IM- PROVEMENTS IN TAPS, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR ADMITTING AIR TO BEER AND OTHER LIQUORS UNDER DRAUGHT
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lingard, of Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN TAPS, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR
ADMITTING AIR TO BEER AND OTHER LIQUORS UNDER DRAUGHT"
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lingard
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 20th December 1852.
I, GEORGE LINGARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH, FOR
ADMITTING AIR TO BEER AND OTHER LIQUORS UNDER DRAUGHT," to be as
follows:-
My Invention consists in making an air passage or aperture in
the tap, above the liquid way leading to another aperture, to which
I screw, or otherwise attach, a hollow tube extending outside the
cask or barrel; the other, or upper end of the tube, is fastened or
screwed to a vent peg, closed at top and open at bottom, for the

page_text: admission of air to the contents of the cask. When liquid is not
being drawn, the communication between the two apertures in the
tap is shut off by the plug. When the plug is turned to draw the
contents of the cask, communication is made between the two
apertures in the tap, and a passage for the air into the top of the
barrel is made simultaneously with a passage for the flow of the
liquid. On the plug being turned, both air and liquid passages arc
simultaneously closed.
In lieu of the air pipe passing outside the cask, it might be taken
through or at the side of the tap, up through the liquid, to near the
top of the inside of the cask; but this latter plan has many objec-
tions which do not exist in the former.
Instead of my apparatus being used in combination with a tap, it
may be used in combination with a beer engine.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters
Patent, filed by the said George Lingard in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 20th June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
GEORGE LINGARD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manu-
facturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth 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 George Lingard, Her
special licence that I, the said George Lingard, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George
Lingard, 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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS, AND APPARATUS CONNECTED THERE-
WITH, FOR ADMITTING AIR TO BEER AND OTHER LIQUORS UNDER DRAUGHT,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George Lingard,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particu-
larly 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 George Lingard, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed (that is to say):
My Invention consists in making an air passage or aperture in
the tap above the liquid way leading to an aperture, to which I
screw or otherwise attach a hollow tube extending outside the cask
or barrel; the other, or upper end of the tube, is fastened or screwed
to a vent peg, closed at top and open at bottom, for the admission
of air to the contents of the cask. When liquid is not being drawn,
the communication between the two apertures in the tap is shut off
by the plug. When the plug is turned to draw the contents of the
cask, communication is made between the two apertures in the tap,
and a passage for the air into the top of the barrel is made simul-
taneously with a passage for the flow of the liquid.. On the
plug being turned, both air and liquid passages are simultaneously
closed.
In lieu of the air pipe passing outside the cask, it might be taken
through or at the side up through the liquid, to near the top of the
inside of the cask; but this latter plan has many objections which do
not exist in the former. Instead of my apparatus being used in
combination with a tap, it may be used in combination with a beer
engine.
The Drawings hereunto annexed represent my Invention fitted
to a tap for drawing off liquids from a cask. Figure 1, is a longi-
tudinal section; Figure 2, a front elevation; and Figure 3, a plan,

page_text: with part of the tap removed, shewing the air passage. A, Ai, are
orifices made in the barrel of the tap. The barrel has cast on its
side the screw threaded projecting piece B. C, is a passage in the
plug of the tap, which, when the plug is turned to draw off liquid,
opens a communication between the orifices A, A¹. D, is a flexible
pipe, made of metal; vulcanized caoutchouc, or other suitable
material, one end of which is connected to the projecting piece B,
while at the other end it is connected to a hollow vent peg E,
inserted into the top of the head of the cask, or, where equally
convenient, into one of the upper staves, as indicated by the dotted
lines in Figure 1.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I
claim the making of taps with air passages opening into a pipe and
vent peg, for the supply of air into closed vessels, acting in the
manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lingard, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Ninth day of June, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-three.
GEORGE LINGARD. (L.S.)