever j, j, are by preference punched
and pressed out of sheet metal, but they may also be made of wire, and the
link, may be replaced by a chain, in which case the head a' of the stopper
should have lateral projections as indicated at, Figure 1, for the yoke h to be
retained by them.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. In a bottle-stopper, the combination with a stopper body having a packing
secured to its underside and an incline and transverse groove formed on its top side,
of a link or chain connecting the point of the stopper diametrically opposite to the
lowest point of the incline to the neck of the bottle, a yoke or stirrup pivotted to
the neck of the bottle opposite to the link or chain, a yoke-shaped lever-arm
pivotted to the stopper body near the transverse groove and having bends formed
in both legs near the pivot, and lateral projections on the portion of the stopper
near the suspension link or chain, substantially as, and for the purpose, described.
2. In a bottle-stopper, the combination with a stopper body having a packing
secured to its underside and a transverse groove and incline formed on its top side,
of a link or chain connecting the point of the stopper diametrically opposite to the
incline to the neck of the bottle, a yoke or stirrup pivotted to the neck of the
bottle opposite to the link or chain, a yoke-shaped lever-arm pivotted to the stopper
body near the transverse groove and having near its fulcrumi bends formed in both
its legs, lateral projections on the portion of the stopper near the suspension link

page_text: or chain, and short lever-arms forming with the said yoke-shaped lever-arm a
double angular lever, substantially as and for the purpose described.
3. In a bottle-stopper, the combination with the body of a metal band surrounding
the neck of the bottle below the head or thickened end of the same and a link
connecting the body to the neck-band, the link being pivotted to the neck-band
near one edge of the same and having a swivel-joint interposed into it substantially
as, and for the purpose, described.
4. The improvements in bottle-stoppers hereinbefore described and illustrated in
the accompanying drawing.
Dated this 23rd day of November 1892.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.