Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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

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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.

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Patent No. 541831A: Beer Pump Attachment

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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.

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Beer In Ads #1959: Weekend In Ski Country

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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

Patent No. 431246A: Mash Machine

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Today in 1890, US Patent 431246 A was issued, an invention of Andrew W. Billings, for his “Mash Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to certain improvements in the apparatus for and method of manufacturing beer set forth in Letters Patent No. 324,523, granted to me August 18, 1885; and my invention consists in combining and heating the materials forming what I term the supplemental mash, which consists of raw grain and malt mixed in proper proportions and under conditions as set forth in said patent, as fully set forth hereinafter, so as to adapt the operation to the character of the material acted upon and reduce the length of time required in making the supplemental mash, and also in certain improvements in the apparatus. In this class of apparatus, as ordinarily constructed, the stirrer blades are immovably fixed in position, or are so arranged and fitted for the one kind of mash to be made that they cannot be used for anything else than for an ordinary mash, nor can they be changed in any manner, and they fail to so agitate the mass as to maintain all parts at the same temperature and in the same condition. In the apparatus as constructed by me the blades are easily and readily changed as to number, position on the arms, their angle to the arms and each other without any danger of their working loose while in motion, thus enabling me to make either a very thick or thin mash and successfully operate with any kind of grain (malted or unmalted) or starch, maintain all parts in the same condition, obtain the largest possible percentage of extract, and to use a very much larger percentage of the raw grain.

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Oh, Canada Day: Friends, Neighbours, Partners, Allies

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This is somewhat of an inside joke. When I was in D.C. a few years ago for the Craft Brewers Conference, I went for a long walk around the city, a little sightseeing. I made my way past the Canadian Embassy, in part because I had been invited to an event there later that same night by my good friend Stephen Beaumont, and I wanted to know where I would be going so as not to get lost. As I ambled past the embassy, I noticed four sleeves on four columns, part of a circular ring of columns, in front of the building. On each, was a word expressing the nature of Canada’s special relationship with America: Friends, Neighbours, Partners, Allies.

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I chuckled to myself, but for some reason it stuck in my mind and when I saw Stephen later that day, I badgered him incessantly, repeating to him — in a low, serious voice — Friends … Neighbours … Partners … Allies. I changed the delivery, the emphasis and inflection, each time, like an actor trying out different versions searching for just the right one. If it was funny the first time (and I say charitably it was), by the fiftieth, Stephen’s patience was wearing understandably thin. But I was too far gone, it was an earworm caught in my head like an annoying song that you can’t stop from replaying over and over again until you want to scream. To his credit, he suffered through it for the next few days until the conference was over. But seeing that today is Canada Day, it brought back those four little words and so I’d like to say to everyone I know in Canada: “Happy Canada Day to my Friends … Neighbours … Partners … Allies!”

Patent No. 431372A: Mash Tub

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Today in 1890, US Patent 431372 A was issued, an invention of Wenzl Medlin, for his “Mash Tub.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to a combined mash tub and brew-kettle; and it consists in certain features of construction and in combination of parts hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims.

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Beer In Ads #1958: Looking Over The Christmas Cards

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Thursday’s ad is entitled Looking Over the Christmas Cards, and the illustration was done in 1953 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #89 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 at a holiday party have become so bored that they’ve started “Looking Over the Christmas Cards.” Luckily, as you can see in the mirror, the host has arrived with more beer. That should help, at least a little.

089. Looking Over the Christmas Cards by Douglass Crockwell, 1953

Patent No. 2892472A: Filling System

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Today in 1959, US Patent 2892472 A was issued, an invention of Rudolph H. Breeback, assigned to Crown Cork & Seal Co., for his “Filling System.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

Although the system of the present invention is described hereinafter as relating to the delivery of beer from Government tanks to filling machines in a brewery, it is within the scope of the present invention that other carbonated liquids, such as soft drinks, or the like, could be used with this system.

The system of the present invention basically requires a storage tank for the carbonated liquid and a filling machine with a reservoir therein for receiving the carbonated liquid from the storage tank for delivery to containers. The Government tanks used in breweries for brewing and aging beer are normally used as storage tanks for the filling machines, the beer in the Government tanks being transferred directly to the reservoir of the filling machines from which the beer is then flowed into containers. It is of course within the scope of the present invention that any tank which is used to supply the reservoir of a filling machine would be considered a storage tank, within the meaning of the appended claims.

Beer and other carbonated liquids must be handled gently throughout the filling operation, including the transfer from the storage tank to the filling machine. The entrained gases in a carbonated liquid have a’tendency to escape when the liquid is unnecessarily agitated. The foaming resulting from release of gases from the carbonated liquid causes inaccurate filling of containers, as well as loss of flavor of the beverage. Heretofore, beer has been transferred from the Government tank to the reservoir of the filling machine by utilizing differential pressure between the beer in the Government tank and the gas superposing the beer in the reservoir or by pumping beer into the reservoir dependent upon the level of beer in the reservoir. Such prior systems have required that the flow of beer between the Government tank and the reservoir of the filling machine be free due to carbonation, foaming results when beer is flowed. into the reservoir.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a filling system and method whereby beer is continuously flowed from a storage tank into the reservoir of a filling machine while containers are actually being filled, thereby eliminating surges and churning of the beer being flowed.

Another object of the present invention is the provision of a filling system and method wherein the beer is continuously flowed from a storage tank into the reservoir of the filling machine While the filling machine is in operation and filling containers, the flow of beer into the filling machine being stopped only when there is a substantial break in the feed of containers to the filling machine.

Still another object of the present invention is the provision of a filling system and method wherein the beer flow into a filling machine from a storage tank is continuous when the filling machine is filling containers, the continuous flow being varied in rate flow dependent upon level changes of the beer in the reservoir of the filling machine. By increasing the flow of beer .to the reservoir when the level of beer therein is low and by decreasing the flow of beer into the reservoir when the level of beer therein is high, a continuous flow of beer can be maintained while containers are being filled during the course of a working day and stopping and starting 0 the flow is substantially eliminated.

A still further object of the present invention is to provide a system and method of supplying beer from a storage tank to a filling machine and then to a container, the influx of beer from the filling machines to the container varying the level of beer in the filling machine reservoir, the level of beer in the filling machine reservoir continuously controlling the rate of flow of beer from the storage tank thereto.

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Patent No. 732682A: Beer Filter

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Today in 1903, US Patent 2085186 A was issued, an invention of Jacob Frederic Wittemann, for his beer “Filter.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to improvements in filters or filtering-presses designed particularly for use in filtering beer and the like. In devices of this nature it is the general aim to provide as large a filtering-surface as possible, and this is usually done by multiplying Heretofore each element has generally consisted of several separate parts which must be assembled and also separately handled when it is desired to change the filter, as by substituting a fresh filtering mass and adding new elements.

The objects of the present invention are to produce a filter composed of interchangeable elements all the parts of each of which are combined in one fixed construction and to so construct these elements that when assembled the beer or other fluid to be filtered has ready ingress to and egress from the filter, while the air, water, or other foreign matter in the filter is readily discharged.

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Beer In Ads #1957: Thanksgiving Day

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Wednesday’s ad is entitled Thanksgiving Day, and the illustration was done in 1953 by Douglass Crockwell. It’s #88 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 Thanksgiving Day story unfolds in eleven separate illustrations, of which only four feature beer. It looks like a small gathering, with only a younger couple coming to the home of one of their parents, I presume. Greetings made, and food smelled, Dad gets beers from the icebox, which they all share, except for Mom who was busy getting the meal ready. Dad carves, and the womenfolk clean up, just as god intended. Then they all sit around and talk, probably about when there will be grandchildren.

088. Thanksgiving Day by Douglass Crockwell, 1953