IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVULAR APPARATUS FOR GIVING VENT TO AND FOR EXCLUDING AIR FROM CASKS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND IN BUNGS FOR CLOSING THE SAME, PARTLY APPLICABLE AS VALVES FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Severn, of Hampstead Road, in the
County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VALVULAR APPARATUS FOR GIVING VENT TO AND FOR EXCLUDING AIR
FROM CASKS OR OTHER VESSELS, AND IN BUNGS FOR CLOSING THE SAME,
PARTLY APPLICABLE AS VALVES FOR OTHER PURPOSES."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Severn at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd January 1868.
I, GEORGE SEVERN, of Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VALVULAR APPARATUS FOR GIVING VENT TO AND FOR EXCLUDING AIR FROM CASKS
OB OTHER VESSELS, AND IN BUNGS FOR CLOSING THE SAME, PARTLY APPLICABLE AS
VALVES FOR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention relates to improvements in arranging
self-acting apparatus for giving vent to casks or other vessels as the

page_text: liquor or fluid is drawn off therefrom. For this purpose the tapered
end of a small tube is inserted and fixed into the vent hole of a cask
or other vessel extending vertically a few inches above the cask-or
vessel, then bending downwards a short distance where it widens into
a hollow bulb of egg, conical, or other shape. The small tube or pipe
is then continued a short distance below the bulb or enlarged portion,
when it again turns upwards and ends by preference in a funnel shape
outside the bulb, and about halfway up its side. When required for
use after being inserted into the vent hole water or other liquid is
poured into the funnel-shaped part or mouth of the tube until it reaches
its level in the bulb or widened part. When the tap is opened the air in
the cask, barrel, or other vessel being or becoming less dense than the
outer atmosphere it at once forces its way through the water or liquid
in the form of bubbles, and from thence into the cask or vessel. When
the tap is stopped or turned off, there being now no partial vacuum in
the cask or vessel, the atmosphere ceases to flow through the liquid in
the vent apparatus, and such liquid intervening between the liquid
in the cask and the outer atmosphere prevents the escape of the carbonic
acid gas or vapours from the cask or vessel, except when such gas
is
in excess.
In order to provide against carelessness in allowing the vent apparatus
to become empty of liquid, and thus allow the escape of gas or vapour,
a very light valve may be employed in addition to the liquid. This
valve is placed at the bottom of the bulb or enlarged part of the tube,
and may be of any convenient form, such as a light hollow sphere or
a flat valve opening upwards, or it may be a flat piece of india-rubber
or other flexible material having a pin or wire passed through its centre,
one end entering into the lower part and the other the upper part of
the vent tube with a cross piece, so as to allow the valve to rise a short
distance and keep it in position. In place of sealing the passage through
the vent tube with liquid, as previously described, the lower bent up
part of the tube may be dispensed with, a small orifice being left at
the bottom of the bulb or enlarged portion of the tube. This orifice is
closed from the interior by means of a valve of very thin vulcanized
india-rubber or other soft pliable material impervious to water in the
form of a small ball, cushion, or other suitable hollow shape, which is
nearly filled with water or other liquid and then closed. This valve

page_text: .
is placed with its neck or sealed part upwards within the bulb, its
under side covering and closing the orifice at the bottom of the bulb.
The bulbed part of the tube is formed a little larger than the valve,
so as to allow the atmosphere to pass it freely, but not so as to allow
the valve to turn upside down, except the valve be of the form of a ball.
When the cask requires air the external pressure raises the liquid valve
from off its seat, and thus admits air until the pressure is equalized,
the valve also serving to prevent the escape of gas or vapour. In this
arrangement of vent apparatus a light valve of india-rubber or other
material may be substituted for the one previously described, which
however is the form of valve I prefer to employ.
The form or arrangement of hollow valve containing liquid previously
described may be advantageously employed according to this part of my
Invention for other purposes where a light and air-tight valve is required.
The second part of my Invention has for its object the combination
of a bung and valve together, through which valve the vent pcg is
inserted when required for use. This bung may be made of metal or
other durable material, or partly of metal and other materials combined,
and of the ordinary width, and about the thickness of the stave, and
be driven or screwed into the cask or other vessel, or it may have a
nut or lining of circular form or circular at its under side, and square
on its upper side, being fixed into the stave so that the bung may be
screwed into it. Both the bung and the nut or lining have each two
small holes or slots sunk a short distance into their upper surface on
opposite sides to insert a pronged lever to screw each into or withdraw
them from the cask. The bung may not be of the same thickness
throughout, but the under side may be hollowed out, its centre having
a hole through it of a size to admit the vent peg, which may be lined
with leather, india-rubber, or other material, and over this hole at its
under side is fixed a valve or cover of india-rubber (by preference
vulcanized) of concave form or depressed at its centre, and having a
slit through the same. The vent peg when required for usc is pushed
through the slit in the india-rubber cover, and when removed the india-
rubber valve or cover being of sufficient thickness closes by its elasticity
and excludes the air, thereby preventing the barrel, cask, or other
vessel fouling. The upper side of the central hole through the bung
may also be closed with a tapered cork when the cask is filled, which

page_text: is either withdrawn or forced through the valve on the insertion of
the vent peg. The bung or nut when of metal may be galvanized or
tinned on that portion which comes in contact with the liquor.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Severn in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 23rd July 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
SEVERN, of Hampstead Road, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
first year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said George Severn, Her special licence that I,
the said George Severn, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said George Severn, 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 makt, usc, exercise, and vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and
Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VALVULAR AFPARATUS FOR
GIVING VENT TO AND FOR EXCLUDING AIL FROM CASES OR OTHER VESSELS, AND
IN BUNGS FOR CLOSING THE SAME, PARTL APPLICABLE AS VALVES FOR OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst thers) that I, the said George
Severn, my executors or administrators, oy 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 George Severn, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be

page_text: performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
The first part of my Invention relates to improvements in arranging
self-acting apparatus for giving vent to casks or other vessels as the
liquor or fluid is drawn off therefrom.
And in order that this part of my Invention may be most fully
understood and readily carried into practice, I will proceed to describe
Figure 1 of the Drawing hereunto annexed, which shows a vertical
section of self-acting apparatus for giving vent to casks or other vessels
constructed and arranged in accordance with my improvements.
For this purpose according to this part of my improvements the
tapered end of the tube a is inserted and fixed into the vent hole of a
cask or other vessel, the tube a rising vertically a few inches above the
cask or vessel, then bending downward a short distance, where it
.widens into a hollow bulb a¹ of egg, conical, or other suitable shape.
The tube or pipe a is then continued a short distance below the bulb or
enlarged portion a', when it again turns upwards, and ends by
preference in a funnel or cup-shape at a³ outside the bulb a', and by
preference at about one-third of the way up its side. When required for
use after the tube has been inserted into the vent hole of the cask or
vessel, water or other liquid is poured into the cup or funnel-shaped
part or mouth a² of the apparatus until it reaches its level in the bulb
or widened part a'; thus acting as a liquid valve to seal the passage
between the outer atmosphere and the interior of the cask or vessel.
When the tap is opened the air in the cask, barrel, or other vessel
being or becoming less dense than the outer atmosphere, it at
once forces
its way through the water or liquid in the form of bubbles, and from
thence into the cask or vessel. When the tap is stopped or turned off,
there being now no partial vacuum in the cask or vessel, the atmosphere
ccases to flow through the liquid in the vent apparatus, and such
liquid intervening between the liquid in the cask and the outer
atmosphere prevents the escape of the carbonic acid gas or vapours from
the cask or vessel, except when such gas is in excess.
In order to provide against carelessness in allowing the vent apparatus

page_text: and also to prevent the escape of gas when desired, a suitable valve
may be employed in accordance with this part of my improvements, in
addition to the liquid, as shown at Figure 2 of the Drawing annexed.
a³ is the valve placed at the bottom of the bulb or enlarged part a² of
the apparatus. The valve a³ may be of any convenient form, such as a
hollow sphere, a solid ball of glass, a flap valve opening upwards, or it
may be a plug-shaped piece of india-rubber or metal. The stem a' of
the valve a³ passes up through a cross picce a', so as to allow the valvo
to rise a short distance and keep it in position.
According to another part of my improvements in place of scaling
the passage through the vent tube with liquid, as previously described,
the lower bent-up part of the tube may be dispensed with, as shown
at Figure 3 of the Drawing annexed, a small orifice a being left at
the bottom of the bulb or enlarged portion a¹ of the vent apparatus,
as shewn. This orifice a is closed from the interior by means of a
valve a³ of very thin vulcanized india-rubber or other soft pliable
material impervious to water, and made in the form of a small ball,
cushion, or other suitable hollow shape, which is nearly filled with water
or other liquid and then closed. The valve a³ is placed with its neck
or sealed part upwards within the bulb a', its under side covering and
closing the orifice a' at the bottom of the bulb. The bulbed part a¹ of
the vent apparatus is formed a little larger than the valve, so as to
allow the atmosphere to pass it freely, but not so as allow the
valve a³ to turn upside down, except it be of the form of a ball. When
the cask requires air the external pressure raises the liquid valve a*
from off its scat, and thus admits air as long as liquor is being drawn
from it; the valve also serving to prevent the escape of gas or vapour.
The form, arrangement, and application of the valve a³ to vent apparatus,
as previously described, may be varied without departing from the
nature of my improvements, for instance, in place of the valve a³ fitting
loosely in the bulb or widened part a¹ of the apparatus, as previously
described, it may be made to fit accurately in a slightly taper vertical
tube a' (as shown at Figure 4 of the Drawing hereunto annexed) which
has an orifice a' near the bottom, the upper and lower ends of the
tube a¹ being closed. The valve a³ is a bag or case made of thin india-
rubber or other suitable pliable material nearly filled with liquid, the
mouth being tied or otherwise closed, the lower end of the valve closing
or covering the orifice « in the tube a'. When liquor is being drawn

page_text: from the cask the outer air depresses the side of the flexible valve a³,
forcing a passage between it and the tube a', thus allowing the air to
enter the upper branch of the tube, so as to enter the cask or other
vessel through the tube a. When liquor ceases to be drawn from the
cask or vessel the column of liquid contained in the valve as having
been forced up by the pressure of the air in entering, now falls,
expanding the elastic tube again and thus closing the orifice a*. The
liquid in the valve being below the tube a which conveys air into the
cask or vessel, and the upper end of the valve a' being collapsed within
the tube a', the gas from the cask or vessel cannot escape as the
pressure on the upper part of the valve serves to close the orifice a
tightly. Hollow valves containing liquid, such as above described, may
be advantageously employed according to this part of my Invention for
other purposes where a light and air-tight valve is required.
The second part of my Invention has for its object the combination of
a bung and valve, through which valve the vent peg is inserted when
required for use. This bung may be made of metal or other durable
material, or partly of metal and other materials combined, and of the
ordinary width, and about the thickness of the stave, and be driven or
screwed into the cask or other vessel, or it may have a nut or lining of
circular form, or circular at its under side and square on its upper side,
being fixed into the stave, so that the bung may be screwed into it.
Both the bung and the nut or lining have each two small holes or slots
sunk a short distance into their upper surface on opposite sides to
insert a pronged lever to screw each into or withdraw, them from the
cask. The bung may not be of the same thickness throughout; but the
under side may be hollowed out, its centre having a hole through it
of a size to admit the vent peg, which may be lined with leather, india-
rubber, or other material, and over this hole at its under side is fixed
a valve or cover of india-rubber (by preference vulcanized) of concave
form or depressed at its centre, and having a slit through the same.
The vent peg when required for use is pushed through the slit in the
india-rubber cover, and when removed the india-rubber valve or cover
being of sufficient thickness closes by its elasticity and excludes the
air there, preventing the barrel, cask, or other vessel fouling. The
upper side of the central hole through the bung may also be closed
with a tapered cork when the cask is filled, which is either withdrawn
or forced through the valve on the insertion of the vent peg. The

page_text: bung or nut when of metal may be galvanized or tinned on that portion
which comes in contact with the liquor.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Severn, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
J. G. TONGUE,
Patent Agent,
GEORGE SEVERN. (L.S.)
34, Southampton Buildings,
Chancery Lane, W.C.