Patent ID: 7047762

Claim:
A device for storage of an open wine container comprising a housing for receiving said open wine container in a substantially vertical orientation and for replacing air within the open wine container with a heavier-than-air inert gas, said device comprising a poppet valve assembly including a valve body for insertion within an opening in said open wine container and biased to enable said device to accommodate open wine containers of varying sizes, a pressurized source of heavier-than-air inert gas located within said housing, a regulator for reducing the pressure of said inert gas from a first pressure at said pressurized source of heaver-than-air inert gas to a second pressure that passes through a low pass port within said poppet valve assembly, said poppet valve assembly comprising a valve body, a low pass port, a spring-loaded check ball being spring biased to close said low pass port, a shuttle slidable within said valve body and orifice wherein said spring loaded check ball is biased to close said low pass port to facilitate increasing pressure within said low pass port until said pressure is sufficient to cause said shuttle to rise upwards within said valve body thus being displaced from said open wine container whereupon as said shuttle rises, air contained within said open wine container is freed to exit proximate the bottle top while increasing pressure in said low pass port unseats said check ball from blocking said low pass port within said shuttle for enabling the heavier-than-air inert gas to enter said wine container displacing air that had been in said bottle and upon interrupting the flow of said heavier-than-Sir inert gas, forcing said shuttle by spring bias against said open wine container sealing said open wine container to substantially prevent said heavier-than-air inert gas from escaping therefrom.