AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS FROM BARRELS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Lowther Murphy, of Birmingham,
Dentist, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRAWING OFF
LIQUIDS FROM BARRELS AND OTHER VESSELS."
Sealed the 3rd June 1853, and dated the 24th December 1852.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Lowther
Murphy at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 24th December 1852:
I, JOHN LOWTHER MURPHY, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS FROM
BARRELS AND OTHER VESSELS" to be as follows:-
The object of my improvement is to permit the drawing off of
beer or such other liquids as are or may be injuriously affected by
contact with air from the barrels or vessels containing them with-
out allowing the air which enters the barrel or other vessel as the
liquid leaves it to come into contact with the said liquid. My In-
vention consists of a flexible and air-tight bag, which I propose to
call the conservator; the said bag may either be attached to the
vent hole of the barrel or other vessel, or to the tap through which
the liquid is to be drawn off.

page_text: In the former case the interior of the said bag is open to the
atmosphere, and the liquid external to the said bag; that is to say,
the said bag floats in the said liquid. In the latter case the liquid
is contained in the said bag, and the barrel or vessel is open to
the air.
When the tap is opened the drawing off of the liquid occasions
the entrance of air at the vent hole and the collapsing of the con-
servator; but the said air being separated from the liquid by the
conservator, the said liquid is not brought into contact therewith,
and the injurious changes consequent upon contact of the said
liquid with the air avoided. The said conservator may be made of
any form or size to suit the barrel or vessel with which it is to be
used, and it may be made of any suitable material or fabric which
is air-tight and flexible; that is to say, any material or fabric which
is air-tight and flexible, and which does not affect and is not
affected by the liquid with which it is to be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said John Lowther Murphy in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 17th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOHN LOWTHER MURPUY, of Birmingham, in the County of War-
wick, Dentist, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of December, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two,
in the sixteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Lowther
Murphy, Her special licence that I, the said John Lowther Mur-
phy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said John Lowther Murphy, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term thercin
expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,

page_text: within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN DRAWING OFF LIQUIDS PROM BARRELS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Lowther
Murphy, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and
cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the
said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Lowther Murphy, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, re-
ference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon (that is to say):
The object of my improvement is to permit the drawing off of
beer and such other liquids as are or may be injuriously affected
by contact with air from the barrels or vessels containing them,
without allowing the air which enters the barrel or other vessel as
the liquid leaves the said vessel to come into contact with the said
beer or other liquid. My said Invention consists of a flexible and
air-tight bag, which I propose to call the "conservator." The said
bag may either be attached to the vent hole of the barrel or vessel,
or to the tap through which the liquid is to be drawn off.
In the former case (that is to say, when the bag is attached to the
vent hole of the barrel or vessel), the interior of the said bag commu-
nicates with the atmosphere, and the liquid contained in the barrel
or vessel is external to the said bag; that is to say, the said bag
floats in the said liquid, and the said liquid occupies the space be-
tween the said bag and the barrel or vessel. In the latter cas
(that is to say, when the said bag is attached to the tap through
which the liquid is to be drawn off), the said liquid is contained in
the said bag, and the vessel is open to or communicates with the
air.

page_text: When the tap of the barrel or vessel is opened, and the beer
or liquid drawn off, a volume of atmospheric air equal to that of the
liquid withdrawn enters the barrel or vessel, the said volume of
air entering the conservator, and distending it; when the said con-
servator is connected with the vent hole or occupying a space
between the barrel or vessel and the conservator; when the said
conservator is connected with the tap of the said barrel or vessel.
In either case the air entering into the barrel or vessel as the liquid
contained therein is drawn off is not brought into contact with the
liquid remaining in the barrel or vessel, and any change which would
be induced in the said liquid by contact with the air is avoided.
The said conservator may be made of any form or size to suit the
shape and capacity of the barrel or vessel with which it is to be
used, and it may be made of any suitable material or fabric, that is
to say, of any material or fabric which is air-tight and flexible, and
which does not affect and is not affected by the liquid with which
it is to be used. My Invention is particularly applicable to vessels
used for holding ale, wines, spirits, and liquids in general which
have undergone the vinous or alcoholic fermentation; and I will
herein-after describe my said Invention as applied to beer barrels,
although my said Invention may be applied to vessels for containing
any liquids which are injuriously affected by contact with the air.
In applying my said Invention to beer barrels, I make the con-
servator of caoutchouc vulcanized or unvulcanized, gutta percha,
leuther, felted or woven fabrics. When I use leather or fabrics I
cover the same with a material suitable to make the same air-tight,
such as solutions of caoutchouc, resins, and fats or oils. I have in
practice found a bag made of calico and varnished with a solution
of caoutchouc in any of its solvents, or varnished with boiled or
drying linseed oil, or other drying oil, to answer very well.
The accompanying Drawing illustrates the method of carrying my
Invention into effect: Figure 1, represents in vertical section a
conservator to be applied to beer barrels. It consists of a bag
having the figure of the barrel with which it is to be used, and
having a short pipe a, which passes through the tap hole of the

page_text: said barrel. The beer is put into the conservator, and the tap is in-
troduced into the pipe a, the said pipe being held between the said
tap and the hole in the barrel; or the said conservator may be made
without the pipe a, and cemented to the barrel at the points b ;. that
is to say, all round the tap hole by any suitable adhesive material.
Or the conservator may have the form represented in Figure 2; that
is to say, it may have no pipe at the tap hole, but instead thereof
a pipe c, at the bung hole. When a conservator constructed as
represented in Figure 2, is used, the liquid is placed in the barrel
(instead of in the conservator, as in the modification Figure 1), and
the conservator, in a collapsed state (that is to say, like a bag or
bladder from which the air has been squeezed), is inserted at the
bung hole of the barrel, the mouth c, of the said conservator being
attached in any convenient manner around the bung hole, so that
the air cannot pass between the said conservator and the barrel.
Or the conservator may be made of the form illustrated in Figures
3, and 4; that is to say, it may have the form of half the barrel, and
be cemented by its edge to the middle of the barrel. In such case
the conservator is made to occupy the upper half of the filled
barrel, the beer being underneath the said conservator. On drawing
off the said beer the said conservator sinks, and as the barrel
empties itself the said conservator turns itself inside out, and when
the barrel is empty occupies the lower half of the barrel. The
dotted lines in Figures 3, and 4, show the position which the con-
servator occupies in the empty barrel, and the continuous lines in
the upper half of each barrel represent the position of the con-
servator in the filled barrel.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, I wish it
to be understood that I do not limit myself to the methods of carry-
ing my Invention into effect herein described and represented in
the accompanying Drawing, as the same may be varied without dc-
parting from the nature of my said Invention; but I claim the use
of an air-tight and flexible partition or diaphragm in barrels and
vessels for containing liquids to be drawn off by portions, the said
partition or diaphragm being interposed between the air and liquid

page_text: contained in the said barrel or vessel, so as to protect the said liquid
from the action of the said air.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Lowther Murphy, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of June,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
JOHN LOWTHER MURPHY. (L.S.)
Witness,
RICHARD SKERRETT.