Today in 1987, US Patent WO 1987002975 A1 was issued, an invention of Jacobus Dijkstra and Gijsbert Slootweg, assigned to Heineken Technisch Beheer B.V., for their “A Beer Tapping Installation.” Here’s the Abstract:
A beer tapping installation comprising a refrigerator having a cask cooling and installation space (2) including a revolving platform (8) on which casks (12, 13, 14) can be placed and with a space for accommodating a CO2 cylinder (15), as well as a tap (21), a beer line (20) from the cask installation space to the tap, a hollow support (17) for enveloping the beer line from the refrigerator to the tap, a cask coupling (22) on the beer line and a CO2 supply line from the CO2 container to the cask coupling. The hollow support is in open communication with the cask cooling and installation space and the beer line, together with the cask coupling and the tap, is movable longitudinally of the hollow support.
