Apparatus for use in Drawing Off or Distributing Beer or the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Mar., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Apparatus for use in Drawing Off or Distributing Beer or the like.
We, STEPHEN RIES, Grocer, of East Third Street, Flint, in the County of
Genesee, and State of Michigan, United States of America, GEORGE W. DEWITT,
of Aron Street, Flint, aforesaid, Well Driller, and EDWARD D. CASE, of East
Third Street, Flint, aforesaid, Innkeeper, do hereby declare the nature of this
Invention to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to apparatus for distributing beer or the like from one
or a series of barrels and it has for its object to provide a device by means of which
the temperature of the beer may be quickly regulated and whereby one or more
barrels may be easily cut off from the distributing system as desired; and further
to provide means whereby the pipes comprised in the system may be easily and
quickly cleansed by a circulation of water.
Located at a convenient place, for instance underneath a bar, is an ice-chest and
extended downward from this ice-chest and communicating with its interior is a
water chamber which extends through the floor and down into the cooling room
to a point a short distance above the several barrels or kegs. Extending through
the ice-chest and through the water chamber is a series of pipes connected with
a series of barrels. The upper ends of the several pipes are provided with discharge
faucets and below these discharge faucets the several pipes are connected one with
another by transverse pipes each having a valve. At a point below the water cham-
ber the several distributing pipes are connected one with another by transverse
pipes each having a valve and below said pipes each distributing pipe is provided
with a valve. Each valve has a cord or wire extending from the crank arm on
its spindle upward to a point underneath the bar, the said cords or wires passing
around guide rollers and being connected at their upper ends to suitable turning
devices mounted on a keyboard. On releasing the cords or wires the valves are
closed by means of springs. Leading into one of the end pipes is a water distri-
buting pipe controlled by a valve and leading from the lower end of the water
holder or chamber is a discharge pipe which extends nearly to the upper end of
said water chamber and is provided with a crook neck having a valve for con-
trolling its outlet, while its lower end may be provided with a drip-controlling
valve. This discharge pipe is designed to maintain a comparatively even tempera-
ture for the water in the container or water chamber, that is to say the water at
the lower end of said container as it rises in temperature will rise up through
the pipe and discharge through its outlet, the outlet valve being at all times open.
Should it be desired to draw beer or the like from the several barrels the several
valves must be closed so that each barrel will have a single or independent dis-
charging tube and in this event the beer as it runs through a comparatively short
length of pipe will be of comparatively high temperature; but should it be desired
to run the beer from a single barrel through two or more or all of the several
pipes, in order to reduce its temperature certain of the valves must be closed. In
order to cleanse the pipes by a suitable adjustment of the valves the water enter-

page_text: ing under pressure from the supply pipe is caused to flow through the several
distributing pipes and discharge through one or all of the faucets.
It is obvious that with this improved system the beer of one or more barrels
can be mixed with that of another barrel, that is it may at times become necessary,
for instance when a barrel from which beer has been drawn to a considerable
extent, to mix with said beer the fresh beer of another barrel, thus giving life
to comparatively stale beer in the barrel from which the beer was drawn.
Dated this 24th day of March 1897.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.
Apparatus for use in Drawing Off or Distributing Beer or the like.
We, STEPHEN RIES, Grocer, of East Third Street, GEORGE W. DEWITT, Well
Driller, of Aron Street, and EDWARD D. CASE, Innkeeper, of East Third Street,
all of Flint, in the County of Genessee, and State of Michigan, United States of
America, 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 relates to apparatus for distributing beer or the like from one.
or a series of barrels, and it has for its object to provide a device by means of which
the temperature of the beer may be quickly regulated and whereby one or more
barrels may be easily cut off from the distributing system as desired; and further
to provide means whereby the pipes comprised in the system may be easily and
quickly cleansed by a circulation of water.
We will describe an apparatus embodying our invention and then point out the
novel features in the appended claims.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings forming a part of this speci-
fication, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in
both views.
Figure 1 shows a partial elevation and partial section of a distributing system
embodying our invention; and
Figure 2 is a detail showing a valve employed.
Referring to the drawings, 1 designates an ice chest, designed to be located at
a convenient place, for instance underneath a bar, and extended, downward from
this ice chest, and communicating with its interior is a water chamber 2 which
extends through the floor and down into the cooling room to a point a short dis-
tance above the several barrels or kegs. Extending through the ice chest 1 and
through the water chamber 2, is a series of pipes 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7, shown respectively
as connected with a series of barrels 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. The upper ends of the
several pipes are provided with discharge faucets 13, and below these discharge
faucets the several pipes are connected, one with another by transverse pipes 14,
each having a valve 15.
At. a point below the water chamber 2 the several pipes are connected one with
another by transverse pipes 16, each having a valve 17, and below the pipes 16
each distributing pipe is provided with a valve 18. Each valve 17 and 18 has a
cord or wire 19 extending from the crank arm on its spindle upward, to a point
underneath the bar, the upper ends of said cords or wires being connected to suit-
able turning devices 20 mounted on a keyboard 21. The several cords or wires 19
are guided over rollers 22 and 23.
Leading into one of the end pipes, here shown as the pipe 7, is a water dis-

page_text: tributing pipe 24, controlled by a valve 25, and leading from the lower end of the
water holder or chamber 2 is a discharge pipe 26 which extends nearly to the upper
end of said water chamber 2, and is provided with a crook neck 27, having a
valve 28 for controlling its outlet. The lower end of pipe 26 may be provided
with a drip-controlling valve 29. The pipe 26 is designed to maintain a compara-
tively even temperature for the water in chamber 2, that is to say, the water at
the lower end of said chamber as it rises in temperature will rise up through the
pipe 26 and discharge through its outlet, the valve 28 being at all times open..
The several valves 17 and 18 are provided with devices for moving them to a
closed position upon releasing the several cords or wires 19. As here shown, this
closing device consists of a spring 30, secured at one end to the valve stem, and at
the other end to the casing of the valve, as plainly shown in Figure 2.
tion.
In operation, should it be desired to draw beer or the like from the several bar-
rels, the several valves 15, 17 and 18 must be closed, so that each barrel will have
a single or independent discharging tube, and in this event the beer as it runs
through a comparatively short length of pipe will be of comparatively high tem-
perature; but should it be desired to run the beer from a single barrel through
two or more or all of the several pipes, in order to reduce its temperature certain
of the valves must be closed. We have here shown the apparatus as arranged for
drawing beer from the barrel 8. In this event the valves 18 of the pipes 4, 5, 6
and 7 will be in a closed position and the valve 18 of the pipe 3 in its open posi-
The valve 17 between the pipes 3 and 4 will be closed, the valve 17 between
the pipes 4 and 5 will be open; the valve between the pipes 5 and 6 will be closed
and the valve between the pipes 6 and 7 will be open, and at the upper end the
valves between the pipes 3 and 4 and 5 and 6 will be open, and the valves 15 between
the pipes 4 and 5 and 6 and 7 will be closed; therefore it will be seen that the
beer from the barrel 8 will pass up through the pipe 3, through the pipe 14 to the
pipe 4, thence down said pipe 4 through the pipe 16 to the pipe 5, thence through
the pipe 14 to the pipe 6, down said pipe through the connection between the
pipes 6 and 7, and up through the said pipe 7, where it may be discharged through
the faucet 13 of said pipe 7; at the same time all of the faucets may be in use.
It may be here stated that should it be desired to clean the several pipes by
water from the pipe 24, the several valves will be in the condition just described,
excepting that the valve 18 for the pipe 3 must be closed: that is, the water enter-
ing under pressure from the pipe 24 will flow through the several pipes and dis-
charge through the faucet of the pipe 3, or all of the faucets may be left open.
It is obvious that with this improved system, the beer of one or more barrels
can be mixed with that of another barrel; that is, it may at times become necessary,
for instance, when a barrel from which beer has been drawn to a considerable extent,
to mix with said beer the fresh beer of another barrel, thus giving life to compara-
tively stale beer in the barrel from which the beer was drawn. We have here
shown seven distributing pipes, but it is obvious that a greater or less number
may be employed without departing from the spirit of our invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is:
-
1. A distributing apparatus for beer or the like, comprising an ice chest, a
water container extended downward therefrom, a series of pipes extended through
said ice chest, a water cooler, valve-controlled connections between the several pipes
above the ice chest, valve-controlled connections between the several pipes at their
lower portions, a valve in each pipe below the said valves at the lower portions
of the pipes, and opening lines or cords extended from these several lower valves
to a keyboard located adjacent to the ice chest, substantially as specified.
2. A distributing apparatus for beer or the like, comprising an ice chest, a
water holder or container extended downward therefrom, a pipe leading from the
lower end of said water holder or chamber and extended upward to near its top
:

page_text: where it is provided with an outlet, a series of pipes extended through the ice chest
and also through the water holder or container and adapted for connection at the
lower ends with barrels, each of said pipes having a faucet at its upper end,
valve-controlled connections between the several pipes above the ice chamber, valve-
controlled connections between the several pipes below the water holder or con-
tainer, cords or wires extended from these last named valves to a point adjacent to
the ice chest, valves in the pipes below the last named valves and having cords or
wires extended upward to a point adjacent to the ice chest, and a valve-controlled
water pipe leading into one of the distributing pipes, substantially as specified.
Dated this 15th day of November 1897.
A. M. & WM. CLARK,
Chartered Patent Agents, 53, Chancery Lane, London.