A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BARRELS, CASES, OR VESSELS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FERMENTED LIQUORS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Antonio Batalha Reis, of Lisbon, in the Kingdom
of Portugal, but temporarily of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the
City of Westminster, for the Invention of "A NEW OR IMPROVED
APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BARRELS, CASES, OR VESSELS FOR THE PRESERVATION
OF FERMENTED LIQUORS."
Scaled the 20th September 1870, and dated the 31st March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Antonio Batalha Reis
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st March 1870.
I, ANTONIO BATALHA REIS, of Lisbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal,
but temporarily of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the City of West-
minster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "A NEW
OR IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BARRELS, CASES, OR VESSELS FOR THE
PRESERVATION OF FERMENTED LIQUORS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object a new or improved apparatus
applicable to barrels, casks, or vessels for the preservation of fermented
liquors, for which purpose sulphurous acid for absorbing oxygen and

page_text: preserving the liquor from acetous fermentation is produced by the
combustion of sulphur in a tray or receptacle placed within a chamber,
or casing into which the necessary air for supporting combustion is
admitted through suitable orifices. This chamber or casing is furnished
with a lid or door for enabling the tray or receptacle to be replenished
and the sulphur to be ignited. It is also provided with a tube which
conducts the sulphurous acid into the barrel, cask, or vessel, and this
tube is furnished with a tap or cock for regulating the supply of sul-
phurous acid according to the quantity of liquor withdrawn from the
barrel, cask, or vessel. To the tube a suitable cork or packing is attached 1
which fits air-tight into a bunghole or opening in the barrel, cask, or
vessel.
In carrying out this Invention the sum of the cross sectional areas of
the orifices for admitting air into the chamber or casing should some-
what exceed the corresponding area of the tube which conducts the acid
from the chamber into the barrel, cask, or vessel, and the cross sectional
area of the interior of the tube should not exceed that of the passage in
the tap or cock through which the liquor is withdrawn from the barrel,
cask, or vessel.
This Invention enables the interiors of barrels, casks, or vessels to be 2
prepared for the reception of fermented liquors.
By the novel construction and arrangement of apparatus herein-before
described the quantity of sulphurous acid admitted is directly propor-
tioned to the quantity of liquor withdrawn, which important peculiarity
in my Invention enables the contents of the barrel, cask, or vessel to be 2
preserved in first-rate condition however small may be the quantity of
liquor remaining therein.
In using my Invention the tap or cock of the apparatus is opened
directly after igniting the sulphur in the chamber or casing, as otherwise
the process of combustion would be stopped by the accumulation of the 3
sulphurous acid, and I open or close the tap or cock thro' which the
liquor is withdrawn from the barrel, cask, or vessel immediately after
opening or closing the tap or cock of the apparatus.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Antonio Batalha Reis in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 30th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ANTONIO
BATALHA REIS, of Lisbon, in the Kingdom of Portugal, but temporarily
of Chandos Chambers, Adelphi, in the City of Westminster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of March, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Antonio Batalha Reis, Her special
licence that I, the said Antonio Batalha Reis, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Antonio Batalha
Reis, 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 "A NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO BARRELS, CASES, OR
VESSELS FOR THE PRESERVATION OF FERMENTED LIQUORS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Antonio Batalha Reis, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
one of their hands and scals, should particularly describe and ascertain
the 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 Antonio Batalha Reis, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement thereof (that is to say) :-
This Invention has for its object a new or improved apparatus
applicable to barrels, casks, or vessels for the preservation of fermented
liquors, for which purpose sulphurous acid for absorbing oxygen and
preserving the liquor from acetous fermentation is produced by the com-
bustion of sulphur in a tray or receptacle placed within a chamber or

page_text: casing into which the necessary air for supporting combustion is admitted
through suitable orifices. This chamber or casing is furnished with a
lid or door for enabling the tray or receptacle to be replenished and the
sulphur to be ignited. It is also provided with a tube which conducts
the sulphurous acid into the barrel, cask, or vessel, and this tube is
furnished with a tap or cock for regulating the supply of sulphurous
acid according to the quantity of liquor withdrawn from the barrel,
cask, or vessel. To the tube a suitable cork or packing is attached
which fits air-tight into a bunghole or opening in the barrel, cask, or
vessel.
In carrying out this Invention the sum of the cross sectional areas of
the orifices for admitting air into the chamber or casing should somewhat.
exceed the corresponding area of the tube which conducts the acid from
the chamber into the barrel, cask, or vessel, and the cross sectional area
of the interior of the tube should not exceed that of the passage in the
tap or cock through which the liquor is withdrawn from the barrel, cask,
or vessel.
:
This Invention enables the interiors of barrels, casks, or vessels to be
prepared for the reception of fermented liquids.
By the novel construction and arrangement of apparatus herein-before
described the quantity of sulphurous acid admitted is directly propor-
tioned to the quantity of liquor withdrawn, which important peculiarity
in my Invention enables the contents of the barrel, cask, or vessel to be
preserved in first-rate condition however small may be the quantity of
liquor remaining therein.
In using my Invention the tap or cock of the apparatus is opened
directly after igniting the sulphur in the chamber or casing, as other-
wise the process of combustion would be stopped by the accumulation
of the sulphurous acid, and I open or close the tap or cock through
which the liquor is withdrawn from the barrel, cask, or vessel imme-
diately after opening or closing the tap or cock of the apparatus.
As an illustration of the manner in which my Invention may be
carried into effect I annex a Sheet of Drawings, in which Fig. 1 is an
end elevation of the apparatus shewing the tube by which sulphurous
acid is conducted to the barrel, cask, or vessel; Fig. 2, a side clevation;
Fig. 3, an end elevation shewing the lid or door through which the
sulphur tray is replenished and the sulphur ignited; Fig. 1, a plan, and

page_text: Fig. 5, a longitudinal section of the apparatus taken through the line
A, B, of Fig. 4.
a is the tray or receptacle for the sulphur, and is made of iron; b, the
chamber or casing within which the tray is contained (made of tin
plate); c, the door or lid which slides up and down for enabling the
tray or receptacle to be replenished and the sulphur to be ignited;
d, small holes in the chamber or casing and its lid or door c through
which the necessary air is admitted for supporting the combustion of
the sulphur; e, the tube which conducts the sulphurous acid into the
barrel, cask, or vessel; f, the tap or cock for regulating the supply of
sulphurous acid according to the quantity of liquor withdrawn from the
barrel, cask, or vessel; g, cork or packing, which must be perfectly
sound, attached to the tube e and arranged to fit air-tight into the bung-
hole or opening of the barrel, cask, or vessel.
The apparatus having been placed in position on the barrel, cask, or
vessel, the lid or door c is raised, the sulphur ignited, and the door
closed, after which the tap or cock fis to be opened for enabling the
sulphurous acid to freely enter the barrel, cask, or vessel. The size of
the apparatus will vary according to the size of the barrel, cask, or vessel
to which it is to be applied.
In carrying out my Invention as applied simply to the preservation
of fermented liquors I have found 6 grammes of sulphur a sufficient
quantity per pipe of liquor, taking care, nevertheless, in no case to employ
less than 3 grammes of sulphur however small may be the quantity of
liquor under treatment. Besides being used for the preservation of
fermented liquors the apparatus may also be employed with advantage
to improve the condition of liquors which have become slightly acid, and
when used for this purpose the quantity of sulphur may be increased to
20 grammes per pipe, more or less, according to the degree of acidity of
the liquor.
In treating acid liquor the apparatus is applied to the barrel, cask, or
vessel, and the whole of the liquor is then withdrawn, so that the vessel
becomes entirely filled with sulphurous acid; thereupon the acidulated
liquor is returned to the vessel and will absorb a proportion of the
sulphurous acid so as to destroy the acidity.
This apparatus is also applicable to the preservation of light wines
without the use of brandy and for the preservation of beer.
Its use has
the effect of "fining" or clearing and improving the colour of the liquor.

page_text: Besides these peculiarities the apparatus has the great advantage of
furnishing to the liquid the sulphurous acid gas, avoiding the intro-
duction of the etherial salts and the alkaline sulphides which results
from the simultaneous combustion of the sulphur and of the match, and
the amount of sulphurous acid gas introduced into the liquid or into the
vessel may be ascertained with great precision.
The use of the improved apparatus by enabling casks of wine to be
kept in good condition notwithstanding the frequent withdrawal of small
quantities will obviate the necessity of bottling wine required for daily
consumption in private houses and elsewhere as at present usually
practised, and will afford great advantages to retail dealers in fermented
liquors. Moreover, casks or vessels to which the apparatus has been
applied will not turn mouldy when empty even though they be cleaned,
because the action of the sulphurous acid upon their inner surfaces will
destroy all germs of vegetation consequent upon fermentation.
In cases where the vessel into which the liquor has to be decanted
is situated at a distance from the cask or barrel it is desirable to use
a leather tube for conveying it from the one to the other so as to
protect it from the action of the air and from being agitated in its
passage.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be or may be performed, I claim, the constructing
apparatus applicable to barrels, casks, or vessels for the preservation of
fermented liquors in which sulphurous acid for absorbing oxygen and
preserving the liquor from acetous fermentation is produced by the
combustion of sulphur in a tray or receptacle placed within a chamber
or casing into which the necessary air for supporting combustion is
admitted through suitable orifices, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Antonio Batalha Reis, have hercunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of September, in the year;
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
ANTONIO BATALHA REIS. (L.S.)