A CERTAIN IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS OF TREATING MALT LIQUORS AND OTHER LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS, AND CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING SUCH IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS OF TREATMENT
Year: 1848

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, GEORGE
HENRY BURSILL, of Albany Place, Hornsey Road, JAMES PATERSON, of
Baldwin Street, City Road, and JOHN MATTHEWS, of Norman's Buildings, Old
Street, Engineers, all in the County of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of May, in the eleventh year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said George Henry Bursill, James Paterson, and John Matthews, our exors,
adiñňors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said George Henry Bursill,
James Paterson, and John Matthews, our exors, admñiors, and assigns, should
at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
during the term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, in England and Wales, the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, our Invention of "A CERTAIN IMPROVED METHOD OR METHODS OF
TREATING MALT LIQUORS AND OTHER LIQUIDS OR FLUIDS, AND CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR EFFECTING SUCH IMPROVED METHOD OR
METHODS OF TREATMENT;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso,
that we, the said George Henry Bursill, James Paterson, and John Matthews,
shall cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention, and

page_text: in what manner the same is to be performed, to be enrolled in Her said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.
NOW KNOW YE, THEREFORE, that in compliance with the said proviso,
we, the said George Henry Bursill, James Paterson, and John Matthews,
do hereby declare that our Invention consists,―
First, of a certain improved method or methods of treating malt liquors and
other liquids or fluids.
Secondly, of certain improvements in machinery or apparatus for effecting
such improved method or methods of treatment.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood and readily
carried into effect, we will proceed to describe the means pursued by us,
reference being had to the two accompanying Sheets of Drawings, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon.
It is well known that malt liquors may under proper management be
improved by the process of bottling, and which improvement is in great
measure owing to the generation of carbonic acid gas by slow fermentation
which thereafter takes place. It is also known that fermented liquors, such
as ale, stout, porter, and champagne wine, for example, may be treated with
carbonic acid gas artificially in order to make up for any deficiency of such gas
in the fermented liquor, and that by such method of treatment may be com-
municated to them an agreeable effervescing property of the same kind as that
produced by keeping the fermented liquor for a long time in bottle. It is
farther known that the property of effervescing may by similar means be com-
municated not only to fermented liquors that are deficient in carbonic acid
gas, but also to a variety of unfermented liquids or fluids, and which may by
such means be rendered more agreeable as beverages.
Now, the first part of our Invention consists in a certain improved method
or methods of treating malt liquors and other liquids or fluids with carbonic
acid. gas in order to cause them to be charged or impregnated therewith
artificially, but which improved method or methods differs from all those
hitherto in use, inasmuch as the malt liquor, for example, in place of being
operated upon in bulk, is treated in small quantities at a time, such only as
are suitable or intended for more immediate consumption, the operation of
sufficiently charging or impregnating such successive portions with carbonic
acid gas being, moreover, effected by peculiar means especially adapted by us

page_text: for that purpose and found to be extremely convenient in practice, as by or in
the act of pumping, or by or in the same act or acts of drawing and of forcing,
by which a portion of the beverago so. perfected may bo simultaneously
discharged from the machine or apparatus when ready and proper for use
The advantage of the improved method is that the labour and expense of
bottling are in a very convenient manner dispensed with.
We know that soda water and ginger beer are supplied from the fountain,
as it is termed, but under the fountain system the liquid or fluid to be treated
with carbonic acid gas artificially is treated in bulk or in quantity considerably
more than is desirable for immediate consumption, the effect of which method
of operation is, that the liquid or fluid, although it may have been thoroughly:
charged with gas when in bulk, is not supplied for use in a uniform state of
impregnation with such gas, every succeeding portion that is drawn from
within the cylindrical vessel in which it is usually contained leaving room for
the expansion of the gas contained within the remaining portion of such
liquid, or fluid, and which consequently becomes deficient in gas, and thereby:
greatly deteriorated in value. Now, agreeably to the improved method, tho
malt liquor, for example, having been fined down with isinglass in the usual
way, or otherwise allowed to remain in the barrel in which it is supplied by
the brewer untill thoroughly bright, is gradually drawn therefrom for con-
sumption in small quantities or portions, such as may from time to time be
required to be drawn for use, and after the manner of drawing beer from an
ordinary beer engine; but owing to certain arrangements, hereafter described,
the malt liquor, by or in the act or acts of drawing and of forcing it through
the machine apparatus, engine or pull, is treated with carbonic acid gas, and in
such manner as to cause it to be charged or impregnated therewith, and
thereby rendered effervescent to the extent desired.
The inconvenience of the beverage becoming deteriorated in value from the
cause described as appertaining to the fountain system, as well as from the
lengthened contact of any metallic substance or impure vessel in which under
such system it frequently has to remain for a length of time after having
been treated with carbonic acid gas, is consequently obviated under the
improved method of treatment.
The improved method or methods of treating malt liquors and other liquids
or fluids differs then from all methods hitherto in practice, in which the liquid
or fluid after having been treated with carbonic acid gas is for the most part
essentially required to remain for a considerable time in the close vessel
containing it, and in which after long standing it is not unfrequently known to

page_text: become cloudy, or to throw down a deposit that is very objectionable. It
also differs from all such methods as are intended for the treatment of malt
liquors or other liquids or fluids with carbonic acid gas for bottling purposes,
and in which the artificial combination or impregnation with carbonic acid gas
is essentially effected by the aid of rotatory agitators, it being a distinctive
character of the improved method or methods of treatment, that it is especially
suitable for draft purposes, when the beverage is to be discharged for use into
open measures or glasses, in which respect it has manifest advantages, and is:
besides both new and of our Invention, to the best of our knowledge and belief.
We will now proceed to describe our improvements in machinery" or
apparatus for effecting such improved method or methods of treatment.
The Drawings in Sheet A serve to show our improvements in the well-
known class of machinery or apparatus employed for treating liquids or fluids
with carbonic acid gas, in which the carbonic acid gas is drawn or obtained
from an ordinary gasometer in which it is usually preserved under only a very
slight pressure.
Figure 1, Sheet A, is a front elevation of an improved apparatus suitable
to be employed in connection with a gasometer of the description referred
to. Figure 2 is a side elevation, and Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views,
of the same apparatus taken in part through the lines A, B, and C, D the
same letters have reference to the same parts in all the respective Figures.
The gasometer and generator are not shewn, as being of a description well
understood by engineers and machinists. E, E, is a pump enclosed in a
jacket or outer casing F, F; a, a, is the piston, in which is a valve b, of
the kind ordinarily employed in beer engines. The apparatus may be
attached to a frame or counter in any convenient way as by aid of the
lugs x, x, x, x, and of the fulcrum-pin y. c, d, aro suction valves; e is a
pipe for connecting by union joint with the vessel containing the liquid or
fluid to be impregnated with carbonic acid gas, as with a barrel containing
malt. liquor, for example, and f is a pipe for connecting by union joint with
the gasometer in which is contained the carbonic acid gas. The valve d
is so constructed as to admit of its being loaded to any suitable extent,
as with the weight g, it being of importance that such valve should be
weighted whenever the gas has to be drawn from any considerable "depth
by the same pump and at the same time with any more ponderable fluid, as
with beer from, a publican's cellar, and in order to make up for the difference
of weight between their respective columns, otherwise the beer will not bé
found to rise with facility even if at all. The manner of operation is as
follows: By aid of the handle h motion is given to the pump rod i, and

page_text: consequently to the piston a, a, shown at half stroke or thereabout, by
the rising of which piston the carbonic acid gas and the malt liquor, for
example, are drawn together, as is well understood, and in such proportions as
may be required, according to the adjustment of the gas tap j. By repeating
the stroke as is usual in the act of pumping, a portion of the carbonic
acid gas and of the malt liquor, so drawn, find their way through the piston
valve b, and the gas, from its being the least ponderable, and therefore
for the most part at top, is the first delivered into the chamber G, .G, into
which it finds its way through the narrow aperture at r, r, purposely left above.
the pump barrel; but, the malt liquor immediately following and descending
upon the gas in a finely comminuted state takes up a portion of the same, and
so becomes charged or impregnated therewith, the amount of impregnation
depending mainly upon the force required to open the valve k, purposely
adjusted or loaded to the required extent, by aid of the handle n and of the
spiral spring, as shown, or by any other suitable means, but which valve by
ultimately rising when the pressure becomes sufficiently increased, suffers tho
malt liquor or other liquid or fluid properly impregnated to be discharged for
use through the spout o.
It remains to describe the Drawings in Sheet B.
Figure 1 is a front elevation of an improved apparatus, suitable to be
employed when the carbonic acid gas is supplied from a vessel in which it is
contained under a considerable pressure, as from one to ten atmospheres or
more; Figure 2 is a side elevation; and Figures 3 and 4 are sectional views,
taken in part through the lines A, B, and C, D. The same letters have
reference to the same parts in all the respective Figures. E, E, is a pump of
the kind ordinarily employed in beer engines; a is the suction pipe, to be
attached by union to the vessel containing the malt liquor or other liquid or
fluid to be impregnated with carbonic acid gas; b is a pipe for connecting by
union with the vessel containing the carbonic acid gas at high pressure, and
which consequently finds its way upon opening the tap c through tho valve d
and into the vessel F, F. e is a pipe terminating in a hollow ring f, f, per-
forated with numerous small orifices, and through which the malt liquor or
other liquid or fluid to be impregnated with carbonic acid gas is forced by
aid of the pump E, E, upon the gas at high pressure within the vessel F, F.
9 is the pump rod, upon which is a valve h having a seating, suitable adapted
for the same, within the vessel F, F, as shown at i, i; j is a disc appended to
the pump rod, by the motion of which it serves the purpose of an agitator, or
is partly instrumental in effecting the impregnation of the malt liquor or other

page_text: liquid or fluid with carbonic acid gas. kis the exit-pipo through which the
malt liquor or other liquid or fluid when sufficiently impregnated with gas is
discharged from the vessel F, F, by the lifting of the pump rod 9, and con-
sequently of the valve h, and which malt liquor or other liquid or fluid issues
ultimately at the spout 1, but not untill an amount of force or of pressure has
been exerted sufficient to raise the valve m previously loaded to the desired
extent by aid of the spring n, as shown. The apparatus may be fixed. in.any
convenient way, as by aid of the lugs x, x, x, x, and y, y, y, y, and either to
a frame or counter, as may be desired.
Having now particularly described the nature of our Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood
that we by no means confine ourselves to the precise details as herein set down,
since the machinery or apparatus employed by us evidently admit of consider-
able modification without departing from the peculiar character of our Inven-
tion; but what we claim as of our Invention, and are desirous to secure by
Letters Patent, is as follows:-
First, we claim the improved method or methods of treating malt liquors
and other liquids or fluids described, that is to say, of so operating upon them
in small quantities at a time as to cause them to be effectually impregnated
with carbonic acid gas for draft purposes by or in the act of pumping, or by
or in the act or acts of drawing and of forcing, and by or in the same act
or acts by which the malt liquor or other liquid or fluid operated upon is
caused to issue for consumption when rendered proper and ready for use.
Secondly, we claim the improvements described in machinery or apparatus
for effecting such improved method or methods of treatment, that is to say,
we claim the improved means described for so operating upon malt liquors and
other liquids or fluids in small quantities at a time as to cause them to be
effectually impregnated with carbonic acid gas for draft purposes by or in the
act of pumping, or by or in the acts of drawing and of forcing. We also claim
the use of any suitable means whereby the malt liquor or other liquid or fluid
operated upon is caused to issue for consumption by the samo act or acts by
which it is rendered proper and ready for use.
In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twenty-
second day of November, One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.
GEORGE HENRY (L.S.) BURSILL.
JAMES
JOHN
(L.S.) PATERSON.
(L.s.) MATTHEWS.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of November,
in the year of our Lord 1848, the aforesaid George Henry Bursill, James
Paterson, and John Matthews, came before our said Lady the Queen in Her
Chancery, and acknowledged - the Specification aforesaid, and-all and every
thing therein contained and specified, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-eight.