Today in 1911, US Patent 1001805 A was issued, an invention of Chris Bergsvik, for his “Beer-Preserver.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to beer preservers or beer-pressure apparatus. Its object is to provide a device which shall constantly maintain the pressure during the dispensing of the beer and thus preserve the constant gaseous pressure necessary to keep the beer from staling.
Today in 2012, US Patent 8250968 B2 was issued, an invention of Dietmar Lohner, Christian Wetzl and Robert Gruber, assigned to Krones Ag, for their “Wort Copper with an External Boiler.” Here’s the Abstract:
A wort copper and a method of boiling wort, with the wort copper having an external boiler arranged outside of the wort copper, which cyclically heats wort from the wort copper, wherein the heated wort is re-supplied to the wort copper, and comprises an infeed tube and a rising pipe, through which wort heated by the external boiler rises upwards in the wort copper, as well as at least one intake opening is provided in the rising line for sucking in wort from a wort reservoir of the wort copper, wherein the cross-sectional surface of the rising pipe enlarges at least section-wise towards the upper end of the rising pipe.
Thursday’s ad is another one for Guinness, also from 1956. Presenting the “Guinness Guide To Steaks,” featuring seven different steak dishes, a few of which I’d never even heard of, meaning I either need to get out more or common steak dishes have changed a lot in the last sixty years since the ad was published.
Today in 1889, US Patent 409956 A was issued, an invention of Joseph P. Gent, for his “Malting And Germinating Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention relates to apparatus for the continuous malt-ing or germinating of grain; and it consists in certain improvements in construction and combination of parts, hereinafter fully described.
What I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is
1. An apparatus for malting or germinating grain, consisting of an outer casing, a series of perforated floors one above the other, provided with automatically dumping sections, said floors having each a central aperture, an air-supplying pipe extending through said apertures and provided with apertures to discharge air beneath each of said floors, a shaft for rotating said floors, also extending through said openings, and a water pipe extending Within said openings and provided with a discharge above each floor, substantially as described.
2. An apparatus for malting or germinating grain, consisting of perforated floors one above the other, having central apertures in each, a shaft for revolving said floors extending vertically through said apertures, and a water-supply pipe extending also vertically through said apertures and having a spraying-discharge above each floor, the said floors having pivoted automatically-dumping sections, the dumping-point of each floor being a short distance in advance of the dumping point of the floor above, substantially as described.
3. An apparatus for malting or germinating grain, consisting of an inclosing-casing, revolving perforated floors one above the other, an air-pipe extending centrally through said floors and having a discharge-opening beneath each floor, an air-forcing and air moistening device communicating with said pipe, a water-supply pipe extending within said air-pipe and provided with a spraying discharge above each floor, and stirring and leveling devices above each floor, the said floors being provided with pivoted automatically dumping sections, the dumping-point of each floor being slightly in advance of the floor above, substantially as described.
Wednesday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1956. What a lovely story, 1950s style. “The Young Hostess made a lovely deep fry.” But it doesn’t end there, it just builds. Then “her husband brought home the Guinness.” And how did the story end? “Their guests had a perfect meal. And very nice, too!” I know I’m hungry, especially for those “crisp, crunchy chips!”
Today in 1980, US Patent 4219578 A was issued, an invention of George J. Collias, assigned to the Kepros-Ganes Company, for his “Method For Preventing Buckle of Beer-Can Tops During Pasteurization.” Here’s the Abstract:
A method is described for preventing buckling of beer-can tops during pasteurization of the beer. Prior to the pasteurization, an anti-buckle ring is mated with each beer can such that the ring captures the double-seamed top of the can. The ring prevents radial displacement at key points of the top and, hence, buckling of the top end of the can, when the heat applied during pasteurization causes the internal pressure of the can to increase. After pasteurization, the ring is automatically removed from the can for further use with another can.
Tuesday’s ad is for the English brewer’s “Beer is Best” campaign, from 1949. The campaign began in 1933, and ran for 30 years, and this one included landlord “Fred Green” — whoever that is — who apparently greets every patron with a “good evening” and a “cheerful smile.” I definitely want to go to that pub.
Today in 1970, US Patent 3525625 A was issued, an invention of Robert A. Groulx and Orland O. Schaus, assigned to Canadian Breweries Ltd., for their “Fermentation of Wort.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to the fermentation of wort in the making of a potable alcoholic brewery beverage such as ale.
Various types of yeast are used in the making of alcoholic brewery beverages wherein a yeast fermentable substrate known as brewers wort is fermented by the action of a yeast to give a potable beverage. The general process is very well known and description of the complete process is not included herein. Some yeasts are heavy and tend to sink to the bottom of the wort substrate. Others are light and tend to rise to the top of the. substrate. These latter yeasts are called top fermenting yeasts and are commonly used in the manufacture of a type of alcoholic brewery beverage generally known as ale. This invention is concerned with the control of the size of the yeast cap.
Top fermenting yeasts tend to gather in a foam on the top of the fermenting Wort is the fermentation process takes place in what is known in the brewing trade as a yeast cap. This cap often becomes quite deep and represents a substantial quantity of yeast that is not in active contact with the wort. It thus represents an inefficiency in the use of yeast in the process. In many cases, the cap becomes so large that the fermenting vessel overflows with a resulting loss of yeast content and admixed fermenting substrate. This latter condition is known as purging and is wasteful and undesirable. Purging is quite likely to be encountered Where one attempts to use modern accelerated fermentation techniques which involve higher yeast concentrations, elevated temperatures, and agitation of the wort with a view to keeping the yeast in eflicient contact therewith, not only with top fermenting yeasts but also with bottom fermenting yeasts where purging is encountered. While it is, of course, possible to avoid the occurrence of purging by running the fermenting vessel with a lower volume of Wort to provide a greater free board area above the wort surface, this reduces the capacity of a fermenter. From this point of view, it is costly.
It is, therefore, an object of this invention to improve the efficiency of the fermentation process by achieving a more efficient contact of the yeast with the wort.
It is a further object of the invention to control the occurrence of purging in a fermentation process.
It is a still further object of the invention to increase the capacity at which a fermenter may be operated by maintaining the yeast cap at a small dimension.
Monday’s ad is another one for Guinness, from 1956. “Guinness! That’s Just What This Meal Was Needing.” Two couples are in the garden at a “cosy-looking pub” with a table of bread, cheese and fruit. One of the men — who reminds me a little of Matt Damon — got the first round and is delivering four pints of Guinness. I especially love this copy. “Nothing is added. Nothing is taken away. Every drop you drink is the real thing.” Are they going for Goldilocks or ripping off Coca-Cola thirteen years before Coke debuted “It’s the Real Thing.” Maybe Guinness should be suing them?
Today in 1937, US Patent 2090714 A was issued, an invention of Raymond H. Frisbie and William Wright, for their “Bottle Opener.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention appertains to a novel appliance for removing crown caps from bottles in a convenient and expeditious manner.
One of the primary objects of our invention 5 is the provision of a bottle opener of the wall type, embodying means whereby the caps can be quickly and firmly gripped for removal without the necessity of lifting the bottle above the horizontal, so that undue disturbance of the bottle contents will be prevented.
Another salient object of our invention is to provide a wall bottle opener having a swinging member provided with a cap-engaging lip, and means for guiding the cap under said lip when the bottle is pushed forwardly (in a substantially horizontal plane) in the opening. with means for limiting the swinging movement of said member so that upon downward movement of the bottle the lip will function to pull the cap from the bottle neck.
A further object of our invention is the provision of a wall bottle opener embodying a supporting plate for carrying the swinging member and for supporting a receptacle for the loose caps, the swinging member functioning to guide and throw the caps into the receptacle when the same are pulled off of the bottles.
A further important object of our invention is the provision of a cap stop on the swinging member arranged below the cap-engaging lip, so that the bottle neck and cap will be held in proper position when the bottle is inserted in the opener, and when the member is swung to its operative cap-engaging position.
