Improved means for Preventing the Refilling of Bottles.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 23rd Nov., 1897--Accepted, 5th Mar., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved means for Preventing the Refilling of Bottles.
I, CHARLES HOMER NEWBURY, of 200, East Tenth Street, Saint Paul, Ramsey
County, State of Minnesota, United States of America, Surveyor, 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 invention relates to improved means for preventing the refilling of bottles,
being especially designed for bottles containing rare and costly liquors, although
it is capable, without any material change, of being used in conjunction with
any bottle used in putting up other substances which may be either counterfeited
or adulterated.
!
It is my aim to provide a bottle that can be quickly and easily filled in the
ordinary manner, and, when full, can be converted into a bottle that cannot be
refilled by the simple insertion within the neck of a combination frame con-
taining ball-valves and gravity-balls resting upon the ball-valves, the frame
being provided with automatic means for locking it within the bottle-neck in
such manner that it cannot be withdrawn afterward without fracturing the glass,
nor can any fluid be introduced in the bottle after it is emptied or partly emptied.
My invention also comprises other novel features and arrangements of parts
which can be more easily understood from the description.
To enable others to fully understand and to make and use my said invention I
will now proceed to explain the same, reference being had, for this purpose, to
the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a central, longitudinal section of a bottle neck and a portion of
the body showing the construction and application of my invention.
Figure 2 is a perspective view of the insertible frame removed from the bottle
neck, the ball-valves, gravity balls, and cork cushions being removed, and the
screws which fasten the two parts of the frame together being shown removed
from the latter but occupying their proper relative positions.
The reference numeral 1 in said drawing, indicates a bottle of any suitable
shape and size, according to the character of the bottled goods. The body 1 is
provided with a neck 2 which is of the usual length, or thereabout and which
differs from the neck of an ordinary bottle by having a contracted opening 3, at the
point where it unites with the body 1, and an inwardly projecting, circular rib 4
at, or near the middle of the neck. The diameter of said neck above the opening 3
is usually somewhat in excess of that of the ordinary bottle.
The bottle is filled in the ordinary way, that is to say, by pouring the liquor
in by the aid of a funnel or by any suitable form of bottling mechanism.
When properly filled the following means are used to prevent re-filling, and at
the same time permit the original contents to be withdrawn in any desired
quantity.
The reference numeral 5 denotes a skeleton-frame which is made in two duplicate
parts. When united the frame is composed of a slightly tapered hollow pendant 6,
at its lower end, upon which is placed a sleeve 7 of cork, or other suitable material,
which enters and tightly closes the contracted opening 3, at the lower end of the

page_text: bottle neck. Projecting from the upper end of the pendant 6 is a collar 8, from
which rise four substantially equidistant bars 9, two of which, on each half of the
collar, have their faces flush with the dividing line, and receive screws 10, by
which the two half-parts of the frame are united. The bars 9 extend upward and
then curve slightly toward the axis of the bottle-neck their ends being integral
with a plate, or substantially rectangular block 12. The bars 9 form a cage which
contains a ball-valve 13 normally resting by gravity upon a valve seat 14, which
surrounds the open end of the passage enclosed by the pendant 6. In the same
cage is a second and somewhat larger ball 14 which rests upon the ball-
valve 13.
From the plate 12, which is smaller than the diameter of the neck and has no
opening, four short bars 15 rise to and unite with an annular plate 16, which has
an exterior diameter a little less than that of the bottle neck, but a little in excess
of the interior diameter of the rib 4. A circular cushion 17, of cork, or other
substance of a suitable kind, is slipped upon the outside of the short bars 15
and is compressed by the annular plate 16 against the rib 4. This plate has
an opening 18, surrounded by a valve Seat 19, on which rests a hall-valve 20.
The latter, together with a gravity ball 21 resting upon it, are confined by a cage
formed of four bars 22 which rise from the annular plate 16 at equally distant
intervals and extend upward with a slight convergence toward the axis of the neck,
their ends meeting with a serrated disc 23, of less diameter than the interior of the
bottle neck. This plate is united by short-bars 24 with an annular plate 25.
which fits within the upper open end of the neck 2, or nearly so. The opening 20
is closed by a stopper of any preferred kind.
When the frame is inserted in the bottle-neck in the manner described, it is
locked automatically against withdrawal by means of springs 27, which suap
under that portion of the body 1 adjacent to the lower end of the neck two locking
prongs 28, which are integral with said springs. I prefer to construct these prongs
and springs of a single piece of wire, as shown in Figure 1. The prongs 28 lie
in openings 29 in the pendant 6. Thus the frame can never be removed unless
the bottle is fractured. I may, however, employ any well-known means for
permanently securing the frame in the neck of the bottle.
At the same time the contents can always be poured out in any suitable
quantity. If the bottle is inclined so as to bring the open top of the neck below
a horizontal line the ball-valves will leave their seats by gravity and the liquor
will flow out in the usual manner.
!
It is impossible, however, to get liquor into the bottle, as the inflow through the
neck, when the bottle is in its normal position with the neck uppermost, cannot
lift the ball valve 13, and, it is impossible to insert any implement to raise said
valve.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A bottle having a neck provided with a contracted lower end and with an
interior rib between the ends, in combination with an insertible frame having a
cushioned hollow terminal fitting the contracted lower end of the neck, an annular
plate forming part of the frame and lying above the interior rib in the bottle-neck,
ball-valves one of which normally closes the open end of the pendant and the
other an opening in the annular plate, and springs to automatically and permanently
lock the frame in the bottle-neck after the bottle is filled, substantially as and for
the purposes described.
2. The combination, with a bottle the neck of which has a contracted lower end
and an interior rib between the ends, of a skeleton frame having a cushioned pendant
closely fitting the contracted end of the neck, a ball-valve normally resting on a
valve-seat around the open end of the terminal, a gravity-ball resting on the ball-
valve, both balls enclosed by a cage forming part of the skeleton frame, a circular

page_text: cushion compressed on the interior rib by an annular plate forming part of said
frame, a ball-valve closing the opening in said annular plate, a gravity-ball resting
on the ball-valve, both enclosed by a cage which is part of the frame, and springs
which automatically and permanently lock the frame in the bottle-neck, said frame
being inserted after the bottle is filled, substantially as and for the purposes
described.
3. The combination, with a bottle, of a skeleton frame inserted in the bottle-neck
after filling, a cushioned pendant forming part of said frame and fitting a con-
tracted opening at the lower end of the neck, a circular cushion compressed against
an interior rib in the neck by an annular plate on the frame, ball-valves resting
on valve-seats around the upper end of the pendant and around the opening in
the annular plate, gravity-balls resting on said ball-valves. said balls, being
contained in cages in the frame, an annulus at the upper end of the frame fitting
the open mouth of the neck. and springs which automatically and permanently
lock the skeleton frame in the neck when the latter is inserted after the bottle is
filled, substantially as and for the purposes described.
4. A bottle having a neck provided with a contracted lower end and with an
interior rib between the ends, in combination with an insertible frame having a
cushioned hollow terminal fitting the contracted lower end of the neck, an annular
plate forming part of the frame and lying above the interior rib in the bottle-neck,
all-valves one of which normally closes the open end of the pendant and the
other an opening in the annular plate, and means for permanently securing the
frame in the bottle-neck, after the bottle is filled substantially as and for the.
purposes described.
.
•
D. YOUNG & Co.,
11 & 12, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.