Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
SUMM~RY OF THE INVENTION
An object of our invention is to provide a sinyle moulded
unit designed ~o have two basic functions: (1) to act as a cap ~or
the bottle for sealing its contents after the bottle has been
initially opened and only a small portion of its liquid contents
poured out; and (2) to act as a support for hoLding the bottle in
an inverted position so that the li~uid in the bottle will fill the
capped end and prevent any escape of gases therefrom. The cap has
a broad enough base portion to prevent the inverted bottle from
accidentally tipping over and it has a reservoir for catching any
liquid that might leak from the bottle.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
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Figure 1 is a full-sized top plan view of the device and
. :
it is taken along the line 1-1 of Figure 2, and shows the inverted
bottle neck in section.
Figure 2 i.s a transverse section taken along the line 2-2
of Figure 1, and illustrates the bottle neck partly in section.
Figure 3 is a front elevation of the device on a smaller
scale and shows the device as acting as a cap for the bottle and
also functioning as a support for holding the bottle in an inverted
position. The device has a circular reservoir surrounding the
bottle neck for retaining any leakage from the bottle.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
The invention relates to a closure cap and support for
holding a bottle of a carbonated beverage in an inverted position:
comprising a single molded unit with a large area base substantially
greater than the large diameter of the bottle, said base being defined
by an outer annular wall extending upwardly and inclined inwardly
from a planar surface and extending to a juncture with an inner annular
wall that slopes downwardly and inwardly to form an inver-ted V cross
sectional configuration; the lower end of said inner annular wal:L
terminating and forming an integral connection with a horizontal
~ottom wall that .is spaced above the a:Eorementioned planar .surface;
said base having a center portion integral with said bottom wall and
having a central cylindrical internally threaded cavity or receiving
the exteriorly threaded neck of a bottle containing a carbonated
beverage, the axis of said cylindrical cavity coinciding with the
axis of said base and being normal to the planar surface, the bottom
of the cylindrical cavity lying substantially in the same plane as
that of said bottom wall and the top of said center portion lying
substantially in the same plane as the plane coinciding with the
junction of said inner and outer annular walls; said center portion
having an integral extension extending from the bottom of the cylindri-
cal cavity to the planar surface so that the lower edge of the outer
annular wall will lie in the same plane as the bottom of said integral
extension of said center portion; and a plurality of radially extending
ribs whose inner ends are integral with the depending extension of
said center portion and extend outwardly so that their outer ends are
integral with the adjacent surfaces of said annular outer and inner
inclined walls of said base, said ribs also adding weight to the base
and being integral with the under surface of said bottom wall, the
lower edges of said ribs lying in the same plane that coincides with
the lower edge of said outer annular wall and with the bottom of said
extension of said center portion; whereby the center of gravity for
the uncapped inverted bottle supported by said base will lie at the
center of said depending extension of said center portion and the
center portion will cooperate with the annular inner wall and with the
bottom wall to form a circular reservoir for receiving any leakage
from the inverted bottle, the threaded cavity forming a liquid seal
for the contents of the inverted uncapped bottle; said ribs adding
weight and structural reinforcement for the various parts of said base.
In carrying out our invention we provide a single unit closure
cap and bottle support indicated generally at A, that may be made or
moulded from any desired material such as plastic. The device may be
circular or non-circular in shape and we show it circular in Figure 1.
- 2A -
~ A 7~
the outer rim 1 has a slight taper and the circular -top 2 is spaced
above the lower edge 3 of the outer inwardly tapered rim 1.
The closure cap and bottle support ~ has a circular reservoir
B, whose outer tapered wall 4 extends downwardly and inwardly from
the circular top 2, see Figure 2. This wall 4 does not
,~
:~.
- 2B -
extend to the plane of the lower edge 3, but merges into a hori-
zontal bottom wall 5, that is spaced above the lower edye 3. The
inner tapered wall 6 of the reservoir B, extends upwardly from the
bottom wall 5. The top 7 of the reservoir inner wall 6, lies in
thP same plane as the circular top 2.
The center portion C, of the closure cap and bottle support
A, has a cavity 8 with a cylindrical wall whose central axis coin-
cides with the center of the lower circular edge 3. The diameter
of the cylindrical cavity 8 is ~ubstantially the same as the outer
diametex of the neck 9 of a carbonated beverage containing bottle
D, so that the bottle neck will be snugly received in the cavity.
Also; the wall of the cavity is provided with threads 10 that will
receive the threaded portion 11 of the bottle neck 9, see Figure 2.
This permits the closure cap and bottle support A to be screwed ~n-
to the open end of the beverage containing bottle D, after which
the bottle and device may be inverted and the device used for sup-
porting the inverted bottle so that the beverage will fill the bot-
tle neck and prevent the carbonated gas from leak~ng from the bottle.
~s a further precaution against any leakage of the liquid
contents ~rom the bottle D, we provide a circular gxoove 12 at the
bottom of the cavity 8 and which opens into the cavity. This cir-
cular sroove snugly receives the rim 13 of the bottle neck 9. It
will be seen that this arrangement will provide a central raised
projection 14 that will be forced into the bottle neck 9 and will
function as a liquid tight seal for the open top of the bottle.
Oux closure cap and bottle support Al is reinforced by
radially extending ribs E whose outer edges are integral with the
inner surface of the tapered rim 1 and whose inner edges are in-
tegral with the central portion C cf the device. Figure 2 sh~ws
the bottom 15 of the central portion C, lyiny in the same plane as
the lower edge 3 o~ the rim 1. The radial ribs E, are also integral
with the adjacent surfaces of the tapered wall 4 and the bottom wall
5 of the reservoir B.
- 3
OPERATI ON
From the foxegoing description of the various parts of the
device, the operation thereof may be readily unders~ood. As already
stated, the closure cap and bottle support is a single unit in which
the diameter of the device is much greater than would otherwise be
required for me~ely capping a bottle. Thi~ is fox ~he purpose of
providiny a large area ba~e for ~uppor~ing the bottle in an inverted
position and for preventing the bottle from accidentally tipping
over. In addition the lage areac;base makes it possible to provide
10 a circular-shaped reservoir which surrounds the bottle neck for
catching any leakage from the bottle while it is held in an inverted
position. The radially exte~ding ribs E strengthens the device.
The closure cap portion of the device has the central
raised portion 14 at the bottom of the central cavity 8 for actually
entering the bottle neck a slight distance for sealing the liquid
contents in the bottle. The threaded portion 10 in the cylindrical
cavity wall permits the device to be screwed tightly into place on
the threaded portion 11 of the bottle neck and this will force the
rim 13 of the neck down into the bottom of the circular groove 12
~0 and will force the raised central portion 14 into the bottle neck
interior for forming a liquid tight seal for the liquid contents
in the bottle. The device will hold the partly filled bottle of
liquid in an inverted position so that the liquid will fill the
capped end of the bottle and prevent the escape of the carbonated
gas ~herefromO
