Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 1957083A: Apparatus For Dispensing Beer

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Today in 1934, US Patent 1957083 A was issued, an invention of Frank Schneible, for his “Apparatus for Dispensing Beer and the Like.” There’s no Abstract, but the description tries to explain it, though I’ll leave it up to you if it makes a great deal of sense as described:

In another application oF the present applicant for Letters Patent of the United States for a beverage cooling apparatus, Serial No. 674,823 filed June 8, 1933, there was shown and described an apparatus particularly designed to meet the peculiar conditions which arise in the dispensing of fermented malt liquors, such as beer, in the dispensing of which conditions or” temperature and pressure must be regulated carefully. ln the apparatus so shown and described provision was for final regulation of temperature and flow in a final cooling chamber in which the beer passes on its way to the dispensing faucet through a coil or a container surrounded by a cooling medium, such as a cold brine. It has been found that some advantages reside in the use of a container, that is, as distinguished from a coil, a vessel in which there can be held a more substantial volume of the beverage to be dispensed than can be held in a cooling coil or pipe. it has therefore been the object of the present invention to devise a beverage cooling container in which it shall be possible to cool and store for a considerable period or” time a quantity of beer on its way to the dispensing faucet without any deleterious effects on the beer and by the operation of which flow or” beer can be regulated to meet the requirements of consumption and temperature. In accordance with the invention there is provided an outer shell or vessel, preferably of metal, which can be opened readily for inspection and cleaning, and an inner vessel, preferably of porcelain or glass, into which the beer is delivered from the keg or barrel, which is the source of supply, through a narrow space which separates the inner container from the outer shell and in which the beer, on its way to the inner container, is cooled through contact with the inner wall of the outer shell or vessel which is itself surrounded by the brine or other cooling medium employed. The inner container is supported within the outer shell in such manner that it may rise or fall with variation in its contents and in rising or falling may regulate the inflow of beer from the source of supply in accordance with the demands of consumption.

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Patent No. 382023A: Beer-Bottling Machine

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Today in 1888, US Patent 382023 A was issued, an invention of John C. Bauee, for his “Beer-Bottling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that his “invention relates to improvements in machines for filling bottles with beer or other effervescent liquid; and it consists, generally, in an automatic cut-off valve which is opened by the bottle as it is brought in contact with it, and the liquid is allowed to pass into the bottle without being exposed to the atmosphere, thereby retaining the gases which would otherwise pass off and deteriorate the liquid, and be closed and the flow of the liquid stopped when the bottle is removed.”
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Patent No. 5011037A: Container End Member

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Today in 1991, US Patent 5011037 A was issued, an invention of Bruce A. Moen and Harold Cook, Jr., assigned to the Adolph Coors Company, for their “Container End Member.” This may win the prize for worst name. I understand that for industry, specific names are necessary for use in reducing confusion by the use of such jargon. For example, while the general public calls what holds a bottle sealed is a bottle cap, but within the industry it’s known as a crown. But calling the can top where it’s opened a “container end” actually seems more vague, although perhaps that really is the industry term. Anyway, here’s the Abstract:

A container end member is provided and has a first severable tab portion which is defined by a score line groove and has an integral hinge portion for permanently securing it to the container end member and a force applying tab portion permanently pivotally mounted on the container end member and used to apply a force on the first severable tab portion to form a pour opening in the container end member and a second severable tab portion having an integral hinge portion for permanently securing it to the container end member and having a raised surface projecting outwardly from the container end member so that a force may be applied thereto to sever the second severable tab portion and form a vent opening in the container end member.

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Patent No. 3807463A: Apparatus For Filling Beer Cans

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Today in 1974, US Patent 3807463 A was issued, an invention of W. Heckmann, H. Jordan, U. Knabe, K. Plock, K. Quest, F. Rademacher, and D. Unger, assigned to Holstein & Kappert Maschf, for their “Apparatus for Filling Beer Cans or the Like.” Here’s the Abstract:

The filling devices in an apparatus which fills beer cans orbit about a vertical axis and have upright housings supporting cylindrical centering members which carry deformable gaskets for the mouths of cans. Such canes are supported by a conveyor which orbits with the filling devices and is movable up and down or is held against vertical movement during rotation with the filling devices. The introduction of liquid into the cans takes place subsequent to introduction of a compressed gas, and such gas can be used to bias the gaskets against the mouths of cans during filling. When the filling of a can is completed, the pressure in its interior is increased to facilitate separation from the respective gasket. That supply of beer which remains in a channel of the housing on closing of the beer-admitting valve can be expelled in response to expansion of gas in a chamber which receives such gas by way of the container and is sealed from the container by beer in the channel. The expansion of gas in the chamber takes place in response to opening of a valve which reduces the pressure of gas above the body of liquid in the container.

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Patent No. 1756548A: Can-Filling Machine

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Today in 1930, US Patent 1756548 A was issued, an invention of Oswald H. Hansen, for his “Can-Filling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to improvements in the construction and operation of machines for automatically measuring and for placing measured batches of fluent substances into successive receptacles while they are transported in series through the machine.”
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Patent No. 3441416A: Method Of Pelleting Hops And Then Solvent Extracting

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Today in 1969, US Patent 3441416 A was issued, an invention of Wilhelm Depmer, for his “Method of Pelleting Hops and Then Solvent Extracting.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the invention involves a “method of processing hops [that] includes conveying a mass of previously untreated hops to a compressing station, mechanically compressing the mass of hops, and simultaneously converting it into at least one rod, and thereupon subdividing the rod into individual sections or pellets of desired size which are subsequently subjected to solvent extraction.”
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Patent No. 2038939A: Method Of Making Prune Beer

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Today in 1936, US Patent 2038939 A was issued, an invention of Eberhard A. Klepper, for his “Method of Making Prune Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but the description is below, giving the objects of the invention for making prune beer. The application was filed in October of 1933, just as prohibition was scheduled to end three months later, but not issued until 1936. It’s hard to understand why anyone would have thought prune beer was a good idea at the same time that legal beer was returning after a thirteen year drought.

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A few months later, the Milwaukee Sentinel on August 16, 1936 ran a short article about prune beer.

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A San Jose newspaper on November 14, 1936 reported that a man in Hollister, California was actually trying to build a brewery to make prune beer using “sub-standard prunes” using the method described in this patent.

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I wonder if it ever opened? The last brewery in Hollister I knew about was Bill Millar’s San Andreas Brewing, which is also where Stone’s Mitch Steele got his start. They made a cranberry beer I really liked, Cranberry Noel, but not a prune beer as far I recall. Whatever the fate of prune beer, it doesn’t look like it ever really took off.

Patent No. 1094469A: Beer-Stein

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Today in 1914, US Patent 1094469 A was issued, an invention of Thomas P. Pick, for his “Beer-Stein.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to improvements in beer steins and the like and has for its object to provide a device of this character with a hinged cover which may be detached therefrom at will.”
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Patent No. 1137495A: Apparatus For Dispensing Beverages

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Today in 1915, US Patent 1137495 A was issued, an invention of Anton Landgrebe, for his “Apparatus For Dispensing Beverages.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to [a] beer apparatus and has particular reference to means for cooling and dispensing beverages and especially beer.”
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Patent No. 2115335A: Can Filling Machine

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Today in 1938, US Patent 2115335 A was issued, an invention of Samuel A. Hurst and Harrie A. Keck, for their “Can Filling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to an improvement in’ machines for filling cans and other receptacles with various kinds of materials, and more particularly to an improvement in machines for filling receptacles.”
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