Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 1930492A: Combination Bottle Opener, Jar Top Remover, And Corkscrew

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Today in 1933, US Patent 1930492 A was issued, an invention of Henry G. Thompson, for his “Combination Bottle Opener, Jar Top Remover, and Corkscrew.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to a combined bottle cap opener, jar-top remover, and cork-screw. A primary object of the invention is to provide a simple and efficient device of this character, which may be mounted on a suitable support and which maybe used either for removing bottle caps, jar covers generally found on olive jars, jam jars, etc., and also for withdrawing corks.

A further object of the invention is to provide a-combination jar top remover, bottle cap remover and cork screw of a minimum number of parts, which parts will be very simple in construction, easily and economically assembled and which will result in a very rigid structure.

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Patent No. 2906624A: Apparatus And Method For Extracting Air From Beverages

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Today in 1959, US Patent 2906624 A was issued, an invention of Pincus Deren, assigned to Pabst Brewing Co., for his “Apparatus and Method for Extracting Air from Beverages.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The present invention consists in the method or process of controlling the air content of carbonated beverages, especially bottled beer, and to the apparatus for carrying out the process.

It is well known that conventional practices in bottling carbonated beverages, particularly beer, causes a certain amount of oxidation of some of the constituents of the product, resulting in an undesirable change in flavor and in accelerated instability which greatly reduces the shelf life of the beverage.

Numerous attempts were made to eliminate’the excess air, and it was found that to remove the excess air successfully it was necessary to cause the beverage to foam and permit the latter to rise in the neck of the bottle to expel the air above the liquid level. Also, it was found that, to achieve good results, enough of the foam must be formed to fill the neck with fine bubbles to the top of the rim of the bottleneck.

One means for producing foam is by knocking the bottle sufliciently to cause the release of the gas in the beer; another means is by jetting or squirting a stream of beer into the beer in the bottle after it has been filled. A third method is by the injection of a stream of CO gas into the liquid.

Control of the degree of foaming by the methods just described is very difficult. When the knocking procedure is used, the condition of the surface of the bottle influences the degree of foaming. When jetting, either with beer or with CO gas, the liquid content is disturbed, and small variations in the temperature of the product and on the inside surface of the container will result in different degrees of foaming. The uncontrolled foaming results in either great variations in the final air content, or in the loss of large quantities of beer.

The primary object of the present invention is to overcome the disadvantages inherent in the conventional 7 Another object of the invention resides in the provision of novel means for removing most of the air before the foam is formed.

A further object is to reduce the losses of beverage due to excessive foaming and thereby practically eliminate socalled short fills.

A still further object resides in the provision of novel means for creating instantaneous suction on the liquid just as the foam starts to form to facilitate the removal of air.

Still another object of the invention consists in the provision of a new and novel apparatus to permit the process and the steps thereof to be accomplished and carried out successfully.

Numerous other objects and advantages will be apparent throughout the progress of the specification.

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Beer In Ads #2045: The Brown Bottle Joke

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Monday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1913, published in the Telegraph Herald on July 2, 1913. In this curious ad, titled “The Result of Good Brewing—,” the scene is a parade of Germany soldiers. Though it’s hard to read, toward the bottom it reads “High Life in Germany,” while to the left the Miller Girl has been inserted into the illustration as if she’s watching the parade.

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But even more curious about this ad is the inset box, “The Brown Bottle Joke,” where they try to explain why using a clear bottle is actually better than using brown, and they do so without even mentioning why brown is preferred or indeed anything about what effect light would have on the beer after bottling.

The brown bottle fallacy has been so completely exploded that little is left to be said in defense of that side of the question which advocated the use of dark bottles to the absolute exclusion of light bottles. It is admitted that common beer comes in dark bottles and that beer of a high degree of stability is preferably bottled in light bottles.

Wahl-Henius Institute of Fermentology (America’s greatest authorities on brewing) are in accord with this view. Here is their statement in relation to the bottling of high-grade beer:

“FOR SUCH BEERS THE LIGHT BOTTLE is PREFERABLY EMPLOYED because it can more readily be inspected before filling to insure thorough cleanliness and because the finished package reveals at a glance whether the contents meet the requirements of the consumer as to color, clarity and freedom from sedimentation.”

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Patent No. 3760968A: Composite Container Article

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Today in 1973, US Patent 3760968 A was issued, an invention of S. Amberg, C. Heyne, and J. Meincer, assigned to Owens Illinois Inc., for their “Composite Container Article” Here’s the Abstract:

The invention disclosed relates to an improved container article for pressurized products, such as beer, beverages, and the like, which is made from a glass bottle or jar and a sheet of shrinkable plastic material pre-decorated as flat sheet, then wrapped on a mandrel to a sleeve that is telescopically inserted over the major side wall of the bottle so that a lower marginal end thereof overhangs the bottom end of the bottle. The sleeve may be of a pre-foamed or non-foamed plastic material and is shrunken in situ by heat so that it fits snugly on the bottle surface and conforms to the body around its shoulder, side wall and its lower corner radius or heel and onto the bottom end of the bottle protecting the glass against surface damage, providing a pre-printed label or decoration for the bottle and covering the bearing surface and lower corner radius of the bottle protecting those areas plus affording coaster protection to furniture or like surfaces. The orientation of the plastic is major on the peripheral dimension of the sleeve and minor on the axial dimension. Antistatic compounds are applied to the surface opposite the printed surface also priming the bottle for good cohesion of the sleeve. The plastic sleeve has a skin depth differential, the thicker skin being adjacent the bottle.

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Patent No. 3147874A: Seal For Crown Closures

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Today in 1964, US Patent 3147874 A was issued, an invention of Donald D. Hundt and Edward W. Merrill, for their “Seal For Crown Closures.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to seals for crown, screw, lug and similar caps or closures. It is more particularly concerned with a composite seal utilizing a molded rubber ring sealing element, to replace the cork and composition cork seals now used for caps.

A seal for crown closures needs to be impervious to prevent gas leakage, resilient to maintain a good seal for several months, mechanically strong enough to be adapted to existing bottling equipment and must present a surface to pack side that is sufficiently soft or deformable to conform to minor imperfections on the lip of the bottle or can. The seal should not impart odor or taste to the contents of the bottle and should be capable of withstanding relatively high temperatures after capping without failure.

The seal of this invention comprises a resilient molded elastomer ring carried on a gas impervious for -stable disc, with the ring in use being between the cap and disc, and generally positioned over or registering with the lip of the container. The elastomeric or rubber ring is not capable of undergoing any appreciable cold or plastic iiow and imparts the necessary compressive force or spring action to the seal.

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Patent No. 3100056A: Reusable Bottle Cases

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Today in 1963, US Patent 3100056 A was issued, an invention of John A. Friday Jr., assigned to the Duquesne Brewing Company Of Pittsburgh, for his “Reusable Bottle Cases.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates broadly to reusable containers for bottles and the like and is particularly useful for beverage bottle cases, such as beer cases where the container is subjected to frequent reuse.

In my invention, I provide a reusable case for bottles and the like comprising, in combination, a unitary molded container having side walls, end walls, a bottom wall and opposed top flap elements, all of said elements and walls being integrally formed complete in a single piece of plastic material and a plurality of longitudinal and lateral cell-forming partition members disposed in said container, said end walls having handle means comprising openings in the upper central portions thereof, said top flap elements having lockable closing means selectively engageable with said handle means. I further provide hinge means comprising thinned flexible portions in said top flap elements adjacent said side walls. In addition, I provide convex bulges in the side and end walls at the corners of the container. Further, I provide roughened surfaces on particular portions of the container to prevent slippage between the cases from occurring when stacking or transporting them.

Thus, I have invented a bottle case that is a unitary container which is integrally formed as a single piece of plastic, which is tough and durable and may be used many times over and above the ordinary case. My case ice has a lockably closable top for the complete protection of the bottles contained therein and bulged corners for the protection of the printed material on the sides and ends of the container.

The advantages of a unitary structure are, inter alia, that the case is free of connections that are weaker than the case itself. There is less likelihood of weak spots. It also eliminates costly assembly operations and thus, is not only stronger but less expensive.

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Patent No. 2845196A: Bottle Crates

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Today in 1958, US Patent 2845196 A was issued, an invention of Percy Charles Brett and Cecil Roy Brett, for their “Bottle Crates.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to bottle crates such as crates for beer bottles, .and has for its object to provide a crate without criss-cross partitions which divide the box into individual bottle compartments, but one which nevertheless will retain the bottles snugly in position and will prevent the bottles accidentally falling out should the crate assume an inclined position. By obviating the partitions a crate can be made much smaller in overall dimensions as compared with a partitioned crate for the same number of bottles, and expense is reduced while the space occupied during storage and transit is also considerably reduced.

According to the invention a crate comprises an open topped rectangular box having no compartments for individual bottles and having a main elongated retaining ledge on the respective inside faces of the walls and extending from end to end thereof, said retaining ledge lying parallel to the bottom and open top of the crate and located at the height of the shoulder of the bottles for which the crate is designed. A central partition may be provided spanning opposite walls in combination with retaining ledges also parallel to the bottom and open top of the crate at the same height as the main retaining ledge. For example the central partition in one form terminates upwardly above the level of the retaining ledges and is provided with a hand-grip hole above said level, and the central retaining ledges are strip-s secured respectively to the faces of the partition. The ledges may be formed by strips of half-round section wood or the like secured by their fiat faces to their respective walls.

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Patent No. 2325309A: Process Of Capping Bottles

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Today in 1943, US Patent 2325309 A was issued, an invention of Jan De Swart, for his “Process of Capping Bottles.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention has to do with sealing caps for bottles and the like, as well as bottle sealing methods.

In its more particular contemplates a hard and substantially non-flexible plastic cap which is so constructed, of a plastic capable of being rendered temporarily pliable and remolded, as to be applied in sealing relationship to a bottle without injury to the cap and which not only is capable of sealing the bottle against substantial pressures but which also compensates for the cold flow characteristics prevalent in most plastics.

I am aware that attempts have been made to produce a successful thermoplastic bottle cap but so far as I am aware, no such cap has been produced which is capable of general use to cap bottles containing fluids such as carbonated beverages, beer or the like. Such prior caps have been incapable of maintaining an effective seal where substantial pressures are generated in the bottle; and have been incapable of withstanding the temperatures incident to pasteurization processes. For instance, pasteurization processes commonly utilize temperatures of the order of 160 produced do not maintain a seal under such conditions. Another shortcoming of prior caps has been the fact that they fail to maintain an effective seal after the plastics of which the caps are made have undergone the normal cold flow.

It is among the aims of my invention to overcome those shortcomings and, generally speaking, I accomplish this by providing a cap preformed of a cold-setting plastic capable of being rendered temporarily pliable and then reformed and re-hardened about the neck of a bottle. An important characteristic of my improved cap resides in the fact that its side Wall presents a peripheral bead of relatively thick cross-section and having a. relatively low setting rate which, after being temporarily softened, is remolded to aspects, my invention the contour of the external marginal bead forming a part of the conventional beer or carbonated beverage bottle. This bead portion undergoes cap into sealing relationship with the neck or more and thermoplastic caps heretofore l the provision of a plastic cap having a construction which provides a double seal.

Another object is the provision of a cap having a guiding formation to guide it onto a bottle during capping.

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Patent No. 1919665A: Bottle Filling Machine And Method

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Today in 1933, US Patent 1919665 A was issued, an invention of Frederick W. Muller, for his “Bottle Filling Machine and Method.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to bottle filling machines and methods and relates particularly to bottle filling machines of the type wherein a plurality of bottles continuously fed to the machine are automatically and successively filled with a beverage such as beer.

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Patent No. 860936A: Bottle Carrier For Bottling Establishments

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Today in 1907, US Patent 860936 A was issued, an invention of Max W. Norkewitz, for his “Bottle Carrier For Bottling Establishments.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates particularly to machinery for bottling establishments and it is’ intended primarily to dispose of the bottles expeditiously from a gang of labeling machines and facilitate the operation of packing them in cases.

My invention is intended for use principally in those bottling establishments where a number of brands of beer or other liquid are bottled and labeled at the same time and its object is to provide means for carrying the bottles away from a gang of labeling machines to the packing tables and without mixing them.

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