Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 4538746A: Keg-Tapping Assembly

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Today in 1985, US Patent 4538746 A was issued, an invention of James H. Hines, for his “Keg-Tapping Assembly.” Here’s the Abstract:

The invention contemplates improved safety interlock mechanism incorporated in a keg-tapping assembly which is removably attachable to a standard beer keg or the like, via a bayonet-type engagement between lugs on the keg and a slotted flange on the keg-tapping assembly. The keg-tapping assembly is of the variety in which a handle is depressed to gain beverage-dispensing access to the keg and in which the handle is raised to close the keg and to shut off supply of gas pressure to the keg. A guide formed in the keg-tapping assembly locates a vertically displaceable locking leg, having articulated connection to the handle, such that in a downward actuation of the handle, the guided locking leg will be in a position to deny lug displacement into or through one of the slots of the slotted flange, before handle displacement can either begin to open the keg or to admit gas pressure thereto. The result is that unless the handle is sufficiently raised to allow safe removal of the keg-tapping assembly from a keg, the keg-tapping assembly cannot be removed.

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Beer In Ads #2021: Recipe For Snacking Pleasure

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Friday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1952. What’s the “Recipe for Pleasure?” “Take golden, buttery popcorn — salty peanuts — crunchy pretzels … crisp potato chips or cheese-topped crackers … and top them off with refreshing delicious Miller High Life.” I guess Miller decided to ditch making high life a high-end beer.

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Patent No. 3464435A: Quick Keg Tap With Self-Sealing Connection

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Today in 1969, US Patent 3464435 A was issued, an invention of Kay R. Lamb and Charles R. Mandeville, for their “Quick Keg Tap with Self-Sealing Connection.” Here’s the Abstract:

A keg-tapping assembly consisting of a collar installed in an opening of a keg. A bushing assembly carrying a sleeve is fastened on the collar with the sleeve extending through the collar with clearance for gas to pass into the keg. A normally closed pressure-responsive gas admission valve of the type used in pneumatic tires is provided on the bushing assembly. The bushing assembly also includes a normally collapsed live rubber axial conduit. A removable draft tube assembly can be mounted on the bushing assembly, the draft tube assembly including a rigid draft tube which is forced through the live rubber conduit and is contained coaxially in the sleeve, the draft tube extending into the keg to a considerable depth so that beverage can be forced out through the draft tube responsive to the admission of gas under pressure through the gas-admission valve. When the draft tube assembly is withdrawn, the live rubber conduit collapses, sealing otf the assembly so that foreign material cannot enter the keg.

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Patent No. 4220048A: Cooler And Level Indicator For Beer Kegs

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Today in 1980, US Patent 4220048 A was issued, an invention of John A. Grepiotis and Joseph A. Grepiotis, for their “Cooler and Level Indicator For Beer Kegs.” Here’s the Abstract:

A cooler and level indicator for beer kegs comprising an insulated container for holding iced water in contact with a keg of beer, an insulated cover for sealing the container and an externally readable level gauge for indicating the iced water level, said level being proportional to the amount of beer remaining in the keg after the keg becomes buoyant.

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Patent No. 3526510A: Beer Foam Adhesion

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Today in 1970, US Patent 3526510 A was issued, an invention of John B. Bockelmann, Leonard Raymond and William Tirado, assigned to the F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Co. for their “Beer Foam Adhesion.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The present invention relates to a novel method of enhancing so-called foam cling in certain beers or the like, as hereinafter more specifically set forth.

The use, as additive, of the heptyl ester or the octyl ester of para-hydroxy-benzoic acid, as such or in the form of an alkali metal salt or alkaline earth metal salt thereof, as a chemical pasteurizer for-“beer (cf. US. Pat. No. 3,232,766) has eliminated the necessity for conventional pasteurization as a means for preserving beer against undesired bacterial growth. However, the presence of the said additive in beer is bound up with a drawback in that the normal foam produced by the pouring of the beer into a glass no longer has the adhesion or cling which is generally associated with beer quality and which is produced by conventional pasteurized or draft beer.

Various agents are known for achieving good adhesion to the sides of the glass from beer containing the aforesaid additives. However, these are bound up with one disadvantage or another. Elimination of the additive agents results in a beer foam that rapidly wipes the glass clean, leaving no beer foam cling and imparting, from the standpoint of those who equate beer foam cling with good quality and good appearance, an inis a desideratum in the art of making paraban-pasteurized finished beer to provide an additive which is free from any disadvantage or undesired drawback and which imparts to the beer containing heptyl or octyl ester of para-hydroxy benzoic acid the capacity of forming, upon being poured into a glass, a normal foam of good stability and good cling (sometimes referred to as curtain formation).

A primary object of the present invention is the realization of the aforesaid desideratum. Briefly stated, this is achieved according to the present invention by the expedient of incorporating into beer which has been paraben-pasteurized an appropriate and effective amount of, as foam stabilizer and curtain former, one or more of .(a) sodium dioctyl sulfosuccinate (cf. US. Pat. No. 2,441,341); (b) sodium dihexyl sulfosuccinate;- (c) sodium diamyl sulfosuccinate; (d) disodium N-octadecyl sulfosuccinamate (cf. US. Pat. No. 2,252,401); and (e) tetrasodium N-(1,2-dicarboxyethyl)-N-octadecylsulfosuccinamate (cf. US. Pat. No. 2,438,092).

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Patent No. 566898A: Racking Apparatus For Barreling Beer

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Today in 1896, US Patent 566898 A was issued, an invention of Alfred E. Peroe, for his “Racking Apparatus for Barreling Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to what is termed “racking apparatus” used for barreling beer or fermented liquors under pressure and my improvements upon this class of devices relate to a method of constructing them by which the air or gas escaping from the barrel as replaced by the entering beer or liquor will be conducted from the barrel, so as not to interfere with or impinge upon the entering beer or liquor.

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Beer In Ads #2019: Carlsberg, My Daily Drink #4

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Wednesday’s ad is for Carlsberg, from the 1920s or 30s, I think. It was done by Alfred Schmidt, a well-know Danish illustrator, caricaturist and painter. He did four paneled ads, each one with the tagline “Min Deglige Drik,” which means “My Daily Drink.” In this ad, number four of four, our intrepid man finally gets to taste his bottle of Carlsberg Pilsner. I don’t need to translate his response. “A-A-AH!” is fairly universal.

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Patent No. 3977953A: Process For The Production Of Hulupones

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Today in 1897, US Patent 3977953 A was issued, an invention of Hubert Frhr. Von Hirsch and Alfons Hartl, assigned to the Atlantic Research Institute, for their “Process For the Production of Hulupones.” Here’s the Abstract:

Lupulones, which form a constituent of hop resins which have hitherto been separated and discarded because of their poor solubility, are converted into a hulupone-containing beer-soluble bitter-tasting product by photo-sensitized oxidation in a liquid alkaline medium. However, the oxidation, which is effected by means of oxygen or an oxygen-containing gas in the presence of one or more sensitizing dyes and under the action of visible light, is only partial; it is discontinued when the oxygen consumption resulting from the reaction exhibits a substantial decline, or when the fall in pH occurring during the reaction substantially ceases.

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Patent No. 589237A: Combined Beer Tap, Cooler And Pump

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Today in 1897, US Patent 589237 A was issued, an invention of William B. Baker, for his “Combined Beer Tap, Cooler and Pump.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to a combined beer tap, cooler, and pump; and it consists in the novel features of construction and combinations of parts in such an apparatus, as hereinafter described and claimed; In the annexed drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the arrangement of parts in a beer tap, cooler, and pump constructed according to my invention. Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional view of the pump with bar-faucet in side elevation. Fig. 3 is atop view of the pump and bar-faucet. Fig. 4 is a plan of the cooler with cover removed. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional elevation of the cooler. Fig. 6 is an enlarged sectional elevation of the drawing-off pipe, bung-plug provided with stuffing-box, and a recessed bung driver surrounding the drawing-off pipe and normally resting on the bung-plug. Fig. 7 is a plan or top view of the bung-plug with drawing-off pipe in cross-section.

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