Today in 1884, US Patent 307412 A was issued, an invention of Henry A. Rueter, for his “Ale or Beer Cask.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to the tap-hole bushing and the stopper and packing used in it; and it consists in the form given to the inside of the tap-hole bushing, and in the use of a stopper to close the tap-hole, which fills about half the length of the bushing at the inner end thereof, and a plug which fills about half the length of the bushing at the outer end, having a central chamber through it to receive the entering end of the faucet, which will form a packing around the faucet between it and the bushing when the faucet is driven in to its place.

Today in 1879, US Patent 220773 A was issued, an invention of William H. Stewart, for his “Improvement in Bungs and Stoppers for Casks.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to bungs and stoppers for faucet holes in lager-beer and ale casks and kegs; and it consists in the exterior form of the bung or stopper, whereby it is adapted to be more easily driven into the cask or withdrawn therefrom when desired.

Heretofore such stoppers made of wood or cork are objectionable, for the reason that the gases readily penetrate the pores of such materials and leave the beer or ale unfit for use in consequence of becoming flat or stale. The wood and cork will become saturated with the liquid, and after being once used will become sour and injuriously affect the beer.

In the use of the elastic bung or stopper I find that great difficulty exists in extracting it in the form in which it has heretofore been made from the aperture in the cask or vessel, on account of the adhesive properties of the rubber, and this especially is the case when using it for lager-beer or ale casks, where the aperture is wood or iron bound. If the bung or stopper is made very hard, or even hard enough to drive easily in the aperture, there is no certainty that the aperture will be perfectly sealed, as the harder the composition the less the elasticity,and the less the certainty of its filling any irregularities that may exist in the aperture. On the contrary, if the composition be made softer to gain more elasticity, then the difficulty of driving in the bung or stopper occurs, as the composition sticks and adheres to the sides of the aperture, and after as shown in Fig. 5, being once driven in is very difficult to extract.

The special object of my invention is to overcome these several difficulties by making a bung or stopper which can be readily driven in or extracted, and which will also perfectly seal the aperture in the cask.

Today in 1896, US Patent 568133 A was issued, an invention of Alfred E. Feroe, for his “Apparatus For Barreling and Bunging Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to an apparatus for barreling and bunging fermented liquors, and the object and purpose of my invention is to produce a means whereby carbonated liquors may be barreled and confined by any kind of bung without the loss of liquor or gas during the operation.

Today in 1951, US Patent 2564163 A was issued, an invention of Jean Emile Lucien Leperre, for his “Receptacle With Elastic Bag Insert and System For Filling and Emptying the Same.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

it is submitted between the brewery and the consumer. Numerous laboratory experiments have shown that beer samples removed with all the required care directly from the brewery tanks keep well. The case is no longer the same when the beer has passed through different casks and various drawing means.

The different causes of contamination are as follows:

In the case of wooden casks, these casks are always infected by the beer dregs remaining inside the casks emptied at the retailers. Once the cask is contaminated it is not possible to sterilize it again completely and the infection is continued by each new filling with beer.

Laboratory experiments of a very complete character have shown that when it is possible to superficially sterilize a cask, the infection begins again as soon as the cask has been put again under pressure.

It is a well-known fact that the dissolution of air in beer is also a cause of the lack of stability of said beer.

Moreover, the beer containers of the drawing 01! means where the beer has always a tendency to become hot. and to lose a part of its carbonic gas, the return into said containers of the froth and of the counter-pressure gases, as well as the presence of the plunging tubes of the drawing oil means, are several of the factors causing alteration of the beer.

As to the dealing out of the beer, it is a known fact that as long as a cask is not broken into, the beer retains generally its quality but once it has begun being dealt out the beer loses in a few hours most of its quality.

On the other hand for breaking into his cask. the retailer introduces into his beer a plunging tube which has generally been left about in the cellar and at the same time he drives into it the stopper of the cask which is unavoidably contaminated.

The present invention has for its object to remove these multiple drawbacks, and it comprises chiefly a special container having a yielding receiver mounted inside a rigid receiver with means being provided for allowing the liquid under pressure to enter inside the inner yielding receiver and also for allowing a counter-pressure fluid to be introduced between this inner yielding receiver and the outer rigid receiver.

A further characteristic feature of the invention consists in that the recess formed by the inner yielding receiver is reduced to zero for the filling of the cask with beer under pressure so that said recess is consequently completely emptied of its air, this being produced by a counter-pressure exerted between said receiver and the rigid outer receiver, the former increasing gradually in volume through the introduction of beer under pressure inside it while said counter-pressure gas progressively escapes from the outside of the yielding receiver.

According to a still further feature of the invention, there is provided a rigid receiver containing a yielding removable fluid-tight receiver, pouch or pocket into which the liquid under pressure is introduced while means are provided firstly for allowing the latter to communicate with the outside and secondly for adjusting the pressure of the fluid contained between the two receivers.

Today in 1902, US Patent 706884 A was issued, an invention of Dillon Beebe, for his “Valved Bung and Connection For Beer Barrels.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The objects of this invention are to provide a valved bung for service more particularly in connection with packages of beer, ale, or carbonated beverages; to provide locking means for the valve and cooperating key means for operating said locking means; to enable what is termed a slip-rod, such as commonly used by saloon-keepers, to open the valve after the same has been unlocked by the forcing of said slip-rod through the said bung; to secure impervious closure; to protect the working parts, and to secure other advantages and results, some of which may be referred to hereinafter in connection with the description of the working parts.

The invention consists in the improved bung for barrels or other packages adapted to contain beer, ale, or other carbonated beverages or liquids under pressure and in the arrangements and combinations of parts of the same, all substantially as will be hereinafter set forth and finally embraced in the clauses of the claim.