IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS FROM BARRELS OR OTHER CLOSED VESSELS, AND FOR LIFTING OR FORCING LIQUIDS TO ANY DESIRED HEIGHT
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hunter Bentham, of Bedford Row, in
the County of Middlesex, Architect, for the Invention of "IMPROVED
APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS FROM BARRELS OR
OTHER CLOSED VESSELS, AND FOR LIFTING OR FORCING LIQUIDS TO ANY DESIRED
HEIGHT."
Sealed the 27th November 1868, and dated the 28th May 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hunter
Bentham at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 28th May 1868.
I, ROBERT HUNTER BENTHAM, of Bedford Row, in the County of
Middlesex, Architect, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS PROM.
BARRELS OR OTHER CLOSED VESSELS, AND POR LIPTING OR FORCING LIQUIDS TO ANY
DESIRED HEIGHT," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in forcing air into an elastic or compressible
bag, bladder, or vessel mado of any suitable material when such said bag
is placed in a barrel or other closed vessel for facilitating the flow of
the liquid therefrom.

page_text: The following is an example of the means by which the objects of
this Invention may be accomplished:-The aforesaid bag is placed in
the barrel, say at the bung hole thereof, and connected thereto air-tight;
a pipe passes from the top or mouth of the bag and has connected to its
upper end bellows which may be actuated either by hand direct or
through the medium of a lever or other suitable mechanical contrivance ;;
thus it will be seen that by forcing air into the aforesaid bag it may be
expanded so as to forcibly expel the liquid from the vessel containing it,.
and is intended to serve also as a substitute for beer engines employed
for drawing beer, it being simply necessary to fit a cock on to. that end
of the pipe at which the beer passes out, so that by forcing compressed
air into the bag in the butt or puncheon containing the beer such.
pressure will be exerted thereon and is intended to lift or force the beer.
or other liquid to any desired height..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Hunter Bentham in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 28th November 1868..
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
HUNTER BENTHAM, of Bedford Row, in the County of Middlesex,
Architect, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Robert Hunter Bentham, Her special
licence that I, the said Robert Hunter Bentham, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Robert Hunter
Bentham, 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 therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an
Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR FACILITATING THE FLOW OF LIQUIDS
FROM BARRELS OR OTHER CLOSED VESSELS, AND FOR LIFTING OR FORCING LIQUIDS TO
ANY DESIRED HEIGHT," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the

page_text: said Robert Hunter Bentham, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and
seals, 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 Robert Hunter Bentham, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention consists in forcing air into an clastic or compressible
bag, bladder, or vessel made of any suitable material when such said
bag is placed in a barrel or other closed vessel for facilitating the flow
of the liquid therefrom.
The following is an example of the means by which the objects of
this Invention may be accomplished:-The aforesaid bag is placed in
the barrel, say at the bung hole thereof, and connected thereto air-tight;
a pipe passes from the top or mouth of the bag and has connected to its
upper end bellows which may be actuated either by hand direct or
through the medium of a lever or other suitable mechanical contrivance;
thus it will be seen that by forcing air into the aforesaid bag it may be
expanded so as to forcibly expel the liquid from the vessel containing it,
and is intended to serve also as a substitute for beer engines employed
for drawing beer, it being simply necessary to fit a cock on to that end
of the pipe at which the beer passes out, so that by forcing compressed
air into the bag in the butt or puncheon containing the beer such
pressure will be exerted thereon, and is intended to lift or force the
beer or other liquid to any desired height.
And in order to explain my said Invention more completely I now
proceed to describe the best means I am accquainted with for carrying
the same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative
Drawing accompanying these Presents, and to the letters of reference
marked thereon, as follows:

page_text: A, A, marks the barrel; B, the bung hole; C, the bung, through the
centre of which a tube of metal or other suitable material a is passed and
fixed air-tight by any suitable waterproof cement; the lower end of the
tube a is inserted into the mouth or neck of an clastic or flexible
bag D made of india-rubber membrane or other suitable material, the
mouth or neck thereof being fixed air-tight around the tube a; the
upper end of this tube has a female screw formed therein to receive the
lower and screwed end of a hollow piece of metal E formed with a flange
at which screws tightly against the bung C, thereby making an air-
tight joint; the piece E is also formed with another flange at c for
connecting thereto by screws or otherwise the bellows G. The con-.
struction of these bellows is as follows:-d marks a circular piece of
wood formed with two openings e, f, each fitted with a hinged flap
valve g and h; 'the valve g opens inwards and the valve h outwards;
His a cylinder of leather or india-rubber fabric, the lower edge whereof
is fixed air-tight around the piece c, and the upper edge of the piece H
is similarly fixed around another circular piece of wood I which forms
the top of the bellows.
The operations of this improved apparatus are as follows:-Observing
that the bellows above described are only intended to be used when it is
desired to raise or force the liquid contained in the barrel to a much
higher level than the liquid in the said barrel so as to dispense with the
use of beer engines, and supposing the barrel A to be full of beer, for
example, and the bag D to be inserted therein at the bung hole in a
collapsed state, and the apparatus fixed as above described, upon exerting
pressure upon the top of the bellows the air contained therein will be
forced into the bag D, the escape of the air therefrom being prevented
by the closing of the valve has the bellows are raised to receive a
fresh charge of atmospheric air which is forced into the bag as before
stated, the operator continuing this operation as long as is necessary to
inflate the bag, and by so doing to displace as much of the contents of
the barrel as may be required, the capacity of the said bag being
proportionate in size to the contents of the barrel; or instead of using
bellows as above described a copper ball filled with compressed air and
screwed into the tube a might be employed for inflating the bag and
discharging the contents of the barrel. In cases where it is required to
discharge the contents of the barrel by a tap or cock inserted therein in
the usual way bellows of simple construction may be employed in lieu

page_text: of the bellows above described and represented by the Drawing, namely,
bellows with one internal valve at the top, the opening at the valve seat
being formed considerably larger than the opening in the tube a; or
instead of the tube a a simple wood pipe and plug might be employed,
the upper part of the pipe being fixed to the bottom of the bellows. M is
a temporary vent for expelling confined air.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object
of my said Invention for "Improved Apparatus for Facilitating the
Flow of Liquids from Barrels or other Closed Vessels, and for Lifting or
Forcing Liquids to any desired Height," I would remark in conclusion
that I hereby declare my Invention to consist in and I claim, apparatus
of the above construction for effecting the objects above stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Hunter Bentham, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of
November, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.
ROBERT H. BENTHAM. (L.S.)