Improvements in Apparatus for Raising Beer or other Liquid.
Year: 1888

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Raising Beer or other Liquid.
We, THOMAS KENNEDY, of the Glenfield Company, Limited, East Shaw Street,
Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr, North Britain, Hydraulic Engineer, and JAMES
BURNETT, of London Road, Kilmarnock, aforesaid, Gas Engineer and Plumber, do
hereby declare the nature of this Invention to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object to provide improved economical and reliable
apparatus which can be used for raising beer or other beverage from a cellar or store
to a higher level, and which is also applicable for raising liquids for various
purposes.
The improved apparatus is so far automatic as that when a discharge cock or valve
is opened at the higher level the beer or liquid will flow and air or gas will enter the
containing cask or vessel in corresponding quantity and will maintain the pressure
required for raising and discharging the beer or liquid.
In carrying out the Invention the well known Kennedy's reciprocating-piston water
meter is modified and combined with other parts in a manner to answer the purpose
in view. The meter is worked by water under pressure from the street main or from
a suitable elevated cistern, but by altering the passages or valve is arranged to act only
on the underside of the piston, whilst air or carbonic acid or other suitable gas is
admitted to the upper side of the piston. An outlet siphon is provided for the used
actuating water to cause the piston to descend on the valve being reversed when the
piston has reached its highest point; and the descent of the piston causes the air or
gas to be drawn into the upper end of the cylinder through an inlet check valve. On
the piston rising the air is forced through an outlet check valve into a pipe leading to
the cask or vessel containing the beer or beverage; such pipe being in communication
with a vessel fitted with a piston or diaphragm which is loaded to correspond to the

page_text: pressure required to act on the beer or beverage. The said piston or diaphragm is
connected with the water inlet valve of the meter and closes that valve whenever
the desired pressure is attained, and opens it whenever the pressure becomes too low.
There is also in communication with the air discharge pipe a vessel having in it a float
lever connected to the water inlet valve and arranged to close that valve in the event of
water leaking past the piston, so that water cannot find its way to the beer or
beverage.
Dated this Eleventh day of September 1888

page_text: Improvements in Apparatus for Raising Beer or other Liquid.
We, THOMAS KENNEDY, of the Glenfield Company, Limited, East Shaw Street,
Kilmarnock, in the County of Ayr. North Britain, Hydraulic Engineer, and JAMES
BURNETT, of London Road, Kilmarnock,, aforesaid, Gas Engineer, and Plumber, 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, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object to provide improved economical and reliable
apparatus which can be used for raising beer or other beverage from a cellar or
store to a higher level, and which is also applicable for raising liquids for various
purposes.
The improved apparatus is so far automatic as that when a discharge cock or valve
is opened at the higher level the beer or liquid, will flow, and air or gas will enter the
containing cask or vessel in corresponding quantity and will maintain the pressure
required for raising and discharging the beer or liquid.
In carrying out the Invention the well known Kennedy's reciprocating-piston water
meter is modified and combined with other parts in a manner to answer the purpose
in view. The meter, or motor as it becomes when modified, is worked by water under
pressure from the street main, or from a suitably elevated cistern, but by altering the
passages and valve is arranged to act only on the under side of the piston, whilst air or
carbonic acid or other suitable gas is admitted to the upper side of the piston.
Figure, 1, on the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings is a vertical section
of the apparatus, and figure, 2, is a vertical section as through the water valve and
passages.
The piston A which is shown at the top of its stroke in the cylinder B, is made of
wood and of considerable depth, and is packed with a ring, C, of vulcanised rubber
forming what is known as rolling packing, and which is guarded by a flange at the
bottom of the piston, and by a cylindrical lining or shell, D, placed in the upper end
of the cylinder after the piston and its ring have been introduced. The piston rod, E,
which passes through a stuffing box, F, in the cylinder cover, G, has fixed to its upper
end a rack, H, which gears with a pinion, J, on a spindle (which in a meter is con-
nected with the counting mechanism). The pinion, J, has formed in one piece with
it two horns, K, which when the pinion is turned bear on the shank of a weighted
lever, L, centered loosely on the same axis as the pinion, and when this weighted lever
is turned up and over it falls over on passing the upper centre and then acts by a pro-
jection on its back on one or other of two levers, M formed or fixed on the spindle of
the cock or valve, N. When the weighted lever, L, falls over to either side it is
cushioned on a rubber buffer, P, held in a metal socket.
The valve, N, puts a passage, Q, leading to the bottom of the cylinder, B, alternately
in communication with an inlet passage, R, and an exhaust passage, S, and the latter
communicates with a pipe, T, which extends down considerably below the cylinder, B,
so as to act as a siphon and draw off the water from below the piston A.

page_text: The water under pressure for working the apparatus has to pass through a pipe or
passage, U, in connection with the inlet passage, R, which is controlled by a valve, V,
so that the pressure inside the apparatus may never exceed a predetermined amount.
The branch pipe from the main or from an elevated cistern is connected to the pipe, U,
and the valve, V, has fixed to it a rod, W, passing out through a stuffing box and
connected to a lever, X, which on the other side of its fulcrum has jointed to it a rod, Y,
made with an enlarged bottom which bears on a flexible diaphragm, Z, fixed in a
box, 3. The lever, X, extends beyond the rod, Y, and has a weight 4, attached to its
end. The underside of the diaphragm, Z, is in communication by a passage, 5, with
the passage, R, and whenever the pressure in the passage, R, exceeds the pressure for
which the weight, 4, is proportioned the upward pressure on the diaphragm, Z, acting
through the rod, Y, and lever, X, closes the valve, V, as much as may be required..
The upper end of the cylinder, B, communicates by a passage, 6, indicated partly by
dotted lines, with a valve box, 7, fitted with an inlet check valve, 8, through which air
is drawn into the cylinder, B, when the piston, A descends, and with a delivery check
valve, 9, through which, when the piston, A, rises, the air is forced into a passage, 10.
This passage, 10, communicates with a box, 11, containing a float ball, 12, which is
fixed on a spindle, 13, having its ends coned to act as valves in upper and lower
orifices, 14, 15. The upper orifice communicates with a pipe, 16, which leads the
compressed air to the cask or vessel in which it is to act. The bottom orifice is for the
escape of water should any leakage get to the upper side of the piston, A, or into the
delivery passage, 10. Any water getting into the passage, 10, accumlates in the
box, 11, until it makes the float ball, 12, rise; and whilst the float ball in rising opens
the bottom orifice, 15, for the escape of the water it at the same time closes the upper
orifice, 14.
Instead of the diaphragm, Z, for regulating the pressure, having its underside acted
on by the water, it may have it acted on by the compressed air the space below the
diaphragm being put in communication with the air delivery passage, 10, or 16,
instead of with the water inlet passage, R.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said Invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what we
claim is
The combination of parts for applying water under pressure to compress air or gas
for raising beer or for analogous purposes and comprising a cylinder having a piston
with rolling packing, passages and a valve to lead the water to and from one side of
the piston, other passages with inlet and delivery check valves to lead air or gas to
and from the other side of the piston, a pressure regulating device, and a trap with a
float and valve for discharging water from the air passages, all substantially as herein-
before described.
Dated this Twenty-second day of March 1889.
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicants' Agent.