Improvements in and relating to Bottles to Prevent them being Refilled.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Dec., 1897-Accepted 5th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and relating to Bottles to Prevent them being
Refilled.
I, CARL SAND, of the City of Luxemberg, in the Grand Duchy of Luxemberg,
Gentleman, 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:-
Many different kinds of constructions have been devised in order to prevent the
contents of bottles from being tampered with or adulterated or in order to make
a bottle not capable of being refilled when it has once been filled and closed or
stoppered. Ball stoppers have often been used for this purpose and the ball
stopper device has been arranged with the object of preventing it from being
reached by a wire or the like.
In the known constructions of this kind, which are extremely complicated and
consist of a number of parts, safety caps, protective walls or the like have been
rendered necessary in the housing of the locking device in order to make it
impossible to get at and to push the ball from its seating by means of a foreign
substance from the outside.
In the present ball closure device all these expedients are dispensed with. For
this purpose the neck itself of the bottle serves as the housing and in such manner
that the ball stopper is held off its seating by means of a rod of glass or other
suitable material during the filling of the bottle and is allowed to fall on to its
seat when the bottle is filled by withdrawing the said rod and fixing it to the
bottle by melting it to the neck so that the valve will prevent refilling of the bottle
or the dilution of the contents.
The drawing illustrates a sectional view of the neck of a bottle through and in
the direction of the filling and discharge passage.
The neck A of the bottle forms the housing or casing for the stopper and there
is a zig-zag passage a leading to the interior of the bottle for filling the bottle
with liquid and for discharging same. This passage or channel is at a¹ formed
into a chamber in which the ball valve b is situated. The valve chamber is made
so as to be capable of being divided into two compartments by means of a rod c
of glass or other suitable material which passes through a corresponding hole in
the bottle and the said glass rod is then melted on to and incorporated with the
bottle itself after the latter has been filled.
If a bottle is to be filled, the rod c is withdrawn from the valve chamber a¹
and is tilted until the valve b assumes the dotted position 1, the rod c is then
pushed in and retains the ball b. The filling then takes place in the usual
manner and when the bottle has been filled the rod c is withdrawn from the
chamber a whereupon the valve is free to roll and does roll when the bottle is
in an upright position on to its seat in the neck of the bottle as shewn in full lines.
The rod is then pressed down and the top is melted down or sealed by means of a
blow pipe or in any other convenient manner and the thickness of the glass at this
place and the distance of this place from the contents of the bottle permits of this

page_text: operation without difficulty and in this manner the ball will not then be able to
assume the dotted position 1.
The bottle is then treated as any other bottle would be. If the bottle is inclined
forwards, the ball assumes the dotted position 2 and the liquid passes away by
the passage or channel a. If the bottle be then put into an approximately vertical
position, the ball stopper rolls on to its seat in the neck and shuts off the contents
of the bottle from the outside.
The passage a for filling and discharging is made double knee-shaped or zig-zag
and that renders it impossible for any one to introduce a wire or other foreign sub-
stance in order to lift the valve b off its seat in the neck. It is evident that
instead of there being three turns in the passage a as shown there may be more
and the upper or any other portion of the passage could be turned in another
direction to that shown in order to render the entry of a wire or the like more
difficult. Finally the bottle may be provided with a cork B or with any other
stopper as found most convenient.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
claim is:-
1. A bottle intended to be incapable of being refilled consisting of a body part,
a valve seating at the top of the neck a valve chamber, means for holding the
valve away from its seating during filling and a tortuous or zig-zag passage for
filling and emptying the bottle of liquid leading from the said valve chamber
substantially as set forth.
2. The construction of bottle substantially as described and shewn.
un
day of December 1991.
JENSEN & SON,
77, Chancery Lane, London, W.C., Patent Agents.