Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Patent No. 747729A: Automatic Filling Machine

By

patent-logo
Today in 1902, US Patent 747729 A was issued, an invention of William Koedding, 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 produce a filling-machine which will operate automatically when the bottle is pressed against it in proper position to be filled, to equalize the pressure in the bottle with the pressure in the supply-pipe before the supply-pipe is opened to permit the liquid to How into the bottle, to provide for automatically stopping the flow of the liquid when the bottle is filled, and to prevent any stale liquid getting into the bottle.

US747729-0

Patent No. 354787A: Siphon For Beer

By

patent-logo
Today in 1886, US Patent 354787 A was issued, an invention of Frederick Heyman, for his “Siphon For Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention has relation to siphons for containing beer and similar beverages; and it consists in the improved construction and combination of parts of a siphon having a reservoir at its top for containing compressed air or gas for the purpose of forcing the fluid out of the siphon, as hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

When beer and similar beverages are to be contained in siphons, and to be drawn oh the siphons in small quantities, it is desirable to have air or gas compressed above the fluid for the purpose of forcing it out through the drawing-tube, and it is at the same time desirable to have the said compressed air or gas contained in such a manner that it will not mix with the fluid and thus affect the properties of the beverage; and for the purpose of having the compressed air or gas contained in such a manner that it may readily be brought to bear upon the fluid in the bottle of the siphon, and at the same time not be in constant contact with the fluid, I construct an air chamber or reservoir above the bottle in which the air or gas may be contained and from which it may be let into the bottle when the pressure is required, as I shall now proceed to describe.

US354787-0

Patent No. 2064748A: Machine For Plucking Hops

By

patent-logo
Today in 1871, US Patent 2064748 A was issued, an invention of George Arthur Hinds, for his “Machine For Plucking Hops.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention has for its object to provide an improved machine for plucking hops, that is to say for detaching the flowers or cones from the main parts of the plants (commonly termed vines or bines).

The invention comprises, for use in such a machine, a plucker in the form of a comb-like device having notches adapted to be engaged by only the thinner stems of the plants, namely those attached to or in the immediate neighbourhood of the flowers.

The invention also comprises the combination of a plurality of the aforesaid pluckers, movable means on which the pluckers are mounted, means for suspending the hop plants in the inverted condition adjacent to the pluckers, and means for producing relative movements between the pluckers and plants.

In particular the invention comprises the combination of an endless conveyor, pluckers as aforesaid carried on this conveyor, an overhead conveyor fitted with means from which the hop plants can be suspended, the second conveyor being movable in a line parallel with a plane containing the working side of the plucker conveyor, and means for reciprocating or swinging the hop plants towards and away from the working side of the plucker conveyor.

Further the invention comprises the combination with plucker and plant conveyors, of means for producing an air stream whereby the plants are moved towards the pluckers, and means for intermittently interrupting the air stream.

US2064748-0
US2064748-1
US2064748-2
US2064748-3
US2064748-4

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

By

patent-logo
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.

US2863579-0
US2863579-1
US2863579-2
US2863579-3
US2863579-4

Patent No. 572708A: Beer Bottling Apparatus

By

patent-logo
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.

US572708-0

Patent No. 331873A: Baling Press

By

patent-logo
Today in 1885, US Patent 331873 A was issued, an invention of Murray H. Durst, for his “Baling Press.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to certain improvements in balling-presses; and it consists in certain details of construction, power, and means of application, all of which will be more fully described by reference to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure 1 is a general view of the press. Fig. 2 shows the lower part of the press with the door closed. Fig. 3 is a view of the mechanism for raising and lowering the follower. Fig. 4 is a section of the same. Fig. 5 is a vertical section of the press.

This press is especially designed for the pressing of hops, and is preferably so built that the upper end of the vertical case or box A will be on a level with or under the floor upon which the hops are contained, while the lower end, having discharge-doors B, communicates with the floor below. The follower C fits the press-box A, and has arms D extend ing Vertically upward from it and hinged to a crossbar, E, the ends of which are strongly secured to the vertical timbers F. These timbers move in vertical guides G, as shown, and when drawn down will force the follower down to the bottom of the press-box, and when raised will elevate it, so that when it arrives at a point just above the top of the box and the level of the floor with which it communicates the follower will be swung to one side about the hinges by which its supporting-timbers D are connected with the transverse bar E, before described.

US331873-0
US331873-1

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

By

patent-logo
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.

US5473161-1
US5473161-2
US5473161-3
US5473161-4

Patent No. 197744A: Improvement In Hop-Vine Stripper And Separator

By

patent-logo
Today in 1877, US Patent 197744 A was issued, an invention of Moses C. Smith, for his “Improvement in Hop-Vine Stripper and Separator.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention is in the nature of an improvement in machinery for picking or stripping hops from their vines for separating the hops from the vine-leaves; for separating or breaking up bunches or clusters, and for delivering the hops into bags ready for the kiln, the said machinery being portable, and designed for use in the field.

The invention consists in rolls of soft yielding material for feeding the vines to the stripping mechanism; of moving stripping-teeth disengaging the hops from the vines as they are fed forward, and carrying said vines forward; of a table beneath said moving teeth for receiving the vines from the feed-rolls, and made yielding, so as to avoid choking by accumulation of the vines; of a toothed revolving apron, operating in connection with a toothed bar, for delivering said hops into a chute, from which they are discharged into bags in condition for the drying-kiln, these several elements being combined as hereinafter claimed.

The invention further consists, in connection with the above-described or equivalent mechanism, in a fan located in the forward end of the machine; a fan-hood, the throat of which is guarded by a number of tongues depending from the yielding table before described, to prevent the escape of hops and leaves into the fan-casing; a perforated apron moving over rollers, and. a shaker or sieve placed beneath the said apron, and over the and the perforated apron, over which the vines pass, and between which the hops fall onto the toothed apron.

The invention also consists in arms or rests secured to the frame of the machine, and projecting laterally therefrom at either side of the feed-opening, for the purpose of permitting the stacking of the hop-poles, with the vines thereon, in convenient reach of those feeding the machine.

US197744-0
US197744-1

Patent No. 416157A: Apparatus For Drying Hops

By

patent-logo
Today in 1889, US Patent 416157 A was issued, an invention of Samuel Cleland Davidson, for his “Apparatus For Drying Tea, Hops, SLiced Fruit, &c.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The object of this invention is the construction of an apparatus in which a very strong current of heated air or cool desiccated air can be used for rapidly drying tea, coffee, cocoa, cinchona, hops, sliced fruits, seeds, meal, or other such substances, on sieves or perforated trays arranged in a drying-chamber one above the other on a vertical column, and movable in successive order of rotation from bottom to top of the column without the martial being whirled by the strength of the current into heaps on the trays while in the drying-chamber, or blown away off them by it when the trays are being put into or taken out of the apparatus.

US416157-0
US416157-1
US416157-2
US416157-3
US416157-4
US416157-5

Patent No. 268186A: Measuring Vessel

By

patent-logo
Today in 1882, US Patent 268186 A was issued, an invention of George J. Gave, for his “Measuring Vessel.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to that class of measuring-vessels designed to automatically indicate from the outside the quantity of beer or other fermenting liquor as it is poured into said measuring vessels, the object being to save labor and material in the construction and render the vessels less liable to get out of repair.

US268186-0