Patent No. 254565A: Improvement In Process Of Preparing A Combined Extract Of Hops And Malt

March 7, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1882, US Patent 254565 A was issued, an invention of Samuel R. Percy and Walter S. Wells, for their “Improvement in Process of Preparing a Combined Extract of Hops and Malt.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The object of our invention is to produce a combined extract of hops and malt in which the essential principles of both substances shall be so concentrated as to be more easy of manipulation, less bulky in storage, and capable of indefinite preservation in their original purity and strength.

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Patent No. 694477A: Beer Valve

March 4, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1902, US Patent 694477 A was issued, an invention of Frank E. Howland, for his “Valve.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in apparatus for carbonating and dispensing liquids. More particularly, my invention relates to a device adapted to be applied to casks, kegs, or other receptacles whereby in its use it is practicable to completely fill the receptacles in the first instance and in such filling and as the liquid is dispensed a constant recarbonating process is instituted which continues until all of the liquid is Withdrawn from the receptacle.
The device is adapted to a receptacle being filled, and by a certain manipulation of the valve part of the device an inlet into the receptacle, which permits the filling, and a vent or air-escape is provided, thus enabling the receptacle to be completely filled.

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Beer In Ads #1838: Facts Versus Fallacies #64

March 2, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Wednesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 64 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “64,” is another interesting one because I has always been under the impression that studies showing that people who drink moderately will, on average, live longer than either people who overindulge and, importantly, total abstainers, were fairly recent, within the last few decades at the earliest. But as this ad makes clear, there was scientific evidence even before prohibition to that effect. But perhaps even more interesting was their argument that “the moderate drinker adds most to the world’s knowledge.” What they mean by that is moderate drinking makes many people more creative, rather than less, as prohibitionists insisted. But this is the true gem. “One need have no hesitation in saying that if all the intellectual products of the world’s abstainers could be put into one scale, and all of the products of the world’s drinking men could be put into the other, we should be amazed at the meagerness of the total abstainers’ product.” Which is slightly more polite way of saying sober people can’t make shit.

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Patent No. 5291004A: Card-Controlled Beverage Distribution System

March 1, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1994, US Patent 5291004 A was issued, an invention of Michael S. Frank and R. Patrick Garrett, for their “Card-Controlled Beverage Distribution System.” Here’s the Abstract:

A self-service beverage distribution system includes a piping network with refrigerated tubing for transporting beverages, such as beer, from at least one source to at least one output. A drinker purchases a magnetic card which represents a predetermined quantity of beer, and which specifies which beer sources the drinker can have access to. A flow meter measures how much beer the drinker dispenses, and the quantity of beer represented on the card is decreased accordingly.

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Patent No. 783610A: Air Vent For Beer Barrels

February 28, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1905, US Patent 783610 A was issued, an invention of Michael J. Owens, for his “Air Vent for Beer Barrels.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in air-vents for beer barrels and the like.
It has ‘for its object to provide a simple and inexpensive construction ot air-vent which may be quickly and positively connected or detached from the receptacle where employed, and more I particularly for use with a bung-socket such as illustrated and specified in patent No. 729,545, issued June 2, 1,903, whereby the beer-tap therein described is made interchangeable with the air-vent of the present invention. 1t is obvious with the use of the beer-tap described in the said invention that no supplemental means other than therein described is necessary to admit air into the barrel; .but many people prefer to use the ordinary spigot for withdrawing the contents, and in such cases it is necessary that air be supplied to replace the beer as drawn off. This has heretofore been accomplished by air vent plugs having’ tapered ends, which are driven into auger-holes made in the heads of barrels, a very unsatisfactory arrangement, for not only is it difficult to make a positive connection there between, but the tapering ends of the plugs have a tendency to split the heads from blows delivered upon the plug when securing the same in place, and where tliel.)ar1’el-he:uls are not destroyed by splitting the holes provided for the plugs are z’tli’ter ‘rei’ieated use so enlarged as to unfit them for continued service. I overcome the aforementioned objectionable features inherent to the aforementioned devices by the novel construction and combination of devices hereinafter explained.

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