The Inner-Valve Bottle Opener: A Tube That Holds the Valve Open and Clasps That Hold the Tube

"The invention consists of a tube or other device of suitable size and form to enter the mouth of the bottle or other vessel and press the stopper inward away from its seat without interfering materially with the ingress or egress of the liquid, and one or more attached clasps or other devices to operate against the exterior of the bottle or other vessel in such manner as to serve both as a guide to keep the tube or other internally-acting device in place and as a means of holding it against the pressure by which the stopper is closed when the opening-instrument is removed from the bottle or vessel." "In order to open a bottle closed by an inwardly-opening valve, such as is represented in section in Fig. 2, the instrument—the cap being uppermost—is forced downward over the neck of the bottle E, the clasps, clips, or springs B B B spring apart until they clear the upper portion of the neck of the bottle, and the portions of the springs which are bent toward the center enter the depression s of the bottle's neck and hold the valve F open by the hollow center pushing against the helical spring G′, which is fastened to the valve-stem H."

**Test bottle.** Drill the cap of a clean carbonated-drink PET bottle to take a snap-in tyre valve and pull the valve through from the inside so its rubber seals the hole. Half fill the bottle with water, screw the cap on and pump it to 2 bar with the floor pump, reading its gauge. The valve's spring and the air hold it shut from the inside, as Matthews' valve F was held. **Cap and tube.** Cut a disc from a tin can's lid a little wider than the bottle cap and drill a hole in its centre. Cut 2 cm of aluminium tube that fits loosely over the valve's stem, file a notch across its end so the air and water can pass the valve pin, and fix it through the disc with epoxy, notched end out. **Packing ring.** Cut a ring of rubber sheet to fit round the tube against the disc, where the tube will seal against the valve's mouth. **Clasps.** Cut three strips of spring steel 6 cm long, bend the last centimetre of each inward as a hook, and rivet them round the disc's edge so the hooks spring over the bottle cap and catch beneath its lower edge. **Test.** Measure the push needed to open the valve with the spring scale pressing the tube. Then, over a sink, hold the bottle upside down and push the instrument onto it until the clasps catch: the water runs out through the tube. Pull it off and the valve shuts again.

**John Matthews, Jr.,** of New York, New York, received US 48,422, dated 27 June 1865. His cap A carried the tube C, the springs B B B were of wire or steel plate, the packing ring D made a water-tight joint at the mouth, and the springs caught in a depression s round the bottle's neck. The same instrument let an empty bottle be filled through the valve. **Honest limits.** A PET bottle, a tyre valve and a tin-lid cap stand in for his glass bottle with its inner valve and his metal cap; the clasps catch under the screw cap rather than in a groove in the glass. The notebook ignores friction; its pressures, seat sizes and spring force are examples. Your push and pour are the result.