Today in 1884, US Patent 301860 A was issued, an invention of Peter James Catterall and Edward Birch, for their “Valve for Regulating the Supply of Liquor.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
Our improvement relates to the invention for which we obtained Letters Patent of the United States No.’ 253,683, dated February 14, 1882, and is partly or wholly applicable for other purposes and the object of our invention is to form an improved valve for regulating the supply of beer, water or other liquid. We attain this object by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is an elevation showing the valve applied to apparatus for raising beer or other liquid. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation upon a larger scale of the valve. Figs. 3 and 4 are sectional elevations of a modified form of the valve. Fig. 5 is a sectional elevation of the back-pressure valves. Fig. 6 is an elevation, partly in section, of the ball-valve in the water-supply pipe, and of the treadle for actuating the same. Fig. 7 is a plan of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 is a sectional elevation of an air-vessel for the prevention of concussion in the water-supply pipe; and’Fig. 9 is a detached view in section, showing our arrangement for connecting the chamber to the water-chest.
