US2299902A - Bottle breaker - Google Patents

Description

ocr. 27, `1942.

M. H. JoHNsToNE BOTTLE BREAKER Filed Sept. 12, 1939 f Patented Oct. 27, 1942 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE BREAKER Myron H. Johnstone, Cicero, Ill. Application September 12, 1939, Serial No. 294,528

` 6 Claims. (Cl. 83-93) My invention relates to bottle breakers and aims to provide an exceedingly simple, inexpensive,4 durable and practical device by which a liquor bottle of substantially any size may be broken by a simple and easy movement without danger to the person holding the bottle or to others and with a minimum production of broken glass.

Federal law requires destruction of liquor bottles emptied in bars, restaurants and the like. Destruction of the bottles and disposition of the broken glass has lo-ng presented a real problem which has not heretofore been satisfactorily solved. The prior art provides a number of bottle breaking boxes and cabinets, but they are invariably of large size, fairly involved and therefore relatively costly mechanism, difficult and time-consuming operation, and productive of large quantities of broken glass, and have therefore nevel-achieved any noteworthy degree of recognition.

An object of this invention is to provide a bottle breaking device of small size, neat appearance, low cost, great ease and simplicity of Operation, and which is devoid of moving parts and which will effectively destroy a bottle of any size Within the whole rangenow in use without producing more than relatively minute quanties of broken glass, and which can be used to destroy a bottle without subjecting the operator or bystanders to any danger.

Another object is to provide a bottle breaker which is admirably adapted to be used as an advertising medium.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will suliiciently appear as the specification proceeds.

In the accompanying drawing, which illustrates by way of exemplication merely, and not by Way of limitation to the specic features there shown, a preferred embodiment of the invention,

Figure 1 is e, perspective View, drawn substantially to full scale, of the breaking element of the invention, together with a base for mounting it;

Fig. 2 is 'a top pian View of the element and base;

Fig. 3 is a sideelevational View of the element and base; and

' Fig. 4 is a side elevational view, partially broken away to show the interior, of a complete embodiment Vof th'e invention, comprising the CII illustrating the manner in which the device is used.

Referring now to the drawing, I provide a bottle breaking element designated generally I, preferably made in the form of a at blade of approximately trapezoidal shape. In the form shown, the element is conveniently fabricated from heavy metal plate stock, by die stamping, drop forging or otherwise. Since the element I is the wear-receiving part of the device, it is best made of hard or hardened steel. The simplicity of the element and the small amount of material required for it render it inexpensive even when high grade metal is used; the same considerations of course make for very low replacement cost if less durable material be employed. The choice of material and mode of fabrication obviously form no part of the invention. For example, cast iron may be substituted, particularly if the element be formed with radial, sloping ribs, so as to be of generally conical or pyramidal shape instead of i'lat as shown in the illustrated embodiment of the invention.

The function of the element I is to exert destructive wedging expansion in the neck or lip from the bottom of the element toward the top thereof. While both side edges may slope equally, so that the element is of isoceles triangle shape in side elevation, with or without its vertex truncated, I prefer to make the element substantially trapezoldal in side elevation, with one side edge vertical and the other side edge sloping at a steep angle. The numeral 2 designates the vertical side edge, and 3 designates the sloping edge The top edge 4 may be normal to th'e vertical edge. In other words, the vertex of the triangle may be removed so that the truncated ligure is trapezoidal. There are certain advantages in fashioning theelement with a flat upper edge 4 rather than a` point. Every bottle Yto be broken, even the smallest, 'has an orifice of some appreciable diameter; hence the upper end of the element I will t every bottle if its upper edge is just short enoughtobe less than the internal diameter of the smallest bottle orifice. By beginning the slope of the side edge 3 from the transverse edge 4 rather than from an intersection with the vertical edge 2, the slope of the edge 3 may be made steeper, so as to increase the mechanical advantage and the power of the wedging Yforce in a bottle'thrust down on the breaking element mounted Within a casing, and 55 element, thusmini'mizing th'e thrusting force ref.

quired. Moreover, the fiat edge 4 obviously lacks the dang-er to the operator that would be presented by a sharp point.

The element or blade I is preferably mounted within a casing 5, which may assume any convenient form. I prefer to use a cylindrical metal can large enough to provide sufficient clearance all around the element to receive the neck of the largest bottle that is to be broken. An acceptable casing is shown in Fig. 4, and comprises an open topped cylindrical side wall 6, having its open upper edge trimmed and strengthened by an inturned bead l. The bottom of the casing may be closed by a cap 8 covered by a pad 9 of felt or the like to avoid marring the surface of a bar or the like on which the device may be positioned and to contribute to the stability of the device by providing a, slight degree of friction. The cap may be removably connected to the casing side wall by registering threads IG or the like formed on both.

To mount the element I in the casing I may employ a base Il for the element, and the ele ment may be made fast on the base by spot welding cr otherwise securing to the base a pair of ears I2 oppositely struck out from the lower edge of the element. The base is best made in the form of a circular disc small enough to iit snugly within the cap 8 and larger than the adjacent lower end of the casing side wall S, so that the disc will be clamped between the parts B and 8 of the casing when these parts are screwed or otherwise connected together. The arrangement is clearly shown in Fig, 4.

The casing 5 is preferably so proportioned with respect to the element I that the top edge 4 of the element lies well below the open top of the casing when the parts are assembled.

In use, the device is Set upright on a bar cr any other horizontal surface, and an empty bottle I3 which is to be broken is simply thrust downwardly into the casing so that the upper end of the element I penetrates the bottle neck. The same motion that introduces the bottle may be continued, or the bottle may be given a gentle blow with the palm of the hand, and the wedging force of the element in the bottle neck promptly splits the glass at the lip, all as clearly shown in Fig. 4. The bottle is thus effectively destroyed and thereupon discarded.

In some cases a portion of the glass neck will, by the operation just described, become detached from the rest of the bottle and will fall into the casing. This detached portion is small, although amply adequate to run the bottle and unfit it for 1 re-use. The casing is large enough to receive many such detached portions, and when the casing becomes too full for convenient continuance of operation, it is a simple matter to dump it, conveniently into the sa-me waste bin into which the destroyed bottles have been discarded.

In many cases, however, liquor bottles are sealed by a fairly resilient or elastic sheet of Celluloid, plastic or like material which encases the cork or cap and extends over the lip of the bottle f.'

and well down around the neck. When the necks of such bottles are split by my device, there is almost invariably no detachment of glass from the bottle. Frequently the sealing sheet does not tear, but merely expands to accommodate the split neck. Even when the sheet does rupture, the break lies along a single line, and the split away portion of glass will be found adhering to the sealing sheet which holds it hinged to the remainder of the bottle neck. This kind of bottle ISI) destruction leaves the bottle ostensibly intact and capable of being handled even carelessly without danger, yet effectively destroyed and incapable of being re-used.

It will be obvious that the co-st of the device, even when made of the best materials, can be kept very low. In fact, production costs can easily be kept within the range of costs of such advertising devices as bottle openers, beverage shakers and the like, which are commonly distributed to bars and restaurants by liquor manufacturers. It is therefore contemplated that the device may be distributed as an advertising novelty, with advertising copy carried on the casing 5. The real utility and efficiency of the device and its neat appearance, combined with thefrequent necessity of putting it to use in an establishment doing even a moderate amount of business, assure its being given a prominent position on the bar or .back bar, where its advertising value will be considerable.

While I deem the invention broadly new and basic in its essential characteristics, so that numerous modifications may be made within the spirit of the invention and .within the scope of the broader of the appended claims, certain specific features of the illustrated embodiment are important and advantageous in contributing to the low cost, long life, efficiency and general practicability of the device, and I have therefore included claims to various of these specific features. All the claims, however, are t0 be construed as broadly as may be permitted by their express terms and the state of the prior art'.

I claim:

1. A bottle breaker comprising a neck-expanding flat blade having convergingly related side edges adapted to exert destructive expanding force in the neck of a bottle forced down about the blade, integral ears turned out right angularly from the long,r lower` end of the blade, and means for mounting the blade on a horizontal plane surface comprising a base directly engaged with and secured to said ears for mounting the blade with its narrow `end uppermost.

2. A bottle breaker comprising a neck-expanding flat blade having convergingly related side edges adapted to exert destructive expanding force in the neck of a bottle forced down about the blade, a base disc connected to the long end edge of the blade, a casing for the blade comprising a side wall for enclosing the blade and having an open top and a lower edge seated on the marginal edge of the base disc, and a bottom cap for the casing secured thereto and holding the disc against said casing edge.

3. A bottle breaker comprising a neck-expanding element having convergingly related side edges, a base disc connected to the long end edge of the element, and an open topped casing comprising a side wall enclosing the blade and a bottom cap secured to the side wall and cooperating therewith to clamp the base disc.

4. A bottle breaker comprising an open topped casing, a cap for the bottom end thereof, and an element xedly mounted upright on the cap, extending upwardly within the casing to a point adjacent to the open top thereof spaced sufficiently from the casing to admit a bottle neck over the element and within the casing, said element having upwardly convergingly related side edges, adapted to exert destructive wedging pressure within the neck of a bottle thrust downwardly about the same,

5. A bottle breaker comprising :al` casing open at both ends, a cap removably connected to the bottom end of the casing, and a bottle neck expending elernent having an outwardly extending base clamped between the cap and thebottom end of the casing and extending upwardly in the casing.

6. A bottle breaker comprising a, cylindrical casing open at both ends, a. cap threaded on one end of the casing, and a bottle neck expanding element clamped between the cap and the adjacent end of the casing and extending upwardly in the casingl MYRON H. JOHNSTONE.

Images