Today in 1889, US Patent 409059 A was issued, an invention of H. Davis Northup, for his “Automatic Ale Tap And Faucet.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
My invention relates to improvements in cocks and couplings for barrels, kegs, and the like; and the invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, more fully described hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claim.