US577728A - Device for drawing steam-beer - Google Patents

Description

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I E. DEMBRS. DEVICE FOR DRAWING STEAM BEER.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EUSEBE DEMERS, OF SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

DEVICE FOR DRAWING STEAM-BEER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 577,728, dated February 23, 1897.

Application nea May 15,1896. smart. 591,673. wmode To all whom 2215 may concern:

Beit known that I, EUSEBE DEMERS, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city and county of San Francisco, State of California, have invented a new and useful Device for Drawing Steam-Beer at Various Degrees of Temperature; and l do hereby deelare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, .such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to improvements in apparatus or devices employed in drawing steam-beer, which, as dealers know, is a fermenting beer exceedingly difficult to drawin a clear state without venting the keg or barrel wherein it is contained and therefore without depriving it gradually of its natural flavor and strength.

The object of my said invention is to provide an improved apparatus or device by means of which persons retailing this kind of beverage may draw it readily and without trouble from an unvented keg or barrel into a glass or pitcher in the most suitable condition for drinking, that is, neither too foaniy nor flat, but quite sharp, and withal at such temperature as will best suit the taste of the consumer.

In the drawings hereto annexed, Figure l is a sectional side elevation of my improved device or apparatus aforesaid. Fig. 2 is a similar view of a modification thereof, and Fig. 3 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of a faucet forming part of the construction illustrated at Fig. l.

In carrying out my invention I make use, rst, of a pressure-regulator, through which all the beer from the keg or barrel on tap is made to pass. This regulator comprises a conical cylinder or tube A, having its tapering end turned toward the keg, with which it is connected by means of a pipe or conduit a, joined to it by a union-coupling a. Within this tube is placed a rotary plug a2 of corresponding shape and provided with a detachable stem as, passed through ascrew-cap ai, and furnished with a screw-handle a5. The stem a3 has a screw-threaded portion a6,

engaging a suitable scre w-thread in the cap a4, and serves to move the plug a2 lengthwise within the tube A and thereby cause it to obstruct or close more or less the passage therethrough. The plug is made short enough so as not to reach fully to either end of the tube, leaving a small space a7 between it and the screw-cap ai and a similar space e8 at the opposite end, where it terminates in a neck a9, carrying a circular valve alo, adapted to control the opening a into which the pipe a discharges. A short pin am, passed through a suitable hole in a bridge als, guides this valve am and the tapering end of the plug in their movements. The valve am is set alittle farther away in proportion from the bridge als than the sides of the plug a2 are from the tube A, so that the inlet for the beer may yet be fairly well open when the the tube is nearly closed.

It will now be seen that owing to the arrangement above set forth the pressure of the beer from the keg will be greatly reduced or broken in its passage through the tube A. The keg need not be vented, as is usually done, but the beer therefrom is allowed to flow out in its natural state into the regulator. The iiow will first be checked by the valve am, which is well adapted in its position on the end of the plug to receive the impact of the incoming beer and break its force before the beer reaches the space a8. From the latter point the beer is spread out into a thin film all around the plug in the tube, so that by the time it reaches the space a7 under the cap a4 it has lost a great deal of it-s foamcreating power. The regulator being of conical shape deflects the course of the beer and causes it to spread over a gradually-increasing surface as it proceeds on its way, with the result that it gets to the bigger end of the plug in a more liquid state than if it were passing through a straight tube. The rapidity of the flow will of course be regulated by the position of the rotary plug, which is to be screwed or unscrewed according to the pressure or condition of the beer in the keg.

To the regulator is I attached a cooler B, which is set in a convenient ice chest, box, or case C, under or in the base of which the regulator is preferably located. This cooler consists of a globular receptacle made of any passage through l'OO approved material, such as brass or tin or other metal, and is screwed to a suitable base b, provided with a tubular extension b', passing through the bottom of the chest C and secured thereto by an external screw-thread b2 and a lock-nut b3. 'The regulator is connected with this extension b' of the coolerbase by means of a short outletpipe a, formed in its top side and held in place by a union-coupling 61,15, so as to be in line with a tube b4, iitted in said extension and leading into the upper part of the cooler. The beer from the regulator reaches the cooler through this tube, which is stopped or covered with a hood b5 at its upper end, but has side holes 126 under said hood to let the beer escape, as indicated by the arrows in Fig. l. The cooler has at its top an air-cock 67, which allows the air to be expelled from it when first iilled with beer. The hood b5 of the tube b4 being directly under the air-cock prevents the beer from shooting upward into it and further reduces the strength of the flow from the keg, the beer falling in small streams through the holes h6 into the bottom part of the cooler, where it is subjected to the action of the ice contained in the chest.

The beer can be drawn from either the cooler or the regulator, or from both, the cooler and regulator at the same time through a faucet F, of peculiar construction. The body of this faucet is formed with two passages ff', the upper passage f terminating rearwardly in a nipple f2, screwed through the front part of the ice-chest and into a pipe t8, extending from the'cooler-base Z9, and the lower passage ending under the faucet-body with a similar nipple f3, connected by means of a pipe G and suitable union-couplings g g to an outlet-pipe al, formed either in one side or in the bottom of the regulator, as shown at Fig. l. These two passages both lead in the usual way to the barrel or plugchamber of the faucet, where they are controlled by a rotary hollow plug f4, having a suitable head f5 and lateral openings M M N C, adapted, respectively, to register with both said passages jointly and with either of them separately, according to how the said plug is turned. The two openings M are in the same vertical plane and when brought into the position illustrated at Fig. l coincide both with the two passages ff. The openings N and C, on the contrary, are in different planes, the opening N being adapted to register only with the lower passage j", and the opening C with the upper passage f alone. All said four openings are located within one-half of the circumference of the hollow plug, the opening N being shown in dotted lines only. It will now be seen that if the opening O be broughtinto line with the conduit f connected with the cooler the faucet will draw cold beer, that if the opening N be made to register instead with the conduit f beer will be had in its natural state from the regulator, and that when the openings M are in communication with both said conduits mixed or moderately-cold beer will be drawn.

It is intended to stamp or otherwise impress or mark the words Cold,7 Natural,7 and Medium at suitable points on the head f5 of the plug f4 to indicate the various degrees of temperature at which the beer can 4be obtained and how to turn the plug to draw the same.

The body of the hollow plug is shaped like a truncated cone, as illustrated, and it is turned to the right or left, as required, by means of a leverhandlef6, secured in its head f5. The discharge-passage through the plug f4 is also controlled by an inner solid plug f7, of conical shape. This inner plug is rotatable like the outer one, and is movable up and down within it by means of a stem f8, passing upwardly through the head f5 and having a screw-threaded portion f9 fitted therein. The stem f8 projects outwardly from the head f5 and is provided with a screw-handle flo, by means of which it is turned to either raise or lower the inner plug f7 and consequently open or close th discharge-opening through the hollow plug. The plug f7 is used in order to further break or reduce the gas-pressure on the outflowin g beer and cause the beer to fall 'into the glass or pitcher underneath in a bright liquid state, without excess of foam. This plug can be set so as to regulate the iiow of beer at the outer end of the faucet to suit and, if desired, may be kept permanently raised within the hollow plug in order to leave the dischargeopening thereof partly open whenever and as long as the apparatus is in use. It will be observed that itis not necessary to hold that plug with the hand in drawing the beer, whetherit be permanently raised or not, and if the glass be placed on a stand underneath the beer can be drawn without holding either the glass or plug, as must be done with certain other forms of beer-draw ing devices.

In Fig. 2 is represented a modified construction of my invention which may be found preferable to that previously described, where it is desired to serve only cold beer and cheap= ness of construction is an object. The apparatus there illustrated operates substantially on the same principle as that shown at Fig. l except the regulator is placed inside the cooler and the intervening parts are dis pensed with. The beer in that case flows directly into the cooler through the upper flaring part of the regulator, which has no screwcap, the stem a3 of the plug d2 passing through a screw-threaded opening b in the top of the cooler B and projecting above the ice-chest C. The air-cock bi is then placed a little to one side of that top opening. The improved faucet hereinbefore described may be used also with this modified form of my beer-drawing de vice, if desired, thoughlprefer to use a plainer faucet F', having but one passage f and only one plug f7, which is made solid and entirely controls the flow through the plug-chamber.

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The stem f8 of this single plug has a screwthreaded portion ff, tted in a head fn, and a scre w-handle f 10, as in the other construction.

If it were desired to deal out only Natural beer instead of Cold, for instance, after the cooler has been emptied at night, a stopcock (not shown) could be placed in the upper outlet-pipe a, Fig. l, so as to draw beer only from the regulator.

Having described my invention, what I claim is- 1. In a beer-dispensing apparatus, a conical casing, a conical plug placed therein but of enough smaller diameter than the casing to allow a space all around for the flow of the liquid through the casing, a valve at one end of the plug to control the supply of iiuid, and a screw-rod at the large end of the plug to center and adjust it endwise, combined with a cooler, a pipe extending thereto from the conical casing, a faucet connected to the cooler, and a pipe G, extending from the conical casing to the faucet which is provided with two passages through it, substantially as described.

2. In a faucet, the body having two passages f, f', through it, and a hollow plug provided With a series of openings through it to communicate with said passages, the plug being provided with a head f5, and handle f6; combined with a solid plug f7 placed inside of the hollow plug, and a screw-rod f8 for centering and adjusting the solid plug in the vhollow one; a space being left between the two plugs to allow a free flow of fluid between them substantially as shown.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

EUSEBE DEMERS. [L. s]

Witnesses:

DANIEL CALLAGHAN, A. H. STE. MARIE.

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