Bottles and jars – Closures – Stopper type
Reexamination Certificate
2001-06-15
2003-03-25
Newhouse, Nathan J. (Department: 3727)
Bottles and jars
Closures
Stopper type
C215S361000, C215S364000, C220S234000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06536618
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is related to a bottle plug and more particularly to the bottle plug which can.be conveniently inserted into a bottle neck and prevents from unlawful reuse in closing process.
2. Description of the Related Art
Liquor, wine or the like is conventionally contained in glass or ceramic bottle. Before the bottling process, distilled heat liquor has already situated in high inner pressure. In the bottling process, when the traditional bottle plug is typically forced into the neck of a filled bottle, the inner pressure in the filled bottle is essentially greater than atmospheric pressure. Typically, the diameter of bottle plug is apt to greater than the inner circumference of the bottle neck in order to sealably confront each other when the plug is axially inserted into the bottle neck. The plug, therefore, is capable of withstanding substantial inner pressure over long storage periods without deterioration or effect on the contents. During the bottling process, it is hard while the plug is inserted as intended into the bottle neck. In particular, the plug is hard to be remained in the bottle neck by an axially directed inner pressure from within the bottle.
The conventional bottle plug is made of cork which has capillary. The inner pressure from within the bottle, thus, will be released through the capillary of the cork during closing bottle process so that the plug has an improved sealable in the bottle neck. However, the plug necessitates to tightly seal the bottle neck and thus it is hard to be inserted into the bottle neck in the bottling process. In addition, wet and aged cork tends to disintegrate and it is often difficult to remove from the bottle neck. Accordingly, it is inconvenient to remove the cork when it is easily snapped in two.
R.O.C. Pat. Publication No. 314,862 published on Sep. 1, 1997 discloses “An improved structure of a bottle plug”.
FIG. 1
illustrates a perspective view of the bottle plug in accordance with No. 314,862. Referring to
FIG. 1
, No. 314,862 discloses the bottle plug including an elastomer member
41
and a plug
42
. The seal
41
is made of foamed plastic material instead of cork because opening the bottle will snap a cork stopper into two. However, the bottle plug of No. 314,862 fails to be remained in place by the inner pressure from within the bottle during the closing process.
There is a serious problem in the market. Illegal factories fabricate fake liquor or wine by using the used bottles and bottle plugs on which covering a new and intact cap of tinfoil or a plastic material. Accordingly, there is a need of performing the function of indicating whether or not the bottle has previously been opened. Therefore, preventing from reusing bottle plug is one of solutions.
The present invention intends to provide a bottle plug including gas-tight means and reuse-proof means in such way to as to mitigate and overcome the above problem.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The primary objective of this invention is to provide a bottle plug with a gas-tight means which can be easily inserted into a bottle neck and then tightly seals the bottle that improves efficiency of bottle closing process.
The secondary objective of this invention is to provide the bottle plug with a reuse-proof means which cannot be reused as a new one that can prevent illegal factories from fabricating fake liquor or wine by using the used bottles and bottle plugs.
The present invention is the bottle plug. The bottle plug mainly includes a bottle plug member and an elastomer member. The bottle plug member consists of a gastight means and a reuse-proof means and further inserts into the elastomer member being assembled as a unit to form the bottle plug. When the bottle plug is inserted into a bottle neck, the gas-tight means provides an expansion portion to seal the bottle neck and the reuse-proof means provides an appearance and the function of indicating whether the bottle neck has previously opened or the bottle plug has been used.
REFERENCES:
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patent: 2718974 (1955-09-01), Helbig
patent: 2822103 (1958-02-01), Moeller
patent: 2940629 (1960-06-01), Cros
patent: 3430777 (1969-03-01), Esposito, Jr. et al.
patent: 3638821 (1972-02-01), Guala
patent: 4902270 (1990-02-01), Comeau et al.
patent: 5722548 (1998-03-01), Hojnoski
patent: 5732837 (1998-03-01), Jones
Hwang Hsu-Rong
Lin Sen-Yih
Bacon & Thomas PLLC
Newhouse Nathan J.
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