IMPROVEMENTS IN BEER ENGINES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Louis Joseph Cheval, of Raismes, (Empire of France,)
and of 16, Castle Street, Holborn (City), London, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BEER ENGINES."
Sealed the 29th December 1854, and dated the 5th July 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Louis Joseph Cheval at.
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
5th July 1854.
I, LOUIS JOSEPHI CHEVAL, of Raismes, (Empire of France,) and of 16, Castle
Street, Holborn (City), London, do hereby declare the nature of my said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BEER ENGINES" to be as follows:-
My improved system consists in using the pressure produced by a column
of liquid for elevating beer or other liquors from the barrels in the cellar up
to the tap or taps in the bar rooms of public houses, taverns, hotels, &c. For
this purpose I place a suitable reservoir for producing the pressure above the
level of the tap for the liquor, whilst a suitable number of full barrels aro
placed in any suitable position in the cellar or vaults. These barrels com-
municate with cach other by pipes, which are intended to convey the liquor
from the upper part of one barrel to the lower one of the next. A circuit of
barrels is thus formed; the first barrel of this circuit communicating with the
reservoir for producing the pressure, and the last barrel communicating with the
tap by means of pipes. These pipes, as well as those between each barrel and

page_text: the next, can be shut off by one or two cocks. The reservoir above men-
tioned may be filled from below by any suitable contrivance, such as a force
pump, the apparatus called in natural philosophy "hydrostatic bellows, &c.," by
means of which the liquor is drawn and raised to the reservoir from a circuit
of barrels in the cellar, connected with cach other in a way similar to the one
last described. An air pipe descends from the reservoir, which is closed into
the cellar, for supplying the liquor with cool air, which may also be aromatized
in any suitable way."
The arrangements described, although principally designed for public
establishments, are equally applicable in principle to private houses, by being
suitably modified.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the, said Louis Joseph Cheval in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 4th January 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, LOUIS
JOSEPH CHEVAL, of 'Raismes, Empire of France, and of' 16, Castle Street,
Holborn (City), London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Louis Joseph Cheval, Her special licence that I, the said Louis Joseph
Cheval, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, tho
said Louis Joseph Cheval, 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 "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN BEER ENGINES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Louis Joseph Cheval, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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 Louis Joseph Cheval, do hereby s
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:—
My improved system consists in using the pressure produced by a column
of liquid for elevating beer or other liquors from the barrels in the cellar up to
the tap or taps in the bar room of public houses, taverns, hotels, &c. For this
purpose I place a suitable reservoir for producing the pressure above the level
of the tap for the liquor, whilst a suitable number of full barrels are placed in
any suitable position in the cellar or vaults. These barrels communicate with
each other by pipes, which are intended to convey the liquor from the upper
part of one barrel to the lower one of the next. A circuit of barrels is thus
formed; the first barrel of this circuit communicating with the reservoir for
producing the pressure, and the last barrel communicating with the tap by
means of pipes. These pipes, as well as those between each barrel and the
next, can be shut off by one or two cocks. The reservoir above men-
tioned may be filled from below by any suitable contrivance, such as a force
pump, the apparatus called in natural philosophy hydrostatic bellows, &, by
means of which the liquor is drawn and raised to the reservoir from a circuit
of barrels in the cellar, connected with each other in a way similar to the one
last described. An air pipe descends from the reservoir, which is closed into
the cellar, for supplying the liquor with cool air, which may also be aromatized
in any
suitable way. The arrangements described, although principally de
signed for public establishments, are equally applicable in principle to private
houses, by being suitably modified.
Having thus briefly set forth the general nature of my Invention, I shall
now describe in detail the manner in which the same is or may be carried
into effect; and in order to cause my improvements to be more clearly under-
stood, I have illustrated them by the aunexed Sheet of Drawings, which I will
now describe completely.
Fig. 1 represents a sectional elevation of my improved apparatus for causing
the beer or other liquid to rise from the cellar to the bar in the bar room, or
A is a small barrel or reser-
any other place it is desired to be conveyed to.
voir, by which the hydrostatic pressure is exerted, and at whose lower part I
fix a tube or pipe B, entering a barrel C in the cellar,,a little above the bottom
of said barrel. At the top part of this barrel is fixed a pipe E, entering the
bottom part of another barrel E; this latter communicating in the same way,
by means of a pipe F, with a third barrel G, that stands between and above
the two.
At the top part of the third barrel is adapted a pipe H, which rises
into the bar, and has a tap J at the end, for drawing the beer or other liquor.
Each barrel C, E, G, has a cock for letting out the air, so as to allow the

page_text: barrels to be filled completely, and also to prevent fermentation. The small
barrel A and tube B are also completely filled with liquid, so that there be no
air whatever left in any portion of the apparatus. The barrel A has also an
india-rubber or other pipe 1 attached to it, this pipe descending from the top
part of the barrel to the cellar, for conveying from the latter cool or aromatized
air into the barrel A. In this manner it will be seen that the column of
liquid A, B, exerts a suitable pressure on the liquid in the barrel C, which
pressure is communicated to the following barrels, so as to force the liquid out
of the barrel G into the pipe II. Instead of having three barrels only, there
may be any suitable number of them, connected in the same manner from the
top part of each of them to the bottom of the next. By this means it will bo
seen that only the clearest part of the liquid is drawn off, the dregs or grounds
being allowed to settle at the bottom of the barrels by the pipes B, D, F,
entering at a suitable height from the bottoms of the barrels C, E, G. The
reservoir barrel A is filled by means of a pump K, or any other suitable con-
trivance that is placed in the cellar, and which communicates with the
barrel A by means of the pipe L. The pump K is fed by means of a series
of barrels M, M', M", in the cellar, these barrels being connected with each
other by means of a tube R, into which the three barrels M, M', M", empty
their contents, through nozzles attached to each barrel near its bottom part, or
a few inches above. These barrels are filled through the vent N by means of
a pipe O; they also have each of them a small cock at the top, for the purpose
of letting the air out when the barrels are filled. In some cases I also apply
to the pipe B a cock for shutting off the communication between the reser-
voir A and the barrels C, E, G; in those cases, the barrels C, E, G, having
been filled, and the cocks d', e', f', for letting the air out being shut, as strong
a pressure as the casks C, E, G, will bear is exerted on the liquid contained
in them, either by means of a reservoir and column, like those above described,
or by any other suitable contrivances, such as pumps, and I expel by these
means the larger portion of the air which may still be contained in a molecular
state in the liquid. For the purpose of allowing this pressure to be raised to
any desired degree, I give to the barrels any suitable strong shape, such as a
paraboloidal bulge with spherical ends, and also use any strong material for
that purpose, such as cast-iron, stone, &. By thus expelling the air absorbed
in the liquid, I obtain a real compression of the same in such manner, that the
communication between the reservoir A and casks C, E, G, being shut off, the
liquid will for some time afterwards try to expand and rise in the pipe I, or
its equivalent; hence, whilst this compression of the liquid in the casks C, E, G,
lasts, whenever the cock J on the bar is opened, the liquid will rise above its

page_text: own level, and flow out of the top with the same force as if the column of liquid
by which the compression was obtained were on yet, or partly so.
After the
clastic force resulting from compression has been exhausted, or nearly so,
another compression is exerted on the liquid in the barrels, so as to raise again
the liquid in the manner described. As will be obvious, the practical effects
of the intermittent compression are the same as those of the constant columnar
pressure above described, viz., the liquid being totally deprived of air, or nearly
so, its fermentation cannot go on in the case of fermented liquors; this circum-
stance, coupled with the great pressure exerted, causes the liquid to be drawn
in a more wholesome and palatable state, and with a pleasing appearance,
which is a great desideratum in the retail trade. I also make use of the
particular compression above described for preserving liquids, and preventing
them being shaken during carriage on land or during voyages, by expelling
all the air from the casks, and filling them by pressure in such manner that
the liquid cannot move in the cask. The pressure and compression principles
above stated may also be usefully employed in the decanting, bottling, or
racking operations. The union pipes m, m', m", of the feed barrels M, M', M",
are fitted with any kind of tap; but I prefer using in connexion with them the
cocks m, m', m, represented on the Drawing, which are of the same descrip-
tion as that patented by me on the 20th Oct. A.D. 1852, and which have
tubes n, n', n", fitted to them, so as to let air in at o, o', o, whilst the cocks
m, m', m, are opened for letting the liquid out. The same description of
cock may also be adapted at II. o is a pipe for letting the dregs out. With
reference to the arrangements above described, it may also be observed that
the barrels need by no means be placed as they are on the Drawing; they
may, for instance, be laid down instead of standing upright. Also this system
of raising beverage liquids as designed for public establishments may easily be
applied to keeping liquids in private houses, thus offering the advantage of
dispensing with bottling or other operations. Fig. 2 shews another application
of the above pressure and compression principles. a is a receiving bottle, or
a holder, barrel, or any other suitable glass or other vessel, of which there may
be any convenient number in the establishment where it is applied. This
bottle a, &c. communicates by a pipe 6 with any barrel G, on which pressure
is exerted, or in which compression has taken place, as stated above. This
pipe has near the vessel a cock c, of the description above alluded to, which
being opened, the liquid rise from the barrel G into the vessel a; the seat of
this cock has also a flexible or other tube d attached to it, which communicates
with a stopper hole at the top part of the vessel, and lets the air out as the
liquid rises.
e is the cock for tapping the liquid thus raised into the vessel a ;

page_text: this cock also communicates by a pipe f with the stopper hole, so as to let air
into the vessel when the liquid is drawn. If it is desired, a pipe g may be
attached to the cock e, this pipe communicating with a vessel or barrel h
holding aromatic or other gases for thus aërating or aromatizing the liquid in
the bottle.
I claim, without confining myself to the precise manners shewn,―
First, raising and conducting or carrying liquids by pressure exerted on said
liquids by themselves, as described above.
Second, raising and conducting or carrying liquids by compression exerted
on said liquids by themselves, as described above.
In witness whereof, I, the said Louis Joseph Cheval, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this 20 day of January, in the year of our Lord
1955