US2183505A - Keg - Google Patents

Description

G. D. PEET Dec. l2, 1939.

KEG

1938 2 Sheets--Sheetv l Filed Jan. 18,

INVENTOR 7e/'afd ze BY *w #W6/WM ATTORNEYS 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 G. D. PEET KEG f Filed Jan. 123, 1938 Dec. l2, 1939.

lNvENToR @arda/j ee r/M ATTORNEYS Patented Dec. 12, 1939 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE KEG Application January 18, 1938, Serial No. 185,504

10 Claims.

My present invention is concerned with transportation beer kegs or barrels, and more especially with such kegs as are intended not only to serve as dispensing containers but also to cool and maintain the brew cool within the interior thereof by the circulation of cooling iiuid therethrough.

The keg structure of the present invention while adapted for other uses, is more especially intended for use as the keg element in the installation and method described and claimed in the prior Patent No. 2,051,013, issued August 11, 1936, to Herman E. Schulse.

Among the objects of the invention are to proi vide a keg of the above type having installed therein a cooling unit of surface area suflicient to be efficacious even with the use of water as the ycooling medium, which shall be free from the course of the racking or lling tube used in lling the keg and from that of the draft tube used in drawing therefrom, and which cooling unit is yet readily removable for inspection, without the need for partly or wholly disassembling the keg structure.

Another object is to provide a keg of the above type in which the coil though readily removable as and for the purpose indicated, is yet inherentlyso securely positioned within the keg that it is protected against injury even under the most severe conditions of mechanical shock encountered in practical use.

In the accompanying drawings in which are shown one or more of various possible embodiments of the several features of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a View in longitudinal cross-section illustrating the mode of introducing the cooling coil into the keg, y

Fig. 2 is a View in longitudinal cross-section of the completely assembled keg, showing a modiiication in the cooling coil construction,

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan View of the cooling coil shown in the embodiment of Fig. 2,

Fig. 4 is a View similar to Fig. 2 showing another modification,

a side wall i2 made of staves preventing crozesv I 3 lodging the heads and tightened thereabout by the usual keg hoops I4. The keg has the usual bung hole I5 in its bilge through which the `maintained closed by the usual bung conventional racking or filling tube (not shown) is inserted in charging the keg with beer` at the brewery, said hole being closed after filling and (not shown). In the head of the keg is illustratively "5 f shown a conventional tap bush Hi, disposed laterally of Jrhe diametral plane through bung hole I5 to accommodate a draft rod (not shown) and the conventional instrumentalities for tightening n the same in place. 10.

In the embodiment shown in Fig. 1 the upper head has a circular opening Il therein, preferably lined with a metal bushing i8 and also laterally of the diametral plane through bung hole l5. K solid metal plug I9 with an appropriate pipe thread 2G and with depressions 2l by means of which it may be screwed home byan appropriate tool.

The plug i9 carries the cooling conduit, preferably in the form of a helical coil 22 aflixed at its upper end in the lower face of said plug. In the embodiment shown there is mounted within said helical coil 22 another helical coil 23 of a tube or" smaller diameter, with its walls ,25 spaced therefrom. 'Inner coil 23 extends practically but not quite to the'lower end of the outer coil, which lower end is closed by a plug 25 which may be Vremovable. The upper end of coil 23 communicates with bore 28 through the'thickness ,3 0 of plug i9, andthe upper end of coil 22 communicates with oblique bore 29 through said plug.

To afford an effective cooling area, sufciently large to permit the use ofl chilled water as the cooling agency and yet speedily to bring the `35 temperature of beer in the keg when in a warm bar room down to drinking temperature, the cooling coil is made of large surfacearea. To this end its diameter is made considerably larger than that of the plug IS and its mounting L40. bushing i8. As applied to a keg of conventional dimensions, having a capacity of 151/2 gallons and a head 1% inches thick, the outer cooling conduit'is desirably of metal tubing having an outer diameter of inch, conformed into a .45 helix of live inches outer diameter and with a gap between consecutive convolutions of tw'o inches. rIhe relatively large ve --inch coil described admits of being inserted through the keg head, though the mounting bushing hole i8 -.50 therefor be only three inches in diameter. A much larger hole it is noted would detract too greatly from the strength of the keg head. As shown in Fig. l, when the coil is inserted obliquely through the bushing i8 the large 'diam- 15.5A

Said bushing is closed by a removable '15.`

eter of the coil extends obliquely from below the bushing at one point to above the bushing at the diametrically opposite point. The coil pitch distance is greater than the thickness of the head. so that no distortion in the coil is necessary in inserting the same, by a screwing or 'threading action as suggested in Fig. 1.

In a preferred embodiment as best shown in Fig. 1 the helical coil is not only of diameter considerably greater than that of the bushing, as set forth, but in uncompressed condition is also of length considerably greater than the distance between the two heads of the keg into which it is to be inserted. As appears clear from comparison of Fig. 1 and Fig. 2, after the lower end of coil 22 reaches the lower head Il] the further threading or screwing through bushing I8, results in bringing the turns within the keg more closely together, and as the plug I9 is threaded home the longer helical coil assumes a position substantially longitudinally, rather than obliquely between the two heads of the keg. The helical coil, (desirably of about seven and one-half (7l/2) convolutions) thus installed and thereby compressed as set forth, exerts resilient pressure against the two heads and is resiliently positioned against displacement or vibrational strain even under the most severe mechanical shocks to which the keg may be subjected in the course of handling in the brewery and in transportation between the brewery and the taproom for delivery and return of the empty kegs.

The plug I9 and its bushing I8 being disposed laterally of the diametral plane through bung hole I5, it is seen that the cooling coil 22 as installed in nowise interferes with the filling of the keg by the usual racking instrumentalities, nor does it interfere with the insertion of the conventional draft rod through the tap bush i6. Nor does it in any wise interfere with the inspection, cleaning or repitching of the keg. In fact the coil being readily removable from the keg by unscrewing the plug i3, inspection of said coil is facilitated to determine the need for repitching and the adequacy of the pitch covering, the cooling coil being of course reinstalled in the manner previously set forth, prior to filling the keg.

The cooling coil as set forth when made of inch tubing and composed of 'l1/2 turns of ve inch outer diameter, presents an outer surface area f 236 square inches. With the use of chilled water circulated through the outer pipe 22 and returned through the inner pipe 23 or in the opposite direction if desired, beer at 70 F. in a warm room is ready to be dispensed at drinking temperature of 42 F. after an interval of less than two hours.

The volume occupied by the cooling coil as disclosed is only 36 cubic inches which is well within the range of permissible variation from the 151/2 gallon capacity of the standard half barrel or keg. However it would be easy to afford compensating increase in the volumetric capacity of the keg should this be desired, in any of various manners set forth in the Schulse Patent No. 2,051,013.

The embodiment of Fig. 2 is generally similar to that of Fig. 1 but the feed and return pipes 22 and 23 respectively, instead of being arranged concentrically onev within the other, are disposed in side-by-side relation with their lower or communicating ends connected together by a reverse U-turn illustratively a U-tting as at 30.

The embodiment of Fig. 4 resembles quite closely that of Fig. 1 with the sole difference, that the cooling coil unit, which as in Fig. 1 is illustratively made up of an outer pipe 224 and an inner pipe 234, is made of a plurality of convolutions 32 near the upper end, which are of hard temper, the remaining turns 33, preferably greater in number being annealed. As a consequence, the softer lower turns 33 which in the uncompressed condition of the coil have preferably the same pitch as the hardened turns 32 will be compressed to a considerably greater extent due to their lesser stiffness when in place as shown in Fig. 4. Accordingly the major part of the cooling effect will be near the bottom of the keg where it is desired, since the brew is drawn from that region.

While it might be possible to anneal the lower end of a coil made exactly as shown in Fig. 1, though with a greater number of turns as indicated in Fig. 4, it is ordinarily preferable to make the hard tempered convolutions 32 of the inner and outer tube as a unit separate from that of the lower annealed coil 33 and to connect both the inner and outer tube elements by means of an appropriate coupling 3l. The concentration of the major cooling effect near the bottom may similarly be carried out with the use of feed and return coils in side-by-side relation as in Fig. 2.

In the embodiment of Fig. 5 the upper coil unit 32 is relatively thick-walled tubing 3S say of 5/3 inch tubing with wall thickness of .047 inch. The lower coil unit 33 might be much thinner, say of inch tubing 31 with wall thickness of .020 inch. Said tube elements might be connected by a coupling 3i. Obviously the thinner tube when of the same material flexes considerably more readily than the thicker tube so that when the tube made as shown in Fig. 5 is inserted in the keg, the lower turns will be spaced more closely than the upper turns, with the concentration of cooling effect shown in Fig. i as applied to the tube shown in Fig. 2.

Another way of causing the turns to become more closely spaced nea-r the bottom of the keg than near the top, is to make the former of more flexible metal, say of soft silver plated brass, than the latter, which might be of stainless steel.

In the embodiment of Fig. 6 the concentration of cooling effect near the bottom of the keg is effected in a unitary coil assembly which need not have a coupling connection between the more and the less flexible portions such as shown in Figs. 4 and 5. In this embodiment the unitary tube assembly made up of concentric tubes such as shown in Fig. 1, or laterally juxtaposed tubes such as shown in Fig. 2, is turned into an upper unit 326 of relatively small diameter convolutions, and a lower unit 336 of much greater diameter convolutions. Illustratively the upper unit 326 might have three convolutions of outer diameter of 31/2 inches while the lower unit 336 might have four t0 six turns, each having an outer diameter as great as 8 inches, which in uncompressed condition might be spaced from each other by a distance as much as 3% inches. Manifestly the large diameter tube may readily be inserted by a threading action through the small bushing |86, as may also the smaller turns 325 whose diameter is but little larger than that of said bushing. In place, the relatively flexible large diameter portion of the coil will have been compressed so that the distance between successive convolutions is only 1% inches with great concentration of cooling effect near the bottom of the keg, while the upper section 32S, inherently many times as 75 lil stiff by reason of its smaller diameter, than the lower section, will have a greater spacing between convolutions of 2 inches.

In this embodiment the diameter of section 326 is so selected that by reason of its stiffness relative to the large diameter section 336 the latter lies wholly below the bilge bung hole 56 and accordingly while it crosses the longitudinal plane through said bung bushing hole, it is yet wholly therebelow and accordingly quite free from interference with the racking or lling tube.

It is understood that the otherwise vconventional kegs of any or all breweries might if desired be made with the bushing i8 and equipped with a closure plug I9 devoid of a cooling coil, where the keg is to be used with the ordinary systems of the art prior to Schulse Patent No. 2,051,013. Said plug would be replaced by the similar plug equipped with the cooling coil in any of the embodiments shown, where beer is to be delivered to tap rooms equipped with installations according to said Schulse patent; Thus the brewer with one and the same stock of kegs can readily make the same up with cooling units where these are required.

It is of course understood that the invention while illustratively shown applied to a wooden keg is also applicable to metal keg structures.

As many changes could be made in the above construction and many apparently widely different embodiments of this invention and especially of the cooling element thereof could be made without departing from the scope of the claims, it is intended that all matter contained in the above description or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense. f

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

l. A combined transportation and cooling keg having heads, a filling bung-hole between said heads and a draft outlet in one of said heads, and equipped with a helical cooling coil attached near its upper end with respect to the upper head and of normal length greater than the distance between the heads, thereby to exert pressure resiliently against the heads, said cooling coil being located wholly to one side of the lling bung hole to clear the racking tube used in filling.

2. A combined transportation and cooling keg having a filling bung hole and a draft outlet and equipped with a cooling unit therein extending longitudinally thereof, said unit having a dimension larger than a hole in the head of the keg through which it may be progressively introduced, the cooling unit being of greater flexibility nearer its lower part than nearer its upper part and of length greater than the height of the keg prior to insertion thereof, whereby when installed it will present the major cooling effect near the bottom of the keg.

3. In a combined shipping and transportation keg having a lling bung hole and a draft outlet, a removable plug in one head, a cooling conduit carried by said plug, said unit comprising a helical inlet coil, a helical return coil, both opening` through said plug, said coils having convolutions near said plug of relatively greater stiffness and the remaining convolutions of relatively greater` flexibility, the length of said helical coils prior to insertion in the keg being considerably greater than the distance between the heads of the keg,

the normal distance between convolutions being greater than the thickness of the head, whereby after threading the coil through the aperture into the head and afxing the carrying plug thereto, the major cooling effect will be concentrated near the lower end of the keg.

4. The combination recited in claim 3 in which the cooling unit includes a series of upper turns of relatively hard temper, a series of lower turns that are annealed and therefore are more flexible. v

5. The combination recited in claim 3 in which the upper turns are of relatively thick-walled tubing and corresponding stiffness and the lower turns of thinner-walled tubing andgreater flexibility.

6. The combination recited in claim 3 in which the upper convolutions are of relatively stiff metal and the lower convolutions of relatively iiexible metal.

7. The combination recited-in claim 3 in which the upper turns of the .feed coil are of relatively smaller diameter and the lower turns thereof of considerably greater diameter and therefore of greater exibility.

8. A combined transportation and cooling keg having a lling bung and a draft outlet, a cooling unit insertible through a small opening in the head of the pre-assembled keg, said unit including closely associated inlet and outlet pipes conformed as a helix, the lower convolutions of which are of large diameter, the upper convolutions of relatively small diameter, the latter diameter being selected to afford stiffness relative to the flexibility of the lower convolutions, the

lnormal length of the unit being greater than the distance between the heads of the keg and the relative lengths' of the large and small diameter portions of the helix being such that when the cooling unit is installed in the keg the smaller convolutions extend to the level of the filling bung and the larger convolutions are wholly below said lling bung, thereby to clear the racking tube used in filling the keg.

9. The combination recited in claim 8 in which the upper small diameter section of the cooling unit comprises approximately three turns of 31/2 inches outer diameter and the lower section approximately four to six turns of 8 inches outer diameter, whereby in the assembled unit the distance between convolutions of the upper or smaller diameter section is 2 inches and between the lower or larger convolutions is in the order of 1% inches.

10. A combined shipping and transportation keg having a lling bung hole and a draft outlet and a cooling unit removably mounted therein, said unit comprising a helical cooling coil having a mounting plug removably aixed in an opening inA the upper end and being wholly at one side of the axial plane through the bung hole ero and being of diameter considerably greater thanV f that of said opening Aand less than that of said keg and adapted to be introduced by threading the same obliquely through said opening, said cooling coil being of normal length greater than the distance between the keg heads assuming a position longitudinally of the keg when the carry- .ing plug thereof is affixed to the keg head, thereby to exert resilient pressure against said heads when installed in place.

l GERALD D. PEET.

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