IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING OR RAISING BEER AND OTHER MALT OR SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS TO A HIGHER LEVEL THAN THAT OF THE CASK
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Fleming, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
Customs Agent and Bonded Warehouse Keeper, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING OR RAISING BEER AND OTHER
MALT OR SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS TO A HIGHER LEVEL THAN THAT OF THE CASK OR
Sealed the 29th November 1867, and dated the 15th July 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Fleming at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th July
1867.
I, JAMES FLEMING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, Customs Agent
and Bonded Warehouse Keeper, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR DRAWING OR RAISING BEER AND
OTHER MALT OR SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS TO A HIGHER LEVEL THAN THAT OF THE CASE
OR OTHER VESSEL IN WHICH THEY ARE KEPT," to be as follows:-
Air is forced and compressed into a receiver or cistern, which is connected
by a pipe with the upper part of the cask or vessel in which the liquor
intended to be raised is contained. The amount of compression in the receiver
or cistern may be regulated by any usual guage; a mercury guage I consider

page_text: the most convenient mode of regulating the required pressure; another pipe
is connected with the lower part of the cask or vessel, and is carried up to the
level at which the liquor is wished to be drawn off. In order to raise the
liquor compressed air is admitted from the receiver by means of the first-
mentioned pipe into the upper part of the vessel containing the liquor, and the
air thus admitted causes by its pressure the liquor to ascend through the other
pipe above described to the level desired, where the liquor is drawn off by a
cock or crane, or is allowed to flow in other manner as may be desired.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Fleming in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
14th January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
FLEMING, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, Customs Agent and Bonded
Warehouse Keeper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of July, Anno Domini One thousand,
eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
James Fleming, Her special license that I, the said James Fleming, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Fleming, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR
DRAWING OR RAISING BEER AND OTHER MALT OR SPIRITUOUS LIQUORS TO A HIGHER
LEVEL THAN THAT OF THE CASK OR OTHER VESSEL IN WHICH THEY ARE KEPT,” upon
the condition (amongst others) that J, the said James Fleming, 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 James Fleming, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say :-
Whereas in the process at present in use for drawing or raising beer and
other malt and spirituous liquors by means of a pump or pumping apparatus
to a higher level than that of the casks or other vessels in which they are
kept the said liquors are more or less injuriously disturbed and shaken in
these casks or vessels by the action of the said pump or pumping apparatus,
by means of which and through the medium of connecting pipes the said
liquors are conveyed from the casks or vessels to the level where they are to
be drawn off.
And whereas by the said present process a separate pump or pumping
apparatus is required for each cask or vessel of liquor foresaid to be operated
on, the objects of my Invention are (first) the prevention or avoidance of such
injurous disturbing or shaking of the said liquors by the action of compressed
air, being substituted as a raising or propelling power or force, instead of the
direct action of a pump or pumping apparatus, as a means for raising the said
liquors; and (second) the effecting of economy and saving of labor in the
operation, in as much as one source of pressure can be applied to several casks
or vessels at the same time so as to raise the said liquors from any one or
more of the casks or vessels to the desired level when wanted.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood and carried into
effect, I will proceed to describe the means to be pursued in carrying out my
improvements, reference being made when required to the accompanying
Drawing.
Air in a compressed state is forced into a receiver marked A by means of
what is generally known as an air compressing pump marked B in the
Drawing; that pump may be driven by hand or by any convenient motive
power. The air receiver is connected by a main pipe C, C, C, C, fitted with
a suitable cock, with the upper part of the cask or vessel or casks or vessels
marked E, E, E, in which the said liquors intended to be raised are contained;
D, D, D, are short branch pipes fitted with cocks leading from the main air
pipe into the several casks or vessels. The degree of compression of the air
is indicated by a mercurial or other gauge H, and regulated by an escape
valve K. From the lower part of each cask or vessel a pipe F fitted with a
suitable cock or cocks is carried up to the point G at which the said liquors
are to be drawn off. In order to raise the said liquors compressed air is
admitted from the receiver through the main pipe C, C, C, C, and branch
pipe D into the upper part of each cask or vessel containing liquor, and the

page_text: air thus admitted causes by its pressure such liquor to ascend through the
pipe F to the point G, where the liquor is drawn off by a cock, or in such
other manner as may be desired.
The details of the apparatus herein described may be varied so long as the
principles are adhered to. I do not claim as my Invention the charging of the
receiver with compressed air, or the ascertaining or regulating the amount of
pressure as before mentioned, or the arrangement of the pipes; but I do
claim the adoption of compressed air as a means of raising beer and other
malt or spirituous liquors from the lower to the higher level, instead of the
pumping apparatus at present in use, as beneficial (first) in preventing or
avoiding injurious disturbing or shaking of the said liquors in the casks or
vessels; and (second) in effecting economy and saving labour in the operation,
inasmuch as one source of pressure can be applied to several casks or vessels
at the same time so as to raise the said liquors from any one or more of them
to the desired level when wanted, and also the combination of these several
appliances before mentioned for the purpose of raising beer and other malt or
spirituous liquors from a lower to a higher level.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Fleming, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JAMES FLEMING.
(L.S.)