Today in 1993, US Patent 5009082 A was issued, an invention of Martin J. Abraham III, for his “System For Cooling Beer For Remote Dispensing.” Although it’s not strictly speaking, a beer patent, it is somewhat related, and it was too interesting not to include. Here’s the Abstract:
A system for cooling beer to be dispensed from a container housed in a preliminary air cooled environment that is cooled with a primary heat exchanger includes a first flowline for dispensing beer from the container and an auxiliary heat exchanger having a glycol reservoir for receiving the first flowline, the first flowline traversing the reservoir in heat exchange relation therewith. The second flowline includes at least a pair of side-by-side internal bores having a first bore in fluid communication with the first flowline downstream of the glycol reservoir and a second bore carrying glycol from the reservoir in close proximity and in heat exchange relation with beer in the first bore, the second flowline being extended in length so that beer and glycol can travel to remote positions away from the container. A spigot is provided for dispensing the beer at the remote position after transmitted thereto via the second flowline. The first flowline includes one or more fittings forming connections between the container and the reservoir that produce substantially laminar flow between the container and the reservoir.
