IMPROVE- MENTS IN STOPPING BOTTLES, JARS, AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS
Year: 1867

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Pierre Duchamp at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th March
1867.
I, PIERRE DUCHAMP, of Rue Vieille Monnaie, No. 3, at Lyons (France),
Mechanic, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN STOPPING BOTTLES, JARS, AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS," to be as follows:-
According to this Invention the stopping or closing of bottles and other like
vessels is effected by a ball or sphere of glass, crystal, marble, porcelain,
earthenware, hardened caoutchouc, or other suitable material; this ball is held
in place by a kind of metal strap adjusted by a collar embracing the neck of
the bottle. I apply my Invention in two ways, one for stopping bottles in
cellars, and the other for stopping bottles or jars used for the table, or by a
retailer of liquids.
The following is a description of the apparatus:-I employ, 1st, fixed.
stoppers; a ball is traversed by a wire, either round or flat, bent into the form.
of a strap, the two extreme ends of which enter two holes in a collar which.
embraces the neck of the bottle; one of the ends of the wire is guided into a
notch in the collar. The collar is made to open at one part so as to allow it
to be passed round the neck of the bottle, the two ends are held together by.
a pin taking into a hinge-like joint; this pin carries an arm, the extremity of
which takes into an inclined notch made in the bottle. The engagement of
the extremity of this arm into the notch determines the stability of all the
closing apparatus. To prevent escape of the liquid in the bottle a tin or

page_text: suitable soft metal ring is placed between the ball and the mouth of the neck
of the bottle, thus forming a hermetic and immovable closing. The com-
mercial label pasted on the collar conceals the apparatus. 2nd, movable
stoppers. When the Invention is applied to bottles or vessels used for the table,
or for the retail of drinks and liquids, I employ a ball fastened to a wire of swan-
neck shape attached below to a collar encircling the neck of the bottle; this
collar, which opens at one part, as before, to allow of its being placed on the
bottle neck, is slid up the neck of the bottle by hand so as to raise the ball,
which afterwards falls back by its own weight. When the movable collar is
raised the ball is raised at the same time, and by inclining the bottle a part of
the liquid may be poured out; by removing the hand from the collar the collar
falls and brings with it the ball, which again closes the orifice of the bottle.
The play of the collar on the neck of the bottle permits when raised of tilting
the apparatus sufficiently to one side to allow of the bottle being refilled; an
enlargement on the lower end of the wire by coming against the under side of
the rim of the neck assists in the inclination of the apparatus, and facilitates
the refilling of the bottle; the hinge of the bottle may be bid by an
ornament.
In the first arrangement to open the bottle it suffices to disengage the arm
of the pin from the notch in the bottle, then to slip the collar up the bottle
neck so as to raise the ball, and the apparatus is tilted at pleasure, or it
may be taken away altogether.
In the second arrangement the simple sliding up of the collar raises the
swan neck and the ball, and by taking away the hand all the apparatus falls
by its own weight so as again to close the bottle.