Today in 1968, US Patent 3397871 A was issued, an invention of William J. Hasselberg, for his beer “Carbonator.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
The carbonating of beverages generally is effected by the pressed flow of carbon-dioxide (CO into the beverage as it is conveyed into sealed receptacles, subject to later draft therefrom for consumption. Beer is one of the principal beverages of this kind. When the beverage is drawn from the storage receptacle for transfer to containers for marketing the beverage, there has to be a charging of the beverage with carbon-dioxide. With beer this re-carbonization has to be done with considerable care in order to get the desired quality thereof when it is to be drawn from containers for consumption. The desire is to so carbonate the beer that when poured from a marketing container into a container for drinking, the beer displays the quality expected of good beer. Carbonating means, heretofore and currently in use, have fallen far short of such attainment. Further, there is a great need for larger capacity carbonating devices.
The main objects of this invention are: to provide an improved structuring of a carbonator for charging a beverage before, or as, it is packaged for consumption; to provide an improved structuring of a carbonator of this kind especially adapted for charging beer that has been held in storage receptacles for a considerable period before being packaged for consumption; to provide a carbonator of this kind structured to inject into, and mix with the beverage flow from the storage receptacle, the carbon-dioxide (CO in a mist-like form so that when the beverage is poured from the marketing container into a drinking container the beverage displays a quality closely simulating that of champagne; to provide a device of the class which will force rapid binding of the CO gas with the beer flow; to provide means to split up the beer flowing through a conduit into two chambers, and injecting precisely controlled CO gas into the beer flowing therethrough and, by continuing flow the charged beer returns to a conduit for packaging or storage; and to provide an improved carbonator of this kind of such simple construction as to make very economical the manufacture thereof, and exceedingly gratifying the beverage resulting from the use thereof.
