A CERTAIN INSTRUMENT, BEING AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE COCK FOR DRAWING BEER, CYDER, AND OTHER LIQUORS FROM CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS, WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION OF A VENT PLUG OR ANY OPENING WHATEVER IN THE UPPER PART OF THE CASK OR VESSEL, EITHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF ADMITTING AIR, OR FOR AFFIXING THE SAID INSTRUMENT OR COCK OR ANY APPARATUS OR APPENDAGE BELONGING TO THE SAME
Year: 1818

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
PINWARNE, of Stafford Street, in the Parish of Saint Marylebone, in the
County of Middlesex, Esquire, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, by His
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Thirty-first day of January, in the fifty-eighth year of His reign.
did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Pinwarne, His especial licence, that I, the said John Pinwarne, my
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Pinwarne, my
exors, adiñors, or 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, within England
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "A CERTAIN
INSTRUMENT, BEING AN IMPROVEMENT ON THE COCK FOR DRAWING BEER, CYDER,
AND OTHER LIQUORS FROM CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS, WITHOUT THE INTERVENTION
OF A VENT PLUG OR ANY OPENING WHATEVER IN THE UPPER PART OF THE CASK
OR VESSEL, EITHER FOR THE PURPOSE OF ADMITTING AIR, OR FOR AFFIXING THE
SAID INSTRUMENT OR COCK OR ANY APPARATUS OR APPENDAGE BELONGING TO THE
SAME;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me,
the said John Pinwarne, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, and cause the same to be

page_text: inrolled in His Majesty's High Court of Chancery within two calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent,
as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and
at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Pinwarne, do declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascertained in
the following explanation thereof, and in the Drawings contained in the margin
hereof, and in the references to the same.
The principles of my said Invention or improvement are those of the
syphon, or bear a very strong analogy thereto, acting by two several columns
of different altitudes formed in the instrument itself, and the liquor in the
cask or vessel, that of the greater altitude by its preponderance overbalancing
the other; for this purpose my Invention contains two distinct cocks (though
cast in one piece of metal), both of which have at all times an open communi-
cation as far as their respective plugs with the liquor in the cask or vessel.
The larger cock through which the liquor is drawn, contains the column of
the greater altitude, which on opening the cocks immediately acts, and by its
preponderance withdraws the liquor from the smaller cock, and the air is
admitted; but at no time is there any immediate communication or open pas-
sage between the external air and the surface of the liquor to be drawn, but
an intermediate one only through the liquor, the smaller cock delivering the
air from its termination within the cask or vessel immediately into and in con-
tact with the liquor at its own level, from whence it ascends to the surface by
its levity, without any pipe or tube communicating with the surface of the liquor
or with any space above it, nor requiring any opening whatever in the upper part
of the cask or other vessel either for the purpose of admitting air or for affixing
the said instrument, it being fixed precisely in the same manner and with the
same facility as the common cock, the principle of my said Invention (as
before stated) being that of two columns opposed to each other, that of the
greater altitude ending in the lower cock, and that of the lesser altitude in the
upper cock; I consider this as my peculiar Invention, in whatever way or form
the columns may be constructed, this principle having never before, to my
knowledge, been made use of, or practised in any instrument or cock for
drawing liquor from a cask or vessel through the tap hole; and by way of dis-
tinguishing my said Invention from all others, and as being expressive of its
principle, I call it the syphon cock. There been, as has been before observed,
no immediate communication through these cocks between the common
atmosphere and the surface of the liquor, or any space above, but only an

page_text: intermediate one through the liquor,. the air admitted ascending to the surface
by its levity or inferior gravity to the liquor, it is obvious that the escape of the
carbonic acid gas produced by fermented liquors, and supposed to tend greatly to
their preservation, is rendered impossible (provided the cask or vessel be sound
and tight), as the gas, being of inferior gravity to the liquor, cannot descend
through it, nor can any more air enter than is necessary to draw the liquor.
The above-stated principles may be carried into effect under various forms, but
those which I consider as the most eligible are explained by the Drawings in the
margin, and by the following references to the same:-Figure 1 represents the
outward view of the instrument, shewing the connecting link which causes
both plugs to turn at the same time; the handle or key for turning the same
only partly appears in this Drawing, being on the opposite side. Figure 2
represents the instrument in section, the both cocks being closed. A, A, marks
the two extremities of the smaller cock; B, B, those of the larger one,
through which the liquor is drawn. If the liquor in the cask should be in a
state of fermentation, there would be a pressure on its surface from an accu-
mulation of carbonic gas, and consequently a small quantity of liquor would for
an instant issue through both passages; the outer extremity of the cock A, A, is
therefore directed downwards, that the liquor so issuing may fall without
waste into the vessel held to receive it; the column formed by the cock B, B,
is as superior to the one formed by the cock A, A, as the distance between
C and C; this column is formed partly behind or above the plug, and partly
by the nose or spout of the cock; the part behind or above the plug being
always full, is ready to act on opening the cock, and prevents any hesitation in
its action, which might otherwise occur, especially when the cask or vessel is
quite full. When the instrument is not in action, the plugs of both cocks per-
form the office of common cocks by preventing the escape of the liquor, both
being then full as far as is shewn by their respective passages being tinctured
red, but when it is in action, the preponderance of the column in the cock
B, B, causes the liquor to retire from the cock A, A, and the air is admitted.
Figure 3 represents the exterior of another form under which this Invention
may be carried into effect; Figure 4 represents the interior of Figure 8. The
cock is here shewn partly in section, the plugs being represented whole, in
order to explain the smaller one, where it being inadmissible for the passage
to be made through it on account of the connecting bar, which turns both
plugs at the same time, it is effected by a deep groove passing somewhat more
than half round the plug; the smaller end of the plugs are placed in oppo-
sition to each other, that by means of the square connecting bar which passes
through the smaller plug, and the nut or screw at D, they may at any time be

page_text: drawn towards each other, and tightened in their respective seats or sockets at
pleasure. The letters A, A, B, B, and C, C, refer in common to both the
instruments above described. Both cocks open or close with a quarter turn of
the key, and are to be furnished with check pins as in other cocks.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Pinwarne, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twelfth day of February, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighteen.