IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS AND VALVES FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John M'Donald, of Hackney, in the County of
Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS AND
VALVES FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS."
Sealed the 27th July 1869, and dated the 29th January 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John McDonald at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th January 1869.
I, JOHN M.DONALD, of Hackney, in the County of. Middlesex, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
STOPPERS AND VALVES FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to stoppers or valves chiefly applied to pocket
pistols or drinking flasks.
The improvements consist in fitting in a socket formed with a screw
thread for screwing into a bottle or other vessel a hollow plug; this plug
is closed at the bottom but has a hole in the side near the bottom through
which the fluid or air is free to pass. The upper portion of the plug is

page_text: fitted with lugs to enable it to be turned, a pin or stud being on the out-
side to limit the movement so as to ensure the openings corresponding.
An aperture for the admission of air into the bottle is formed on the out-
side of the plug; this aperture coincides with a small hole in the socket,
so that when the plug is turned and the vessel tilted air enters through
the aperture and the fluid is free to run out. In some cases the air
aperture may be dispensed with.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John McDonald in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
MCDONALD, of Hackney, in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said John McDonald, Her special licence that
I, the said John McDonald, my executors, administrators, and assigns,.
or such others as I, the said John McDonald, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term therein
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STOPPERS
OR VALVES FOR BOTTLES AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said John McDonald, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE that I, the said John M'Donald, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention; and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to stoppers or valves chiefly applied to pocket
pistols or drinking flasks.
The improvements consist in fitting in a socket formed with a screw
thread for screwing into a bottle or other vessel a hollow plug; this
plug is closed at the bottom but has a hole in the side near the bottom
through which the fluid or air is free to pass. The upper portion of the
plug is fitted with lugs to enable it to be turned, a pin or stud being on
the outside to limit the movement so as to ensure the openings
corresponding. An aperture for the admission of air into the bottle is
formed on the outside of the plug; this aperture coincides with a small
hole in the socket, so that when the plug is turned and the vessel tilted
air enters through the aperture and the fluid is free to run out. In
some cases the air aperture may be dispensed with.
The Invention will be fully understood by referring to the
accompanying Drawings, of which Figure 1 is an elevation of a drinking
flask with a stopper in the mouth thereof, and made according to my
Invention.
The upper portion of the plug
enable the plug to be turned
a, a, is a socket, which is formed with a screw thread 6 on its exterior
for screwing into the neck of the flask c. Inside the socket a is a
hollow plug
which is closed at the bottom and has a hole e at its side
through which the fluid is free to pass.
is fitted with lugs or finger pieces f. f, to
by hand. There is a stud or stop pin g on the outside of the plug for
limiting the extent to which the plug may be moved; it rides in a recess
cut in the top edge of the socket, and comes against the end of the
rim of the same. At some portion of the socket is a hole h, which when
the plug is turned into the position for allowing the fluid to flow out is
in communication with a groove out vertically on the plug to admit air
into the flask and so allow of the fluid flowing freely. I form a square
on the bottom of the plug, over which a washer is placed, and hold it
firmly thereon by means of a nut j. In order to prevent any fluid
escaping up through the bottom of the plug or between the plug and
socket I screw a cap k on to the bottom of the socket, by which means
all leakage is prevented. The socket has a hole in it which when the
hole in the plug is brought round to correspond forms a free passage to

page_text: the interior of the flask. When the flask is full of fluid and it is
necessary to remove some of it the plug must be turned a sufficient
distance to bring the holes in a line to form the passage, and the flask
tilted, when the fluid will run out. The top edge of the plug is rounded
off so as not to cut the mouth of the person drinking from it. The plug
and parts connected with it are shewn in the detached views, Figures 2,
3, 4, and 5, and need no further description.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the
construction and employment of stoppers or valves in the necks of
flasks, bottles, and other like vessels, substantially in the manner and
for the purpose herein-before described and represented in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John M'Donald, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eight day of July One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.