US2347835A - Bottle stopper - Google Patents

Description

May 2, 1944. v A. MOELLER BOTTLE STOPPER Filed Jan. 23, 1942 INVENTOR AXEL MOELLER Patented May 2, 1944 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE BOTTLE s'rorrna Axel Mocller, Racine, Wis. Application January 23, 1942, Serial No. 427,873

2 Claims. (01. 215-53) This invention appertains to bottle stoppers of the type shown in my pending applications Serial Nos. 283,524 and 407,270, filed July 10, 1939, and August 18, 1941, respectively, now Patent No. 2,292,149, dated August 4, 1942, and Patent No. 2,315,538, dated April 6, 1943, respectively.

These stoppers are of the expansible character and include upper and lower cone members having confined therebetween a rubber compressible body. The lower cone member has fixed centrally thereto a threaded stem on which is adjustably mounted a brass sleeve. This sleeve extends slidably through the top cone member and has rockably connected thereto, by means of a rivet, a cam lever. Initial adjustment of the stopper is had by turning the sleeve up or down on the stem, and final adjustment is had by swinging the cam lever down, to a locked position. The internally threaded sleeves and the rivets are expensive and assembly is somewhat difficult. At the present time, the internally threaded sleeves and even the rivets are hard or impossible to obtain.

It is, therefore, one of the primary objects of my invention to provide an economical means for forming the sleeves and for connecting the same to the cam levers, whereby not only Will an inexpensive structure be had, but also an efficient one.

Another salient object of my invention is to provide novel means for formingthe sleeves from flat scrap metal stock, which consists in, first, stamping the flat metal into the desired shape, and then bending the same into a tube, and, finally, internally threading the same.

A further object of my invention is the provision of means for forming ears or pintles on the flat metal stock and then bending the ears or pintles at right angles to the formed sleeve for providing the pivotal support for the cam lever.

A further important object of my invention is the provision of means for slightly rounding the ears or pintles after the bending thereof, so that the same will provide a rounded bearing face for the walls of the openings in the cam lever, so that the lever will have the desired true locking action.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the novel construction, arrangement, and formation of parts, as will be hereinafter more specifically described, claimed, and illustrated in the accompanying drawing, in which drawing:

Figure 1 is a side elevational view showing my complete stopper constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a central, longitudinal, sectional view through the stopper, taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Figure 3 is a top plan view showing the first step in forming the sleeve, the view showing the blank cut from the fiat piece of scrap metal.

Figure 4 is an edge view thereof.

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 3, and i1- lustrating the first step in bending the blank to form the sleeve.

Figure 6 is an end elevational view showing the blank after the first bending operation.

Figure '7 is a view similar to Figure 5, and illustrating the second step in bending the blank to form the sleeve.

Figure 8 is an end elevational view showing the blank after the second bending operation.

Figure 9 is an elevational view showing the last and final step of bending the blank to form the sleeve.

Figure 10 is an end elevational view of the formed sleeve.

Figure 11 is an elevational view, partly in sec tion, showing the sleeve after the final steps of bending and forming the ears or pintles and internally threading the sleeve.

Figure 12 is a top plan view of the completed sleeve, showing the bent ears or pintles and the form thereof.

Referringto the drawing in detail, wherein similar reference characters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views, the letter S generally indicates my improved stopper, and the same includes a bottom cone plate l5 and a top cone plate I 6. Confined between the cone plates l5 and I 6 is the compressible body member 11, which can be formed from rubber or similar material. Fitted on the top cone plate 16 is a pressure plate I8. The lower cone plate l5 has fixed centrally thereto a threaded stem l9, which extends into the compressible body l1, and has threaded thereon an adjustable sleeve 20. This sleeve slidably extends through the top cone member I 6 and the pressure plate l8. Formed on the opposite sides of the sleeve 20 are laterally extending bearing ears 2|, and these ears or pintles form means for rockably connecting the cam lever 22 to the sleeve. The cam lever 22 is also preferably stamped from a singlepiece of metal and includes side flanges 23. These side flanges 23 have formed therein transversely alinedbearing openings 24, which receive the pivot ears or pintles 2i As explained in the objects of the invention,

'2 the salient feature of the invention is the provision oi. the novel means for forming the sleeve 20 and for connecting the sleeve with the cam lever.

In accordance with this invention, the sleeve is formed from a flat blank of sheet metal 25 of the desired gauge. This 'blank 25 can be cut or stamped from small pieces or scrap metal, and the blank includes a substantially rectangularshaped body portion 26 having formed on one end thereof the ears 2|. These ears 2| are arranged in parallel relation before the blank is bent.

After the blank has been stamped into the desired form, as shown inFigure 3, the same is initially bent into an arcuate shape in cross section, as is clearly shown in Figures 5 and 6. After the initial bending, theblank is then fur ther rolled or bent into a further arcuate form. as is clearly shown in Figures '1 and 8. As illustrated in these two figures, the blank, in end elevation, then takes the form of substantially three-fourths of a circle. operation, the blank is then further bent. and rolled, so as to bring the longitudinal edges of the body portion 28 into intimate contact, as is clearly shown in Figures 9 and 10. An elongated tube or sleeve is thus formed, and the ears 2| lie on opposite sides of the sleeve.

These sleeves are then placed in a suitable jig, and the ears 2| are bent downwardly at right angles to the body portion of the sleeve, so that the ears will project laterally from the opposite sides of the sleeve. This is clearly shown in Figure 11. After the ears are bent, the jig is turned over, and the sleeves are tapped to provide internal threads 21.

It is highly desirable that the ears 2| be formed so that they will be of an arcuate shape in cross section, and that the are be scribed the same as the walls of the openings 24 in the cam After this bending lever. Thus, in accordance with my invention, the ears 2| are struck by a suitable die, so as to bend the same transversely into an arc of a circle.

In assembling the stopper, the side flanges 23 o! the cam lever 22 are disposed in diverging re lation, so that the ears 2| can be readily slipped into the openings 24, after which the flanges 23 are brought toward one another into parallel re- I pivot means for the cam lever 22 is formed directly on the sleeve, I can, where necessary, connect the cam lever and the sleeve together by means 01 a rivet, such as is shown in my mentioned pending applications.

Changes in details may be made without departing from the spirit or the scope of my inven-- tion, but what I claim as new is:

1. As a new article of manufacture, a combined nut and pivot for expansible bottle stoppers comprising an elongated internally threaded sheet metal sleeve and laterally extending pivot pintles formed on one end of the sleeve arranged at right angles to the opposite sides thereof.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a combined nut andv pivot for expansible bottle stoppers comprising an elongated internally threaded sheet metal sleeve and laterally extending pivot pintles formed on one end of the sleeve arranged at right angles to the opposite sides thereof, said pivot pintles being curved transversely.

. AXEL MOELLER.

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