GB2391855A

GB2391855A - Beer dispensing apparatus having an illuminated source mounted on or in the handle

Info

Publication number: GB2391855A
Application number: GB0217773A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Gordon Potts
Original assignee: SCOTTISH COURAGE Ltd
Current assignee: SCOTTISH COURAGE Ltd
Priority date: 2002-07-31
Filing date: 2002-07-31
Publication date: 2004-02-18
Anticipated expiration: 2022-07-31
Also published as: GB0217773D0; GB2391855B

Abstract

A handpull 1 for dispensing beer comprises a pump device 6, a handle 2 mounted by means of a quadrant 5 to a bar and an illumination source 9 mounted on a badge holder 8 or within the handle 2. The handle 2 and quadrant 5 are rotatable to operate the pump device 6 to pump beverage to an outlet 7 of the handpull 1. An electrical cable 10 is routed downwards in the interior of the handle 2 and through bore (43 ,Fig3) into the interior of quadrant 5. The cable then exits quadrant 5 through an aperture (42,Fig3) and connects the illuminating source 9 to an external power supply.

Description

1 - Dispensing Apparatus The present invention relates to an improved beer

dispensing apparatus. In particular, the present 5 invention provides means for incorporating an illumination source on or in the handle of a traditional beer pump for dispensing beverages such as draught beers and means for connecting said illumination source to an electrical supply.

10 It is known that a large proportion of drinks consumers make a choice of brand while at the bar. It is therefore of prime concern to retailers to advertise their particular brand as boldly as possible in order to obtain an advantage over their 15 competitors. Draught beers are served using a traditional handpull which is connected to a 'beer engine' that pumps the otherwise unpressurized supply of beer. Handpulls for beer engines traditionally have a two dimensional printed badge mounted on the handle 20 to indicate the brand. In contrast, lagers and keg beers are commonly served through illuminated fonts connected to a pressurized supply of beverage. By illuminating the fonts the visibility of the brand is increased, putting draught beers at a major 25 disadvantage. The present invention aims to provide a draught beer pump which retains the desirable characteristics of a traditional handpull and also has an illuminated display to increase the visibility of the brand.

30 However, the manufacture of a handpull with these characteristics presents a number of problems as the method by which draught beers are dispensed is very different to that used for lagers and keg beers.

Lagers and keg beers are supplied through 35 pressurized lines and as a result dispensing them is simply a matter of opening a tap to start the flow and closing a tap to stop the flow. For this reason they

- 2 - are usually dispensed through fonts, generally T-bar arrangements carrying two or more taps or brands.

Since the primary purpose of the T-bar is to provide a fixed support from which the taps are mounted having 5 an illuminated display is simply a matter of providing an electrical supply to the stationary and fixed structure of the T-bar or other type of font.

However, the apparatus used to dispense draught beers, a traditional handpull, does not remain 10 stationary during operation but must be repeatedly pumped in order to operate the beer engine to draw beer up to the dispensing point. Due to the repeated movement of the pump handle and the large angular range of movement of the pump handle, supplying power 15 is not straight forward. A further problem is that handpulls for draught beers traditionally do not include any stationary structure above the level of the bar - to do so would reduce the number of dispense points that could be installed.

20 Accordingly, the present invention provides a handpull for dispensing a beverage such as beer, wherein the handpull comprises a pump device, a handle mounted by means of a quadrant, in use, to a bar or similar structure, and an illumination source mounted 25 on or in said handle, said handle and quadrant being rotatable to operate the pump device to pump beverage to an outlet of the handpull, wherein said handpull further comprises a cable 30 for electrically connecting said illumination source to a power supply external to said handpull, wherein said cable is routed between said external power supply and said handle via an interior of said quadrant. 35 Preferably, the cable is flexible and fatigue resistant. The cable has a minimum bending radius of between

3 - 5 and 10 times the cable diameter. Preferably, the cable has a minimum bending radius of approximately 7.5 times the cable diameter. In one embodiment the cable is a twisted pair data transmission cable with S copper screen braiding and a polyurethane outer sheath. Preferably, the quadrant comprises a first end which is received in a lower end of said handle, and wherein said first end comprises a first aperture 10 through which the cable passes.

Preferably, the quadrant comprises a second aperture through which the cable passes.

Preferably, the second aperture lies substantially vertically underneath the first aperture 15 when the handpull is in an inoperative position.

Preferably, the quadrant is arcuate.

Preferably, the second aperture is an a concave lateral face of said quadrant.

Preferably said cable is formed into a serpentine 20 arrangement between the quadrant and the external power supply when the handpull is in an inoperative position. Preferably, the illumination source forms part of a badge holder.

25 Alternatively, the illumination source is housed in said handle.

An embodiment of a handpull constructed in accordance with the present invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to 30 the accompanying drawings, in which: Figure 1 is a schematic cross sectional view of a handpull in accordance with the present invention; Figure 2 is a side view of a quadrant of the 35 handpull of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a cross-sectional view of the quadrant of Figure 2.

À 4 The handpull, shown generally at 1, comprises a handle 2, a badge holder 8, a quadrant 5, a beer engine 6 and an outlet pipe 7.

The handle 2 has a generally elongate hollow body 5 25 typically formed from either a metal or porcelain casting or moulding. An upper end 26 of the handle 2 is shaped to provide a comfortable surface for gripping by the hand of a user. A lower end 27 of the handle 2 is shaped and dimensioned to form a flush fit 10 with the bar when the handpull is in an inoperative position with the handle 2 aligned vertically An upper plinth loop 3 is mounted in the handle to which is fixed an elongate strengthening bar 28 which extends upwardly towards the upper end 26 of the 15 handle 2. A lower plinth loop 4 is also mounted in the handle towards the lower end 27 to which is mounted the quadrant 5 as will be described below.

The handpull 1 is mounted to a bar or similar surface by means of a bracket 20. The bracket 20 is 20 fixed by means of bolts or similar to the rigid structure of the bar.

The quadrant 5, shown in detail in Figures 2 and 3, comprises an arcuate, substantially hollow elongate body 22 partially enclosing a void space 40. The body 25 22 comprises a first aperture 21 located at one end.

The quadrant 5 is pivotally mounted to the bracket 20 by means of a pivot pin 29 which is connected to the bracket 20 and passes through aperture 21 such that the quadrant 5 is rotatable relative to the bar. The 30 opposite end 23 of the arcuate body 22, which comprises an elongated projection, projects upwardly through an aperture 24 in the bar. The end 23 is received inside the handle 2 and is rigidly mounted to the lower plinth loop 4. The end 23 comprises a bore 35 43 which communicates between the void space 40 and the interior of the handle 2. A second aperture 32 is provided in the quadrant 5 located roughly midway

Àe À A: Àe be: À:.:. Àe À.e À-e e:: - 5 along the arcuate body 22. A third aperture 41 is provided in a lower surface of the quadrant 5 in proximity to second aperture 32. The third aperture 41 is generally rectangular in shape and accommodates 5 movement of the beer engine 6 during operation. A fourth aperture 42 is provided on the concave lateral surface 44 of the quadrant 5. The fourth aperture 42 is again generally rectangular in shape and communicates with the void space 40 and lies 10 vertically underneath the bore 43 when the handpull 1 is in an inoperative position.

The beer engine 6 comprises a pump body 30 and piston rod 15 which extends therefrom. The beer engine 6 is of conventional design an is connected to 15 the outlet pipe 7 in a conventional manner. The piston rod 15 is pivotally connected to the quadrant 5 by means of a pivot pin 31 which passes through aperture 32.

The badge holder 8, comprising an illuminated 20 display 9, is attached to the handle 2 at a point substantially midway between the lower plinth loop 4 and the top of the handle 2 and typically pointing in a direction away from the outlet pipe 7, i.e. in the direction of the consumer stood at the other side of 25 the bar counter.

In the embodiment of the present invention shown in Figure 1 illumination of the display 9 is provided by a plurality of LEDs 12 powered by a low voltage direct current (DC) supply. However, it is envisaged 30 that the illumination could be provided by a number of different means, for example by a low voltage fluorescent or halogen lamp or similar. If desired the illumination could also be supplied using an alternating current (AC) supply powering a light 35 source.

According to the present invention, electrical power is supplied to the illuminated display 9 via an

- 6 - electrical cable 10 running between the badge holder 8 and an exterior of the handpull 1. The electrical cable 10 supplying power to the illuminated display 9 is internally routed through the handle 2 to protect 5 it from damage during operation, for example as caused by ingress of moisture or abrasion. The cable 10 is routed from the badge holder 8 through an aperture (not shown) in the side of the handle 2 and through an aperture in the upper plinth loop 3. The cable 10 is 10 then routed downwards in the interior of the handle 2 and into and through the bore 43 and into the void space 40 of the quadrant 5. The cable then exits the quadrant 5 through the fourth aperture 42 where it is routed to the electrical supply. On exiting the 15 fourth aperture 42 the cable 10 is formed into a serpentine loop arrangement 13. The loop or loops 13 ensures that the cable 10 does not restrict movement of the quadrant 5 as it is operated.

The cable 10 is subject to substantial degrees of 20 flexure during operation. It has been found that one type of cable which is suitable is a twisted pair data transmission cable with copper screen braiding and a polyurethane outer sheath. One type of such cable is the Unitronic FD-CP (TP) cable available from Oskar 25 Lapp Ltd. (London, United Kingdom). The cable 10 should have a minimum bending radius of between 5 and 10 times the cable diameter, preferably approximately 7.5 times the cable diameter.

To operate the handpull 1, the handle 2 is pulled 30 back in a direction towards the outlet pipe 7 and then pushed forward to its original position. The motion of the handle 2 is controlled by the generally arcuate quadrant 5 which is pivotally mounted to the bracket 20. The method by which draught beer is dispensed 35 using a handpull usually dictates that to pour each pint a number of strokes of the handle 2 must be made.

The present invention has been described by way

- 7 - of example for the purposes of illuminating a badge holder 8. However, other utilizations of the invention may be made. For example, the illumination source may be located within the handle 2, rather than 5 being externally attached, as shown in Figure 1. The handle 2 may then itself be illuminated by making the handle 2 partially or wholly translucent or transparent, for the purposes of increasing the visibility of the handpull 1. It is envisaged that 10 substantially the whole handle or selected portions of the handle may be lit and that the illumination may be used for the display of a brand.

In another alternative the illumination source may take the form of a liquid crystal display (LCD) 15 located within the handle 2 or the badge holder 8

Claims

- 8 - CLAIMS

1. A handpull for dispensing a beverage such as beer, wherein the handpull comprises a pump device, a 5 handle mounted by means of a quadrant, in use, to a bar or similar structure, and an illumination source mounted on or in said handle, said handle and quadrant being rotatable to operate the pump device to pump beverage to an outlet 10 of the handpull, wherein said handpull further comprises a cable for electrically connecting said illumination source to a power supply external to said handpull, wherein said cable is routed between said external power 15 supply and said handle via an interior of said quadrant.

2. A handpull as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cable is flexible and fatigue resistant.

3. A handpull as claimed in claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the cable has a minimum bending radius of between 5 and 10 times the cable diameter.

25

4. A handpull as claimed in claim 3 wherein the cable has a minimum bending radius of approximately 7.5 times the cable diameter.

5. A handpull as claimed in any preceding claim 30 wherein the cable is a twisted pair data transmission cable with copper screen braiding and a polyurethane outer sheath.

6. A handpull as claimed in any preceding claim 35 wherein the quadrant comprises a first end which is received in a lower end of said handle, and wherein said first end comprises a first aperture through

- 9 - which the cable passes.

7. A handpull as claimed in claim 6 wherein the quadrant comprises a second aperture through which the 5 cable passes.

8. A handpull as claimed in claim 7 wherein the second aperture lies substantially vertically underneath the first aperture when the handpull is in 10 an inoperative position.

9. A handpull as claimed in claim 8 wherein the quadrant is arcuate.

15

10. A handpull as claimed in claim 9 wherein the second aperture is an a concave lateral face of said quadrant.

11. A handpull as claimed in any preceding claim 20 wherein said cable is formed into a serpentine arrangement between the quadrant and the external power supply when the handpull is in an inoperative position. 25

12. A handpull as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the illumination source forms part of a badge holder.

13. A handpull as claimed in any claims 1 to 11, 30 wherein the illumination source is housed in said handle.

14. A handpull substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to or as shown in the 35 accompanying drawings.