The Bottle-Holder Opener: Push the Stopper In Under a Glass and Catch the Overflow

"To open the bottle, it is placed in the holder or receptacle A, as aforesaid, and if said bottle has an internally-arranged stopple, e, the glass or tumbler is placed in an inverted position over the mouth of the bottle and pressed down onto the stopple e until it is displaced from the mouth, the edge of the glass or tumbler, being inside of the receptacle A, as illustrated in Fig. 2 of the drawings, forms a shield, which protects the manipulator from the liquid issuing from the mouth of the bottle and conducts said liquid into the space between the bottle and the interior of the receptacle A." "After the force of the gases in the bottle has been expended, the glass or tumbler can be removed from its aforesaid position and placed upright to receive the remaining liquid of the bottle and the overflowed liquid from the receptacle A, the spaces between the ribs r r forming channels, in which the liquid can flow to and from the receptacle A."

**Bottle.** Close a glass bottle of chilled carbonated water with an inside rubber-disc stopper on a figure-8 wire, as the embedded blueprint shows, and leave its wire loop standing above the mouth. **Holder.** Cut a length of PVC pipe wide enough to leave a finger's width round the bottle and long enough to reach its shoulder. Glue a disc of plywood into one end as the bottom, and glue a smaller hardwood disc on it as the raised base. Glue three dowels lengthwise inside as the ribs, so the bottle is held clear of the wall. Saw a slot down from the rim wide enough for a finger, and file all edges smooth. **Test.** Stand the bottle in the holder on its base. Turn a drinking glass over the mouth so its rim is inside the holder, and press down until the glass pushes the wire loop and the stopper drops into the bottle. Hold it while the gas escapes, then lift the glass, set it upright and pour the drink and the overflow from the holder into it. Open a second bottle by hand over a tray and compare how much is spilled.

**William H. Hannan** of Palermo, Oswego County, New York, filed US 297,389 on 1 March 1884; it is dated 22 April 1884. He preferred incorrodible sheet metal for the holder, with ribs r r of metal strips or corrugations, a raised base b, a slot s for the handle of a beer glass, and handles h h beside the slot. For bottles with an outside wire stopple he added a spring plate c that throws the stopple off as the bottle is pushed in. His claims cover the holder alone and with its ribs, base, slot, handles and spring. **Honest limits.** PVC pipe and dowels stand in for his sheet-metal holder, and a home-made inside stopper for a factory one, so the gas is weaker. The notebook gives the most gas that could come out; its carbonation levels and bottle size are examples. Your spill is the result.