HutchBook.comCharles G. Hutchinson Bottle Stopper
UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE
CHARLES G. HUTCHINSON, OF
IMPROVEMENT IN BOTTLE-STOPPERS.
Specification forming part of Letters
Patent No. 225,476,
dated March 16, 1880; application filed
December 8, 1879.
To all whom it may concern:
Be it known that I, CHARLES G. HUTCHINSON, of
In the drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical central
section of the upper part or neck of a bottle, showing a side view
therein of a stopper embodying my invention and in position for closing
the neck; and Fig. 2 is a like representation, excepting that it shows
an edge view of the stopper in position for leaving the neck open.
Like letters of reference indicate like parts.
My invention relates to that class of bottle-stoppers
provided with a laterally-yielding spring extending upward from the
plug, and adapted to hold the latter in its open and closed position,
alternately, according to the adjustment vertically of the spring in the
neck of the bottle.
A represents the
neck of a bottle.
B is a rubber disk confined
between two metallic disks, C
and D, the latter or lower one
of which is larger than the other metallic disk, but not so large as the
disk B, as shown.
The disks C
and D are connected to each other centrally by a neck passing centrally
through the disk B, or by
means of a wire, to which the metallic disks may be either molded or
otherwise attached; but I have not here shown in detail the manner of
connecting the said disks, as the construction, relative arrangement,
and mode of connection are old and well known, and form no part of my
present invention, excepting as connected with the features of
construction relating to the remaining parts of the stopper, and
hereinafter specifically set forth, my object in referring to these
disks as particularly as I have now done being to distinguish valves of
this class to which my invention is applicable from others, such as
tapering plugs adapted to sustain themselves with certainty in the neck,
so as to close it effectually even when the contents of the bottle are
not effervescent.
E is an elongated
eye or loop applied to the metallic disks above referred to, and
arranged transversely with relation to them, and so as to project into
the neck, as clearly shown in Fig. 1.
I make the eye or loop E
of wire.
F is a spring-wire
centrally bent upon itself, as shown, and the lower parts or ends of
which stand apart from each other a distance about equal to the length
of the loop E, and which ends
are bent around the cross-bar of the said loop so as to inclose (sic)
the same loosely enough to allow the said ends to move freely back and
forth on the said bar without danger of being detached therefrom.
The loop formed by the spring
F is centrally contracted, so
that it conforms to the contracted part of the neck of the bottle to a
greater or less extent.
It will be perceived, from the foregoing description
and from reference to the drawings, that an upper and lower enlargement
are thus formed in the spring or loop
F, and that the upper
enlargement will suspend the spring and disk
B in an open position, and that the lower enlargement will then hold
the said disk approximately in a central position below the neck, and
also suspend and hold the said disk in its closed position when the said
spring or loop is drawn up into the position shown in Fig. 1, it being
understood that the spring F,
by being connected to the loop or eye
E in the manner shown and
described, is capable of lateral contraction and expansion while being
moved up and down in the neck for the purpose of closing and opening the
bottle.
It will also be perceived that both the lower ends of
the spring or loop F may move
laterally on the cross-bar of the lop or eye
E, the said bar being long
enough to admit of this movement and of the expansion of the lower
enlarged part of the spring or loop
F against the interior of the
neck, as and for the purposes described, but not too long to allow the
disk B to be raised to its
closed position.
It will also be perceived that the upper enlargement
of the spring or loop F enters
the neck of the bottle when the disk
B is in its open position, and
that the lower enlargement is in the neck when the said disk is in its
closed position, and that the said disk is at all times held in its
various positions by means of the lateral expansion of the spring or
loop F against the interior of the neck.
I am aware that a bail having an enlargement at its
upper end sufficiently great not to enter the neck of the bottle has
heretofore been combined with a tapering plug adapted to hold itself in
its closed position in the upper part of the neck, and at such a height
therein as to permit the said bail to be then laid horizontally outside
of the neck, the said enlargement, by resting on the upper end of the
neck, performing the function of suspending the said plug with certainty
in its open position, and the remaining part of the bail being broad
enough to hold the plug in, or nearly in, a central position with
relation to the neck when so suspended, and I do not, therefore, here
intend to claim such.
I am also aware that internal bottle-stoppers have
heretofore been so constructed as to be held, by various other means,
either in their open or closed position; but, with the exceptions
hereinafter stated, I am not aware that internal bottle-stoppers have
heretofore been so constructed as to be held automatically both in their
open and closed position alternately by means of a laterally expanding
and contracting spring loop applied to a flat or disk-shaped valve.
The exceptions above referred to are shown and
described in Letters Patent of the United States of America issued to me
for improvements in bottle-stoppers, and numbered 213,992, dated April
8, 1879, and reissued June 17, 1879, the reissue number being 8,755, and
No. 219,729, dated September 16, 1879, and I do not here intend to claim
any of the said improvements.
Having thus described my invention, what I claim as
new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is –
The flat or disk-shaped valve
B, the laterally-elongated eye
D, and the
centrally-contracted spring-loop
F, having an open lower end and upper and lower enlargements, both
adapted to enter the neck of a bottle, and both lower ends of the wire
of the said loop having therein eyes or openings for freely receiving
and suspending the cross-bar of the eye
E, all combined and
constituting an internal bottle-stopper adapted to be held both in its
open and closed positions alternately by means of the said loop,
substantially as specified.
CHARLES G. HUTCHINSON.
Witnesses: F. F. Warner,
W. S. Baker.
Comments:
Charles G. Hutchinson’s five bottle-stopper patents
are included in their entirety to serve as reference sources for
tracking their design evolution.
Also see:
U.S. Patent Number: 285,488 Patented: September 25, 1883