CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Maxfield, of Warrington, in the County
Lancaster, Brewer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS I
"
IN
Sealed the 16th June 1868, and dated the 28th February 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Maxfield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 28th
February 1863.
JOSEPH MAXFIELD, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, Brewer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS
IN BREWING AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The Invention is designed for the purpose of keeping the yeast arising-from
malt liquors separate from the liquor as it rises during the process of fermen-
tation, and also in retaining the carbonic acid gas in the malt liquor and pre-
venting the too free entrance of air.
The improvements consist in the employment and use of a cover or lid
floating upon the surface of the malt liquor and furnished at the edges with
india-rubber or other elastic medium to form an air and water-tight joint
between the edge of the cover and the inside of the vat in which the liquor is
placed to ferment. This floating cover is provided with a tube extending
upwards, through which the yeast passes and falls on the outside of the cover;
valves are also employed in the cover opening inwards and connected with
tubing by which any liquor the yeast may contain passes again into the vat.
I also employ within the vat coils of piping supplied with hot or cold liquid to
regulate the temperature of the liquor as usual, and taps for drawing off the
malt liquor from beneath the cover when the barm is separated. By means

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions-of-the-Letters Patent, filed
by the said Joseph Maxfield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
22nd August 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOSEPH
MAXFIELD, of Warrington, in the County of Lancaster, Brewer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Joseph Maxfield, Her special license that I, the said Joseph
Maxfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others that I, the
said Joseph Maxfield, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make,
use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "CERTAIN IM-
PROVEMENTS IN BREWING AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Joseph Maxfield, my executors or adminis
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain tlie nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Joseph Maxfield, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say):
The Invention is designed for the purpose of 'keeping the yeast arising from
malt liquors separate from the liquor as it rises during the process of fermen-
tation, and also in retaining the carbonic acid gas in the malt liquor and
preventing the two free entrance of air.
;
. :I
The improvements consist in the employment and use of a cover or lid
floating upon the surface of the malt liquor and furnished at the edges" withi
india-rubber or other elastic medium to form an air and water-tight joint

page_text: between the edge of the cover and the inside of the vat in which the liquor is
placed to ferment. This floating cover is provided with a tube extending
upwards, through which the yeast passes and falls on the outside of the cover;
valves are also employed in the cover opening inwards and connected with
tubing by which any liquor the yeast may contain passes again into the vat.
I also employ within the vat coils of piping supplied with hot or cold liquid to
regulate the temperature of the liquor as usual, and taps for drawing off the
malt liquor from beneath the cover when the barm is separated. By the use
of this floating air-tight cover the height of the liquor in the vat becomes
immaterial and the free escape of the carbonic acid gas is also prevented.
In order that the Invention may be better understood and explained in
detail, I have hereunto attached a Sheet of Drawings having letters of reference
marked thereupon.
Fig. 1 represents a vertical section of the apparatus, in which a, a, is the vat
or vessel holding the liquor to be fermented; b, b, is a cover or lid floating upon
the surface of the malt liquor, and is furnished around its circumference with a
flange of india-rubber, felt, leather, or other elastic medium c, c, forming an air
and water-tight joint between the edge of the cover b, b, and the inside of the
vat or vessel a, a. This floating cover is provided with a tube d extending
upwards, through which the yeast passes and falls on to the outside or top of
the cover b, b. The cover b, b, is also supplied with valves e, e, which open
inwards and are connected with the tubing f, f, for the purpose of passing any
The coils
liquor the yeast may contain back again into the vat or vessel a, a.
of piping 9, 9, are to be supplied with warm and cold water, or cold water and
steam, to regulate the temperature of the liquor within the vat during fermen-
tation; h is a sample tap; i, the cleansing tap; and k, the "racking" or
drawing off tap by which the entire contents may be removed from the vat, as
herein-before described, set forth, and fully illustrated in the Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Maxfield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
Witnessed by
JOHN L. DAVIES,
Patent Agent,
Manchester.
JOSEPH MAXFIELD. (L.S.)