IMPROVE- MENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF APERTURES IN BARRELS, CISTERNS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS. PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Nathan Ager, of No. 28, Grosvenor Road,
Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF APERTURES
IN BARRELS, CISTERNS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Nathan Ager at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th June 1873.
I, NATHAN AGER, of No. 28, Grosvenor Road, Pimlico, in the
County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE OPENING AND
CLOSING OF APERTURES IN BARRELS, CISTERNS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS," to
be as follows:-
:
This Invention relates to apparatus for facilitating the opening and
closing of apertures in barrels and similar vessels, and is intended for

page_text: use in beer and ale barrels, oil, spirit, and water casks, cans, cisterns,
and receptacles.
The apparatus is composed of a screw or a plain bush for fixing into
the aperture, say in the head of a cask; the bush is threaded upon the
interior for a distance of its length for the reception of a central tube 5
which has a valve or closer at its back end, holes being arranged near
to the valve which when uncovered permit the fluid to pass to a cock
which is (when the apparatus is in use) screwed into a separate threaded
portion of the inner tube, so that when the cock is screwed home in first
fitting it, the continuation of the turning causes the inner tube to travel 1
and push the valve from its seating, whereby the holes are exposed and
the liquid is free to pass into the cock. The cock is of the usual con-
struction and has a plug which can be turned to open and to close its
passage when desired.
If the apparatus is used for beer or ale casks in private houses the 1
cock can be removed from, say, an empty barrel, and fitted to a fresh full
one, a cap on the end having only to be removed prior to fitting the cock
in position.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Nathan Ager in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 24th December 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, NATHAN
AGER, of No. 28, Grosvenor Road, Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her:
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Nathan Ager, Her special licence
that I, the said Nathan Ager, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Nathan Ager, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no

page_text: ט ני
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 "IMPROVEMENTS
IN APPARATUS TO FACILITATE THE OPENING AND CLOSING OF APERTURES IN BARRELS,
CISTERNS, AND OTHER SIMILAR VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Nathan Ager, 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 Nathan Ager, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings here-
unto annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention relates to apparatus as shown for facilitating the
opening and closing of apertures in barrels and similar vessels, and is
intended for use in beer and ale barrels, oil, spirit, and water casks,
cans, cisterns and receptacles.
| Figures 1 and 2 respectively show a tap and valve in combination
with a bush which can be fitted on the head or other part of a cask or
other vessel by screws, as in Figure 3, or it can be furnished with a
threaded portion on the exterior to screw into the head of the cask, or
into the side, as in Fig. 4.
The apparatus is composed of a screw or a plain bush a for fixing into
the aperture, say, in the head 6 of a cask c, the bush is threaded upon
the interior as in Figure 1 for a distance of its length, for the reception
of a central tube d which has a valve or closer e at its back end, holes
ff, being arranged near to the valve, which when uncovered permit of
the fluid passing to a cock g which is (when the apparatus is in use)
screwed into a separate threaded portion of the inner tube d so that
when the cock.g is screwed home in first fitting it, the continuation of

page_text: the turning causes the inner tube at a and pas
its seating h, whereby the holes are exposed and the liquid is free to pass
into the cock g. The cock is of the usual construction and has a plug j
which can be turned to open and to close its passages when desired.
If the apparatus is used for beer or ale casks in private houses the 5
cock can be removed from, say, an empty barrel by unscrewing it from
the central tube, and it can be fitted to a fresh full one, a cap preferably
on the end having only to be removed prior to fitting the cock in
position.
3
Figure 5 shows a cistern with the valve of the apparatus closed, and 1
with a cap over its outer end, which cap can be removed at any time to
permit of the tap being screwed into the tube d.
Figure 6 shows a straight ended cock, one end k being threaded to take
into the central tube d of the bush, the other end working in a sleeve
m of a connecting tube or pipe leading, say, to the engine on a pub-
lican's counter, said sleeve being screw threaded at its end for the
reception of a screw nut n to act upon and press packing into contact
with the exterior of the tube 1, the packing pinching the end 7 in a
liquid tight manner all round its periphery. As the cock is unscrewed
from the cask or vessel its end slides back or within the sleeve until it
is free, the nut n having been first released.
The central tube or plug can be arranged to pass the valve and holes
farther than is shown into the barrel so that when the Invention is
used with pale or other ales, for which the holes should be more
numerous and of smaller size than for heavier or thicker liquids, the
sediment or impurities held in suspense in the liquid are kept from
flowing through.
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 combination of a movable valve plug or tube, with a cock when
such valve plug or tube, can be operated by the cock, as and for the
purposes described and as shown in the Drawings.
I claim secondly, the bushing of casks, barrels, cisterns, and other

page_text: vessels, also the method by which the contents of the vessels can be
allowed to flow, or be stopped, as described and shown.
In witness whereof, I, the said Nathan Ager, have hereunto set.
my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of December, One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.