Today in 1990, US Patent EP 0224293 B1 was issued, an invention of Jacobus Dijkstra and Gijsbert Slootweg, assigned to Heineken Technisch Beheer B.V., for “A Beer Tapping Installation.” there’s no Abstract, but the description begins with the “invention relates to a beer tapping installation comprising a first cask installation and cooling unit adjacent a second cooling unit, a third unit supporting a tap and a storage space accommodating a gas container, a beer line with a cask coupling at its one end extending from the inside of the first unit to the tap and connected with its other end to said tap arranged near the free end of said third unit which comprises a hollow support protruding vertically from the coupled units, enveloping the beer line adjacent the tap and being in open communication with said first unit, the beer line with cask coupling being movable longitudinally of the hollow support, and a gas supply line extending between the gas container and the cask compiling.”
