IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR TAPPING' CASKS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND DRAWING OFF FLUIDS FROM SAME
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Wilhelm Noll, of Minden, in Prussia, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR APPLIANCES FOR TAPPING' CASKS OR OTHER
VESSELS, AND DRAWING OFF FLUIDS FROM SAME.”
"
Sealed the 2nd February 1877, and dated the 4th August 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Wilhelm Noll at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th August 1876.
"
WILHELM NOLL, of Minden, in Prussia. IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR
APPLIANCES FOR TAPPING' CASKS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND DRAWING OFF FLUIDS
FROM SAME."
The objects of this Invention are to afford great facility for "tapping" casks and
for drawing off fluids from same, and in such a manner that the latter does not come
in contact with impure air, and that the remaining fluid in the cask of beer, for
instance, shall keep good and drinkable for weeks, as I have found by numerous
experiments to be the case when using this my Invention.
The drawing-off appliance consists of a gun metal hollow stand pipe. Through a
stuffing box at the top is passed a tinned brass tube, which goes down through the
stand pipe, and is continued far enough to pass to the inside bottom of a cask
standing up on its end. This pipe has a tap at the top, and is there bent over or
down. The stuffing box packing may be india-rubber, and the gland may be formed
as a thumb nut. The pipe may be of any desired length to suit the size of cask.
The fluid passes up through it. The bottom end of the stand pipe is taper, and is
formed with a shoulder, which with an interposed india-rubber or other suitable
washer bears against the edge round a bung hole. The stand pipe carries on side
arms on one side an air pump of any known construction, and on the other a bottle
for washing air. A pipe leads the air from the delivery valve of the air pump to a
syphon pipe passing down to the bottom of the wash bottle, which latter is filled
about two-thirds with a weak water solution of supermanganate of alkali. The air
has consequently to pass through this solution, leaving behind the extraneous sub-
stances, such as dust and vapors, and finally goes by a pipe to the stand pipe, and
thence into the cask.
A three-way cock is fitted in the pipe leading from the air pump to the wash
bottle, and the purposes of this cock are to shut off the wash bottle from the air
[Price 6d.]

page_text: pump, to connect the air pump with the atmosphere by a small opening, and to
connect the wash bottle and the cask with the said small air opening. Thero is a
safety valve with alarm whistle over the pump delivery valve for preventing the
bursting of the cask or the wash bottle.
The just described drawing-off appliance is by preference driven into the cask by
a special appliance, which consists in a fork carrying an upright screw and fitting
round or enclosing a slide, which by means of a horizontal screw can be brought
nearer to or further from the upright screw. This fork is laid on the head of the
cask so as to have the bung hole in the middle; the slide is then by turning of the
screw pressed against one inner side of the projecting staves so as to be firmly fixed,
the fork ends abutting against the opposite side. The stand pipe of the aforesaid
drawing-off appliance is furnished with a projecting lug or bracket on each side, and
on these brackets rosts a fork on the upright screw of the tapping appliance; by
turning the thumb nut thereon this fork, and with it the drawing-off appliance, is
pushed down. This fork may be made of wood to preserve the cask staves from
injury; the slide may also be made of wood for the same purpose, the nut on the hori-
zontal screw being revolved for causing the required abutting action of fork and
slide. The fork ends are roughened underneath.
In order to tap a beer cask, for instance, the tapping appliance is first fastened in
place as described; the bung is then driven in about an eighth of an inch; the taper
bottom end of the stand pipe is then placed on the bung, the india-rubber washer
being under the shoulder, as before described, and the stand pipe fixed in its place
by means of the fork, its roughened under side resting on the lugs on the stand pipe,
and the fork being lowered by the thumb nut; the bung is then pushed down by
means of the pipe which passes through the stand pipe and its stuffing box, and this
pipe pushed down to the bottom of the cask; the three-way cock is then turned so
that the air pump communicates with the wash bottle and the cask; air is then
pumped in until the blowing off of the safety valve indicates, say, two atmospheres'
pressure; the three-way cock is then turned so as to shut in the air in the cask, and
the drawing off may then begin by opening the drawing-off cock on the pipe.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Wilhelm Noll in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 3rd February
1877.
WILHELM NOLL, of Minden, in Prussia. "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS OR
APPLIANCES FOR TAPPING' CASKS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND DRAWING OFF FLUIDS
FROM SAME."
This Invention combines several advantages as compared with the ordinary
appliances for such purpose. I have more especially found that beer, cider, wine,
and other fermented liquors which are liable to deteriorate or get spoiled while the
cask is in use, will when this appliance is used keep for weeks without getting flat
or stale. This is in consequence of the application of purified compressed air and
the prevention of the influx of impure particles, as well as the escape of carbonic
acid.
And in order that this my Invention may be fully described and ascertained, I
will now describe the same with reference to the accompanying Drawings, of which
Figure 1 is a front elevation of the drawing-off appliance; Figure 2, a vertical
section through same; Figure 3, a plan; and Figure 4 is a vertical section through
the air compressing cylinder or pump, with valve box.
The main part of my Invention is the air compressing cylinder or pump A, which
is made of iron, brass, or other suitable metal, and is fitted with a piston B and
piston rod C; D, Figure 4, is a hole in the upper part of the cylinder A for the
Escape of the air when the piston is raised. The cylinder A is by means of a pipe E

page_text: connected to a bottle or vessel F for washing the air; the pipe E is provided with
a valve box G, containing suction valve J and delivery valve K, which cause the
compression of the air and its conduction into the washing bottle F; the pipe E is
also fitted with a stop-cock H
When the piston B is raised, the suction valve J opens and the air rushes into
the cylinder A, whence it, on the depression of the piston'B, is pressed through the
delivery valve into the washing bottle F. The tap H serves as a substitute for
the delivery valve K when required, and to better retain the compressed air in the
washing bottle and in the cask.
The pipe E is continued down into the washing bottle F, as shewn in dotted lines
in Figure 1, that is, in the shape of a syphon. The bottle F is at the top, by means
of a small pipe, connected with the stand pipe L, which is joined to the cylinder A
and the washing bottle F by means of side arms or shanks; this stand pipe is here
shewn provided with a taper screw thread at the bottom for screwing into a bung
hole of a cask.
N is an internal tinned brass tube passing through a stuffing box at the top of
the stand pipe L, and is continued far enough to pass down to the inside bottom of
the cask, standing up on its end. The stuffing box may conveniently be provided
with a loose metal washer, and be packed with an india-rubber washer P, and the
gland be formed as a thumb nut, as here shewn. The pipe may be of any required
Jength to suit the size of the cask; it is at the top fitted with a tap O, and is thoro
bent over or down, as shewn. M is a valve at the top of the washing bottle F.
When the air by working the piston rod C up and down is being pumped, it
passes through the pipe E into the washing bottle F, raises the valve M, passes
round the pipe N, and into the cask, thereby driving the fluid into the pipe N,
whence it may be drawn off by tap O as required.
The washing bottle F is filled about two-thirds or three-fourths with a weak
water solution of supermanganate of alkali. The entering air has consequently to
pass through this solution, leaving behind the extraneous substances, such as dust
and vapors, and finally goes by the pipe at the top of the washing bottle F to the
stand pipe L, and thence into the cask.
The tap H may be made as a three-way cock, so as to shut off the wash bottle F
from the air compressing pump A, to connect the latter with the atmosphere by a
small air opening, and to connect the washing bottle F and the cask with the said
small air opening.
A safety valve with alarum whistle may be fitted over the delivery valve K for
preventing injury to the cask or to the wash bottle.
The pipe N is closed at its lower end, and the fluid in the cask enters it through
small side perforations.
And having thus fully described this Invention I declare that I claim,―
Firstly. The arrangement of a tapping or drawing-off stand pipe in combination
with a pumping cylinder A and a washing bottle F, substantially as here described.
Secondly. The arrangement of the pumping cylinder A and the washing bottlo F
relatively to one another and to the pipes L and N, all substantially as here
described with reference to the Drawings.
Thirdly. The application of supermanganate of alkali or natron in connection
with apparatus constructed substantially as here set forth and for the purpose
stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Wilhelm Noll, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Thirty-first day of January in the year of our Lord One thousand
WILHELM NOLL. (L.S.)