IMPROVING WINE ON DRAUGHT AND OF APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS OBJECT, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIQUIDS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Symes Prideaux, of 209, Piccadilly, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVING WINE ON DRAUGHT
AND OF APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS OBJECT, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIQUIDS."
Sealed the 10th December 1867, and dated the 13th June 1867:
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Symes Prideaux
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th June 1867.
I, THOMAS SYMES PRIDEAUX, of 209, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVING WINE ON
DRAUGHT AND OF APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS OBJECT, WHICH INVENTION IS ALSO
APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIQUIDS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in preventing the access of free oxygen to the wine
by supplying it with an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas as the wine is drawn
off, whereby the wine will be preserved from becoming sour up to the last,
even if it has not been brandied.
The value and utility of this Invention consists in enabling any person to
keep light wines on draught instead of being obliged to bottle them off as
soon as they are broached or soon after their arrival in this country. I effect
this object by.connecting the cask or jar containing the wine with a strong
vessel in which the generation of carbonic acid is caused to proceed pari
passu with the drawing off of the wine from the cask by means of the

page_text: apparatus described below, or by connecting the cask with a strong vessel or
reservoir of highly compressed carbonic acid gas, as shown in my Patent of
July 1865. The generator is a strong vessel of glass or earthenware, or other
suitable material (not liable to be acted upon by the reagents employed,) fitted
with a tube or pipe for connecting it with the barrel and closed by an air-tight
lid. This vessel has in its upper part a chamber communicating by a small
tube from its bottom with the interior of the generator, and opening exteriorly
by a small mouth or orifice at its top fitted with an air-tight cap. To charge
the apparatus the aperture of the tube connecting the chamber with the
generator must be stopped, and the chamber filled with one of the reagents
employed in a liquid form (I prefer the acid); the air-tight cap is next to be
fitted over the mouth of the chamber, the other reagent placed in the generator,
the plug withdrawn from the aperture of the tube, the generator closed by its
air-tight lid and connected with the barrel, and lastly a small orifice pierced
in the air-tight cap over the mouth of the chamber. Where it is desired to
employ a higher pressure than that produced by this apparatus the end may
be attained by connecting the mouth of the chamber with a reservoir of air
under pressure so constructed as to close on itself and expel the air, consti-
tuting in fact a bag piston. The pressure may be produced either by a weight
or a spring; any required pressure may also be obtained by the use of an air
syringe or bellows worked by hand, or by hanging the generator on an axle,
and so constructing its interior that the flow of one of the reagents upon the
other shall be determined by varying the inclination of the vessel. Both
these methods however require a guage for indicating the pressure and
superintendance to maintain the mean pressure required, for which reason I
prefer to employ the apparatus first described, viz., the reservoir of compressed
air
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Thomas Symes Prideaux in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 13th December 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
SYMES PRIDEAUX, of 209, Piccadilly, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her

page_text: reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Symes Prideaux, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, 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 "IMPROVING
WINE ON DRAUGHT AND OF APPARATUS TO BE USED FOR THIS OBJECT, WHICH INVENTION
IS ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, my executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals,
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 Thomas Symes Prideaux, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
My Invention consists in preventing the access of free oxygen to the wine
by supplying it with an atmosphere of carbonic acid gas as the wine is drawn
off, whereby the wine will be preserved from becoming sour up to the last
even if it has not been brandied.
The value and utility of this Invention consists in enabling any person to
keep light wines on draught instead of being obliged to bottle them off as
soon as they are broached or soon after their arrival in this country. I effect.
this object by connecting the cask or jar containing the wine with a strong
vessel in which the generation of carbonic acid is caused to proceed pari
passu with the drawing-off of the wine from the cask by means of the
apparatus described below, or by connecting the cask with a strong vessel or
reservoir of highly compressed carbonic acid gas, as shown in my Patent of
July 1865. The generator is a strong vessel of glass or earthenware, or other
suitable material (not liable to be acted upon by the reagents employed), fitted
with a tube or pipe for connecting it with the barrel, and closed by an air-tight
lid. This vessel has in its upper part a chamber communicating by a small
tube from its bottom with the interior of the generator, and opening exteriorly
by a small mouth or orifice at its top fitted with an air-tight cap having a
minute central perforation. To charge the apparatus the aperture of the

page_text: tube connecting the chamber with the generator must be stopped, and the
chan ber filled with one of the reagents employed in a liquid state (I prefer
the acid); the air-tight cap is next to be fitted over the mouth of the chamber,
the minute perforation in its centre being closed by a leaden washer or other
expedient, the other re-agent placed in the generator, the plug withdrawn
from the aperture of the tube, the generator closed by its air-tight lid and
connected with the barrel, when the apparatus may be set in action by
piercing a small orifice in the washer which closes the perforation in the
air-tight cap over the mouth of the chamber, thus admitting the pressure of
the atmosphere to act on the upper surface of the fluid in the chamber, and
causing it to flow down into the generator till the pressure of the atmosphere
is overbalanced by that of the gas in the latter. The apparatus may be.
modified by having the closure of the orifice for the descent of the acid
regulated by a small pointed rod of platina (or other metal capable of resisting
the reagents employed) passing down through the top of the chamber
secured by a screw, thus enabling it to be raised and lowered at pleasure.
Where it is desired to employ a higher pressure than that furnished by this
apparatus the end may be attained by connecting the mouth of the chamber
for the acid with a reservoir of air under pressure so constructed as to close
on itself and expel the air, constituting, in fact, a bag piston. Any required
pressure may also be obtained by an air syringe or bellows worked by hand,
or by hanging the generator on an axle, and so constructing its interior that
the flow of one of the reagents upon the other shall be determined by
varying the inclination of the vessel. Both these methods however require a
guage for indicating the pressure and superintendance to maintain the mean
pressure required, for which reason I prefer to employ for public use the
apparatus first described, viz., the reservoir of compressed air.
DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS.
Sheet, Figure 1, elevation in section. G, generating chamber; L its air-
tight lid; C, acid chamber with its delivery tube 0; h, mouth for filling ;
S, the air-tight cap with minute perforation p; t, tube for connecting generator
with barrel; B, a section of the latter. Figure 2, elevation of cover showing
the mode of securing the lid. The same letters indicate the same parts in
all the Figures. Figure 3 the plan. Figure I with the addition of a reservoir
of air under pressure placed in connection with the mouth h of the acid
chamber and the modification of prolonging the delivery tube O upwards like
the spout of a tea-kettle to a point above the level of the liquid in the

page_text: Sheet 2, Figure 5, elevation in section of the apparatus for obtaining any
required pressure by suspending the generator on an axle. b, bottom of acid
chamber; a, axle; E and F, axle framing, Figure 6 plan. Figure 7 elevation
of end F.
Sheet 1, Figure 4, elevation of end E.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Symes Prideaux, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
THOMAS S. PRIDEAUX. (L.S.)