US2419743A - Closure for bottles and the like - Google Patents

Description

April 29, 1947. WLTAYL 2,419,743

CLOSURE FOR BOTTLE-S AND THE LIKE Filed May 15, 1943 I TAYLOR nventor I wwm A ftorneys Patented Apr. 29, 1947 CLOSURE FOE BOTTLES AND THE LIKE William Ivan Taylor, Spondon, near Derby, England, assignor to British Celanese Limited, London, England, a company of Great Britain Application May 15, 1943, Serial No. 487,089 In Great Britain June 6, 1942 4 Claims.

This invention relates to closures for bottles and the like and is particularly concerned with stoppers for fitting into the necks of drinkingwater bottles or similar Vessels.

According to the present invention, a stopper for fitting into the neck of a vessel comprises a core, a resilient layer of fibres round said core, and a flexible skin covering said layer. The fibres are preferably employed in the form of a continuous yarn wound on the core to form the resilient layer, and the invention will be mainly described hereafter with reference to this preferred embodiment. The stopper constituted in accordance with the invention can be used for closing the neck of a bottle in the same manner as a stopper of natural cork or rubber. The stopper is especially useful for military and similar dringing-water bottles, and will be hereinafter described in this connection.

The core of the stopper can be made of wood, or of any other suitable rigid material such as a thermoplastic or thermosetting composition that may be moulded to the requisite shape. If wood or other porous material is used the core is preferably rendered impervious to liquid. For example, it may be water-proofed by soaking in molten parafii wax. Besides the portion of the core on which the layer of yarn is wound, the core may comprise an extension suitably shaped to facilitate the handling of the stopper, e. g. insertion into and removal from the neck of the vessel, the resilience imparted by the layer of yarn being confined to that part of the length of the stopper which engages with the aperture of the vessel to be closed. The extension may be adapted for the attachment of the stopper to the vessel, in order to prevent loss of the stopper when it is removed from the neck of the bottle. In order to give the stopper a suitable taper, it is preferable to taper the core, the form of the core taper being calculated, having regard to the nature of the operation by which the layer of yarn is to be wound on it, to give the finished product a taper of the desired form and degree. In order to prevent the layer of yarn from slipping off the tapered end of the core, the surface of the core may be suitably roughened or grooved, e. g. with a series of circumferential grooves spaced along the length of the core.

The yarn wound on the core to form a resilient layer thereon is preferably wound on in a crosswinding operation, in which the core is rotated while the yarn is fed to it and traversed rapidly to and fro along the length of the core. The cross-winding of the yarn, arising from the rapidity of the to-and-fro traverse, gives stability to the resilient layer and prevents the outer turns of the yarn sloughing off by Sliding over the inner turns. For the purpose of ensuring an even taper in the finished product, special attention should be paid to the form of the cam or other means employed to effect the traversing of the yarn, particularly at those parts of the cam or the like controlling the ends of the traverse. In this connection it may be desirable to impart a non-uniform taper to the core, the taper 0f the core being made sharper near the small end of the taper than at the wide end in order to counteract any tendency of the crosswound layer of yarn to be thicker at the two ends of the traverse than in the middle.

The flexible imperviou skin covering the resilient layer of yarn is advantageously formed by using yarn of a material that is soluble in an organic liquid, and dipping the stopper, after the winding of the resilient layer, into a bath of such solvent liquid. In this manner, the impervious skin is formed from the outer layers of the yarn itself and is very securely united to the layer of yarn beneath. Cellulose acetate is a suitable material for use as the basis of a yarn that is to be partly dissolved in this manner, though yarns of other organic derivatives of cellulose can be employed such as yarns of other cellulose esters, e. g. cellulose propionate and cellulose butyrate, cellulose mixed esters, e. g, cellulose acetate-propionate, acetate-butyrate and acetate-stearate, cellulose ethers, e. g. ethyl cellulose, benzyl cellulose and ethyl-hexylcellulose and ester-ethers of cellulose, e. g. ethyl cellulose acetate. Polymerised unsaturated fibreforming substances can also be used, for instance, polyvinyl chloride-acetate, polystyrene and polymers of acrylic acid and its derivatives. Acetone is a suitable solvent for forming an impervious skin where the yarn employed is cellulose acetate, and also for many other of the cellulose derivatives.

Instead of forming the flexible impervious skin from the substance of the yarn itself in the manner described above, the Wound stopper may be dipped in a solution of a water-resistant filmforming substance in a volatile organic liquid, and allowed to dry. In this case, any of the above substances may be employed as the basis of the solution, and the solution may or may not be such as to have a solvent action on the substance of the yarn itself. Thus, the solution may be a relatively weak solution of the substance of which the yarn is formed, or of some other substance compatible therewith, in which case the advantage mentioned above of securely uniting the skin to the layer of yarn is obtained, or the solution may be such as to have no solvent action on the outer surface of the layer of yarn. Examples of yarns on which solutions in organic liquids of the substances mentioned above Will generally have no solvent action are cotton yarns, and yarns of regenerated cellulose.

The yarn employed to form the resilient layer, whether of the soluble or insoluble type, may either be a continuous filament yarn or a staple fibre yarn. The former is more suitable where a hard and only slightly resilient stopper is required; the latter gives a rather more resilient stopper, suitable for use when the neck of the vessel to be closed by the stopper cannot be relied on to be truly circular in cros section. Care should be taken that before winding, the yarn is suitably aged or conditioned to form a stable resilient layer, not liable to slough off the core by reason of shrinkage or expansion. Thus, for example, where a cellulose acetate yarn spun by the dry or evaporative method is employed, the use of a freshly spun yarn, liable to contain a substantial proportion of residual solvent, should be avoided.

The solvent or the solution of film-forming material may contain additional materials such as dyes for the purpose of colouring the stoppers in the course of the dipping operation, or sub stances for the purpose of modifying the mechanical characteristics of the product, such as plasticisers for the substance of the flexible outer skin.

Instead of forming the resilient layer by crosswinding on the core yarns of the several materials mentioned above, the layer may be in the form of a resilient felt or mat formed round, or fitted over the rigid core, and coveredwith the flexible impervious skin; or the layer may be composite, and comprise both a felted or matted component layer and a component layer of yarn.

By way of example, one particular form of stopper constructed in accordance with the inand allowed to drain point upwards so that the acetone drains away from the small end 9 of the stopper. In this way. a skin ID of cellulose -acetate (Fig. 3) of a thickness of about /50" is vention, and suitable for use as the stopper of '1 a military water-bottle, will now be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 shows a core for the reception of the layer of yarn,

Fig. 2 shows the stopper complete with its layer of yarn, and a Fig. 3 is a section of a complete stopper, showing the flexible skin.

The basis of the stopper as shown in Fig. 1, is a wooden or moulded plastic core I of 2 /z" in length tapering for the first part of its length 2 from a diameter to a diameter of In the remainder of its length the core tapers from 1% to it", this taper being more gradual at 3 near the thick end of the core, than at the small end 4. The yarn is wound on the second portion 3, l of the core, and to assist in retaining the yarn layer the core is grooved circumferentially with a series of grooves 5, $5 wide and deep, spaced from one another at intervals of The formed core I is soaked for one hour in molten pa-rafiin wax at 105 C. The thick end 2 0f the core is drilled transversely at 6 to take a string 1 (Fig. 2) for attachment to the bottle of which the stopper is to form a closure.

The resilient yarn layer 8 shown in position in Figs. 2 and 3 is formed from continuous filament cellulose acetate yarn of 140 denier containing 26 filaments and twisted to 0.8 turn per inch. The yarn is traversed over a length of 1%" of the core I, leaving about A of the tip of the core uncovered as indicated at 9. The rapidity of traverse is such that the core I is rotated four times for each to-and-fro motion of the traverse. 750 revolutions per minute is a satisfactory speed of winding. Winding is continued until a layer 8 of a little over has been wound on the core I.

After winding, the stopper is immersed in acetone for a period of 4 seconds and. then removed formed, covering the resilient layer 8 of cellulose acetate yarn. If desired, a suitable acetone-soluble dyestuff for cellulose acetate may be included in the bath so as to dye the stopper during the dipping operation.

The stopper made in this way is a single-piece article, without detachable metallic parts that are liable to be removed and lost, and, on account of its smooth and impervious surface, is hygienic in character. When desired, the stopper may be easily and safely sterilised by dry heat at a temperature up to C.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising an elongated core, a resilient layer in the form of a continuous cellulosic yarn crosswound upon said core, and a flexible skin made from said yarn covering said layer.

2. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising an elongated core, a resilient layer in the form of a continuous yarn of an organic derivative of cellulose cross-wound upon said core and a flexible impervious skin, consisting of softened fibres of the cross-wound yarn, covering said layer.

3. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising a tapered core, the taper being more pronounced near the small end and less pronounced near the large end than in the middle, a resilient layer in the form of a continuous yarn of cellulose acetate cross-wound upon said core, and a flexible impervious skin consisting of softened fibres of the cross-wound yarn, covering said layer.

4. A stopper for the neck of a vessel, said stopper comprising a tapered core, the taper being more pronounced near the small end and less pronounced near the large end than in the middle, a resilient layer in the form of a continuous yarn of cellulose acetate cross-wound upon said core, and a flexible impervious skin consisting of softened fibres of the cross-wound yarn, covering said layer, said core being circumferentially grooved to assist in retaining the resilient layer thereon and extending beyond the resilient layer to form a handle for the stopper.

WILLIAM IVAN TAYLOR.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 324,040 Painter Aug. 11, 1885 466,169 Hume Dec. 29, 1891 1,111,228 Miller Sept. 22, 1914 659,505 Blumer Oct. 9, 1900 692,359 Rouse Feb. 4, 1902 1,633,576 Franks June 28, 1927 1,458,931 Frederick June 19, 1923 1,996,791 Blake Apr. 9, 1935 2,183,735 Baker Dec. 19,1935

1,915,587 Worthington June 27, 1933 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 26,392 England Nov. 21, 1906 211,675 England Feb. 28, 1924 165,639 Germany Nov. 28, 1905

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