Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Removing Pitch from Casks, Barrels, or the like.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Jan., 1896-Accepted, 22nd Feb., 1896
Improvements in or relating to Apparatus for Removing Pitch
from Casks, Barrels, or the like.
A communication from CARL FRANZ LOUIS FROHBERG, Brewer, of Rosswein,
Saxony, in the Empire of Germany.
I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn, in the County of Middlesex,
Chartered Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The well-known process of cleaning barrels from pitch (in breweries etc..) by
fire-gases is very bad for the barrels or casks on account of dry heat being
employed, and moreover presents danger of explosion or fire through glowing
particles of coal which can get with the fire-gases into the barrels, which are filled
with pitch vapours, and finally it is a great nuisance to the workmen and to the
neighbourhood owing to the pitch vapours. By employing-in very few cases-
superheated steam for removing pitch, the first two drawbacks have been avoided
but not the last one-the pitch vapour nuisance. As a rule hot steam was led in
through the bunghole and the noxious pitch vapours sought an exit and came out
with the escaping condensing steam. As the melted pitch came out also through
the bunghole, the steam pipe used to be stopped with pitch; the pitch dropping
from the hot steam pipe was overheated (burnt) and coming into the receiving
vessel, spoiled the rest of the pitch.
Those drawbacks are avoided in the present process. This is characterised by
the fact that superheated steam is led into the barrel, placed horizontally, through
the taphole, the joint of the pipe in this hole being made as tight as possible,
whereas melted pitch is let out through the bunghole, which is placed underneath,
and the pitch vapours are pumped out together with the exhaust steam through
the same bunghole. For this purpose small barrels are placed on a suitable vessel,
and the large ones over a pit; from the vessel or from the pit there is a pipe.
through which steam and vapours are pumped out. This pumping out can be
effected by an exhauster or the like; an arrangement of pipes can also be used
similar to that of the blast pipe in the locomotives, which is the case in an
apparatus to be described hereinafter for the above process. The details of the
process will appear in the description of the apparatus.
In the accompanying drawings
Fig. 1 shows the complete apparatus,
Fig. 2 is a section through the horizontal steam pipe and through a barrel with
a support.
Fig. 3 is a separate view of one of the nozzles, through which the steam is let in
into the barrels.
A is a horizontal apparatus of well-known structure for superheating steam,
B the chimney thereof. The steam from a boiler enters at a (Fig. 1, on the right)
passing into the pipes a¹ of the superheater, which pipes it circulates in a zigzag
manner as shown in Figure 1 by small arrows. The fire-gases produced in the
grate A surround the pipes a (as indicated by the long arrow) and escape
through B. A 2 is a pressure gauge, A3 a safety valve. But the form of
superheater employed does not affect the present invention.

page_text: In front of A are the steam pipes c on supports C, which pipes receive steam
from the superheater pipes a' through pipes c. The arrangement shown on the
drawing is intended for three small barrels (transport barrels) and for one big
cask (for keeping beer on the premises); there are two steam pipes c with two
nozzles each. It will be sufficient to describe one nozzle pipe D for the small
barrels and the nozzle pipe D' for the cask with their connections. Each nozzle
pipe has a valve E, which is inserted into the pipe c and can be opened by a hand-
lever e. The nozzle pipe D, as well as D', is joined at one end to e so as to he
movable in a vertical plane; the pipe joint d may be of some known construction.
On the pipe D there is a handle d and a nozzle d 2 at right angles to the pipe.
This conical nozzle is provided at its end with one or more holes for letting out
steam; at the top of the right angle it has a cone d 3 with a handle d 4 arranged
as shown. As can be seen from Fig. 3, d3 is lined with a layer d 5 of some
material which is a nonconductor of heat, such as asbestos. When to be used, the
Dozzle is placed in the tap-hole of the barrel F (Fig. 2) and the cone d3 is
inserted tightly in this hole by turning the handle d4. The non-conducting
layer d5 prevents the walls of the tap-hole being burnt by superheated steam.
The nozzle pipe D' (see Fig. 1 on the left) differs from D only in that it consists
of two parts joined by a joint d 6, for more convenient inserting in the unwieldy
storage cask. The levers e may of course be replaced by screws.
For supporting small barrels during cleaning, hollow supports G are used, of
which only two are represented in Fig. 1. They are placed (Fig. 2) in front of C
so that the nozzle can enter into the tap-hole. The nozzle is inserted by pushing
the tap-hole over it and then placing the barrel on G. The convex part of the
barrel fits pretty tightly into the hollow conical cover g of G. In the middle of g
there is a hole, over which comes the bung-hole f. Through this hole melted pitch
drops into a receiver H. At the side of G there is fixed a pipe I, through which
the vapours are pumped out. For the large storage cask there is instead of the
support G a pit K, over which the cask is placed, the nozzle d2 of D' being
inserted in the tap-hole in the above described manner. At the bottom of the
pit K there is a receiving vessel H; just above which the exhaust pipe I' enters
the pit K.
L'are boilers for melting pitch, which together with the pitch obtained during
the cleaning process, is used for another pitching of barrels. Into the intermediate
space between the boiler proper and the jacket, the steam is led from a' through
pipes L. The exhaust from the pitch-boilers is utilised in the arrangement shown
on the drawing for pumping out of vapours from the barrels.
The pipe M receives through pipes m the exhaust from and enters in the shape
of a nozzle ma into the blast pipe N, into which enter the pipes I and 1'. The
steam escaping from m' produces a vacuum, whereby the vapours from G and K,
and also from the interior of the barrels, are pumped out.
The superheated steam, which is poured into the barrels through the nozzles d',
acts in such a way, that it melts the pitch, which drops out through the bung-hole
and collects in H. The exhaust steam with particles of pitch is drawn out through
pipe I or I¹.
The number of nozzle-pipes, the arrangement of the steam pipes e, of the
supports G and of the pits K'depend on the size of the plant and on the room
available.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention, as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is ;-
1. A process for cleaning barrels or the like from pitch in which superheated
steam enters into a horizontally placed barrel through a nozzle fitting tightly into
the tap-hole the melted pitch being let out through the bunghole and the exhaust
steam with particles of pitch being pumped out substantially as described.
2. An apparatus for removing pitch from barrels or the like comprising a pipe

page_text: or pipes such as c for superheated steam jointed to uozzle pipes with nozzles such
as d2 at right angles to them and with cones such as d 3 rotatably placed on the
nozzles supports such as G for small barrels pits such as K for larger casks and
pipes I and I operating substantially as and for the purpose described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
3. In an apparatus such as claimed in Claim 2 the arrangement of an exhaust
pipe M from the pitch boilers L terminating in a nozzle such as m¹ in a blast
pipe N into which latter enter pipes I and I substantially as and for the purpose
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
4. The combination and arrangement of parts constituting the complete apparatus
for removing pitch from barrels casks or the like substantially as described and
illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 20th day of January 1906
BOULT & WADE,
Agents for the Applicant.