A flip-top, swing-top, lightning toggle, or Quillfeldt stopper (after the inventor, Charles de Quillfeldt) is a type of

bail Bail is a set of pre-trial restrictions that are imposed on a suspect to ensure that they will not hamper the judicial process. Court bail may be offered to secure the conditional release of a defendant with the promise to appear in court when ...

closure frequently used for bottles containing carbonated beverages, such as beer or mineral water. The mouth of the bottle is sealed by a stopper, usually made of porcelain or plastic, fitted with a rubber

gasket Some seals and gaskets A gasket is a mechanical seal which fills the space between two or more mating surfaces, generally to prevent leakage from or into the joined objects while under compression. It is a deformable material that is used to c ...

and held in place by a permanently attached wire bail. The bottle can be opened and resealed repeatedly without the use of a

bottle opener A bottle opener is a device that enables the removal of metal bottle caps from glass bottles. More generally, it might be thought to include corkscrews used to remove cork or plastic stoppers from wine bottles. A metal bottle cap is affixed ...

, with the wires acting in the same way as a latch clamp. The flip-top was the dominant method of sealing beer and mineral water bottles prior to the invention of the

crown cork The crown cork (also known as a crown seal, crown cap or just a cap), the first form of bottle cap, was invented by William Painter in 1892 in Baltimore. The company making it was originally called the Bottle Seal Company, but it changed its na ...

History

Prior to the creation of the flip-top bottle, bottles were often made from blown glass and sealed with a

cork "Cork" or "CORK" may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Stopper (plug), or "cork", a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container *** Wine cork an item to seal or reseal wine Places Ireland * ...

, which was difficult to open by hand and often unreliable, particularly for carbonated beverages such as mineral water or beer. Peppers in glas

A precursor to the flip-top, the "bail" or "Kilner" closure was invented in 1859, where a lid with gasket was held by a wire harness and sealed by a separate set of wires. Buegel03BuegelGruen10ltr

The first flip-top closure was created by Charles de Quillfeldt in the United States, who filed for a patent on 30 November 1874. The rights were purchased by Henry W. Putnam who adapted the design for use on fruit jars. He received a patent 25 April 1882, called "Trademark Lightning" and the jars became known as the lightning jars. Several other varieties have been developed. Many homebrewers prefer flip-top bottles, since they are easy to close after filling, and negate the need of a separate capping device.

Gallery

File:French kilner.jpg, Preserving jar with bail closure, opened and closed File:Grolsch premium lager bottle unopened.jpg, Unopened

Grolsch Koninklijke Grolsch N.V. (; "Royal Grolsch"), known simply as Grolsch, is a Dutch brewery founded in 1615 by Willem Neerfeldt in Groenlo. In 1895, the Family de Groen, de Groen family bought the brewery. They had started their own brewery in Ensc ...

beer bottle File:BierflaschenVerschliessBügel.jpg, Flip-top seal used for

bottles File:Wuppertaler Brauhaus 0001.jpg, Flip-top beer bottles File:KraeuterBuegelFlascheSophie.JPG, Mini bottle of herbal liqueur File:Red Wing Pottery 967HH 1.jpg, Pottery jug with bail closure File:Metal Eis Weissbier Bügelflaschen.jpg, Aluminum flip-top bottle

History

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading