IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS FOR BEER CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Rooker, of East Street, Lamb's Conduit
Street, in the County of Middlesex, Engraver, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS FOR BEER CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS."
Sealed the 24th March 1868, and dated the 25th September 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Rooker at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th September
1867.
I, ALFRED ROOKER, of East Street, Lamb's Conduit Street, in the County
of Middlesex, Engraver, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN TAPS FOR BEER CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS," to be as
follows:-
The main object of my Invention is to do away with the necessity of driving
in by means of the tap itself the cork or bung which closes the tap hole of
beer casks; and my Invention consists in so constructing the inuer end of the
tap that it will cut out a circular piece of the cork or bung, and will at the
same time close the aperture thereby formed in the cork or bung.
In carrying out my Invention I construct the inner end or portion of the
tap tubular, and open at the inner extremity; and I form this circular extremity

page_text: with a cutting edge which is by preference saw toothed or serrated, but may be
a plain cutting edge. When it is required to tap a cask, the cutting edge is
caused, by turning the tap round and pressing it against the cork, to cut its
way through the cork and cut out a circular piece which remains in the
tubular inner end of the tap; the tap is pushed in far enough to allow access
of the contents of the cask to the tap by holes formed in the side thereof in
the ordinary manner. The tap may be fitted with an ordinary key and a
vent aperture.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Alfred Rooker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 25th
March 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
ROOKER, of East Street, Lamb's Conduit Street, in the County of Middlesex,
Engraver, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of September, in the year of our
Lord 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 Alfred Rooker, Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Rooker,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alfred
Rooker, 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
TAPS FOR BEER CASES AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Alfred Rooker, my executors
Rooker, 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 Alfred Rooker, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-.
The main object of my Invention is to do away with the necessity of driving
in by means of the tap itself the cork or bung which closes the tap hole of
beer casks; and my Invention consists in so constructing the inner end of the
tap that it will cut out a circular piece of the cork or bung, and will at the
same time close the aperture thereby formed in the cork or bung.
In carrying out my Invention I construct the inner end or portion of the
tap tubular, and open at the inner extremity; and I form this circular
extremity with a cutting edge which is saw toothed or serrated, or it may be a
plain cutting edge.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents, partly in section, a
beer tap constructed according to my Invention and applied to the tap hole of
a cask.
A is the stem of the tap which has the usual holes a to allow the beer or
liquid to enter the stem. The inner end B of the stem has a cutting edge b
for the purpose before explained and is hollow as shown to receive the cylinder
of cork as cut by the cutting edge; C is a stop in the stem to prevent the
cylinder of cork reaching and closing the holes a; D represents the cork
cylinder in the stem; the cutting edge 6 is a plain cutting edge.
Figure 2 shews a tap in which the cutting edge is toothed or serrated; the
action is as follows:-When it is required to tap a cask, the cutting edge 6 is
caused, by rotating the tap and pressing it against the cork, to cut its way
through the cork and cut out the circular piece D which remains in the tubular
inner end B of the tap; the tap is then pushed in far enough to allow access
of the contents of the cask to the tap by the holes a; the tap may be fitted
with an ordinary key and a vent aperture. The cutting edge b may, if desired,
be of or faced with steel, and in that case it may be used to form a hole for
the tap in the wood of the cask. When the tap is removed from the cask,
the cylinder of cork D may be extracted from the part B by a corkscrew or
otherwise.
Figure 8 represents a tap suitable for drawing off the contents of champagne
and other bottles; it is constructed in the same manner as the tap shown in
Figure 1, but is made sufficiently narrow to be passed through the cork of a
bottle as shown to allow the contents to be drawn off; c is a hole to admit an
appliance to push out the cork cylinder D from the end of the stem after the
tap bas been removed from the bottle.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what

page_text: b
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim constructing taps
with the cutting edge 6 and hollow part B substantially as and for the purpose
herein-before described and represented in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Rooker, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twentieth day of February One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-eight.