Today in 1911, US Patent 1013057 A was issued, an invention of George Denison Prentice, for his “Keg-Rinsing Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention is a machine for rinsing or washing out casks, kegs, or other receptacles, the same being caused to operate automatically by the weight of a cask or keg placed in due position on the ,machine, and requiring no attention or manipulation. Water is discharged into a cask or keg when placed on a depressible support and over a perforated nozzle. When the keg-support is depressed it opens a water-discharge valve and raises a weighted piston in a cylinder or dash-pot, and the time required for descent .of the piston to its original position determines the time of discharge of water into the keg. I thus provide for automatic discharge of water into a keg for rinsing the same and for automatic regulation of the time during which said discharge shall continue.
