GB2170789A - Bottle opener - Google Patents

Abstract

A tool for opening screw-top bottles, jars etc has a lever handle (10) carrying a pivoted housing with an opening (16) for receiving the screw cap etc, a toothed face (18) of a limb of the lever handle being urged into gripping engagement with the cap periphery as the lever is swung outwards. The opening is closed or part closed on one side by a plate or flange to prevent inadvertent use of the tool in a direction which would tighten the cap instead of undoing it. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Bottle opener This invention relates to a tool for unscrewing screw-threaded components, especially screwthreaded closure caps for bottles, jars and other vessels.

It is a common experience for most people to have to remove a bottle cap or the like which has become jammed due to overtightening or the adhesive effect of the contents of the vessel. As far as I am aware there is no widely available tool suitable for this task and, in fact, many people have to resort to the undesirable practice of trapping the cap between the back edge of a door and the door frame while twisting the vessel. This practice not only tends to damage the door or frame but can also result in cracking of the neck in the case of a glass bottle.

The object of the invention therefore is to provide a tool as aforesaid, particularly one which can be operated safely and easily by anyone including children and the elderly.

According to the present invention a tool of the kind referred to comprises a lever handle and a member which is pivoted to the lever and has an opening therein for reception of the component to be unscrewed, the lever being provided with a gripping portion which moves across the opening as the lever pivots relative to said member so that, in use, the component can be engaged in clamp fashion between part of the periphery of the opening and said gripping portion and turning of the lever in the appropriate sense serves both to increase the clamping action and to apply a releasing torque to the component, said member being shaped to prevent insertion of the component in a manner enabling the lever to be used to apply any substantial tightening force to the component.

Said member may be shaped to define a blind recess forming said opening or be provided with a flange or other formation preventing insertion of a component of a size sufficient to be acted on by the gripping portion into the opening from one side thereof whereby the component can only be engaged for anti-clockwise rotation i.e. unscrewing.

In one embodiment the lever handle is provided with such a pivoted member adjacent each end thereof, the opening in one member being somewhat larger than that in the other so that said one member can be used for releasing caps on large diameter vessel necks, such as jars, and the other member can be used for releasing caps on relatively small vessel necks.

The lever handle may also be provided with a formation for releasing crown-type bottle tops and/ or a formation for prising lids from containers and/ or a corkscrew for extracting corks from bottles and/or a cutting device operating as a can opener.

Thus, the tool may be used to open a wide variety of vessels.

One example of the invention is shown in the accompanying drawing to which reference will now be made.

As shown, the tool comprises a lever handle 10 to which is pivoted at 12 a housing 14 defining an opening 16 into which one end of the lever projects, this end of the lever being arcuate to provide a convex face formed with a series of teeth or other gripping formations 18. The housing 14 comprises upper and lower plates 20, 22 (the upper plate is not shown in the plan view for clarity) between which the lever extends, and a side wall 24.

The lower plate 22 is formed with the aperture 16 and the side wall 24 extends part-way around the aperture, the ends of the side wall being referenced 26, 28. The upper plate 20 is not apertured or has only a small central aperture so as to form a flange or cap-like formation.

As will be apparent from Figure 1, the lever 10 can move across the opening 16 (see the solid and chain dot outline positions) and in this way when a bottle cap or the like, see reference 30, is introduced into the housing via the opening 16 it can be gripped by swinging the lever in the direction A. This causes the tool to engage the cap 30 clampwise between the teeth 18 and the opposite portion of side wall 24. Further turning of the lever 10 relative to the housing increases the clamping action until the resistance to unscrewing is overcome whereupon the cap can be easily released by anti-clockwise rotation. Plate 20 prevents the device being used "wrong way round" as the cap cannot be engaged if the device is inverted from the position shown in the drawing, thus no tightening force (clockwise rotation) can be applied either deliberately or inadvertently.This is a valuable safety feature as a glass bottle or jar could easily be broken by the leverage exerted in overtightening its cap with consequent risk of injury to the user.

It will be noted that a wide variety of cap sizes can be received within the confines of the opening 16 and if the tool is required to deal with jars and such like, the housing can be designed accordingly. If desired, the lever may have a similar, but larger diameter housing at its opposite end and a series of teeth so that bottle caps can be released by means of the housing at one end and jar caps by the housing at the other end.

As shown, the opening for reception of the closure caps is in the form of a closed circle; however it will be understood that the opening need not be circular nor need it be a complete loop - instead it could be in the form of an incomplete loop.

In the illustrated embodiment, the tool includes a crown-type bottle opening formation 32 and a formation 34 for use in prising lids from containers.

The formation 32 preferably includes two sets of bottle engaging portions 36, 38 in contrast with the usual single set as this enables a better anchorage to be obtained on the cap. A further sophistication is to provide a corkscrew (not shown) which is pivoted adjacent the formation 32 so that it can pivot from a stowed position in which it extends lengthwise alongside the lever and an operative position generally perpendicular to the lever. The edges of the lever may be slightly flanged or upturned to prevent the hand contacting the corkscrew point when the corkscrew is in the stowed position.

Claims (5)

1. A tool of the kind referred to comprising a lever handle and a member which is pivoted to the lever and has an opening therein for reception of the component to be unscrewed, the lever being provided with a gripping portion which moves across the opening as the lever pivots relative to said member so that, in use, the component can be engaged in clamp fashion between part of the periphery of the opening and said gripping portion and turning of the lever in the appropriate sense serves both to increase the clamping action and to apply a releasing torque to the component, said member being shaped to prevent insertion of the component in a manner enabling the lever to be used to apply any substantial tightening force to the component.

2. A tool as in Claim 1 wherein said member is shaped to define a blind recess forming said opening or be provided with a flange or other formation preventing insertion of a component of a size sufficient to be acted on by the gripping portion into the opening from one side thereof whereby the component can only be engaged for anti-clockwise rotation i.e. unscrewing.

3. A tool as in Claim 1 or 2 wherein the lever handle is provided with a pivoted member adjacent each end thereof, the opening in one member being somewhat larger than that in the other so that said one member can be used for releasing caps on large diameter vessel necks, such as jars, and the other member can be used for releasing caps on relatively small vessel necks.

4. A tool as in Claim 1, 2 or 3 wherein the lever handle is provided with a formation for releasing crown-type bottle tops and/or a formation for prising lids from containers and/or a corkscrew for extracting corks from bottles and/or a cutting device operating as a can opener.

5. A tool substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and as shown in the accompanying drawings.