Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 3045679A: Hop Picker

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Today in 1962, US Patent 3045679 A was issued, an invention of Fritz Kibinger and Hans Eder, for his “Hop Picker.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The present invention relates to a device for the harvesting of hops.

In order to sever the strobiles of hops from the branches carried by the bines, a picking device has been proposed having driven shafts on the periphery of a rotary disc, perpendicular to the plane faces thereof, with revolving cutter tools, to which tools gratings were associated fixed to the said disc as supporting means for the material to be separated and as deflectors for the strobiles, the material to be separated being thrown into the space enclosed by the gratings.

Each of the gratings associated with such a rotating cutter tool consisted of two wires, bars or the like, partly curved in the shape of circular arcs, arranged one above the other, the lower being below the plane of the cutter tools. The radius of curvature of each wire, bar or the like in its arcuate range was smaller than the largest radius of the cutter tool, and both wires, bars or the like were connected to one another by deflector bars, preferably of V-shape, extending substantially radially to the axes of the cutter tools. The bends of the deflector bar-s had a distance from the axis of rotation of the associated cutter tool which exceeded the radius of the cutter tool. The spacing between the wires, bars or the like forming the grating, which are to be considered as fixed relative to the axes of rotation of the cutter tools, was so dimensioned that even the smallest strobile could not pass between these wires, bars or the like. A second disc was also associated with the rotary disc above which deflector means and severing means were arranged. Both of these discs were rigidly connected to one another by stays and were mounted on an axle. Between these two discs driving means were provided for the shafts of the cutter tools. Each rotating shaft was provided with several cutter tools arranged one above the others and having associated gratings, and provision was made for varying the spacing of the cutter tools arranged one above the others from one another. Additionally, bars taking part in the rotation may be arranged between any two adjacent cutter tools, which bars move the out material outward.

The use of such a picking device is based on the assumption that the branches severed from the bines are cut into pieces so that the branches had to be cut into pieces either by hand or by a special cutting device before being inserted into the device. This picking device has proved successful as such, but has the disadvantage that the danger of jamming exists when too much of the mate rial is thrown into the picking device.

The present invention has the main object of providing a device for the harvesting of hops which can be used not only for the dividing of branches into pieces, but also for the picking, depending on how its associated components are arranged relative to one another. It is also an object of the present invention to use in a pure severing device the same components as in a picking device. It is yet another object of the invention to effect an improved, and particularly a quicker supply of the material.

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Patent No. 654369A: Apparatus For Pasteurizing Beer

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Today in 1900, US Patent 654369 A was issued, an invention of Edward Wagner, assigned to the Model Bottling Machinery Company, for his “Apparatus For Pasteurizing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to an improved apparatus for pasteurizing beer, the’object being to provide a simple, cheap, and convenient apparatus for treating the bottled beer to destroy the yeast molecules and germs contained therein, whereby further fermentation is prevented.

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Beer In Ads #1981: Between Innings

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Saturday’s ad is entitled Between Innings, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Pruett Carter. It’s #112 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a well-dressed couple — I know I like to put on a suit and tie when I watch baseball on television — takes time out in between innings to pour themselves some more beer. I hope they do that between every inning.

112. Between Innings by Pruett Carter, 1955

Patent No. 860936A: Bottle Carrier For Bottling Establishments

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Today in 1907, US Patent 860936 A was issued, an invention of Max W. Norkewitz, for his “Bottle Carrier For Bottling Establishments.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates particularly to machinery for bottling establishments and it is’ intended primarily to dispose of the bottles expeditiously from a gang of labeling machines and facilitate the operation of packing them in cases.

My invention is intended for use principally in those bottling establishments where a number of brands of beer or other liquid are bottled and labeled at the same time and its object is to provide means for carrying the bottles away from a gang of labeling machines to the packing tables and without mixing them.

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Patent No. 860746A: Frame For Hop-Scoops

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Today in 1907, US Patent 860746 A was issued, an invention of John N. Hoffman, for his “Frame For Hop-Scoops.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to improvements in scoops for picking up and conveying hops, or the like, and it consists in the features of novelty hereinafter described and claimed.

The object of the invention is to provide a hop scoop of simple, strong and durable construction and one which may be conveniently operated.

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Beer In Ads #1980: Supper On The Sand

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Friday’s ad is entitled Supper on the Sand, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #111 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group is cooking hot dogs on the beach — a weenie roast — along with a cooler full of beer cans. One man has just shown up with a ukelele, so you know shit’s about to get real.

111. Supper on the Sand by Douglass Crockwell, 1955

Patent No. 3895478A: Roll On Capping Head

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3895478 A was issued, an invention of Kenneth F.M. Friendship, assigned to Continental Can Co., for his “Roll On Capping Head.” Here’s the Abstract:

A roll on type capping head for applying closure cap blanks to the mouths of containers, such as bottles, jars or cans, which is characterized by a non-rotatable inner spindle member supporting a cylindrical outer spindle assembly which is rotatable about the axis of the inner spindle member and which carries cap skirt-engaging rollers adapted to be cammed into engagement with portions of the skirt on the cap blank so as to shape it to the contour of the threads on the container neck and to form a pilfer-proof ring thereon. The head is mounted for vertical reciprocation between operative and inoperative positions and the operation of the head and rollers is effected by a pneumatic spring arrangement with a no-cap no-roll operation feature.

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Patent No. 3895713A: Container Cover Structure

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3895713 A was issued, an invention of Arthur K. Bunnell, assigned to Carling O’Keefe Ltd., for his “Container Cover Structure.” Here’s the Abstract:

A container cover structure for a container in which a plurality of items, typically beer bottles, are situated in separate compartments includes individual seals for each of the separate compartments. The seals are constructed to allow each to be broken for removal of the item from its compartment without breaking the seal of any other compartment.

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Beer In Ads #1979: Friends From Across The Lake

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Thursday’s ad is entitled Friends From Across the Lake, and the illustration was done in 1955 by Haddon Sundblom. It’s #110 in a series entitled “Home Life in America,” also known as the Beer Belongs series of ads that the United States Brewers Foundation ran from 1945 to 1956. In this ad, a group of people are in the back of their lakeside cabin at night — but the women still in cocktail dresses — spinning vinyl, listening to music on their portable record player. One of the is waving to a woman down at the dock, apparently Friends From Across the Lake.”

110. Friends From Across the Lake by Haddon Sundblom, 1955

Ballantine’s Literary Ads: Ernest Hemingway

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Between 1951 and 1953, P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, or simply Ballentine Beer, created a series of ads with at least thirteen different writers. They asked each one “How would you put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words?” Each author wrote a page that included reference to their beer, and in most cases not subtly. One of them was Ernest Hemingway, who wrote several memorable novels, such as the The Sun Also Rises, A Farewell to Arms, For Whom the Bell Tolls and The Old Man and the Sea.

Today is the birthday of Ernest Hemingway (July 17, 1899–July 2, 1961). He “was an American novelist, short story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style had a strong influence on 20th-century fiction, while his life of adventure and his public image influenced later generations. Hemingway produced most of his work between the mid-1920s and the mid-1950s, and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1954. He published seven novels, six short story collections, and two non-fiction works. Additional works, including three novels, four short story collections, and three non-fiction works, were published posthumously. Many of his works are considered classics of American literature.” His Ballantine ad ran in 1952.

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His piece for Ballantine was done in the form of a letter on fishing, written from Cuba:

Bob Benchley first introduced me to Ballantine Ale. It has been a good companion ever since.

You have to work hard to deserve to drink it. But I would rather have a bottle of Ballantine Ale than any other drink after fighting a really big fish.

We keep it iced in the bait box with chunks of ice packed around it. And you ought to taste it on a hot day when you have worked a big marlin fast because there were sharks after him.

You are tired all the way through. The fish is landed untouched by sharks and you have a bottle of Ballantine cold in your hand and drink it cool, light, and full-bodied, so it tastes good long after you have swallowed it. That’s the test of an ale with me: whether it tastes as good afterwards as when it’s going down. Ballantine does.

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