An Improved Vent for Beer Barrels.
Year: 1897

page_text: An Improved Vent for Beer Barrels.
I, EDWARD JEX of the "Prince of Wales," Sudeley Street, Islington, London, N.
Manager, do hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to an improved vent for beer barrels and has for object to
avoid the loss and other objections incidental to the overflowing of the "workings"
resulting from the residual fermentation of the beer which usually run to waste and
besides being lost, foul the floor and atmosphere of the cellar.
The improved vent besides affording the escape necessary for the settling down
and clearing of the beer also constitutes a permanent vent for the admission
of air to replace the beer as it is drawn off and it consists of a swan-neck tube of
comparatively small bore at its lower end which is adapted to be screwed into the
vent hole in place of the ordinary vent-peg, the tube rising vertically to a sufficient
height and terminating in a swan-neck nozzle which is provided with means of
suspending therefrom a catch vessel to receive the workings which may overflow from
the nozzle.
Dated this 12th day of June 1991.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.
I, EDWARD JEX of the "Prince of Wales," Sudeley Street, Islington, London, N.
Manager, 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
My Invention relates to an improved vent device for beer barrels from which beer
is to be drawn by the beer engine in the ordinary way of retail trade, and has for
object to avoid the loss and other objections incidental to the overflowing of the
"workings" resulting from the residual fermentation of the beer which usually run
to waste and besides being lost, foul the floor and atmosphere of the cellar. The
improved vent device for the escape of the "workings" also constitutes a permanent
self-closing inlet for the admission of only just sufficient air to replace the beer as it
is drawn off from the barrel.
The Invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawing
forming part of this specification. The improved vent consists of a swan-neck tube Å
of comparatively small bore, the lower end B of which is adapted to be screwed into
the vent hole in place of the ordinary vent-peg, wings or thumb-pieces ↳ being

page_text: provided to facilitate the screwing in of the vent. The tube A rises vertically to a
sufficient height, when it is bent round into a semi-circular form terminating in a
nozzle C, the nozzle being provided with a hook D from which a catch vessel can be
suspended below the nozzle to receive any "workings" that may overflow from it.
In order that the device may act as a permanent inlet adapted to allow only just
sufficient air to pass into the barrel to replace the beer as it is drawn off and yet
prevent any further fresh air entering, as it would do by diffusion if there was a
free way through the vent, the effect of which would be to gradually replace the air
contained in the barrel by fresh air, with the result that the beer would soon become
66 flat," an automatic valve is provided in the passage of the vent, consisting of a disc
of rubber e with a cross-shaped slit e¹ cut in the middle of it, this disc being contained
in a valve chainber E forming an enlargement of the tube A and made in two parts
screwed together between which the margin of the rubber disc is clamped so that
communication from one side of the chamber to the other can only be through the
slit. Under normal conditions the slit is kept closed by the elasticity of the rubber
keeping the edges together but it automatically opens under difference of pressure
whether this pressure be internal and due to continual fermentation or unbalanced
external pressure consequent on the withdrawal of beer.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is --
The herein described vent device for beer barrels adapted to permit the escape
of the workings and to support a vessel for catching the same and also to permit the
ingress of air as required to replace the beer drawn off substantially as specified.
Dated this 13th day of October 1897.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
53 Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.