US546115A - Apparatus for drawing and serving steam-beer - Google Patents

Description

(No Model.)

t G. A. FRIEDRICH.

APPARATU S F OB DRAWING AND SERVING STEAM BEER.

Patented Sept. 10, 1895.

ANDREW BGRAHAM PHOTO'UTNQWASHINGTON DCv GEORGE A. FRIEDRICH, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

APPARATUS FOR DRAWING AND SERVING STEAM-BEER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 546,115, dated September 10, 1895.

Application filed May 9,1895. Serial No. 548,726. (No model.) i

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE A. FRIEDRICH, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented certain new and useful lmprovementsin Apparatus for Drawing and Serving Steam-Beer, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in.

devices for drawing and serving from the cask that kind of beer commonly known as steambeer 5 and these improvements have fortheir object, mainly, to overcome several defects and objections existing at the present time in devices and apparatus of the kind in use, as hereinafter more particularly described, and to provide an apparatus that has features of cleanliness and readiness of operation and the quality of serving the beer at uniform pressure under the varying conditions of pressure in the cask and at all times sweet and free from sediment.

To this'eud and object my invention consists in theimproved construction of receiver or pressure chamber and of faucet and connections, producing a complete device or apparatus of the kind as hereinafter described, and pointed out in the claims, reference being had in this specification to the accompanying drawings, forming a part thereof.

In the said drawings, Figure 1 is a general view in elevation of the complete apparatus.

with a cask of beer connected to it, the shell of the receiver being partly in section. Fig. 2 is a side view of the faucet on an enlarged scale and partly in section. Fig. 3 is a detail view of the faucet-plug, showing the body of the plug partly in section. Fig. 4 is a crosssection at a: so, Fig. 3.

A indicates the gas-tight vessel, in devices of this character usually termed the receiver, B, the cask of beer, and O the feeder or the pipe connecting the cask with the receiver.

D is the draw-off pipe, through which the beer is drawn from time to time from the receiver into the glass, and E is the faucet at the end of that pipe.

A cock 0' is provided in the pipe 0 to control the flow into the receiver, and a checkvalve 0 is placed in the pipe 0 to prevent the back-pressure from the receiver into the cask.

The vesselAis usually made ofcoppertinned or lined on the inside to prevent contamination of the beer by contact with metal sur faces that might improperly affect it, and an opening A is provided in the top of sufficient size to admit the hand and a smaller one A in the bottom to afford an outlet for washing out the receiver. The opening A is closed by a screw-plug and a washer or packing A while a coupling is provided on the bottom of the receiver around the outlet A before mentioned, either for connecting to it a wastepipe or for closing it by a screw-cap, as shown.

The object of this construction is to provide such facilities for cleaning out the receiver that all foul gases and odors can be effectually removed and prevented from collecting by frequently washing out the chamber, and thus a sweet condition can be insured at all times in the beer being served. Heretofore in devices for serving steam-beer these re ceivers have been provided with only one opening, and that located in the bottom, so that it became a difficult matter to dislodge the foul air and gases and to thoroughly clean out the receiver, and as ordinarily carried out the interior of the receiver frequently retained foul gases and bad odors after the cleansing operation. The feeder D enters the receiver through the side, in which itis suitably fixed to insure a tight joint, and the inner end of the feeder is provided with a perforated cap F. Over this preforated end last mentioned is fixed a long and relatively-narrow shield or hood G against the inside wall of the receiver, the lower end of which part G is carried down perpendicularly to within a short distance from the floor or bottom of the receiver, where it terminates in the mouth or opening G.

By the construction last described the beer is caused to flow quietly and to charge the receiver Without stirring up and diffusing through the beer the sediment on the bottom of the chamber, and that part which is thick or muddy is not disturbedby the charges or quantities passing up from the cask from time to time in the operation of the device, as the combined effect of the perforated end and the shield or hood is to prevent this disturbance even when the pressure in the cask is the greatest.

The improved point or feature in the faucet portion of my apparatus consists in forming in a faucet having a longitudinally-mow able plug E a number of recesses E in the surface of the plug just above the enlarged end that projects downwardly from the body of the faucet, these recesses being located in that portion of the body which is situated in line with the passage-way E in the faucetbody. These recesses are shallow depressions in the cylindrical surface and are usually made of rectangular form in outline with an excess in the length over the breadth of the recess. Four of these cavities or recesses I have found to answer the purpose, and these, arranged at regular distances apart around the circumference of the plug-body, I connect together by transverse passages E E formed by boring holes from the lower part of each cavity or recess toward the center of the plug and with an upward slant and meeting together in the middle of the plug-body. This construction is shown in Figs. 2, 3, and 4 of the drawings.

The faucet used for the part E of my apparatus is of that class or description having a solid plug, around which the beer flows out when the plug is moved perpendicularly in the faucet-body, and in all other respects but that pertaining to the plug-body this faucet portion E of my apparatus is the same as the construction of devices generally used at the present time for serving steam-beer. The object of this construction relating to the fancet portion E is to prevent excessive foaming and the production of froth at the first drawing into the glasses, particularly'when drawing from a freshly-tapped cask, at which time the pressure in the receiver is necessarily the greatest, and by this improvement in the plug I am enabled to serve steam-beer without excess of froth and at the same time I avoid the necessity hitherto experienced of reducing the pressure in the receiver by blow ing off, particularly in serving from a fresh cask. The cavities or depressions in the plug E effectually overcome excessive frothing and cause the beer to flow quietly and with proper life into the glass, and they enable the pressure to be maintained in the receiver and cask, even after a considerable quantityof the contents of the cask has been drawn off, because there is no need of reducing the pressure in the receiver at the time of first drawing when the cask is freshly tapped.

This apparatus is also adapted for serving ale from the cask.

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

1. The herein described apparatus for drawing and serving steam beer, consisting of the receiver having an opening in the top and a removable plug closing the same; a wasteaperture in the bottom; a feeder-pipe connecting the receiver'with the cask and having a check-valve therein; a perforated nozzle on the outlet-end of said pipe; a shield within the receiver covering said nozzle and extending downwardly over the same to within a short distance of the bottom of the receiver; a service-pipe coupled to an outlet-aperture in the receiver; and a faucet on the end of said pipe having a longitudinally movable plug provided with recesses in its surface, combined for operation as set forth.

2. In an apparatus for drawing steam beer, the combination, with the receiver to which the cask is connected, of the service-pipe and a faucet thereon having a longitudinally movable plug provided with recesses or cavities in its body, substantially as described.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing I have hereunto set my hand and seal.

GEO. A. FRIEDRICH.

\Vitnesses:

EDWARD E. OSBORN, O. W. M. SMITH.

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