Importance

Loading Importance Indicators...

Abstract

For use with a bottle containing pressurized carbonated water-based liquid contents and having an elongated neck portion with at least one annular flange adjacent its mouth, a corking unit of a one-piece elastomeric construction comprising a stopper with a head and a ring below and spaced from the head and molded and concentric with the stopper, the ring being located above the flange upon initial reception of the stopper in the neck, the internal diameter of the ring being slightly less than the internal diameter of the flange and the ring being capable of being pushed down mechanically over the flange in order to be above to be expanded upon passage over the flange and to constrict below the flange for captive retention on the neck, and a set of flexible elongated tethers having one end connected to the ring and the other to the head, the points of connection of the tethers to the ring being mutually spaced and the points of connection of the tethers to the head being mutually spaced, the tethers being folded as molded and each tether having a length as molded substantially greater than the distance between its ends as molded, each tether including a pair of branches and a retroverted bend interconnecting the same, the retroverted bend of one tether facing and being adjacent the retroverted bend of the other tether, and an energy-absorbing link joining the retroverted bends and molded in one piece with the tethers, said link assimilating a portion of the force that would tend to propel the stopper away from the neck upon removal of the stopper from the neck.

Loading the Abstract Image...

First Claim