Today in 1968, US Patent 3381841 A was issued, an invention of Howard F. Kusserow, for his “Bung For Barrel.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description it’s claimed that the “invention lies in the general field of container closures. It is directed to re-usable closures which may be readily applied and removed, and more particularly to bungs for beer barrels, although it is not limited to such use.” Apparently, the new bung was to replace wooden ones with a bung made from polyethylene, a “resiliently yieldabie material.”
