The Eye-Necked Bottle: A Cork Across the Neck That the Gas Cannot Push Out

"At the upper part of the bottle, or at the top of the neck a, there is an eye, B, having a horizontal passage, a′, through it, said passage forming right angles, or angles not very much varying therefrom, with the opening or passage b of the bottle." "It will at once be seen that the cork cannot be expelled from the passage a′ by any pressure of gases within the bottle, and no wiring will be required; neither will any corkscrew be required to withdraw the cork from the passage a."

**Eye.** Model a block 40 × 30 × 30 mm with a horizontal passage through it that tapers to fit a tapered cork, and a 10 mm bore from its underside into the middle of that passage. Model a second block the same size with the tapered hole running straight down into the bore instead, as an ordinary neck. Print both in PLA. **Caps.** Drill a 10 mm hole in the tops of two carbonated-drink bottle caps and epoxy one under each block, holes lined up, so the blocks screw onto the bottles. **Tyre valves.** Fit a snap-in tyre valve through the base of each bottle so it can be pumped. **Test.** Screw the blocks onto the two bottles and press a cork firmly into each: crosswise in the eye, straight down in the ordinary neck. Wearing safety glasses and pointing the blocks away from you, pump each bottle in steps of 0.5 bar up to 2 bar, reading the pump's gauge, and note where each cork moves. Then push the crosswise cork out sideways with a finger.

**William Clark** of New York, New York, received US 11,357, dated 25 July 1854. His bottles could be glass or earthenware, the eye had to be strong enough not to break when the cork was forced in tightly, and an aperture in the top of the eye in line with the bore could let a bottle-cleaner through. He counted the saving of wire and labour, and corks that could be used again because no corkscrew marred them. His claim is the eye with its crosswise passage receiving the cork. **Honest limits.** A printed PLA eye on a plastic bottle's cap stands in for a glass or earthenware eye, and pumped air stands in for the gas of the drink. The notebook ignores the cork's own grip; its pressures, bore and friction coefficient are examples. Your corks under pressure are the result.