Page:Federal Reporter, 1st Series, Volume 6.djvu/887

 MAITHEWS V. CHAMBERS. 875 �whom the original patent issued Augnst 26, 1862. The stop- per 4escribed in this patent consists of a disk valve which seats against the inside surface of the bottle at the lower end of the neck, and is fixed to the lower end of a central stem whieh extends in an outward direction up into the neck. The yalve is held in place by a spiral spring fastened to the stem and supported by a shoulder or other device in the neck of the bottle. The valve is formed of & flexible disk of rubber, or other yielding substance, interposed between two rigid disks, the under one being just large enough to pass through the narrowest part of the neck of the bottle, and the upper one small enough to permit the flexible disk to fold up around it as the valve is pushed down into the bottle. The stopper is put into the bottle by inserting it in the neck and pressing the spring until the valve bas passed through the neck. When once in the bottle the valve cannot be withdrawn, for the lower rigid disk being nearly the size of the opening in the neck, the flexible disk effectually prevents its coming ont, and the greater the upward pressure the doser and tighter Ib the stopper. The stopper is closed by the upward pressure of the spiral spring, and is opened by a downward pressure on the upper end of the stem. �Tbe claims of this patent alleged to have been infringed are as follows : "First. A stopper whicfa is inserted through the month of the bottle or other vessel, and which, when in- serted, is closed perfectly tight against a seat formed witbin the bottle itself, by pressure in an upward direction ; second, a prolongation of such stopper by means of a central stem, rod, or other extension of the stopper, in an outward di- rection, beyond the seat of the valve, for the purpose of affording facility for opening the stopper, or that of receiving the upward pressure of a spring, or other means of drawing the valve to its seat, substantially as herein specified." �The second patent is No. 44,684, issued October 11, 1864, to J. N. Mcintire, as assignee of Albert Albertson ; and as- signed by Mcintire to the plaintiii, April 3, 1865. �The stopper described in the patent is also inserted through the mouth of the bottle, and forced down into the bottle. It ��� �