An Appliance for Admitting Air to Casks from which a Liquid is being Drawn off.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Oct., 1886
Complete Left, 28th July, 1887
Complete Accepted, 28th Oct., 1887
An Appliance for Admitting Air to Casks from which a Liquid is
being Drawn off.
HENRY PAGE DICK 103 Burghley Road Tufnell Park London N.W. Gentleman.
I do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention is to supersede the present vent peg by the use of which it is
impossible for the liquor when in the cask to be exposed to the action of the air,
except when being drawn off, hence the perfect protection of the contents.
It con-
sists of a brass, or other metal, cylinder 14" long + 14" in diameter with a 1" bore a
flange at top " wide & a " inside collar fixed " from the top, under this collar is
pressed by means of a spiral spring a movable metal plate faced with india-rubber
from the under part of which is a guiding rod that passes through the centre of the
bottom when pressed down to admit air-the bottom being as open as possible that
the interior may be thoroughly cleansed during the washing or steaming of the cask,
a thread is cut on the outside of the cylinder by which it is firmly fixed in the stave of
the cask.

page_text: being Drawn off.
HENRY PAGE DICK 103 Burghley Road Tufnell Park London N.W. Gentleman
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 is to supersede the present vent peg by the use of which it is
impossible for the liquor when in the cask to be exposed to the action of the air,
except when being drawn off-hence the perfect protection of the contents.
In the accompanying sheet of drawings, Fig. 1 is a top plan view; Fig. 2 an
under plan view, and Fig. 3 is a vertical section (at line A. B. of Figs. 1 and 2) of
the Apparatus complete. Figs. 4 and 5 are details. Like letters of reference and
employed to denote similar parts throughout.
a, is the cylinder (of Brass or other suitable material) upon the external surface of
which a screw thread 6 is formed for screwing the same into the Barrel or Cask. The
upper end of the cylinder a, has an outwardly projecting flange c, having slots or
openings, c¹, formed therein, into which slots, a suitable screw-key can be inserted
when fitting the apparatus to, or for removing the same from, a Barrel or Cask as
required.
Within the cylinder, a, and at a slight distance down from the top, there is
provided an internally projecting flange d, for the purpose of forming a suitable seat
for the actuating valve of the apparatus. A portion of such internal flange around
the central opening,d", formed therein, is made of a greater thickness and is properly
faced upon the underside thereof to give a fair seat d², to the valve bearing against it,
as is clearly shown in Fig. 3. The actuating valve of the apparatus, consists of a disc
of India rubber, e, which is carried by the upper metal disc or plate, f, (shown in
detail in Fig. 4.) and kept up to its seat d², by the spiral spring, g. bearing upon
the said upper plate f. the spring g, being confined within the cylinder a, by the
lower plate, 7, (shown also in detail in Fig. 5). The upper plate, f, is formed with
projecting lugs, f', to fit freely within the cylinder a and so leaving free air spaces f²,
between the said lugs as shown in Figs. 3 and 4. The lower plate, h, is similarly formed
with lugs h', and air spaces, h2, having also a central air-hole, ³, but in this case the
lugs h', are prolonged so as to take into suitable corresponding slotted openings formed
in the lower end of the cylinder a, into which they are rivetted or otherwise secured.
The recessed or counter sunk chamber, i, formed within the upper part of the
cylinder a, above the valve e, can be closed or filled in by a bung or a cork.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said Invention,
& in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim is
An automatic closing vent, permanently fixed in the barrel, & which does not in any
way impede the rolling of the same.