Today in 1965, US Patent 3195779 A was issued, an invention of William J. Ruff, for his “Beverage Dispenser.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
This invention relates to a beverage dispenser which is particularly useful for dispensing beer and other carbonated beverages.
One object of the present invention is to provide a new and improved device for dispensing carbonated beverages from cans or similar containers of relatively small capacity, such as one gallon, for example.
Another object is to provide a new and improved beverage dispenser in which the beverage is supplied in cans having openings which are sealed initially with closure plugs made of rubber or rubberlike material.
A further object is to provide a beverage dispenser in which the beverage to be dispensed is withdrawn from the cans by means of tapping pipes which are adapted to penetrate the rubber plugs mounted in the openings in the cans.
A further object is to provide a beverage dispenser in which each can is provided with two openings closed with rubber plugs, one plug being adapted to receive a tapping pipe for withdrawing the beverage while the other plug is adapted to receive a tapping pipe through which carbon dioxide (CO) under pressure is introduced into the can to provide pressure for dispensing the beverage.
Another object is to provide new and improved beverage cans having rubber closure plugs, each of which is formed with an imperforate diaphragm, together with means forming a recess for receiving the remnant of the diaphragm after the diaphragm has been punctured by a tapping pipe. It is a further object to provide a new and improved rubber or rubberlike closure plug of the foregoing character which is constructed and arranged to prevent any leakage between the tapping pipe and the plug, and also to prevent the tapping pipe from being pushed outwardly through the plug by the force produced by the CO pressure in the can.
A further object is to provide such a new and improved rubber plug which is formed with a lower sleeve portion having a bore therein which is initially of a substantially smaller diameter than the tapping pipe, so that the sleeve portion will be stretched substantially by the insertion of the tapping pipe, the sleeve portion being adapted to grip the tapping pipe tightly, due to the stretching of the sleeve and also due to the pressure of the CO on the sleeve.
Another object is to provide a new and improved beverage dispenser adapted to dispense carbonated beverages from sealed can of small size so that the dispensed beverage will always be fresh and will be prevented from going hat or stale.
