Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Patent No. 628084A: Beer Dispensing And Pipe Cleaning Apparatus

By

patent-logo
Today in 1899, US Patent 628084 A was issued, an invention of John D. Freese, for his “Beer Dispensing and Pipe Cleaning Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The main object of my invention is to provide convenient means for cleaning the pipes in a beer dispensing system so arranged that an operator may clean the pipes by turning on the water at the dispensing end, the water passing into the beer-pipe near the storage end and thence discharging through the beer faucet.

US628084-0

Patent No. 996972A: Apparatus For Filling Bottles

By

patent-logo
Today in 1911, US Patent 996972 A was issued, an invention of Frank L. Caris and Clarence J. Gardner, for their “Apparatus For Filling Bottles.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to apparatus for use in filling bottles from kegs or barrels, the same being particularly adapted for bottling beer and the like.

One of the objects of the invention is to provide an inexpensive device of this character which can be readily handled by one person, there being improved means for discharging the liquid into the bottle and for permitting the escape of foam back to the keg or other receptacle from which the liquid is drawn.

A further object is to provide apparatus of this type having a nozzle in which is mounted a valve normally maintained in closed position but which can be conveniently held open during the filling operation. With the foregoing and other objects in view, the invention consists in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of invention herein disclosed can be made within the scope of what is claimed, without departing from the spirit of the invention.

US996972-0

Beer In Ads #1961: Gulf Coast Shrimp Supper

By


Sunday’s ad is entitled Gulf Coast Shrimp Supper, and the illustration was done in 1954 by John Falter. It’s #92 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, dinner for eight is being prepared for outside, near the bayou, while the guests all enjoy beer in anticipation. The table amongst the trees, with the sunset on the water certainly looks spectacular.

092. Gulf Coast Shrimp Supper by John Falter, 1954

Patent No. 1964836A: Faucet

By

patent-logo
Today in 1934, US Patent 1964836 A was issued, an invention of Abram W. Wheaton, for his beer “Faucet.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates, generally, to faucets and the invention has reference, more particularly, to an improved faucet, which while adapted for general purposes, is especially intended for use as a beer faucet.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved faucet having a novel construction of gas separating bafile incorporated therein, said bafile serving to liberate a considerable portion of the carbon dioxide and other gas content of the beer as the same flows through the faucet, thereby greatly reducing the amount of foam ordinarily produced when drawing beer and preventing considerable waste which usually occurs when using ordinary beer faucets.

Another object of the present invention lies in the provision of an improved faucet having a novel sheet metal gas separating baffle of simple, rugged construction, the said baflle being so constructed as to enable the same to be readily inserted into or removed from the faucet and having means to insure its proper installation in the faucet.

US1964836-0

Patent No. 280385A: Apparatus For And Process Of Cooling And Condensing The Foam Which Forms On The Surface Of Fermenting Liquor

By

patent-logo
Today in 1883, US Patent 280385 A was issued, an invention of Clement A. Maus, for his “Apparatus For and Process of Cooling and Condensing the Foam Which Forms on the Surface of Fermenting Liquor.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to an apparatus for cooling and condensing the foam of fermenting liquors, wort, beer, ale, &c, in which a condensing-chamber operates in conjunction with suitable pipes, a current of cooled and purified air from an ice-reservoir, and a vessel containing the fermenting liquid; and the objects of my invention are, first, to provide a means for condensing the foam that is forming on the surface of fermenting wort, beer, ale, &c., by blowing on or beating it with a current of cooled air, thus converting the foam into a liquid state again and permitting it to run back into the fermenting body of liquid; second, to provide facilities for counteracting the volatilization of the flavor and fine hop aroma of the wort, beer, ale, &c., while undergoing several stages of fermentation; third, to provide a means for preventing the escape of the volatile portion of the hop aroma and flavor of the fermenting wort, beer, ale, 850., during the first and last stages of the fermenting body. These objects I accomplish by the mechanism illustrated by the accompanying drawing, in which the entire apparatus is illustrated by a single figure, which is partially in section to show the construction and arrangement of certain parts more fully.

US280385-0

Patent No. 2559107A: Drying Hops

By

patent-logo
Today in 1951, US Patent 2559107 A was issued, an invention of Verlin A. Bloxham, for his “Drying Hops.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to an improved process for the drying of hops.

The common process employed, in lowering the moisture content of hops from 75% to 80% to 7 to 11%, involves the use of apparatus including a house-like structure having a reticulated floor upon which the hops are loaded. Beneath the floor there is disposed a heater, commonly direct fired, and the products of combustion from which usually pass through a zigzag or like arrangement of large pipes, located beneath the hop floor, on the way to the stack. Forced draft of air through the hops is not provided, the house being tall compared to its section so as to provide a stack effect, the hop-floor being some twenty feet above ground level. There are a great number of objections to this manner of drying, the major one probably .being the variable quality of the dried product. This variable quality is clue to several factors inherent in the process employed, one of the main ones of which is that the drying is more efficient in the lower portion of the bed, with the result that if the bed is not turned one or more times during the drying process, the drying will not -be uni,- form and hops in one portion of the bed will be of a different moisture content from those in another portion.

The turning of the hops, to ensure uniformity in drying, has its own drawbacks. After the hops dry, they become very fragile and brittle and easily broken, and when the bed is turned to reverse the position of the upper and lower layers, many of the cones which have reached the brittle state will be broken, and the product taken from the dryer will have an excessively high proportion of fines. The labor involved in this operation is, of course, objectionable in addition.

As will be apparent from the above description of the apparatus, the hops are subjected not only to heat by convection from the pipes, but also to radiant heat. For this reason, though ordinary dry bulb thermometers are customarily used in order to control the temperature Within the bed, the lower layers of hops to which heat is radiated will be at temperatures higher than that indicated by the thermometer. This consideration, of course, renders the control by thermometer inadequate and misleading and constitutes one of the reasons for lack of uniformity in the product, since the hop is extremely sensitive to excessive temperature. Further, action of this radiant heat is to raise the temperature to excessive levels of those portions of the enclosure which are seen by the pipes. This results in the successive drying, charring and perhaps final combustion of the combustible material, generally wood, employed in construction of the driers; the loss of the driers by fire is a common occurrence.

A still further serious objection is encountered due to the fact that fines fall from hops through the floor and onto the hot pipes where they become charred and give rise to vapors which in turn pass through the hops and may be condensed on or absorbed by them.

The driers are tall, as referred to above, which increases the difficulty and labor involved in loading, turning and unloading. Floor loading is limited to a depth of about twenty-four inches. The heating system is inefficient, wasting as much as 50% of the heat.

The present invention contemplates the continuous drying of hops, thus avoiding any delay between the harvesting of the hops and the drying operation. This facilitates the harvesting operation inasmuch as it is not necessary to assemble a kiln charge prior to the drying operation for loading into the kiln. Thus, the drying operation and the harvesting operation can be coordinated and carried on simultaneously and continuously.

US2559107-0
US2559107-1

Beer In Ads #1960: Showing Off The Latest Project

By


Saturday’s ad is entitled Showing Off the Latest Project, and the illustration was done in 1954 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #91 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 couple has invited another over to their home, only to take them into the workshop to show off the latest hobby that the man has been working on. And apparently he doesn’t collect stamps or coins, but instead make lamps?!? And of course they’re all dressed up as the woodman looks admiringly at his handiwork while his guest hold the book he apparently used as his instructions open, with a finger pointing at the diagram for the lamp he sees before him, come to life. The two women seem waay to happy about the lamp, too. It must have been a very dull evening for this to be the highlight.

091. Showing Off the Latest Project by Douglass Crockwell, 1954

Patent No. 2006940A: Bung And A Method Of Making Bungs

By

patent-logo
Today in 1935, US Patent 2006940 A was issued, an invention of Henry H. Brockmeyer, for his “Bung and a Method of Making Bungs.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The invention relates to means particularly adapted to prevent seepage of liquids through bung and in many instances, especially for the reason that presently bungs usually are constructed from wood derived from relatively small trees, the grain does not extend parallel with the inner and outer surfaces of the bung but curves inwardly or outwardly whereby the liquid, particularly beer, which is under relatively heavy pressure within the container, is adapted to seep through the pores in the wood of the bung, or through the channels adjacent the grain. Moreover, the pressure of air or gases within the container is reduced as by escape of such air or gases through the pores or channels, in the bung, adjacent the grain, simultaneously when the liquid within the container seeps therethrough. Since it is advantageous to retain the air or gas pressure within the container, as well as prevent seepage of the liquid from within said container outwardly through the bung, any leakage of air or seepage of liquid is undesirable.

Therefore, an important object of the invention is to provide simple, efficient, practical and economical means to prevent passage of air or gases through a bung and to prevent seepage of liquid through said bung.

Other objects of the invention are to provide dependable means adapted to render the inner surface of a bung impervious to liquids, such as beer, whiskey, and the like; and to provide means which is unlikely to interfere or retard natural expansion of said bung, when contacted by said liquid, for the purpose of sealing the bung hole in which said bung is positioned.

US2006940-0

Patent No. 541831A: Beer Pump Attachment

By

patent-logo
Today in 1895, US Patent 541831 A was issued, an invention of John Fredrick Beyerlein, for his “Beer Pump Attachment.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to means of connection between a source of air pressure and the beer barrel, its object being Vto prevent the fouling of such connection by the beer and froth settling back into it from the beer barrel, as well as to eliminate from the air any dust which it may contain.

The invention consists essentially of a trap of peculiar form introduced into such connecting pipe, and of the various details of construction hereinafter fully pointed out.

US541831-0

Beer In Ads #1959: Weekend In Ski Country

By


Friday’s ad is entitled Weekend in Ski Country, and the illustration was done in 1954 by Haddon Sundblom. It’s #90 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 new couple is arriving at the cabin at the ski resort for the weekend. They must be younger, because in my experience older women do not rush up and hug one another, grinning like cheshire cats, and touching cheeks. The rest of the party is already settled in, drinking beer and eating popcorn by the fire. Out the window, the sun is going down, and skis and poles lean against the cabin, ready for tomorrow’s adventures.

090. Weekend in Ski Country by Haddon Sundblom, 1954