An Apparatus for Filling Bottles and the like Receptacles with Sparkling or Effervescing Drinks, such for instance as Beer and the like under pressure.
Year: 1898

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1898-Accepted, 19th Nov., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Apparatus for Filling Bottles and the like Receptacles with
Sparkling or Effervescing Drinks, such for instance as Beer and
the like under pressure.
I, WILHELM BACHNER, of 15, Friedrichstrasse, Stuttgart, in the Empire of
Germany, Merchant, 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 relates to improvements in apparatuses for filling bottles and the
like with effervescing drinks such as beer, for instance from larger receptacles
such as casks and the like, under the pressure of carbonic acid or air.
As is well known when gaseous liquids under pressure are drawn into open
vessels, a partial escape of the gas takes place, for instance in the case of such
liquids as contain carbonic acid, owing to frothing or foaming. This is avoided
in the apparatus which forms the object of the present invention by the racking
or drawing-off device and the vessel to be filled being placed temporarily in com-
munication with a vessel standing under pressure by means of movable pistons
so that only a slight difference of pressure exists between the vessel to be emptied
and the one to be filled.
This improved drawing-off device is shown in the accompanying drawings,
Figure 1 being a front elevation of same;
Figure 2 a plan view;
Figure 3 an end view partly in section;
Figures 4-6 are separate detail views on an enlarged scale of the parts of the
apparatus on which the invention is based.
The cask B to he emptied is connected in the ordinary manner by means of
a back pressure valve b, pipe b, reducing valve 63 and the like with a carbonic
acid container C and also by means of a pipe c with a tap E from which a further
pipe e is connected with the bottle filling tube G, which extends almost to the
bottom of the bottle F, by means of a pipe nozzle g¹ and a screw nut g, Figure 5.
A further tube H is located over the tube G, and carries at the bottom a filling
plug J for the bottle, said tube H being tightly jointed on to the outside of the
tube G by means of a stuffing box h and having at the sides a nozzle and a three-
way cock with two small tubular connections. On one of these latter, a tube i
is attached which is connected with a pipe & situated in a vessel K.
This vessel K is mounted on a bracket K' attached to the frame A of the
apparatus and is closed at the top by a cover or cap M in which a piston m having
a rod m is airtightly mounted. On the second tubular attachment of the three-
way tap h¹, a pipe c¹ is attached which leads directly to the carbonic acid con-
tainer C and thus serves at the commencement of the filling of the bottle, that
is to say before any pressure exists in the vessel K, to convey carbonic acid
directly to the bottle F.
The bottle F is placed on a dish R after it has been closed by means of the
plug J, which dish is fixed on a slide P which is mounted so as to be, vertically
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page_text: adjustable on a slide bar N by means of two sliding jaws p p and which is connected
with a lever D at the top by means of a chain . The lever D) is mounted on the
plug e of the tap E and is so adjustable by means of a counterweight d that when
the bottle is placed on the dish R the latter together with the bottle sinks or
descends and the lever D is turned and the cock E automatically opened. The
beer then flows out of the cask B through the pipes e and e¹, cock E, and filling
tube G into the bottle, whilst after the cock h of the filling apparatus has been
opened air escapes from the bottle through the pipes H and i and the pipe k into
the vessel K. The air in the latter is thus compressed corresponding to the pres-
sure of the carbonic acid or the air acting in the cask and thereby the piston m
located in the cover M of the vessel K is raised as soon as the pressure has reached
a certain height.
Several small openings o are formed in the sides of the cylindrical part o of the
cover M at an equal height (Figure 4), through which holes the compressed air
can partially escape out of the vessel K after the piston m has passed said holes,
after which the piston m naturally immediately descends under the action of the
vacuum valve m² arranged at the end of the hollow rod, m¹, and thereby closes the
openings o.
When the bottle is filled, it is raised together with the filling device G H and
the pipe after the tap h has first been closed. The tap E on the removal of the
bottle is automatically closed by the counterweight d on the lever D, and on a
fresh empty bottle being placed on the dish R is again automatically opened. As
soon as an empty bottle has been placed on the dish, the tap h¹ is then opened
whereby the bottle communicates with the vessel K and stands under pressure
in such a way that the beer flowing into the bottle encounters a resistance and any
frothing or foaming is avoided. By altering the weight of the piston. m the amount
of pressure in the vessel K and bottle F may be regulated.
In the case of eventual overflowing of the bottle, that is to say if the same be
removed too late, the beer passes into the vessel K, and in order to allow of the
same being removed therefrom a drawing off nozzle with a tap k¹ and pipe lis
arranged on the same through which the beer can be run off into a vessel or the
like placed beneath or may also be drawn off into any bottle. In the latter case
a draw-off tap with an air escape tap is provided on the pipe l.
The parts of the drawing-off apparatus are attached to the partition wall A of
a stand which can be conveniently attached to any racking or drawing-off
apparatus. A horizontal table plate A¹ is arranged on the lower part of the
stand A to allow of the bottles being placed thereon.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said in-
vention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1
1. An apparatus for filling bottles and the like with gaseous liquids, such for
instance as beer or the like, without frothing, characterized by the air expelled
from the bottle in consequence of the beer flowing into the same under pressure
being conveyed to a closed vessel (K) in the cover (M) of which a piston (m), is
tightly fitted, which on a certain pressure being attained rises and allows the
compressed air to escape through lateral openings (o) in the side, and by the beer.
discharged being prevented frothing or foaming in consequence of the pressure
existing in the said vessel and the bottle, whilst after each filling of a bottle the
communication of the same with the vessel is interrupted by means of a tap (h)
until an empty bottle has again been placed in position, which, after the tap (h¹)
has been once more opened, immediately stands under pressure, substantially as
herein before described.
2. In an apparatus such as described for filling bottles with gaseous liquids, the
arrangement of a lever (1) provided with counterweights (d) on the plug (e) of a
filling tap or cock (E) interposed between the cask and the bottle, said lever being
connected by means of a chain (A) or the like with a vertically movable slide (P)

page_text: which carries at its lower end a dish (R) on which the empty bottle is placed, the
counterweight (d) of the lever (D) being so adjusted that when a bottle has been
placed on the dish, the tap is automatically opened, and when the bottle is re-
moved, is again automatically closed by means of the counterweight (d) acting
5 on the lever (D), substantially as herein before described.
Dated this 12th day of October 1898
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Of 6, Lord Street, Liverpool, Agents for the Applicant.