IMPROVED VALVE STOPPER. 103 



cult to handle flexible gum-elastic bottles or tanks, when the 

 corks or stoppers were out, without spilling the liquids. The 

 design of these corks is to obviate this objection, and also to 

 make them answer as life-preservers for fishermen, sportsmen, 

 and sailors. See plate , fig. '. 



IMPROVED SCREW STOPPER. 



The objections to the use of metal screw stoppers for bottles are 

 chiefly their expensiveness, the difficulty of making them tight, 

 and the danger of losing them. It is proposed to obviate these 

 difficulties in the article here described, made of caoutchouc 

 whalebone, as follows : A swivel, with a ring attached to it, is 

 inserted in the top of the cap of the stopper, by which the cap 

 may be attached to the bottle, or the strap of the bottle. 



A washer, of gum-elastic packing, is inserted inside in the top 

 of the cap, which serves to stop the bottle perfectly tight, and, 

 therefore, prevents any escape of the contents of the bottle, 

 either through the screw or through the opening made by the 

 swivel. When attached to India rubber bottles, or to glass bot- 

 tles covered with India rubber, the female screw of the stopper 

 is cemented into, and forms a part of, the bottle. See plate , 

 fig. . 



IMPROVED VALVE STOPPER. 



This is the invention of another.* It is formed of two caout- 

 chouc tubes, one within the other ; the outer tube is composed 

 of caoutchouc whalebone, the inner tube or hose of elastic com- 

 pound, which is attached to the outer tube at the bottom only ; 

 the ring of the hose being firm at the top serves as a stop. When 

 the flexible tube is straight with the inflexible one, the stopper 

 is free for the escape of air or liquids ; but when the flexible 

 tube is twisted, their escape is prevented by the tube being 

 closed, and it is kept so by being held in its place by the ring at 

 the end of the tube. See plate , fig. . 



^ * Nelson Goodyear, brother of the writer. 



fe^ . _ . _ —r^M 



