AN IMPROVED BEER COOLER
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Carl Pieper, of Dresden, Saxony, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED BEER COOLER." A communication from Johann Philipp Lipps,
residing at Dresden, Saxony, Civil Engineer.
aled the 28th August 1877, and dated the 15th March 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Carl Pieper at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 15th March 1877.
CARL PIEPER, of Dresden, Saxony. "AN IMPROVED BEER COOLER." A com-
munication from Johann Philipp Lipps, residing at Dresden, Saxony, Civil Engineer.
This Invention relates to an apparatus by which beer and other liquids may be
cooled more perfectly and economically than has hitherto been possible, and which
may be thoroughly cleaned with facility.
The apparatus consists of a series of flat refrigerating. tubes placed horizontally,
and arranged in a vertical tier and having their ends soldered into suitable tube
plates. These plates are provided on their outer face with flanges and with horizontal
ribs or partition walls forming a number of chambers, which are closed on the
outside by doors lined with india-rubber. The said partition walls of the two tube
plates are shifted with regard to each other, so that a wall of one plate is opposite
to the centre of a chamber of the other; supposing the chambers on the right-hand
side to be numbered from bottom to top by the odd numbers 1, 3, 5, 7, &c., and
those on the left-hand side by the even numbers 2, 4, 6, S, &c., then these chambers
communicate with each other by the aforesaid flat tubes in such a manner that the
beer or other liquid which is to be cooled, being conducted into chamber No. 1,
thence passes through the bottom tube or set of two or more tubes into chamber
No. 2, thence through the next tube or set of tubes into chamber No. 3, &c., thus
gradually rising in the apparatus and finding its exit at the top.
The tube plates are connected at the top and the bottom and also on one side by
fixed plates, whilst on the other side there is a door which upon being opened allows
a free access to all the tubes.
The cooling water flows around the outside of the tubes, and for the purpose of
causing its perfect circulation the tubes are laterally shifted with regard to cach

page_text: other, so that they are alternately in contact with the fixed back plate of the
apparatus and with the lateral or front door, thereby leaving spaces on the opposite
sides for a serpentine course of the water. The cooling water entering at the top
of the apparatus thus circulates at right angles to the tubes, but in a direction
contrary to the liquid to be cooled, and flows off at the bottom.
It is convenient to combine two of the described apparatusses by uniting them at
the back; in this case the current of the liquids in one apparatus is contrary to that
of the other.
The refrigerating tubes may be cleaned inside after the aforesaid doors at the ends
of the apparatus have been opened, whilst their outer surface is accessible upon the
opening of the front or lateral door.
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SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Carl Pieper in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 14th September
1877.
CARL PIEPER, of Dresden, Saxony. "AN IMPROVED BEER COOLER." A com-
munication from Johann Philipp Lipps, of Dresden, Saxony, Civil Engineer.
This Iuvention relates to an apparatus by which beer and other liquids may be
cooled more perfectly and economically than has hitherto been possible, and which
may be thoroughly cleaned with facility.
On the annexed Sheet of Drawings this apparatus is represented in a double
arrangement. Fig. 1 is a vertical longitudinal section with part of exterior view;
Fig. 2 is partly an end view and partly a section of Fig. 1, through the chambers
1, 3, 5, &c.; Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section through centre of apparatus; Fig. 4 a
horizontal section, and Fig. 5 a top view.
Each of the two parts or divisions A and B of the apparatus represented consists
of a series of flat refrigerating tubes placed horizontally, and arranged in a vertical
tier, and having their ends soldered into the tube plates t, t¹. These plates are
provided on their outer face with flanges b, b, and with horizontal ribs or partition
walls v, v, forming a number of chambers, which are closed on the outside by the
doors n, o, lined with india-rubber. The said partition walls v, v are shifted with
regard to each other, so that a wall of one plate is opposite to the centre of a chamber
of the other.
In the double apparatus shown by the Drawing each of the tube plates must also
have a vertical central partition wall u, u¹, instead of being cast together with
the tube plates, the flanges b, b1, and the ribs u, v, u, v, might however be attached
to the doors o and n.
In the division A, the described chambers on the right-hand side of Fig. 1 com-
municate with those on the left-hand side by the refrigerating tubes in such a
manner that the beer or other liquid to be cooled entering at a into chamber 1,
passes through three tubes w into chamber 2, thence through the next set of
threo tubes into chamber 3, thence into chamber 4, and so on until it arrives in the
top chamber 17.
In an apparatus consisting of the division A only, the outflow pipe would have to
communicate with this chamber, but in the double apparatus the liquid passes into
the other division B, and flowing through the chambers 17 to 33 and the corre
sponding tubes gradually descends and runs off in a cooled state at c. I prefer to
establish communication between the chambers by sets of three tubes as stated, but
instead of these, single tubes or sets of two or four, &c., may be used. The number
of chambers may be varied if desired.
The tube plates are connected at the top and the bottom by the parts y and x.
The back plates m and m² forming the partition wall of the double apparatus are
bolted together and made water-tight at the edges, and the long sides of the
apparatus are provided with the doors p and q, which upon being opened allow a

page_text: free access to all the tubes. These doors, as well as the doors n and o, swing
respectively on the pivots ?, ?, and 8, 8', and can easily be opened by releasing the
bolts by which they are made tight.
The cooling water flows around the outside of the tubes, and for the purpose of
causing its perfect circulation the tubes are laterally shifted with regard to each
other, so that they are alternately in contact with the fixed back plate and with the
corresponding door p or q, thereby leaving spaces on the opposite sides for a
serpentine course of the water in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 3.
In the double apparatus the cooling water enters through the pipe d into the
division B, rises within the same, passes through the opening into the division A,
where it descends and whence it flows off through pipe fat a temperature raised
.by the heat extracted from the beer &c. In an apparatus consisting of division A
only, it would have to enter at the top. The cooling water thus circulates at right
angles to the tubes, but in a direction contrary to the general current of the liquid
to be cooled.
The refrigerating tubes may be placed one above the other without being laterally
-shifted, but in this case the back plate and the corresponding door would have to
be provided with alternating horizontal grooves, so as to form spaces for the circu-
lation of the water.
The doors P and q are lined with an india-rubber packing at their edges only, as
a water-tight fit on the alternating tubes is not required; the execution should
however be sufficiently accurate to allow but a very small quantity of water to pass
between the door respectively, the back plate, and the contiguous tubes. A packing
may however be introduced between these parts.
The top of the apparatus is provided with two valves and ¹, by which either
the two pipes i and h, or the center opening I may be closed. In the first case the
cooling water circulates through both divisions, as has been described. In the
second case the divisions A and B may be seperately supplied with water from
different sources; for instance, water from a well may be introduced at i and drawn
off at f, whilst ice water enters at a and finds its exit at h. The former being pure
and leaving the apparatus at a raised temperature may with advantage be used for
other brewery purposes, &c., whilst the less pure ice water which has been but
slightly warned by the small amount of heat left in the beer, &c., upon entering into
the second division may again be pumped into the ice tank for repeated use in the
apparatus.
The arrangement of the apparatus affords a great facility for cleaning it. The
refrigerating tubes can be brushed out inside and the chambers 1, 2, 3, 4, &c., cleaned,
after the doors n and o have been opened, whilst the outer surface of the tubes is
accessible upon the opening of the doors p and q.
The apparatus may be modified by arranging a single division A or B on the
circumference of a cylinder. The refrigerating tubes should be made of drawn
copper pipes without seam, tinned inside and outside. A suitable size for the same
is,inch in height, 3 inches in breadth, and from 3 to 4 feet in length, The tube
plates are by preference made of brass or gun-metal, whilst the other parts may
mainly consist of cast iron.
By means of this apparatus, and with a quantity of cold water equal to 1%, times
the quantity of hot beer, &c., to be treated, the latter may be cooled from the highest
temperature occuring to two degrees Fahrenheit above the temperature of the
former, whilst in other cooling apparatusses, as for instance in that of Lawrence, the
quantity of cooling water required is equal to 3 times the quantity of beer, if
the same effect is to be attained. At a trial with my apparatus, for instance, beer
of a temperature of 185 degr. F. was reduced to 48 degr. by water of 46 degr.,
which on leaving the apparatus was raised to 140 degr., the differences being
respectively 137 degr. and 94 degr., or about in the proportion of 1½ to 1, which
is the inverse proportion of the quantities of the liquids to which these differences
appertain.
In case water from a well and ice water are used separately in my apparatus, the

page_text: .
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beer may be cooled by the former to about 52 degrees, and has then only to be
reduced about 8 or 10 degrees by ice water.
The advantages of this apparatus are the following:-
:-
1. Its refrigerating power is greater than that of any other cooling apparatus,
Bo that by its use the quantity of ice required for cooling is reduced by 40 or
50 per cent.
2. The apparatus being completely closed, the beer or other liquid passes the
same under pressure and does not come in contact with the air; consequently its
foaming, which is not only inconvenient but also causes a loss of liquid, is entirely
obviated. The apparatus may therefore be placed anywhere between the brewing
copper and the fermenting tuns, and no repeated pumping of the beer is required.
3. The refrigerating tubes may be cleaned inside and outside speedily and with
facility. This is the most important advantage of the present apparatus, as in
other apparatusses in which the two liquids flow in contrary directions the cleaning
of the tubes, especially on the outside, is difficult and with some arrangements
altogether impossible, so that the sediments accumulating on the tubes impair
their refrigerating effect in a high degree. The described apparatus may be com-
pletely cleaned, and its doors screwed on, in an hour or an hour and a half.
4. Any leak in the tubes can be easily detected after the doors and o have
been opened, if there is water pressure on the outside of the tubes, and such leak
may generally be repaired without difficulty after the opening of the corresponding
door or q
Having thus described the object and the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same may be put in practice, I wish it to be understood that I do not
claim all the details specified, as they may be varied without departing from
the principle of the Invention, but I claim as new and essential features of the
same,
1. In a cooling apparatus the flat refrigerating tubes soldered with their ends into
the tube plates t, t, and shifted with respect to each other laterally, or otherwise
so arranged that they are as closely as possible in contact alternately with the
back plate m or m³, and with the corresponding door p and q, as and for the purpose
described.
2. In a cooling apparatus, the tube plates t, t¹, in combination with the doors n
and o, either the plates or the doors being provided with the flanges b, bl, and the
ribs or partition walls v, v¹; moreover, in case the apparatus consists of the
two divisions A and B, with the ribs or partitions walls u, u, as and for the
purpose specified.
3. In a cooling apparatus consisting of the two divisions A and B, the valves
and in combination with the branch pipes i and h and with the opening in the
partition plates m, m³, as specified and for the purpose stated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Carl Pieper, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Tenth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
CARL PIEPER. (L.S.)