Improved Means for Securing and Removing the Corks of Bottles, Jars, and the like.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Oct., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 25th Aug., 1891-Accepted, 3rd Oct., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Securing and Removing the Corks of Bottles,
Jars, and the like.
ATHOL MAYHEW, Journalist 201 Great Portland Street London, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention consists of a capsule and cork-drawer. They are so arranged that
a bottle jar or the like may be hermetically sealed until the cork is required to be
drawn and in such a manner that the drawing may be accomplished without a
corkscrew.
To this end I take a length of tape webbing silk band or other suitable material
and cement one end with glue, gelatine or other adhesive to the outside lip of the
receptacle to be corked. I then loosely lay the tape over the mouth of the bottle
place the cork on top and drive them down the neck of the bottle so that the
cork is firmly driven home in its sling of tape.
The tape which now surrounds the cork has its free length hanging over the
other side of the bottle. A portion of this is cemented to the outer lip on which
it rests, a sufficient length being left free for hand-grasp. This tape may also be
formed into a loop, half of which is under the cork and the remaining half above to
serve for drawing purposes.
The bottle is next capsuled by dipping spinning or brushing with a hot solution
of coloured glue, gelatine or isinglass. When this has set it is treated with a
solution of bichromate of potass or preferably chrom alum. These may also be
used in solution with the glue or gelatine.
The glue or gelatine may also be rendered impervious to moisture by a coating
of india-rubber varnish or lacquer.
I have now the head and neck of the bottle or jar encased in a perfectly air-
tight and transparent capsule which allows the brand of the cork or other device to
be seen under the capsule.
To draw the cork it is only necessary to grasp the bottle in the left hand and
to draw the loose end of the tape up firmly with the right. The tape will then
strip from its gelatinous encasement and the cork will be withdrawn from its sling
whole and sound for recorking.
Dand this 95th dow of Datahon 1900
ATHOL MAYHEW.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Means for Securing and Removing the Corks of Bottles,
Jars, and the like.
I, ATHOL MAYHEW, formerly of 201 Great Portland Street, but now of
14 Hanway Street, Oxford Street, in the County of London, Journalist, 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 :-
According to my invention the corks of bottles, jars and the like are secured by
the use of a capsule insoluble in water, or in both water and spirit, which is
applied in a liquid or semi-liquid condition, and then caused to harden by the
application of a chemical substance or substances capable of rendering it insoluble.

page_text: .
Or in place of an insoluble capsule I use one of soluble material, and coat it with
varnish, solution of india-rubber, or similar protective. If the capsule be made
of transparent material it is possible, in the case of bottles and jars of white
glass to read the brand on the cork without disturbing the latter. A suitable
material for the formation of capsules is glue, gelatine, or isinglass, mixed or
brushed over with bichromate of potash, or preferably with chrome alum. It
is well known that gelatine so treated becomes insoluble on exposure to light.
When applying the capsules to black bottles, materials such for example as china
clay, or kaolin, may be added to the glue or other material of which the capsule
is made, in order to render it opaque and it may be coloured by the addition of
suitable colouring agents as for examples aniline dyes or cochineal.
In combination with an insoluble capsule applied in liquid or semi-liquid form by
dipping, spinning, brushing or other suitable process, I use a cork extractor con-
sisting of a loop or bight of flexible material passing under the cork, and having
one, at least, of its ends of sufficient length to enable it to be tightly grasped and
pulled. One of the ends is cemented or otherwise fixed to the lip of the bottle,
and the other is preferably made so long that it can be pasted down by the label.
By this arrangement the destruction of the label is practically assured when the
cork is drawn, and a kind of fraud frequently practiced is prevented. According
to a modification both ends of the flexible material may be connected to the bottle
neck so as to form a loop one side of which can extend under the cork.
Referring to the annexed sheet of illustrated drawings
Fig. 1 shows a bottle provided with means according to my invention of securing
and removing the cork.
Fig. 2 is a view at right angles to Fig. 1, with the neck and cork in section.
Fig. 3 shews a modification.
A, is a piece of tape, ribbon, webbing or other suitable flexible material cemented
at B to the bottle neck; it passes down one side of the cork C, across the bottom
and up the other side, emerging from the bottle neck at D, from whence it is led
down the side of the bottle, when it is retained by one or more labels E, E.
F, is an insoluble capsule, of the kind herein before referred to applied in
a liquid or semi-liquid condition. This capsule is, of course, over the flexible
material A.
To remove the cork the end A¹ of the tape or ribbon A is grasped by the
fingers and the labels are torn through or away from the glass. By continued
traction on the tape or ribbon the capsule is torn through, and the cork is
drawn out of the bottle neck, without damage to it, so that it may be used
again with perfect safety.
In Fig. 3 both ends of the tape or ribbon are secured to one side of the bottle
neck so as to form a loop which after the neck of the bottle has been capsuled will
hang down by the side of the bottle neck. I prefer however the arrangement
shewn in Figs. 1 and 2.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. An insoluble capsule for a bottle, jar or the like, consisting of material such
as glue, gelatine or isinglass applied in a liquid state to the bottle neck and rendered
insoluble by treatment with bichromate of potash, or chrome alum substantially as
described.
2. For removing a cork from a bottle, jar or the like, a flexible cork drawer
consisting of a piece of tape, webbing or other suitable flexible material secured
at one or both ends to the exterior of the bottle neck, so that it can be caused
to extend under a cork in the bottle mouth substantially in the manner herein-
before described for the purpose specified.

page_text: 3. The herein before described means for securing and removing the cork of
a bottle, jar or the like, comprising an insoluble capsule applied as a liquid or
semi-liquid condition and a flexible cork drawer, substantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of August 1891.
W. LLOYD WISE,
Per F. J. Brougham,
46, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C., Agent for the Applicant.