US2192592A

US2192592A - Liquid dispenser

Info

Publication number: US2192592A
Application number: US205946A
Authority: US
Inventors: Allen Howard Charles
Original assignee: Individual
Current assignee: Individual
Priority date: 1938-05-04
Filing date: 1938-05-04
Publication date: 1940-03-05
Anticipated expiration: 1957-03-05

Description

Mar ch 5, 1940. H. c. ALLEN 2,192,592

LIQUID DISPENSER Filed May 4, 1938 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 March 5, 1940. H. c. ALLEN LIQUID DISPENSER Filed May 4. 1938 4 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOK. 170M790 (l/Mus 6115M Z? Z ATTORI E Y.

March 5, 1940. Q ALLEN 2,192,592

LIQUID DISPENSER Filed May 4, 1938 451166125-5119912 3 ml]! III! 1111 I/ I [J II II IIII "u 5 q w 02 N \s h m O I "O I?) q III/II IIIIII IMVENTOR- [lemma can 0am.

,LIQUID DISPENSER 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed May 4, 1938 Ill/II nv VEN 7'02. l/ownno Cl/aeus 811 EN.

ATTORNEY.

Patented Mar. 5, 1940 STATES moon) DISPENSER Howard Charles Allen, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada Application May 4, 1938, Serial No. 205,946

11 Claims.

My invention relates to improvements in liquid dispensers of the type which are provided with a feed tank and a measuring vessel, wherein gas under pressure is used to convey liquid from a source of supply to the feed tank.

The objects of the invention are to provide audible means for indicating when the supply to the feed tank is exhausted; to transfer the tank content to the source of supply prior to washing out the dispenser; to conserve gas and accelerate the transfer from the tank to the source of supply; to provide means for reconditioning the liquid when in the tank, and to provide means for washing out the measuring vessel and the tank.

The invention consists of a feed supply tank having a measuring vessel associated therewith, control means to selectively maintain different gas pressures in the feed tank, and means for transferring pressure from the source of liquid supply to the feed tank and for transferring the liquid from the tank to the source of supply, as will be more fully described in the following specification and shown in the accompanying drawings, in which- Fig. 1 is a transverse sectional view of the invention taken on the line 1-1 of Figure 2.

Fig. 2 is a plan view taken on the line 2--2 of Figure 1.

30 Fig. 3 is a sectional view of the liquid feed and blow down valve to tank and gas supply valve structure, taken on the line 33 of Figure 1.

Fig. 4 is a sectionalview of the discharge valve assembly to a measuring vessel and is taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 1.

Fig. 5 is a sectional view of the washout passage to the measuring vessels and is taken on the line 55 of Figure 1.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the wash out valve shown in section in Figure 5.

Fig. 7 is a sectional view of the gas regulating valve structure to the feed tank.

In the drawings like charactersof reference indicate corresponding parts in each figure.

v The numeral 1 indicates generally a base having side walls 2 and a front panel 3. Between the side walls a feed tank 4 is carried, which has a bottom wall 5 and a top cover .6. The feed tank 4 is provided with an upstanding feed pipe 1, see Figures 1, 2 and 3, which is fitted with a float valve 8 at its upper end to admit liquid, which will hereinafter be referred to as beer, up to a predetermined level in thetank. The connections to the feed pipe include a supply pipe 9 preferably with a branch pipe 3A, which lead. downwardly for connection to two kegs which will be referred to as keg No. 1 and keg No.

2. The pipes 9 and 8A are provided with valves I6 that beer may be obtained from either keg. Connected with the feed pipe I and below the 1,5; tank d is a valve body H, see Figures 1, 2 and 3,

in which two valves numbered l2 and I3 are mounted. The valve it normally closed, closes ofi a passage It communicating between the feed pipe I and the bottom wall 5 of the tank. The 10 valve It operates in a chamber [5 wherein two valve seats i6 and H are provided. The chamber I5 is provided with a port I8 which is adapted for connection by a pipe IS! and its branch 20 to the kegs No. 1 and No. 2. The lower seat I6 communicates with a port 28 leading to an upstanding pipe 22 extending above the beer level in the feed tank. The upper seat ll communicates with a port 23 to which is connected a C02 supply pipe 24.

The valve I3 when in position shown in contact with its seat It and out of contact with the seat I! allows CO2 gas to enter the chamber 15 and flow through the pipes IE9 or 20, according to which ever one is open to provide pressure in 25 either keg No. 1 or No. 2, so that beer therefrom can be forced up into the feed tank against a predetermined pressure therein. The valves l2 and I3 .are respectively actuated from a shaft 25 by cams 26 and 21, the cam 21 being so formed ,30 as to lift its valve only when rocked in a clockwise direction, see Figure 1. When the valve I3 is in raised position or closed to the seat H, the supply of CO2 is cut off and the gas pressure in the keg which is being drawn from is allowed to pass through the chamber Hi, the port 2| and the pipe 22, so that, the valve l2 being simultaneously opened, the beer in the tank can be quickly returned tothe source of supply on account of the pressure reduction at the source of supply and the increase of pressure in the feed tank.

An outlet, 30 is formed in the bottom wall of the feed tank, which communicates through pipes 31 and 32, shown in dotted line in Figure 2 and in full lines in Figures 4. and 5, leading to the

measuring vessels

33 and, 34 respectively. The measuring vessels. .33 and 34. are each provided with an inlet valve 35, a foam valve 36, an outlet valve 3] and a relief valve 38. The inlet and foam valves of the measuring vessel 33 are operated from a cam 39 upon a shaft 40. The outlet valve and relief valve of the same measuring Vessel are operated from a camv 4|. The inlet and foam valves of the measuring vessel 34 are operated from acam 42 and the outlet and relief valves of said measuring vessel are operated from a cam 43. The cams are oppositely set upon the shaft 48, so that when said shaft is rocked to dispense beer, the inlet and foam valves of one measuring vessel are opened to allow said vessel to fill and the outlet and relief valves of the other vessel are opened to allow the second vessel to empty. The foam valves 36 each close ofi a port 44 communicating with a pipe 45 which extends above the beer and foam level of the feed tank. The outlet valves 31 both communicate with a port 46 which terminates in a discharge spout 41, see Figure 5. The relief valves 38 both communicate with a port 48 which leads to a chamber 49 in a valve body 50.

The valve body 50 is provided with a passage 5| to which is connected a water supply pipe 52. The passage 5| communicates with the chamber 49 and a further valve chamber 53. A valve 54 is slidably movable in the chamber 49 and is adapted to close against a seat 55 to close off the water supply and alternately to close against a seat 56 to close communication between the chamber 49 and a waste pipe 51 having an open discharge at a suitable point below the measuring vessels. The waste pipe 5'! serves as a breather pipe for the relief valve 38 when the valve 54 is in normal position as shown in Figures 1 and 6.

The chamber 53 is provided with an outlet pipe 58 which extends through the bottom wall 5 of the feed tank and to a point near the cover 6 to deliver water to wash out the tank. The chamber 53 is normally closed off from the passage 5| by a valve 59.

The valves 54 and 59 are respectively operated by

cams

60 and 6|, which are secured upon a manually operable shaft 62, the cams being so set that with respect to each other that the turning in one direction will remove the valve 54 from its seat 55 and move it to close to its seat 56, and that the turning of the shaft 62 from a neutral position in the opposite direction will open the valve 59 for water to flow upwardly into the feed tank.

A gas pressure control valve generally indicated by the numeral 65 is fitted to the feed tank and communicates therewith through an upstanding pipe 66, which is connected to a horizontal ported passage 61. There are three valve chambers respectively numbered 68, 69 and 10, each having a seat "I! and a valve closure 12. Each of the valve closures are separately loaded, preferably with dead weights I3, 14 and 15 of progressively increasing weight. A stem 16 is provided for each dead weight, which is suitably guided adjacent its upper end in an apertured cover plate Tl. Rockingly mounted above the stems 16 is a manually operable shaft 18 having two earns 19 and which are adapted to respectively engage the stems to hold the valve closures 72 in the chambers 68 and 69 upontheir seats. The valve closure in the chamber 68 is preferably loaded to lift at say four pounds, the closure in the chamber 69 to lift at seven pounds and the closure in the chamber 10 to lift at nine pounds or over. The cams 19 and 80 are so designed upon the shaft 18 that the closure in chamber 68 alone may be held upon its seat, necessitating a raise of pressure in the tank to seven pounds before blowing off, or, that the closures in both chambers 68 and 69 may be simultaneously held down, necessitating a rise of pressure in the tank to nine pounds. The pressures above quoted are obviously subject to change. The pressure of the beer at the source of supply will obviously be greater than that required to lift the valve closures in the chambers 68, 59 and 16, since it must support a static liquid head in the beer supply pipe between the kegs and the float valve 8 and in order to indicate instantly to the operator that his source of liquid supply is exhausted I provide a spring loaded relief valve 82, see Figure 1, fitted with an audible signal 83 to the feed tank, the inlet to said relief valve being through an upstanding pipe 84. The relief valve 82 would be set to blow off at the same pressure as that of the CO2 at the source of supply, so that when the available beer is delivered into the feed tank and there is no static head in the beer supply pipe, the pressure in the tank will be equal to that at the keg, consequently the audible signal will operate and warn the operator that he may change over from one-keg to another. It will be obvious that the relief valve 82 and its signal 83 may be equally connected to communicate with the ported passage 61 of the pressure control valve 65 instead of being connected to the tank as a separate unit.

To facilitate washing out the feed tank and the beer supply pipe 9, a breather pipe 85 is extended into the tank and above the normal liquid level therein. This pipe is fitted at its upper extremity With a valve 86 having a stem 81 which is actuated by a cam 88 upon the shaft 25. The cam 26 and the cam 88 are identical in form and are adapted to lift their respective valves to open them as the shaft 25 is rocked from the normal position either in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction.

In operating the dispenser, the CO2 supply at suitable pressure of say twelve pounds, is turned on to the gas supply pipe 24 and the valve on the pipe I9 is also opened, assuming that beer is first to be drawn from the keg No. l. The valve H) on the beer supply pipe 9A is opened, so that the gas under pressure will force the beer through pipes 9 and 9A and the feed pipe 1, when it will flow past the float valve 8 into the feed tank 4. When a predetermined level is reached in the feed tank, the float valve will shut off the incoming supply and the dispenser is ready for use.

All the operating valves in the dispenser are shown in the drawings as being in normal position.

Assuming the beer to be in perfect dispensing condition, the cam 19 of the gas pressure control valve 65 will be in such position as to hold the valve closure in the chambers 68 upon its seat (as shown), leaving the closures in chambers 59 and 10 free to lift in response to pressure in excess of their loadings. The tank pressure will of course be similar to that at the source of beer supply less static head in pipes, tank pressure we will assume to be between 6 and 7 pounds, consequently neither closure in chamber 69 or 18 will lift. When a glass is to be filled it is placed under the discharge spout 4'! and the shaft 40 is rocked in one direction say to close the

valves

35 and 86 in the measuring vessel 34 and open the discharge valve 31 and the relief valve 38, thus discharging the beer from the vessel 34. The movement above described effects the valves of the measuring vessel 33 in exactly the opposite way, so that that vessel is allowed to fill.

In discharging either of the measuring vessels, the relief valve instead of being directly open to the atmosphere, as described in my prior patents to dispensers, is open only through the chamber 49, the valve seat 56 and through the waste pipe 51. Assuming keg No. 1 to be flat at the time of first draw off, the operator will close off the valve to that keg and open the valve ID to the keg No. 2 and also the CO2 valve in the pipe 2i], which will allow gas to continue to enter keg No. 1 to restore its gas content and will enable beer to be fed to the feed tank 4' from keg No. 2. If a keg of beer is found to be wild or possess an undue gas content, it will on entering the feed tank set up a greater pressure than that desired and will lift the valve closure in chamber off its seat, allowing some gas to escape, but beer drawn off even after the above described blow off may still give off too much foam to dispense a proper glass. If this should be so, the shaft 18 is rocked to dispose the cam 19 clear of engagement with the closure in chamber 69 and its associated parts, so that the beer in the tank is allowed to give 01f its gas until it is down to a suitable condition. As soon as the beer shows signs of becoming flat, the shaft 18 is again turned to its former position or if the beer is slightly fiat at the time of delivery to the feed tank the valve closure in the chamber ll] is alone allowed to operate, so that the gas pressure in the tank will rise and the beer become reconditioned.

Should one barrel become empty through normal draw oif and the level in the tank being too low to close the float valve 8, the beer in the supply and feed pipe will be thrown over into the tank and the pressure will rise in the tank to that in the keg just emptied, consequently the audible signal 83 will operate and gas will also leak outwardly from the valve chamber 10.

At the close of business hours or when desired to wash out the dispenser, the beer content of the feed tank is returned to the keg by rocking the shaft in a clockwise direction to open the beer return valve I2 and to reverse the position of the valve It, so that the supply of CO2 to the keg is shut off and to permit the gas in the keg to flow back from said keg past the seat l6 and flow into the tank through the pipe 22. This allows the beer to flow freely back from the tank to the keg and the gas to be transferred to the feed tank. When the feed tank is thus drained, the beer hose connections to the kegs are disconnected and the CO2 supply is shut ofi. The shaft 25 on being rocked in an anti-clockwise direction returns the CO2 valve l3 to normalposition, opens the valve 12 to the pipe 9 and the breather valve 85 to admit air as required to the tank, so as to prevent an air lock from developing in the tank. The valve 59 is then opened to permit the flow of service water through the chamber 53 and the pipe 58 to spray the interior surfaces of the tank and to wash out the beer supply lines right back to the point of connection with the kegs. If no means were provided for breaking the air lock in the tank, the water entering under pressure into the then sealed tank would prevent any accumulation of water in'the tank, since it would be driven out just as fast as it entered, consequently effective washing away of foam and other undesirable components of the beverage would not be effectively removed. However, with the breather system provided effective washing is obtained. When the tank is thoroughly washed the position of valve 54 is reversed to allow service water to flow upwards through the chamber 49 into the port 48, then.

as the dispensing valve operating shaft is rocked from side to side, the water flows first into one and then into the other of the measuring,

vessels

33 and 34 to wash their inner surfaces and parts. The water enteringone of the vessels being discharged as the second vessel is being filled with water. Obviously when sufficient washing has been done, the water is shut off and the valves 5% and 5d are returned to normal posi tion and the shaft 25 is rocked back'to normal position and consequently a few rocking movements to the shaft lil will drain off any water in the tank or the measuring vessels.

What I claim as my invention is: I

1. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank, a measuring vessel, a discharge valve for the measuring vessel, and a valve for filling the measuring vessel from the feed tank, a water supply pipe having manually operable coordinated valves for selectively supplying water to the measuring vessel and to the feed tank.

2. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank, a measuring vessel, a discharge valve and a relief valve for the measuring vessel and'a valve for filling the measuring vessel from the feed tank, a Water supply pipe having a manually operable valve for admitting water through the relief valve to the measuring vessel when the discharge valve is opened.

3. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank, a measuring vessel, a discharge valve and a relief valve for the measuring vessel normally communicating with a waste outlet, a water supply pipe having a manually operable valve, said valve serving to close off the waste outlet and deliver water to the measuring vessel when the discharge valve is open.

4. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank, a valve for dispensing liquid from the tank, a feed pipe adapted for connection to a source of liquid supply and a bye-pass from the feed pipe to the bottom of the feed tank, said tank being adapted to be supplied with liquid by gas applied under pressure at the source of supply, a gas pipe adapted to lead from a source of gas supply to the source of liquid supply, a pipe adapted to lead from said gas pipe to the feed tank, a valve for selectively directing the gas from the source of liquid supply to the tank and for shutting off the flow of gas from the source of gas supply, and a valve for controlling the bye-pass between the liquid supply feed pipe and the bottom of the feed tank.

5. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank, a valve for dispensing liquid from the tank, a feed pipe adapted for connection to a source of liquid supply and a bye-pass from the feed pipe to the bottom of the feed tank, said tank being adapted .to be supplied with liquid'by gas applied under pressure at the source of supply, a gas pipe adapted to lead from a source of gas supply to the source of liquid supply, a pipe adapted to lead from said gas pipe to the feed tank, a valve for selectively directing the gas from the source of liquid supply to the tank and for shutting off the flow of gas from the source of gas supply, and a valve for controlling the bye-pass between the liquid supply feed pipe andthe bottom of the feed tank, said bye-pass control valve and said gas control valve being connected for simultaneous operation.

6. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank having a liquid inlet, a measuring vessel having a discharge opening and means for filling the measuring vessel from the feed tank, said feed tank having a fioat controlled inlet pipe adapted for connection to a source of supply, a pipe connecting said inlet pipe between the source of liquid supply and the float controlled valve, a

valve structure including a valve controlling the flow through the connecting pipe, and a gas diversion valve, said gas diversion valve being in communication with the tank, the source of pressure, said tank having a feed pipe extending above the liquid level in the tank and connected with the source of liquid supply, a normally closed branch pipe communicating between the feed pipe and the bottom of the tank, a source of gas supply and a pipe connecting said gas supply to the source of liquid supply, and means for stopping the flow of gas to the source of liquid supply, for transferring gas from the source of liquid supply to the tank and for opening the normally closed branch pipe between the bottom of the tank and the feed pipe.

8. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank having a valved discharge outlet, said feed tank being adapted to be supplied with liquid from a source of supply under gas pressure, a feed pipe and a normally closed gas pipe communicating between the source of supply and the feed tank, and valve means for transferring the gas from the source of supply to the tank tank below the float valve, and means operable coincidentally with the opening of the branch pipe valve for preventing an air lock in the tank.

10. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank adapted to be supplied with liquid through a feed pipe from a source of supply, a float valve for controlling the supply of liquid entering through said feed pipe, a branch valve communicating with the supply pipe below the float valve to discharge washing water from the tank through said feed pipe, a breather valve for admitting free air to the tank and means for simultaneously opening the branch valve and the breather valve.

11. In a liquid dispenser having a sealed feed tank adapted to be supplied with liquid through a feed pipe from a source of supply, a float valve for controlling the supply of liquid entering through said feed pipe, a valve communicating with the supply pipe to discharge washing water from the tank through said feed pipe, a breather valve for admitting air tothe tank, a valve structure for alternately admitting gas to the source of liquid supply, and from the source of liquid supply to the tank, and a shaft adapted on being rocked in the opposite direction to op- I erate the Valve structure to a position to admit gas to the source of liquid supply, to open the valve communicating with the source of liquid supply and to open the breather valve to the tank.

HOWARD CHARLES ALLEN.