US1379171A - Bottle-cap extractor - Google Patents

Description

J. W. COLE.

BOTTLE CAP EXTRACTOR. APPLICATION FILED OCT, 10, I919.

Patented May 24, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN W. COLE, OF STRATFORD, CONNECTICUT, ASSIGNOR TO AMERICAN CHAIN COMPANY, INC., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

BOTTLEfCAP EXTRACTOR.

T 0 all to ham it may concern Be it known that I, JOHN W. Conn, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at Stratford, in the county of Fairfield, 1n the State of Connecticut, United States of America, have invented certain Improvements in Bottle-Cap Extractors,of-which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to devices or implements which may be used to assist in the removal of caps from bottles and jars, as for example, the disk shaped pasteboard caps of the type commonly used to seal milk bottles, and the object of my invention is to provide a simple and efiioient implement of this kind.

I show my invention embodied in several forms, but it is to be understood that these forms are illustrative embodiments only, and that the scope of my invention is not to be restricted to the details or particular form herein shown and described but consists in the various features hereinafter pointed out in the appended claims.

Referring to the drawings, Figure 1 is a side View of the device; Fig. 2 is the bottom view of the device as shown in Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 illustrates the manner of applying the device of Fig. 1 preliminary to the extraction of a bottle cap; Fig. 1 is a side view of a modification of my device and Fig. 5 is a side view of a still further modification.

My device consists essentially of two oppositely directed prongs combined with means for causing said prongs to exert thrusts in opposite directions when they have been brought toward each other from a predetermined position.

Referring to Fig. 1, the prongs 1 and 2 may be made in any convenient way but I have shown them stamped out of the end of an elongated section of sheet metal which is bent centrally on itself at 3 to form the arms 4: and 5, one of the arms, as for example the arm 5, being turned outwardly at right angles to form the extension 6 and the other of said arms being turned outwardly to form the extension plate 7 The material of the bend 3 which forms a connection between the arms should be resilient so that the arms 4 and 5 will. ofi'er a partial resistance to pressure in the direction of each other and when such pressure has been exerted will tend to restore themselves to Specification. of Letters Patent Patented May24, 1921.

Application filed October 10, 1919. Serial No. 329,723.

their normal position, as shown in Fig. 1. The prongs 1 and 2 should preferably be characterized by sufiicient hardness to enable them to retain points suiiiciently sharp to be serviceable.

The prongs 1 and 2 are preferably directed at a slight angle downwardly with respect to the plane in which they originate, whereby the points only of the prongs make the initial contact with the surface of the cap. The mode of applying the device for use is lllustrated in Fig. 3, wherein the mouth of a milk bottle of an ordinary and well known type is lndicated at 8 and is closed by a pasteboard disk 9 fitting in the annular groove 10 in the bottle. The arms 4 and 5 have been brought toward each other by manual pressure; and the prongs having been brought into contact with the cap 9, the arms 4: and 5 have been released, whereupon the prongs 1 and 2, being adapted by virtue of the resiliency of the metal at the bend 3 to exert opposite thrusts with respect to each other, have penetrated the cap, thus making the device serve as a convenient handle for extracting the cap. The extensions 6 and 7 it will be observed, are so located as to prevent excessive penetration of the prongs 1 and 2 and also to prevent the device from being turned on the points laterally of itself without raising the cap.

In Fig. 1 I have shown a modified means of exerting thrusts in opposite directions and resistance to pressure of the arms. In this instance the arms are pivoted to each other at 11 and are held normally in extended position by the extension spring 12. The form shown in Fig. 5 is similar in construction and mode of operation to the form shown in Fig. 1, with the exception that the arms are provided with extensions constituting the handles 13 and 1 1 which may be used, if desired, as a medium through which to apply the force to bring the arms 4: and 5, toward each other and further if desired, for handling the cap'when the latter has been removed from the bottle.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. A bottle cap extractor comprising two arms extending from a common connection, means for normally maintaining said arms at a predetermined angular distance from each other with respect to said connection,

said distance being such that the arms assume substantially an inverted V shape, the ends of said arms opposite said end connection being provided with outwardly projecting extensions and said extensions being provided with outwardly and downwardly extending prongs.

2. A bottle cap extractor comprising two arms extending from a resilientconnection to which they are rigidly united, said arms being normally maintained by said resilient connection in substantially an inverted V shape, the ends of said arms opposite said connection being turnedoutwardly to form extensions and said extensions being provided with outwardly and downwardly projecting prongs.

of said arms being thrust outwardly to form extensions said extensions being located substantially in the same plane, and each being provided with a prong extending from its lower surface, outwardly and downwardly at a slight angle with respect to the plane of origin of said prong, and that portion constituting the bend being of resilient material.

4. A bottle cap extractor comprising a strip of metal curved centrally of itself to form two arms, the portion constituting the bend being resilient, said arms being extended outwardly near their ends, and the extensions so formed being provided with outwardly and downwardly projecting prongs.

In testimony whereof I have signed this

Images