Today in 1933, US Patent 1928987 A was issued, an invention of Albin H. Warth, assigned to the Crown Cork & Seal Co., for his “Bottle Cap.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to bottle caps, and more particularly to improvements in bottle caps of the edge gasket type.
Today in 1885, US Patent 327099 A was issued, an invention of William Painter, for his “Bottle Stopper.” Painter patented a number of bottle-related items, but is undoubtedly best known for having invented the first crown bottle top. There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention is particularly designed for use with bottles or similar vessels containing fluids under pressure from eft’ervescence or otherwise; but it is adapted as well for use where such pressure does not exist.
Stoppers have heretofore been made secure against internal pressure in one of two ways by using a tie-wire, also by special stopperriety; or by placing the stopper inside the bottle and so arranging it that the stopper is forced against a seat or packing by the pressure within. The first of these methods is objectionable because of the expense, and in some cases the inconvenience of its use and liability of accidental opening, The second is so for the same reasons, and for the outside of the bottle is an obstruction to ready and effectual cleansing both of the bottle and stopper. Stoppers secured by external fastenings are retained solely by the power of the device to overcome the internal pressure. Those within the bottle are retained because they present a solid mass too large to pass through the bottleneck. In neither case referred to does the lateral expansion of the stopper itself against the interior of the bottle mouth enter as an element of its action in resisting internal pressure, as it does with stoppers made according to my method.
My invention differs from all others in the respects named. It is made of thin material, and placed within the bottle. neck or mouthward, so that it presents the resistance of an inverted arch or dome having its haunches supported by contact with the walls of the bottle-mouth, which are preferably indented or grooved to afford a more secure hold. Pressure upon an arch is always transferred in part as lateral pressure against its abutment, while a similar pressure upon a solid body having the same convexity does not tend to I displace the abutment laterally, but to shear of the bottle neck and stopper off the edges of such solid body. This physical principle illustrates the actual difference between my cup-shaped disk-stoppers and all others with which I am acquainted.
Today in 1934, US Patent 1974836 A was issued, an invention of John M. Schilling, for his “Crown Cap Puller.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to an improved construction of cap puller for bottles having crown caps of the kind commonly used in connection with bottled beverages. My device is preferably constructed of a single piece of sheet metal formed to give it substantial support on an object to which it is attached, and at the same time to effectively engage one edge and the outer end of a bottle cap when the cap is being removed from the bottle by means of the device. Furthermore, my device is constructed so that it may be secured to a desired support by a single fastener, for example, a screw, and the device has extending from its body portion, a projection for engaging the outer end of the bottle cap at a point remote from the edge of the cap being removed from the bottle by the device, the distance between the cap removing portion of the device and said projection, being preferably substantially greater than half the diameter of the cap, to the end that the pressure’exerted upon the .bottle in removing its cap, may be reduced to a minimum. The projection on the device for engaging the outer end surface of the cap, may consist of an integral projection formed from the material of the device, or it may consist of a rounded head of the fastening device, as preferred, and where the latter construction is used, the device is of extreme simplicity and correspondingly cheap to manufacture.
Today in 1922, US Patent 1423105 A was issued, an invention of Svend Hansen, for his “Bottle Cap.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The object of this invention is to provide a disk with prongs, by .which it may be firmly secured to the cork, so as to withstand the liability to damage in handling.
Today in 1972, US Patent 3675805 A was issued, an invention of Victor Shane, for his “Snap Open Bottle Cap.” Here’s the Abstract:
A bottle cap having fault lines seals a bottle provided with wedge shaped ramps which cause the fault lines to yield when pressure is applied to the top of the cap.
Today in 1937, US Patent 2085879 A was issued, an invention of Edward N. Trump, for his “Bottle Capping Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to new and useful improvements in a bottle capping machine and pertains more particularly to an apparatus for applying hooded or over-all caps to the head of milk bottles or the like. The caps are pre-formed in one piece, preferably from a sheet of light, strong and non-corrosive metal having a high degree of ductility, malleability and tenacity, such for example, as tissue aluminum of about the thickness of the cellulose product commonly known as Cellophane or of thin tinfoil, and which is capable of. being easily molded by pressure under atmospheric temperature to conform to the its form under ordinary usage.
Today in 2012, US Patent 8205527 B2 was issued, an invention of Dominic A. Chenelia, for his “Watchband bottle opener with central extending projection to receive a bottlecap thereunder.” Here’s the Abstract:
A bottle opening wristband, having: a pivot member; a buckle loop rotatably connected to the pivot member; a first projection extending from a center edge of the buckle loop, the projection being dimensioned to be received under an edge of a bottle cap; and a second projection positioned opposite the first projection, wherein the first and second projections are positioned on opposite sides of the pivot member.
Today in 1947, US Patent 2422750 A was issued, an invention of Harold E. Rue, assigned to Pabst Brewing Co., for his “Plastic Bottle Crowner.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention appertains to bottle capping and more particularly to a novel machine for forming or molding plastic crown caps on bottle necks to bring about the tight sealing of the bottles.
For 101st Session, our host will be Jack Perdue, who writes Deep Beer. For his topic, he’s asking us to look beyond what’s in the bottle, and to the bottle itself, along with the crown, the label, the carrier, the mother carton and all of the odds and ends, or detritus, that go into the beer’s packaging, or as he explains what he has in mind for the July Session, the “Bottles, Caps and Other Beer Detritus,” which he describes below.
There are many great creative people involved in the beer industry: the brewers designing and creating the stuff of our attention, marketers bringing the product to market, graphic artists making the products attractive and informative and writers who tell the story of beer. The list goes on. And thus, many great products, that may or may not get your attention. The focus is on the liquid inside the bottle, can or keg, and rightly so. What about all the other products necessary to bring that beer to you? What about the things that are necessary but are easily overlooked and discarded. This months theme is, “Bottles, Caps and Other Beer Detritus”.
Detritus, according to one definition in the Merriam Webster Dictionary is “miscellaneous remnants : odds and ends”. While the number and quality of our beer choices has certainly improved over the recent decade, have you paid any attention to the rest of the package. Those things we normally glance over and throw away when we have poured and finished our beer. These are sometimes works of art in themselves. Bottle caps, labels, six-pack holders, even the curvature of the bottle. For this month’s The Session theme, I’m asking contributors to share their thoughts on these things, the tangential items to our obsession. Do you have any special fetish with bottle caps, know of someone that is doing creative things with packaging, have a beer bottle or coaster collection.
So drink the beer, but then think about what’s left over when it’s gone.
Let us know about the bits and pieces from your point of view. To participate in the July Session, leave a comment to the original announcement, with , on or before Friday, July 3.
Today in 1931, US Patent 1810630 A was issued, an invention of Conrad Lenz, for his “Combination Container And Bottle Opener.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The present invention relates to a combination container and bottle opener and has for its primary object the provision of a container having attached to the bottom thereof a bottle opening device designed to permit convenient removal of a bottle cap.
A further object of the invention is the provision of a container, preferably in the form of a tumbler having the bottom formed to intimately engage a bottle opening device designed particularly to engage the well known form of bottle cap to remove the cap in cooperation with the tumbler.
If anyone can explain the difference between the “primary object” and the second or “further object” I’ll be mightily impressed. But I especially love how they describe that the bottle cap and the beer glass as “cooperating” to open the bottle. That’s genius.
