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Patent No. 609970A: Apparatus For Keeping And Sending Liquid Materials

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Today in 1898, US Patent 609970 A was issued, an invention of Paul Lochmann, for his “Apparatus for Keeping and Sending Liquid Materials.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to an apparatus in which liquids of all sorts, particularly carbonated liquids, such as beer, can be kept and preserved for a greater period of time than heretofore. A cooling device is embodied in the apparatus for the purpose of cooling off and keeping the liquid at a constant cooling temperature.

My invention consists of an apparatus for preserving liquids, comprising a vessel containing the carbonated liquid, an elastic receiver for the carbonic-acid or other gas, which has communication with the interior of the vessel, said receiver being confined within limiting-walls, against which the elastic walls of the receiver are pressed, there being combined with the receiver a spring, weight, or the equivalent for the purpose of producing extra pressure on the receiver when the elasticity of its walls is insufficient for driving out at proper pressure the gas within the same; and the invention consists, further, in combination, with said parts, of a cooling vessel which is inserted into the liquid-containing vessel, whereby the liquid is kept cool, and the invention consists, finally, of features of construction and details to be described hereinafter and then particularly claimed.

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Patent No. 3100056A: Reusable Bottle Cases

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Today in 1963, US Patent 3100056 A was issued, an invention of John A. Friday Jr., assigned to the Duquesne Brewing Company Of Pittsburgh, for his “Reusable Bottle Cases.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates broadly to reusable containers for bottles and the like and is particularly useful for beverage bottle cases, such as beer cases where the container is subjected to frequent reuse.

In my invention, I provide a reusable case for bottles and the like comprising, in combination, a unitary molded container having side walls, end walls, a bottom wall and opposed top flap elements, all of said elements and walls being integrally formed complete in a single piece of plastic material and a plurality of longitudinal and lateral cell-forming partition members disposed in said container, said end walls having handle means comprising openings in the upper central portions thereof, said top flap elements having lockable closing means selectively engageable with said handle means. I further provide hinge means comprising thinned flexible portions in said top flap elements adjacent said side walls. In addition, I provide convex bulges in the side and end walls at the corners of the container. Further, I provide roughened surfaces on particular portions of the container to prevent slippage between the cases from occurring when stacking or transporting them.

Thus, I have invented a bottle case that is a unitary container which is integrally formed as a single piece of plastic, which is tough and durable and may be used many times over and above the ordinary case. My case ice has a lockably closable top for the complete protection of the bottles contained therein and bulged corners for the protection of the printed material on the sides and ends of the container.

The advantages of a unitary structure are, inter alia, that the case is free of connections that are weaker than the case itself. There is less likelihood of weak spots. It also eliminates costly assembly operations and thus, is not only stronger but less expensive.

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Patent No. 2845196A: Bottle Crates

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Today in 1958, US Patent 2845196 A was issued, an invention of Percy Charles Brett and Cecil Roy Brett, for their “Bottle Crates.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to bottle crates such as crates for beer bottles, .and has for its object to provide a crate without criss-cross partitions which divide the box into individual bottle compartments, but one which nevertheless will retain the bottles snugly in position and will prevent the bottles accidentally falling out should the crate assume an inclined position. By obviating the partitions a crate can be made much smaller in overall dimensions as compared with a partitioned crate for the same number of bottles, and expense is reduced while the space occupied during storage and transit is also considerably reduced.

According to the invention a crate comprises an open topped rectangular box having no compartments for individual bottles and having a main elongated retaining ledge on the respective inside faces of the walls and extending from end to end thereof, said retaining ledge lying parallel to the bottom and open top of the crate and located at the height of the shoulder of the bottles for which the crate is designed. A central partition may be provided spanning opposite walls in combination with retaining ledges also parallel to the bottom and open top of the crate at the same height as the main retaining ledge. For example the central partition in one form terminates upwardly above the level of the retaining ledges and is provided with a hand-grip hole above said level, and the central retaining ledges are strip-s secured respectively to the faces of the partition. The ledges may be formed by strips of half-round section wood or the like secured by their fiat faces to their respective walls.

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Patent No. 2325309A: Process Of Capping Bottles

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Today in 1943, US Patent 2325309 A was issued, an invention of Jan De Swart, for his “Process of Capping Bottles.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention has to do with sealing caps for bottles and the like, as well as bottle sealing methods.

In its more particular contemplates a hard and substantially non-flexible plastic cap which is so constructed, of a plastic capable of being rendered temporarily pliable and remolded, as to be applied in sealing relationship to a bottle without injury to the cap and which not only is capable of sealing the bottle against substantial pressures but which also compensates for the cold flow characteristics prevalent in most plastics.

I am aware that attempts have been made to produce a successful thermoplastic bottle cap but so far as I am aware, no such cap has been produced which is capable of general use to cap bottles containing fluids such as carbonated beverages, beer or the like. Such prior caps have been incapable of maintaining an effective seal where substantial pressures are generated in the bottle; and have been incapable of withstanding the temperatures incident to pasteurization processes. For instance, pasteurization processes commonly utilize temperatures of the order of 160 produced do not maintain a seal under such conditions. Another shortcoming of prior caps has been the fact that they fail to maintain an effective seal after the plastics of which the caps are made have undergone the normal cold flow.

It is among the aims of my invention to overcome those shortcomings and, generally speaking, I accomplish this by providing a cap preformed of a cold-setting plastic capable of being rendered temporarily pliable and then reformed and re-hardened about the neck of a bottle. An important characteristic of my improved cap resides in the fact that its side Wall presents a peripheral bead of relatively thick cross-section and having a. relatively low setting rate which, after being temporarily softened, is remolded to aspects, my invention the contour of the external marginal bead forming a part of the conventional beer or carbonated beverage bottle. This bead portion undergoes cap into sealing relationship with the neck or more and thermoplastic caps heretofore l the provision of a plastic cap having a construction which provides a double seal.

Another object is the provision of a cap having a guiding formation to guide it onto a bottle during capping.

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Patent No. 2124959A: Method Of Filling And Closing Cans

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Today in 1938, US Patent 2124959 A was issued, an invention of William Martin Vogel, for his “Method Of Filling And Closing Cans.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to cans and a method of making and filling the same, and has for its object the provision of means whereby a maximum quantity of air may be evacuated from the can prior to the sealing operation.

At the present time beer is being packed in cans and one of the greatest difficulties encountered is that of completely or at least nearly completely evacuating the maximum quantity of air from the can. The failure to uniformly evacuate the air results in lack of uniformity of the contents of the can. In some cases an opened can produces beer of a decidedly fiat appearance and taste; while in other cases, an extremely frothy, aerated fluid emanates. Experiments have shown that this lack of uniformity in canned beer is apparently due to the failure to eliminate or evacuate the greatest possible amount of air from the can during or after the filling operation, and prior to the sealing of the can.

The primary object therefore, of this invention, is to provide a can of such a construction, together with a method of filling and sealing such a can, which will eliminate the maximum quantity of air from the can, thereby completely, or nearly completely, filling the can with the liquid contents only. More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a can initially formed with an outwardly distended or dished bottom,

arranged to be reversely curved or distorted under pressure after the can is filled, thereby causing the liquid contents of the can to be bodily shifted toward the top of ‘the can, causing said contents to displace and eject the air out of the can just prior to the sealing of the top of the can.

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Patent No. 1919665A: Bottle Filling Machine And Method

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Today in 1933, US Patent 1919665 A was issued, an invention of Frederick W. Muller, for his “Bottle Filling Machine and Method.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to bottle filling machines and methods and relates particularly to bottle filling machines of the type wherein a plurality of bottles continuously fed to the machine are automatically and successively filled with a beverage such as beer.

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Patent No. 3895478A: Roll On Capping Head

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3895478 A was issued, an invention of Kenneth F.M. Friendship, assigned to Continental Can Co., for his “Roll On Capping Head.” Here’s the Abstract:

A roll on type capping head for applying closure cap blanks to the mouths of containers, such as bottles, jars or cans, which is characterized by a non-rotatable inner spindle member supporting a cylindrical outer spindle assembly which is rotatable about the axis of the inner spindle member and which carries cap skirt-engaging rollers adapted to be cammed into engagement with portions of the skirt on the cap blank so as to shape it to the contour of the threads on the container neck and to form a pilfer-proof ring thereon. The head is mounted for vertical reciprocation between operative and inoperative positions and the operation of the head and rollers is effected by a pneumatic spring arrangement with a no-cap no-roll operation feature.

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Patent No. 3895713A: Container Cover Structure

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3895713 A was issued, an invention of Arthur K. Bunnell, assigned to Carling O’Keefe Ltd., for his “Container Cover Structure.” Here’s the Abstract:

A container cover structure for a container in which a plurality of items, typically beer bottles, are situated in separate compartments includes individual seals for each of the separate compartments. The seals are constructed to allow each to be broken for removal of the item from its compartment without breaking the seal of any other compartment.

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Patent No. 3677458A: End Loading Twin Beverage Carton

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Today in 1972, US Patent 3677458 A was issued, an invention of Dickinson Gosling, assigned to John Labatt Ltd, for his “End Loading Twin Beverage Carton,” which is fancy way of saying a 12-pack carton. Here’s the Abstract:

An end loading, twin carton separable into two cartons, embodying folded handles usable in the twin and also the separated mode. A blank for the carton is also disclosed.

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Patent No. 3392879A: Beer Dispenser

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Today in 1968, US Patent 3392879 A was issued, an invention of Eugene Blea, for his “Beer Dispenser and the Like.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates generally to vending machines. More specifically it relates to machines for vending beer in bottles or in cans.

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