NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR WASHING OR PURIFYING AIR OR GAS EMPLOYED FOR RAISING BEER OR OTHER LIQUID, AND FOR RETAINING THE SAID BEER OR OTHER LIQUID IN THE BARREL
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by William Henry Beck at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 13th August 1881. A communication
from abroad by Joseph Charles Arthur Béliard, fils, Engineer, of Nogenthal
(Aisne), in the Republic of France.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent. "NEW OR IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR
WASHING OR PURIFYING AIR OR GAS EMPLOYED FOR RAISING BEER OR OTHER
LIQUID, AND FOR RETAINING THE SAID BEER OR OTHER LIQUID IN THE
BARREL." [A communication from abroad by Joseph Charles Arthur Béliard, fils,
Engineer, of Nogenthal (Aisne), in the Republic of France.]
The apparatus forming the subject of the first part of this Invention relates more
especially to the disinfection and purification of the air employed in raising beer
or other liquid by air or gas pressure.
The air drawn in and forced by the pump when taken from the cellar is impuro,
saturated with miasma and ferments of various kinds dangerous to the health of
consumers. This impure air after passing through an obturator or check valve
forming the second part of this Invention, and hereinafter described, is disinfected
and rendered inodourous by a washing apparatus placed between the said obturator
or check valve and the piping which distributes the air under pressure to the
barrels of beer. This washing apparatus (the efficient working of which is
correlative with the application of the beforementioned obturator or check valve)
submits the air to successive disinfecting washings, first in a phenicated liquid,
then in one saturated with hydrate of lime, and then in others, if necessary,
according to circumstances, so that the air reaches the distributing pipes perfectly
pure and inodourous.
The washing apparatus consists of a hollow body piece made of gunmetal, tin, or
other suitable metal formed to receive at one point the coupling of the air inlet
pipe; at another point the coupling of the outlet pipe for washed and purified
air; and in a vertical direction and opposite to one another two glass or other
washing chambers.

page_text: These chambers communicate with one another by a pipe fitted into and carried
by a hermetically closed joint in a piece forming a nut or hollow plug screwed into
the aforesaid hollow body piece. This hollow plug is perforated at the sides with
small holes, which place its interior in communication with the uppermost of the
aforesaid washing chambers.
In the upper washing chamber is placed some phenicated water, and in the lower
one is placed some water saturated with hydrate of lime; or other suitable
disinfectants or purifiers may be employed according to circumstances.
The air from the cellar forced into the hollow body piece passes into the hollow
plug, thence through the perforations therein; it then rises through the liquid in the
upper washing chamber, then descends by the communicating pipe into the lime
water in the lower washing chamber, finally escaping purified and washed through
a passage which conveys it to the distributing pipe.
The hollow body piece may be provided with a suitable blow-off cock.
In all apparatuses for raising beer by the pressure of air, when the pressure of
such air in its receiver becomes less than the pressure generated in the barrels, the
liquid enters the air receiver, where it becomes contaminated by contact with the
metal, thereby tainting the air and deteriorating the quality of the beer delivered
to the consumer. According to the second part of the present Invention this
inconvenience is obviated by the employment of an obturating or retaining
apparatus which is interposed between the casks and the air receiver; it allows
the air constantly under pressure to flow to the casks, but prevents the return of
the beer to the air receiver.
The obturator or retaining apparatus is composed essentially of two cylinders or
chambers connected together by two short tubes or passages; one cylinder is
screwed to the air receiver and is continued upwards by the air pipe which leads to the
washing apparatus above described. This cylinder is hollowed out to constitute the
chamber of the obturator; a pipe soldered to a plug screwed into the upper end of
the said cylinder dips to the bottom of the said chamber. The other cylinder
forms a valve box containing a check valve. One of the beforementioned short
connecting tubes or passages opens at one end into the chamber of the obturator,
and at the other end into the valve box above the check valve, whilst the other
connecting tube or passage opens at one end into the passage by which the air
under pressure enters, and at the other end into the valve box below the
valve.
If a reduction of pressure takes place in the air receiver, and the beer or other
liquid is driven from the barrels by the pressure generated therein, it is stopped by
the check valve in the obturator before entering the air receiver. The beer
entering the obturator chamber by the dip pipe compresses the air in the said
chamber, which immediately closes the valve in the valve box, the effect of the
counter pressure being thereby stopped.
When the pressure necessary for forcing up the beer is restored to the air
receiver, the air opens and passes through the valve of the obturator, enters the
chamber, and forces the beer therefrom through the dip and connecting pipes back
into the casks.
The mechanical arrangements above referred to may be modified in various ways
so as to effect similar results.