Patent No. 2917220A: Carrier For Beer Bottles

December 15, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1959, US Patent 2917220 A was issued, an invention of Raymond N. Bostock, assigned to Ballantine & Sons, for his “Carrier for Beer Bottles and the Like.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

Open top cartons, that is cartons having bottom, side and end Walls, but not a top wall or cover, have been used for a number of years for the purpose of storing and transporting Various items of merchandise, including glass bottles containing beer, soft drinks or other liquids. Such cartons are usually provided with partitions that divide their interiors into compartments for receiving individual bottles to prevent the bottles from coming into direct contact with each other, thereby minimizing the possibility of breakage of the bottles in the course of handling.

Due to the weight of the merchandise and the rough handling to which loaded cartons are frequently subjected, present-day open cartons are generally constructed of heavy fibreboard. It is often necessary, in order to provide adequate strength and rigidity, to reinforce the cartons in various ways. As a consequence, such cartons are quite expensive.

container may be made of a relatively lightweight, inexpensive corrugated cardboard. The sling is preferably made of a heavy duty fibreboard, while the partition unit is made of a suitable grade and Weight of fibreboard. Fibreboard is recommended for the sling and partition unit, to provide necessary strength and to permit repeated reuse of the same, with the initial or subsequent outer containers. Also, the sling and partition unit are treated to make them waterproof, thereby protecting them from moisture and prolonging their useful life. It will be understood that the term paperboard, as used hereinafter and in the appended claims, is intended to cover various sheet materials that may be used in the mantufacture of the carrier of this invention, whether corrugated cardboard, fibreboard or other appropriate material.

The primary object of the invention is to provide a carrier for bottles or the like having improved features’ of construction.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle carrier having a relatively inexpensive disposable outer container.

Another object of the invention is to provide a bottle carrier having a relatively inexpensive outer container, which may be discarded when scuffed or otherwise rendered unsightly, and a relatively strong reinforced inner container, which may be reused many times with successive outer containers.

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Patent No. 2863579A: Case Unloader With Bottle Rejecting Head

December 9, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1958, US Patent 2863579 A was issued, an invention of George L.N. Meyer, for his “Case Unloader with Bottle Rejecting Head.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to a case unloader adapted to unload empty bottles from a case and to reject bottles with corks, caps or other obstructions in the neck of the bottle.

In case unloaders used to remove empty beer, carbonated beverage bottles, etc., from cases and deliver them to a bottle washer, or the like, prior to refilling, much trouble has been experienced with bottles that have been re-capped or which have a cork or other obstruction in the neck. Case unloaders heretofore made had no provision for rejecting such bottles and as a result bottles with caps or corks on the necks were processed through the bottle washer. When such bottles reached the inside brush station, or the rinsing station, the brush spindle, or the rinse nozzle, would strike the cap, cork or other obstruction and bend either the spindle or the nozzle, necessitating stopping of the machine to replace the damaged element.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a case unloader for bottles which will reject any bottles having a crown, cork or other such obstruction in the neck, and so prevent such bottles from going through the washing machine.

Another object is to provide a case unloader which will remove only those bottles from the case which have the necks of the bottles free of obstructions.

A further object of the invention is to provide a case unloader for beverage bottles, or the like, which will reduce break-downs in the bottle washing machinery.

A still further object is to provide a case unloader which will reduce the amount of supervision required to load bottles onto a bottle washer.

A still further object of the invention is to reduce the overall cost of washing bottles.

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Patent No. 572708A: Beer Bottling Apparatus

December 8, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1896, US Patent 572708 A was issued, an invention of Charles Meldrum, for his “Beer Bottling Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

Prior to my invention it has been the usual custom to fill bottles with beer from the keg by employing flexible rubber tubes which are passed down through the open bung-hole into the beer and siphoning the beer through these tubes into the bottles. The disadvantages in bottling beer in this manner are that too much air is admitted through the open bung-hole and the beer is subjected to unnecessary agitation in being siphoned over, all of which results in the liberation and escape of sufficient gas to materially effect the life of the beer. Then, too, any sediment or impurities which may be present in the beer in the keg are carried over into the bottles, which is also a serious objection.

-The object of my present invention is to overcome these defects in a simple and effective manner; and to that end it consists of a passage or conductor one end of which is adapted for tight insertion and removable retention in the bung-hole on the lower side of the keg and provided with a vent-tube which passes up through the beer and into the air-space above, the other end having a chamber across which is placed a strainer and a series of outlet-passages arranged in the wall of the straining-chamber and adapted for engagement with a series of flexible tubes, through which the strained beer passes by gravity into the bottles.

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Patent No. 5473161A: Method For Testing Carbonation Loss From Beverage Bottles Using IR Spectroscopy

December 5, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1995, US Patent 5473161 A was issued, an invention of John A. Nix, Stephen W. Zagarola, and Louis Jolie, for their “Method for Testing Carbonation Loss from Beverage Bottles using IR Spectroscopy.” Here’s the Abstract:

A method for measuring carbonation loss in beverage bottles and predicting shelf-life thereof utilizes infrared (IR) absorption spectroscopy. The concentration of CO2 gas in a bottle being tested is measured with an infrared beam according to Beer’s Law. In one embodiment the CO2 gas measured is in the headspace of a test bottle partially filled with carbonated water. The walls of the bottle are clamped in a fixture to maintain the bottle diameter substantially constant. An IR beam is transmitted through the bottle just below the fixture, and absorption values of the beam are measured. Shelf-life is calculated from the absorption values. In another embodiment the test bottle is filled with compressed CO2 gas generated by dry ice placed in the bottle.

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Patent No. 440916A: Bottle Filling Machine

November 18, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1890, US Patent 440916 A was issued, an invention of William R. Dannals, for his “Bottle Filling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to that class of bottle filling machines in which a series of bottles are filled at one time, my invention comprising certain details in construction of the machine, as fully described and claimed hereinafter, with a view of simplifying said construction and insuring a rapid and accurate filling of the bottles.

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Patent No. 773573A: Automatic Filling Machine

November 1, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1904, US Patent 773573 A was issued, an invention of William Koedding, assigned to the William J. Lemp Brewing Company, for his “Automatic Filling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to machines for filling bottles and other receptacles with liquid, and has for its principal objects to fill bottles from a tank containing liquid undergaseous pressure, to open communication between the bottle and the gas-filled portion of the tank before the liquid is admitted and to continue it after the liquid is cut ofi’, to regulate the admission of gas under pressure to the tank, to fill bottles automatically, and other objects hereinafter appearing.

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Patent No. 3767829A: Method For Warming Carbonated Beverages In Sealed Containers

October 23, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1973, US Patent 3767829 A was issued, an invention of Fred A. Karr, for his “Method for Warming Carbonated Beverages in Sealed Containers.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

A method and apparatus are provided for continuously heating to ambient temperatures the contents of a plurality of sealed containers (e.g. bottles or cans) filled with carbonated beverage (e.g. beer and carbonated soft drinks). The method is useful as applied to containers freshly filled with cold carbonated beverage to avoid the formation of condensation on the containers. The method is also applicable to heating a beverage to pasteurizing temperatures from either cold filling or room temperature.

One embodiment of the apparatus include a conveyor formed of an endless perforate heat-resistive conveyor having upper and lower runs, and an elongated open-bottomed tunnel oven disposed above said upper run having side walls adapted to retain beverage containers carried by said upper run. Elongated stationary, dry-heating means disposed between upper and lower conveyor runs below the oven means are provided to supply a plurality of beverage containers to the upstream end of said upper run for movement through said oven. In this manner, the underside of the beverage containers are preferentially heated. Control means are associated with the heating means capable of adjusting the heat intensity along the container path of travel. One embodiment of the dry heater means includes a plurality of infrared heater elements transverse to the direction of travel of the conveyor with each element including an upper heat radiating surface and air-fuel gas mixture feed. Another embodiment of the dry heating means includes a plurality of spaced apart rows of open-flame natural draft burners capable of impinging upon the underside of the beverage containers.

In another embodiment of the apparatus, the conveyor is of vibratory type. The upstream end of the deck of the vibratory conveyor is disposed proximate and transverse to an infeed conveyor and the discharge end of the deck is proximate and transverse to a discharge conveyor so that the containers are conveyed directly to and from the conveyor deck without the interposition of a deadplate.

According to the process, the sealed containers filled with carbonated beverages are moved on a conveyor of one of the above types over a dry heat source so that the dry heat emitted therefrom impinges upon the underside of the containers to heat the carbonated beverage therein in progression proceeding from the bottom toward the top of the containers so that an elevation of the temperature of the beverage is induced while permitting the head space to remain relatively cool. Heating the beverage before the gaseous head space reduces the danger of superheating the gaseous head space and also eliminates the requirement of transmitting heat through the poorly-conductive gaseous head space in order to warm the beverage. The containers on a vibratory conveyor are vibrated sufficiently to increase heat transfer by convection from the bottom toward the top of the container.

In general, it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for warming carbonated beverage in containers of either the glass bottle or metal can type to avoid the formation of condensation on the containers.

It is another object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus elevating the temperature of beer in a container of the above type to a value at which pasteurization can occur and which also overcomes the disadvantages of the prior art.

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Patent Nos. 548587A & 548588A: Machine For Blowing Glass

October 22, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1895, both US Patent 548587 A and US Patent 548588 A were issued, and both are related inventions of Michael J. Owens, under the same name: “Machine For Blowing Glass.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims for the first one:

This invention relates to a partially-automatic machine for blowing glass into pastemolds, the object being to provide a machine which is susceptible of practical use for the rapid production of large quantities of glass vessels or objects of a given shape.

The machine of this invention embodies a means for supporting the blow-pipe with its one end in communication with the air-supplying device and its other in operative proximity to or within the mold; certain means for automatically admitting air through the blow-pipe; a sectional mold, which is adapted to be closed about or adjacent the gathering end of the blowpipe and to be also automatically opened, whereby the paste covered inner surface thereof may be subjected to a sprinkling action; means for automatically effecting the closing and afterward the opening of the mold-sections and for imparting to them while they are closed rotary motions, and means for automatically causing a sprinkling of the paste-lined mold-sections while opened. The automatic operations are instituted by and in consequence of the placing of the blow-pipe which has the gathering of glass thereon in the machine in its position of support and for the reception of air communication therethrough.

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And here’s a description of the claims for the second patent:

This invention relates to improvements in machinery for blowing glass into sectional [O molds, and particularly to the organization in a machine of means for severally and respectively performing automatically and mechanically operations which heretofore have been done manually or through the operation of implements or devices which have been manipulated or in some manner actuated by or dependent upon hand, foot, or lung power.

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With these two patents under his belt, Michael Owns co-founded, along with Edward Drummond Libbey, the Owens Bottle Machine Co., which today is Owens-Illinois. O-I supplies a lot of beer bottles to the brewing industry, of course.

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