An Improved Bung Device for Regulating the Venting in Storage Casks.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 31st Jan., 1899-Accepted, 4th Mar., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Bung Device for Regulating the Venting in Storage
Casks.
I, FRITZ SCHLÜTER, of Minden, Westphalia, in the Empire of Germany, Master
Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by. the
following statement:-
This invention has for its object a bung device for regulating the venting in
storage casks for beer.
In the arrangement hitherto known for effecting the same object a suitable
safety valve or like organ was usually employed, but it had the drawback of being
complicated and not tight, and so it very imperfectly fulfilled its object.
The present invention is characterised by having no movable parts and therefore
it is impossible for it not to work, and further all the parts are arranged in a single
closed body and the venting of the beer may proceed at a pressure which may be
exactly regulated.
In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a longitudinal section and Figure 2
a cross section on the line a b of Figure 1, of this improved bung device. The
vent regulating bung consists of a tube e capable of being screwed into the cask
closed at the bottom and having a cover c, and washer disc d at the top, the
interior of said tube being divided in four chambers k, l, m and n, by means of
four cross partitions f, g, h, i.
In the tubular wall of the chamber ka U shaped pipe o having unequal arms
projecting downwards is arranged, one of which is inserted in such a way that the
shorter arm projects into the interior of the cask, and the longer arm into the
chamber k, almost down to the bottom r. Three pipes s, x, y, are inserted one in
each of the walls f, g, i, at the top which pipes almost extend to the bottom r,
so that the chambers may be connected one with another by means of these pipes.
Passages may however be arranged in the cross partitions in place of the
pipes, o, s, x, y. A passage 3 capable of being closed by means of a plug z opens
into the chamber n at the top, and from the chamber e a passage 4 to the outside.
When the regulating bung is to be used the four chambers are filled with water
at a pressure corresponding to that at which the beer is to be vented, to which water
some glycerine may be added in order that it shall not freeze, as in the storage
cellars the temperature may reach freezing point.
The carbonic acid formed in the cask when beer is stored passes through the tube
or vent o into the chamber k, thus expelling the water from the pipe o and it must
overcome a pressure corresponding to the column of liquid. The carbonic acid
accumulated in the upper part of the chamber k passes from one chamber into the
other through the pipes s, x, y, in the direction indicated by the arrows and finally
through the passage 4 into the open air. It must thus therefore overcome in each
chamber the pressure of the column of liquid.
It can however if necessary be allowed to escape into the open air from the
chamber n through the passage 3 after removing the screw plug z.

page_text: If there be a column of water in the chamber k of 6 metres the carbonic acid
will encounter here a resistance of '06 atmospheres. The same resistance is opposed
to it in passing through the chambers n, m, l so that the whole counter pressure
amounts to 24 atmospheres. This corresponds to the pressure usually employed
when venting storage casks and it is possible as already stated to fill the vent or
bung more or less with glycerine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
is:-
A regulating bung for storage casks for venting, beer, having chambers (k, n,
m, l) connected successively by means of pipes or passages (x, y, s) and filled with
a sealing liquid (glycerine water), with the object of enabling the venting of beer
to be suitably regulated according to the resistance without the use of movable
appliances substantially as hereinbefore described.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.
W. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool,
Agents for the Applicant.