Today in 1907, US Patent 842343 A was issued, an invention of Gustave A. W. Schilling and John H. Flach, for their “Air-Inlet and Beer-Outlet Bung for Barrels.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
Our invention relates to improvements in the compressed-air inlet and bung-hole apparatus for beer-holding barrels and for other liquors that are kept on tap; and the objects of our invention are, first, to provide an improved adjustable air-inlet and removable bung for beer-barrels of different capacity, second, to provide a simple bung adapted to be threaded to the bung-holes of barrels and an improved air-inlet and beer outlet valve-controlled pipe that is adapted to be held in barrels of different capacities by any predetermined part of the length of said air -inlet and beer outlet tubes, and, third, to provide a simple inexpensive air-inlet and beer-drawing apparatus that can be changed from one barrel to another. We attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view illustrating the application of our improved device. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the improved bung. Fig. 3 is sectional view of the several parts constituting` the bung. Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the wrench used for removing the nut which is threaded within the bung. Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a device for removing the bung.
