Bottles in the late 19th century were made from blown glass and usually sealed with cork, which were quite difficult to open.
The first flip-top closure was invented by Charles de Quillfeldt (United States) who filed a patent on 30 November 1874 and he received it in the year 1882. The mouth of the bottle was sealed by a stopper usually made of porcelain and held in place by a set of wires.
This stopper revolutionized beer bottling and was an almost instant success for Karl Hutter who acquired the patent rights and popularized this stopper when it was reissued in 1877.
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. There were many imitators of this patent over the years, but they all worked on the same principle of leveraging a rubber disk into the lip of the bottle to make a seal.
The invention of flip-top closure by Charles de Quillfeldt
