US3542231A - Bottle opener - Google Patents

Description

United States Patent [111 3,542,231

[72] inventors John V. Wettermann [50] Field of Search 81/3.1, Bandhagen, Sweden; 3.1(C), 3.34, 3.46; 215/46, 38, 55; 7/1e, 14.6 Arne W. iloili; Lars E. 110111, Llsleby, Norway References [21] Appl. No. 733,022 UNITED STATES PATENTS [22] Filed May 29, 1968 l3 4 x [45] Patented Nov. 24, 1970 [73] Assignee RealPenselfabrikk Lisleby, Norway [32] Priority May 31, 1967 [3 3] Norway [31] No. 168,391

[54] BOTTLE OPENER D.205,370 7/1966 Roeschlaub 807,380 12/1905 Hicks 8l/3.46

959,220 5/1910 Hoeft 81/3.46X

2,041,391 5/1936 Bauch 8l/3.1X FOREIGN PATENTS 817,584 8/1959 Great Britain 215/46 1,505,614 11/1967 France 215/46 Primary Examiner-- Robert C. Riordon Assistant ExaminerRoscoe V. Parker, Jr. Attorney-Young & Thompson ABSTRACT: A bottle opener having a handle which is coated on all sides by a layer of plastics for comfort and ease of handling the layer also being shock-absorbing and provided with a closing device for a conventional bottle.

BOTTLE OPENER This invention relates to an improvement to a bottle opener, particularly for crown corks which are used in enormous numbers for closing bottles, especially bottles containing goods under pressure, for example soft drinks and beer. The mouths of such bottles have, through the course of the years, become standardized and, as known, such bottles are opened by the consumer, with the help of a bottle opener, bending the crown cork off inasmuch as the crinkled skirt of this expands when bent off.

Through the years, a large number of different, more or less expedient, bottle openers have come on the market, but the original design which comprises a tool component with an opening which is laid in over about onehalf of the crown cork with one edge of the opening under this, together with a handle component for swinging up the tool component, is the design which is still most used because, inter alia, it is simple to operate and easy and cheap to produce.

Crown corks offer a great many advantages in that they are also cheap to produce and can be fitted onto bottles in machines which work rapidly, but they have a very significant disadvantage in that they cannot be put back onto the bottle after this has been opened and perhaps only part of the contents used. On account of this, a large number of different closing devices for bottles which were originally closed by means of a crown cork, have seen the light of the clay, and it was natural to combine such closing devices with bottle openers so that one had both devices to hand when they were needed. Such combinations have, in the course of time, become quite widespread on account of the above mentioned advantage, but the known designs also have quite significant disadvantages, inter alia that they are expensive to produce even from normal steel qualities which may be readily worked,

' and as low price is ademand where objects of this type are concerned, it is not possible to choose expensive materials, and this is the cause of the perhaps most important disadvantage, namely that several of the known bottle openers corrode in that area which is turned towards the mouth of the bottleneck when the opener is used to close a half empty bottle. The corrosion is due to the carbon dioxide element in the contents of the bottle and can result in the bottle opener being not very attractive to look at, difficult to keep clean and difficult to use if it consists of moving parts when these have corroded.

The object of this invention is primarily to arrive at an improvement to a bottle opener which is combined with a closing device in which the bottle opener is cheap to produce, hygienic, simple to use, does not consist of moving parts, and does not lead to elements of danger when being applied or removed. I

According to the invention, this is achieved by the handle component of the bottle opener being embedded in a noncorroding material which is comparatively soft. In this way, the metallic handle component of the bottle opener is protected against corrosion and a furtherelement of danger with the earlier known bottle openers is removed, namely the danger that the hard bottle opener of metal unintentionally can be struck so hard against the mouth of the bottleneck that chips are knocked loose. The comparatively soft plastic material forms a shock absorber in this respect and the closing device itself is made in one piece with this material in the form of a plug of known principle and of expedient shape and size to fit into the neck of the bottle whilst this is surrounded by a circumferential edge which is to fit outside the bottleneck.

This invention thus relates to an improved bottle opener, particularly for crown corks, comprising a handle component and atool component in which the handle component carries a closing device for a standard bottle and it is in essence characterized by the handle component being embedded in a moulding of plastic or other comparatively soft material and by the closing device being formed in this on the one side of the handle component. Another feature of the invention consists in the closing device comprising a yielding plug which is to fit inside the neck of the bottle and, around the plug and at a distance from this, a circumferential edge which is to fit outside the flan e of the bottle mouth.

An examp e of a bottle opener according to the invention will, in the following, be described in more detail with reference to the drawings in which,

FIG. 1 shows, in perspective, the bottle opener and FIG. 2 shows a section through the bottle opener and the upper end of a bottleneck.

The tool component 1 of the bottle opener is made in the usual manner with an opening 2 which fits over about one-half of an ordinary crown cork and with a chisel part 3 which is normally placed under the edge of the crown cork for bending up the cork with the help of the handle component which, as a whole, is indicated with 4. According to the invention, the handle component shall be embedded in a moulding of plastic or some other expedient material which, in FIG. 1, is indicated with 5, and this material shall further according to the invention carry a cork 6 which will be explained in more detail with reference to FIG. 2. For storing the bottle opener it may, in the manner of known principle, have a through-going hole 7 for hanging up at a suitable place.

In FIG. 2 a bottle 8 has been closed with the help of the cork of the bottle opener and this comprises in the example shown a plug 9 which fits into the mouth of the bottle and a circumferential edge 10 which fits outside this and holds the cork fast. The cork 6, 9, 10 may be made according to normal principles in such a way that it seals better the higher the pressure.

It may be seen from FIG. 2 that all those metal parts which would have been ableto come into contact with the bottle are covered with a soft, shockab sorbing material in that the uncovered tool component becomes the handle component around which one grips when the cork 6, 9, 10 is placed on the bottleneck. On account of the noncorroding material rust spots creating unhygienic conditions will not arise, and the bottle opener remains easy to keep clean. Furthermore, it is cheap to produce and can without difficulty be given such an attractive design that it is well suited as an advertising article. The side of the bottle opener facing away from the cork 6 may then carry text and advertising.

We claim:

1. An improvement .to a bottle opener, particularly for crown corks, comprising a handle component and a tool component in which the handle component carries a closing device for a standard bottle, with the characteristic feature that the handle component is embedded in a moulding of plastic or other comparatively soft material and that the closing device is formed in this on the one side of the handle component.

2. An improvement according to claim 1, with the characteristic feature that the closing device comprises a yielding plug which is to fit into the neck of the bottle and a circumferential edge around the plug and at a distance from it which is to fit outside the flange of the bottle mouth.

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