Today in 1966, US Patent 3260395 A was issued, an invention of Nicholas D. Ellis, assigned to Anheuser Busch, for his “Bottle Cap.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to an improved bottle cap which can be removed from a bottle by hand without the aid of a bottle opener. This bottle cap may be applied to bottles, such as beer or soda bottles, in the conventional manner with existing high speed automatic capping equipment. Further, this bottle cap may be removed if desired by conventional bottle openers which are in use today.
Bottle caps which require no separate opener, or so called self-opening bottle caps, are generally old and are of different design. Some of these bottle caps have a tongue which extends downwardly from the depending skirt and others have constructions which make them difficult to handle in a hopper and to use on the high speed automatic bottling equipment which exists in many bottling shops or plants today. Others of these self-opening bottle caps have a tongue struck from the metal cap itself which is pulled completely free of the cap when opening, with the result that the remaining portions of the bottle cap are propelled like a rocket and cause property damage or cause personal injury. This frequently happens when the bottle cap is removed rapidly so that the tongue portion remains in the lingers of the person opening the bottle, but the remainder of the bottle cap is free to y upwardly or away from the bottle. Still others cannot be opened in the conventional manner with bottle openers if desired. And others result in the cutting of the fingers with sharp metal edges When opening.
The principal object of the present invention is to provide a self-opening bottle cap which can be used in existing bottle cap handling apparatus and bottle cap machines for application to bottles, said bottle cap comprising an outer shell, an inner disc, and a seal adapted to seal the bottle cap to the bottle and to prevent the outer shell and inner disc from separating either before or after the bottle cap is removed. Another object is to provide a self-opening bottle cap, a tongue having a rounded edge which protects the lingers against cutting and which is not pulled off in its entirety, so that the removed bottle cap remains in the hands of the person opening the bottle. This prevents the pressure in the bottle from propelling the cap or parts thereof at great speed. Another object is to provide fewer scores in the depending skirt of the bottle cap hereinbefore described, thereby reducing the possibility of splitting the score during the crowning operation so as to create a leaker. Another object is to provide these advantages in a bottle cap which can be removed by a conventional bottle opener if desired.
