Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 3394647A: Apparatus For The Production Of Wort

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Today in 1968, US Patent 3394647 A was issued, an invention of Fritz Reiter, for his “Apparatus For the Production of Wort.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

In an apparatus for the production of wort, a filter drum for the separation of the wort from the spent grains comprises suction means to draw the wort into the drum and means cutting the cake of spent grains accumulating on the periphery of the drum, while it is being sparged, into small readily extracted pieces.

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Patent No. 2009382A: Beer Filter

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Today in 1935, US Patent 2009382 A was issued, an invention of George Blaufuss, for his beer “Filter.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The object of the present invention is to generally improve and simplify the construction and operation of filters of the character described; to provide a filter in which a filtering medium such as diatomaceous earth, or the like, is used and applied to the surface of a cylinder to form a thick filter cake through which the liquid to be filtered must pass; to provide means for continuously removing impurities collected on the surface of the filter cake and also a portion of the filter cake so as to gradually decrease the thickness of the cake; and further, to provide means for continuously discharging the impurities and material removed from the surface of the filter cake.

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Patent No. 3897569A: Malting

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Today in 1975, US Patent 3897569 A was issued, an invention of Ronald Horgan, for his “Malting.” Here’s the Abstract:

An improved malting process comprises the steps of steeping barley or other cereal grain to initiate germination thereof, subjecting the germinated grain to a treatment to restrict further growth and respiration of the grain, and malting the grain in a relatively short period. The treatment may be a mechanical treatment such as pumping the grain in water, or it may be a temperature or chemical treatment. The subsequent malting may be carried out at a temperature between 20 DEG and 40 DEG C and the malting period is less than 48 hours.

malt-shots

Patent No. 2845196A: Bottle Crates

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Today in 1958, US Patent 2845196 A was issued, an invention of Percy Charles Brett and Cecil Roy Brett, for their “Bottle Crates.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to bottle crates such as crates for beer bottles, .and has for its object to provide a crate without criss-cross partitions which divide the box into individual bottle compartments, but one which nevertheless will retain the bottles snugly in position and will prevent the bottles accidentally falling out should the crate assume an inclined position. By obviating the partitions a crate can be made much smaller in overall dimensions as compared with a partitioned crate for the same number of bottles, and expense is reduced while the space occupied during storage and transit is also considerably reduced.

According to the invention a crate comprises an open topped rectangular box having no compartments for individual bottles and having a main elongated retaining ledge on the respective inside faces of the walls and extending from end to end thereof, said retaining ledge lying parallel to the bottom and open top of the crate and located at the height of the shoulder of the bottles for which the crate is designed. A central partition may be provided spanning opposite walls in combination with retaining ledges also parallel to the bottom and open top of the crate at the same height as the main retaining ledge. For example the central partition in one form terminates upwardly above the level of the retaining ledges and is provided with a hand-grip hole above said level, and the central retaining ledges are strip-s secured respectively to the faces of the partition. The ledges may be formed by strips of half-round section wood or the like secured by their fiat faces to their respective walls.

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Patent No. 433015A: Vent Bung And Bushing

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Today in 1890, US Patent 433015 A was issued, an invention of John Meyer, for his “Vent Bung and Bushing.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to bungs and vents, and is particularly intended for kegs and casks for beer, ale, and similar liquors, but is of course applicable to all vessels for storing liquids. Its object is to provide a vent-bung, which will at all times prevent the escape of gases from the vessel and preclude the admission of air, except when it is necessary to induce a flow of the liquid from the faucet of the vessel, which Vent will require no attention after the keg is filled and vent-bung inserted until it again be necessary to fill the vessel.

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Patent No. 2291367A: Device For Warming And Reconditioning Beer

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Today in 1942, US Patent 2291367 A was issued, an invention of Albert A. Bezosky, for his “Device For Warming and Reconditioning Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to a device designed for reconditioning stale beer, or beer which has become flat or too cold for immediate consumption.

An important object of the invention is to provide a device of this character which may be used primarily by bartenders, and one which is of the electrical portable type which may be readily and easily immersed in a glass of beer, by the bartender, thereby replacing the head on the beer, or tempering it to render the beer exceptionally palatable.

An apparatus for treating liquid by submersion, comprising a body of pistol-like construction, electric wires extending through the body and terminating in a socket at one end of the body, said body including a handle extended at right angles with respect to the body, an electric plug adapted to be fitted in the socket, resistance wires extending from the plug and disposed in parallel relation with the handle, said resistance wires being in circuit with the wires extending through the body, and said resistance wires being formed into a loop at the free end thereof.

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Patent No. 456872A: Process Of Manufacturing Malt

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Today in 1891, US Patent 456872 A was issued, an invention of Frederick W. Wiesebrock, for his “Process of Manufacturing Malt.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

It is the purpose of my invention to provide a novel process for the manufacture of malt to be used in the production of fermented liquors, said process being of such a character that it may be practiced at all seasons of the year. It is my purpose, also, to materially cheapen the production of malt, to render the same independent of skilled labor, and to produce more uniform and better results than have been attainable heretofore.

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Patent No. 2325309A: Process Of Capping Bottles

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Today in 1943, US Patent 2325309 A was issued, an invention of Jan De Swart, for his “Process of Capping Bottles.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention has to do with sealing caps for bottles and the like, as well as bottle sealing methods.

In its more particular contemplates a hard and substantially non-flexible plastic cap which is so constructed, of a plastic capable of being rendered temporarily pliable and remolded, as to be applied in sealing relationship to a bottle without injury to the cap and which not only is capable of sealing the bottle against substantial pressures but which also compensates for the cold flow characteristics prevalent in most plastics.

I am aware that attempts have been made to produce a successful thermoplastic bottle cap but so far as I am aware, no such cap has been produced which is capable of general use to cap bottles containing fluids such as carbonated beverages, beer or the like. Such prior caps have been incapable of maintaining an effective seal where substantial pressures are generated in the bottle; and have been incapable of withstanding the temperatures incident to pasteurization processes. For instance, pasteurization processes commonly utilize temperatures of the order of 160 produced do not maintain a seal under such conditions. Another shortcoming of prior caps has been the fact that they fail to maintain an effective seal after the plastics of which the caps are made have undergone the normal cold flow.

It is among the aims of my invention to overcome those shortcomings and, generally speaking, I accomplish this by providing a cap preformed of a cold-setting plastic capable of being rendered temporarily pliable and then reformed and re-hardened about the neck of a bottle. An important characteristic of my improved cap resides in the fact that its side Wall presents a peripheral bead of relatively thick cross-section and having a. relatively low setting rate which, after being temporarily softened, is remolded to aspects, my invention the contour of the external marginal bead forming a part of the conventional beer or carbonated beverage bottle. This bead portion undergoes cap into sealing relationship with the neck or more and thermoplastic caps heretofore l the provision of a plastic cap having a construction which provides a double seal.

Another object is the provision of a cap having a guiding formation to guide it onto a bottle during capping.

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Patent No. 1348139A: Stem Picker

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Today in 1920, US Patent 1348139 A was issued, an invention of Horst Emil Clemens, for his “Stem Picker.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to a stem picker and especially to a machine for separating stems from hops and the like.

Picking of hops by machinery is resorted to at the present time in several of the larger hop; growing districts and is becoming more and more a necessity due to the scarcity of labor and troubles connected therewith. Hops picked in this manner contain a considerable quantity of leaves and stems and other foreign matter, the major portion of which are removed by separators of various types. It happens however that while the leaves are comparatively easily removed that there still remains a considerable quantity of stems and it is the purpose of the present invention to provide a machine which is particularly adapted for removing the stems. The invention briefly stated involves a longitudinally extending inclined draper belt from the surface of which projects the hops, from which it is series of pins are delivered desired to remove the stems, to one end of this draper belt and will, during the travel of said belt, tend to roll off the belt and to a conveyer which removes them from the stem picking machine, stems` and other similar material being hung up on the pins and later removed as will hereinafter be described.

The invention also involves a mechanism for maintaining the draper in a state of continuous vibration thereby insuring a perfect removal of the hops deposited thereon While in no way impairing the action of the stem separating mechanism.

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Patent No. 2124959A: Method Of Filling And Closing Cans

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Today in 1938, US Patent 2124959 A was issued, an invention of William Martin Vogel, for his “Method Of Filling And Closing Cans.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to cans and a method of making and filling the same, and has for its object the provision of means whereby a maximum quantity of air may be evacuated from the can prior to the sealing operation.

At the present time beer is being packed in cans and one of the greatest difficulties encountered is that of completely or at least nearly completely evacuating the maximum quantity of air from the can. The failure to uniformly evacuate the air results in lack of uniformity of the contents of the can. In some cases an opened can produces beer of a decidedly fiat appearance and taste; while in other cases, an extremely frothy, aerated fluid emanates. Experiments have shown that this lack of uniformity in canned beer is apparently due to the failure to eliminate or evacuate the greatest possible amount of air from the can during or after the filling operation, and prior to the sealing of the can.

The primary object therefore, of this invention, is to provide a can of such a construction, together with a method of filling and sealing such a can, which will eliminate the maximum quantity of air from the can, thereby completely, or nearly completely, filling the can with the liquid contents only. More particularly, the invention contemplates the provision of a can initially formed with an outwardly distended or dished bottom,

arranged to be reversely curved or distorted under pressure after the can is filled, thereby causing the liquid contents of the can to be bodily shifted toward the top of ‘the can, causing said contents to displace and eject the air out of the can just prior to the sealing of the top of the can.

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