Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 489388A: Attachment For Bar-Room Counters

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Today in 1893, US Patent 489388 A was issued, an invention of John McNaney, for his “Attachment for Bar-Room Counters.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to improvements in attachments for bar room counters; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of parts which will be fully described hereinafter and particularly referred to in the claims.

The object of my invention is to provide an attachment for counters of bar rooms, which comprises a trough or gutter that is placed upon the floor of the room immediately at the lower front edge of the counter to receive tobacco, spit, beer and other slop which occurs in a bar room, and to provide a hollow foot piece which is capable of a partial rotation and provided with a slot through which water can flow into the said trough for cleaning it out, and be turned with the slot down to dislodge all slop accumulated in the said pipe, and to connect this hollow foot piece or rail with a water main or with a tank, whereby the trough and the pipe can be flushed or cleaned by a flow of water under the control of the bar tender.

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Patent No. 2536927A: Hop-Picking Machine

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Today in 1951, US Patent 2536927 A was issued, an invention of Porter E. Griswold, for his “Hop-Picking Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to a machine especially designed for use in the hop-picking industry for stemming hop clusters.

Hops are generally grown on trellises from sixteen to twenty feet high, the vines being trained over these trellises. In picking by machinery, the vine stalks are out about four feet from the ground and passed through the hop-picking machine, the hops being removed mechanically from the vines during the traverse of the latter through the machine. Some of the hops are removed from the vine -in the form of clusters or bouquets, such clusters having more or less of the stems or small branches, which are undesirable in the finished product, and it is necessary to pull these clusters apart to free the hops from this trash.

The object of the present invention is to design a simple, practical machine of large capacity for this work..

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention, one-half of the outer casing being broken away to show the inner stemming centrifugal cone. Fig. 2 is a side elevation in partial section of the invention. Fig. 3 is a detail of the cooperating series of outer and inner, or stationary and movable, pickers.

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Patent No. 1013505A: Hop-Cluster Stemmer

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Today in 1912, US Patent 1013505 A was issued, an invention of George E Miller, for his “Hop-Cluster Stemmer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to a machine especially designed for use in the hop-picking industry for stemming hop clusters.

Hops are generally grown on trellises from sixteen to twenty feet high, the vines being trained over these trellises. In picking by machinery, the vine stalks are out about four feet from the ground and passed through the hop-picking machine, the hops being removed mechanically from the vines during the traverse of the latter through the machine. Some of the hops are removed from the vine -in the form of clusters or bouquets, such clusters having more or less of the stems or small branches, which are undesirable in the finished product, and it is necessary to pull these clusters apart to free the hops from this trash.

The object of the present invention is to design a simple, practical machine of large capacity for this work..

The invention consists of the parts and the construction and combination of parts as hereinafter more fully described and claimed, having reference to the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a plan view of the invention, one-half of the outer casing being broken away to show the inner stemming centrifugal cone. Fig. 2 is a side elevation in partial section of the invention. Fig. 3 is a detail of the cooperating series of outer and inner, or stationary and movable, pickers.

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Patent No. 3071403A: Crowned Bottle Rejection Pin For Bottle Pick Up Apparatus

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Today in 1963, US Patent 3071403A was issued, an invention of William J. Hohenstein and Helmut W. Preu, assigned to Schaefer Brewing Co., for their “Crowned Bottle Rejection Pin For Bottle Pick Up Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The present invention relates to a crowned bottle rejection pin for use on apparatus which picks up empty bottles for moving them from place to place.

A conventional apparatus for removing empty bottles, such as beer bottles or the like, from cases for transferring them to a conveyer for movement into a washing machine, has a plurality of heads thereon which have an expandable rubber sleeve within them. The heads are connected to a source of compressed air so that when the heads are lowered over the tops of the bottles in a case of empty bottles, the compressed air is fed to the heads and it expands the rubber sleeves around the tops of the bottles. The apparatus is then operated to lift the empty bottles from the case or the like and move them to a conveyer.

It often occurs, however, that caps or crowns will be placed on the tops of the bottles after they are empty, and when the heads on the bottle removing apparatus move down around the tops of the empty bottles, they will pick up the crown as well as the empty bottle and transport it to the conveyer to the washing machine. The crown will remain on the bottle in the washing machine and prevent a brush spindle which cleans the inside of the bottle as well as the rinsing tube from entering the bottle. This malfunction results in the spindles and rinse tubes being bent out of shape, requiring a thirty to fifty minute shutdown of the machine to replace the bent parts.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a pin which can be placed within the heads on the bottle removing apparatus which will prevent the head from picking up an empty bottle which has a crown thereon, yet which will not prevent the head from picking up a bottle without such a crown thereon.

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Patent No. 3071469A: Process In The Manufacture Of Beer

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Today in 1963, US Patent 2226813 A was issued, an invention of Erik Krabbe and Kenneth W. Wendt, assigned to Miller Brewing, for his “Process in the Manufacture of Beer and the Like.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The present invention relates to an improved process and apparatus for the manufacture of beer and the like and includes among its objects the provision of improved apparatus for aging and finishing of beer and fermented beverages, and of improved procedures for accomplishing the same.

The present invention contemplates a number of embodiments, including installations for the conversion of existing tank storage facilities to a system of continuous flow aging and without undue modification thereof. Other embodiments provide disclosures of relatively more economical construction for use in new installations, and which provide similar desirable results in the end product.

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Patent No. PP24125P3: Hop Plant Named ‘HBC 369’

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Today in 2013, US Patent PP24125 P3 was issued, an invention of Eugene G. Probasco and Jason Perrault, assigned to the Hop Breeding Company, LLC., for their “Hop Plant Named ‘HBC 369.’” Here’s the Abstract:

A new hop plant named ‘HBC 369’ is disclosed. The cones of ‘HBC 369’ mature in mid September, and yield a crop of 1600 to 2000 pounds per acre. ‘HBC 369’ is used for its unique aromatic quality, resistance to powdery mildew, high alpha acid content and exceptional yield.

HBC 369 was recently given a name, and it’s probably one you’re familiar with: Mosaic. Mosaic, nee HBC 369, has quickly become a very popular hop variety. The Hop Breeding Company has more info about Mosaic at their website, and co-inventor Gene Probasco gave a presentation at an MBAA meeting in 2012. This how Yakima Chief describes it. “Mosaic™ Brand HBC 369 cv is a daughter of the YCR 14 cv hop variety and a Nugget derived male. It has high alpha acids and tropical, blueberry, tangerine, floral, and earthy aromas.” But alert readers might notice that Hop HBC 369 was patented before, on November 22, 2012. As far as I can tell, they look identical, but perhaps the newer one supersedes the older filing, perhaps correcting some information. But it certainly seems strange that it was patented twice, with the only mention of the duplication being one line in the newer application: “Also published as US20120297512.” But I’m still not sure why that would be the case.

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Patent No. 2226813A: Hop Picking Machine

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Today in 1940, US Patent 2226813 A was issued, an invention of Charles John Gray, assigned to Guinness Son & Co. Ltd., for his “Hop Picking Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

In this machine, although a number of hops are successfully separated from the bine, some of them are not so successfully separated, as they are either detached in clusters or singly, upon the short stalks or stems by which they were originally attached to the bine.

It has been proposed to provide a machine of this kind with an endless screen, or wire mesh, having its respective ends passed around drums which serve to support it, and which drums are suitably driven to in turn drive the screen.

In this proposed arrangement, the wire mesh screen has been so arranged as to permit all the properly picked hops to fall down through it whilst retaining upon its upper surface any hop bearing stalk or stem portions and carrying them beneath fingers, between which and the screen such relative movement takes place as will cause said fingers to, in effect, sweep said screen in a longitudinal direction, and, in so doing, cause the hops to be caught up against the sides of the mesh openings of the screen and so become detached in this manner from the stalks, or in some cases the fingers directly detach them.

The short stalks or stems from which the hops 35 are separated as just described, are carried along by the screen until they fall off it as it passes around one of the screen carrying drums. Leaves also fall through the mesh with completely picked hops, and are subsequently separated in any suitable manner from these hops. The arrangement just described has been found to be open to the objection that all the hops are not detached from the aforesaid short stalk or stem portions.

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Patent No. 2623672A: Beer Jetter

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Today in 1952, US Patent 2623672 A was issued, an invention of James H O’Neil, assigned to the Continental Can Co., for his “Beer Jetter.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The invention relates to new and useful improvements in a method of packaging beer in containers and more particularly in open top cans. The elimination of air from the head space of the container before sealing is recognized as desirable. Many expedients have been proposed and utilized for this purpose, including the directing of a jet of inert gas into the beer beneath the surface thereof through a nozzle submerged in the beer in an open top can for causing foam to ll the head space and force the air therefrom. The wide open mouth of the open top can presents difficulties when attempts are made to direct a jet of inert gas into the beer from a point above the surface of the beer, because the jetted stream entrains surrounding air which is driven into the beer along with the inert gas causing an excessive amount of air to be entrapped in the beer and foam. Also, the velocity of the jet must be controlled to avoid blowing the foam from the surface of the beer thereby causing excessive foaming and Waste of beer.

An object of the invention is to provide a method of directing inert gas into an open top can partially filled with a gas containing beverage which includes the step of first covering the mouth of the can so as to provide a closed head space with a vent opening leading to the atmosphere and then directing a jet of inert gas through the closed head space at a point above the surface of the beer at a velocity sufficient to cause the gas to penetrate the surface of the beer for causing the beer to foam and iill the head space with foam.

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Patent No. 717493A: Wort-Cooler

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Today in 1902, US Patent 717493 A was issued, an invention of Albert Zeiger, for his “Wort-Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to an apparatus for cooling wort as it comes from the kettles in the brewery; and it embodies certain novel features of construction and arrangement of parts which enables it to be used not only as a wort-cooler, but as a strainer to remove the hops from the wort, thus permitting the wort to be run directly from the cooler into the fermenting-room and dispensing with the necessity of the hopper-jack, which has heretofore been used.

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Patent No. 3550818A: Keg Tapping Device

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Today in 1970, US Patent 3550818 A was issued, an invention of Mack S. Johnston, for his “Keg Tapping Device.” Here’s the Abstract:

Disclosed is a keg adapter having a siphon body receivable through the opening of a keg and a retainer nut within the keg. The siphon body has liquid and gas passages extending longitudinally of the keg adapter terminating at their upper ends in a pair of bores disposed eccentrically of the axis of the opening. The gas passage terminates intermediate the ends of the siphon body in a lateral opening. The retainer nut has a central opening for receiving the lower portion of the siphon body and an annular recess for communication with the lateral siphon body opening, the recess communicating through a bore in the nut into the keg. A coupler unit having a pair of depending probes is engageable with the keg adapter with the probes being receivable in the bore holes in the siphon body. A liquid valve is disposed in the liquid passage and the lower end of the liquid probe engages an axially moveable member engageable with the valve to open the latter, permitting egress of liquid from the keg through the keg adapter and coupler unit. A flexible envelope having a slit is provided on the lower end of the retainer nut in communication with the bore therethrough to permit ingress of gas through the coupler unit and keg adapter into the keg. The body of the keg adapter is hexagonal as to be receivable within the head of a wrench.

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