Abstract: There is provided a new and useful combination of a bottle stopper and stopper-remover comprising cylindrical stopper means (10) of resilient material, the stopper means (10) having top, bottom and side surfaces and a deep well (14) extending into the stopper (10) from the top surface (16); a hollow sleeve (30) in and substantially conforming in cross-section to the well (14), the sleeve (30) having top and bottom ends and inner and outer surfaces; a series of protruding interference members (36) on the outer surface, at least one detent member (46) on the inner surface (43,44) spaced a predetermined distance from the top and bottom; a pair of openings (47) through opposite sides of the sleeve (30) adjacent the detent (46) on a side of the detent (46) remote from the top end; a pair of longitudinal slits (45) extending from respective ones of said openings (47) to a position spaced from said top end; and puller means (50) for insertion into the sleeve (30), the puller means (30) comprising a top gripper membe

Abstract: Disclosed is a stopper for wine bottles and the like which comprises an insert for a well in a wine cork and a puller device for operative association with the insert and cork when the stopper is in the neck of the bottle. The puller device as part of the stopper enables the cork to be pulled without auxilliary devices such as a corkscrew. The stopper insert is capable of being pre-assembled with the cork without any stress being imparted to the cork. This enables existing corking equipment to be used with the stopper. The puller device can be inserted after corking before lead foil is applied about the neck and cork stopper. With appropriate modification to corking equipment, the stopper of my invention could be totally preassembled before corking of the bottles.

Abstract: A pre-assembled insert for a container used for aging wine has multiple planar members angularly disposed about a central shaft wherein the parameters of the oxidation and extraction reactions occurring during aging of the wine are known as a function of the surface:volume relationship of the container and its insert.