Today in 1936, US Patent 2057347 A was issued, an invention of Daniel J. Reed, for his “Beer Barrel.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
This invention relates to a metal beer barrel.
The principal object of the invention is to provide means for absorbing blows and sudden shocks delivered longitudinally of the barrel on 5 the end edge, thereby preventing injury to the body of the barrel and to the lining material therein.
Today in 1904, US Patent 771495 A was issued, an invention of Florian M. Pfluger, for his “Bushing for Beer or Ale Kegs or Barrels.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
This invention relates to an improvement in bushings for bung-holes of beer and ale kegs, barrels, or similar receptacles; and the object of the invention is to provide abushing which can be readily secured in a bung-hole and which will form a liquid-tight joint between its outer surface and the surrounding wall of said hole. With the forms of bushing commonly employed for this purpose it is found that before the barrel or other receptacle is otherwise unfit for use the metal lining of the bunghole will become loosened and permit leakage of the contents of the receptacle. By the present invention means are provided where the grip or hold of the bushing on the wooden wall of the bung-hole may be maintained even after years of use, so that the life or usefulness of the receptacle will be greater than if bung-hole linings of the form heretofore employed are used.
Today in 1984, US Patent 4474255 A was issued, an invention of Stephen A. Blok and Frank A. Kapounek, for their “Beer Keg Scale.” Here’s the Abstract:
A weighing and supporting device for liquid container kegs, such as those for beer. The device comprises a flat, keg-receiving platform beneath which is located a weigh scale, the platform being pivotable between an inclined, dispensing position and a horizontal, weighing position. In the latter, the platform rests upon the scale and is free to move up and down on that scale to enable the platform and a keg supported thereon to be weighed. By taking periodic measurements of the weight of the keg supported on such a device, the need for a liquid metering device in the line of liquid flow from the keg is avoided.
Today in 2010, US Patent 20100247276 A1 was issued, an invention of Giuseppe Loria, for his “Keg Lifting Device.” Here’s the Abstract:
An improved lifting device and associated system for handling a standard beverage keg comprises a rigid support frame formed to partially surround a standing keg and including a pair of vertical posts spaced apart and interconnected by separate upper and lower transverse beams, the posts being erected and supported upon respective lateral base beams that extend forward and rearward of the posts with a support brace angularly disposed and secured over each forward beam extension. A lever rod is pivotally connected to the upper transverse beam having a lower handle end and an upper working end carrying a bifurcated chain link attached thereto, the bifurcated chain link holding a pair of hook fasteners sized and shaped to fit the hand holds provided on the upper rim of the standard keg. With the support frame placed alongside the standing keg and the working end of the lever rod directly over the keg, the hook fasteners are made to engage the hand holds on opposite sides of the keg and apply a clamping pressure to the keg upon lifting. A deployable extension chain further provided on the support frame is adapted to fasten to the handle end of the lever rod to hold the lifted position of the keg, allowing a dolly with a circularly formed raised surface layer to engage the bottom of the keg for its immediate transport.
Today in 1902, US Patent 710145 A was issued, an invention of John M. Dieterle, for his “Beer Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
This invention relates to new and useful improvements in beer-coolers, the object of my invention being to provide a self-cleaning beer-cooler and one which will be more sanitary in its operation.
As at present constructed beer-coolersI consist of a number of parallel communicating tubes having pipes for the ingress and egress of the beer extending from the same side of the beer-cooler. The beer is admitted to the cooler and ows therethrough to the pipe leading to the faucet. The pipes through which the beer runs, composing the cooler, necessarily gather a sediment deposited by the beer and become lined with organic matter, which is deleterious and unwholesome in the beer. Heretofore beer-coolers have been constructed with. end caps covering the ends of the several tubes, and an elongated brush has been separately inserted into each of these tubes for the purpose of removing foreign matter which accumulates therein. This means of cleaning the tubes is inconvenient because it is necessary to remove the end caps from the row of tubes, and, being inconvenient, this cleaning is likely to be neglected. Moreover, it is not as effectual as the means hereinafter described, for the use of which my improved beer-cooler is adapted.
In beer coolers as heretofore constructed there has always been a comparatively long line of pipe intervening between the cooler and the faucet, and the beer while passing through this pipe, after having been cooled, again rises somewhat in temperature, due to the fact that while the beer-cooler is surrounded by ice or other suitable cold-producing mediaA the conducting-pipe just referred 5o to has not been similarly cooled.
The objects of my invention, therefore, are threefold-first, to increase the frequency of cleaning beer-coolers by making it easy to do so, thus increasing the sanitariness of the process; second, to construct a beer-cooler which is self-cleaning, and thereby more effectually to cleanse the same, and thus conduce to a more sanitary method of cooling beer, and, third, to provide a beer-cooler so constructed as to be located adjacent to the faucet or beer-tap without the intervention of a pump ‘or long line of conducting-pipe.
Today in 1993, US Patent 5248062 A was issued, an invention of Vincent G. Hillard, for his “Beer Keg Tap Apparatus.” Here’s the Abstract:
A tap member is arranged with a threaded lid directed into engagement with an upper end of the tap structure configured as a cylindrical housing, including a cavity receiving a compressed gas canister there within. Upon projection of the lid into the housing, the canister is pierced directing compressed gas from the canister into an underlying beer keg, whereupon beer is dispensed through a dispensing conduit.
Today in 1983, US Patent 4406301 A was issued, an invention of Vincent J. Cerrato, for his “Keg-Tapping Structure.” Here’s the Abstract:
The invention contemplates removable structure to facilitate keg-tapping, and pressurized dispensing of liquid contents of the keg. A so-called Barnes neck forms part of the keg and has a bore with an elastomeric ring seal and flange at its lower end, and a valve-and-tube subassembly is inserted through the neck, to the point of valve-body compression of the seal, when secured by a removable retaining ring. In the course of such insertion, one or more radially inward lugs on the neck flange track corresponding slot formations in the subassembly. Each such slot formation has a first upward longitudinal course, leading to an angular bayonet-like offset course, and then to a second upward longitudinal course. The location of the angular offset is such that the valve body cannot compressionally load the seal ring in the absence of the partial rotation needed to develop lug alignment with the second upward longitudinal course.
Today in 1906, US Patent 831635 A was issued, an invention of Joseph Strunce, for his “Beer Pipe Cleaner.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in an apparatus to be used for cleaning pipes, and while it is more especially intended to be employed for cleaning beer-pipes, such as are used for drawing beer from kegs, casks, or vessels, yet it is applicable for cleaning pipes used for other purposes; and it consists in certain peculiarities of the construction, novel arrangements, and operation of the various parts thereof, as will be hereinafter more fully set forth and specifically claimed.
Today in 1903, US Patent 739595 A was issued, an invention of Hugo Fluegge, for his “Cooling Apparatus For Liquids.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:
My invention relates to cooling apparatus for liquids; and the object of my invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which the carbonic-acid gas used in an apparatus for supplying beer or other similar liquids under gaseous pressure can at the same time be also used for the purpose of cooling `the liquid to be served out, this device therefore doing away with the necessity of cooling the liquid by means of ice, as hitherto was usually the case.
The principal feature of my cooling apparatus is the arrangement of a spiral pipe, which is securely fixed within a chamber containing water or other similar fluid. The carbonic-acid gas which flows through this spiral pipe cools the water surrounding the pipe to such an extent that it begins to freeze. Consequently the liquid to be served out, which is contained in air-tight glass cylinders and which are surrounded by the freezing water, can be cooled in this manner to any required degree.
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.
