IMPROVEMENTS IN VENT PEGS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Carliell, of Union Street, Portsea, Hamp-
shire, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENT PEGS."
Sealed the 13th January 1860, and dated the 16th July 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Carliell at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 16th
July 1859.
I, THOMAS CARLIELL, of Union Street, Portsca, Hampshire, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN VENT PEGS,"
to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to vent pegs used for admitting air to vessels whilst
drawing off the liquid contents thereof, and consists in constructing the same
in the following improved manner, that is to say :-I bore a taper hole length-
wise through a taper piece of metal, and fit easily therein a piece of metal or
plunger of corresponding shape. The top of this said plunger is formed
enlarged or of a button shape, and into the bottom of said plunger I screw a
short piece of metal larger in diameter than the bottom of the plunger, and
place thereon a washer of leather or other suitable material, which is kept in
forced contact with the bottom edge of the outer shell of the vent peg by a
helical spring placed therein, and thus all communication with the interior of
the vent peg is shut off. I form holes in the aforesaid plunger, one across the

page_text: upper part thereof immediately under the button-shaped head, and another at
a short distance from the bottom of said plunger, and connect these top and
bottom holes together by another hole formed lengthwise of the plunger, so
that when the vent peg is in use, by pressing down the plunger, atmospheric
air will pass through the same into the cask or barrel in which the vent peg
is fixed, and upon relieving the pressure from the plunger, the elastic force of
the helical spring will force the plunger up, and shut off the communication.
I am aware of hollow spring vent pegs having heretofore been made and used,
I do not therefore lay any claim to this mode of constructing vent pegs, but
declare this Invention to consist solely in making the plunger hollow as above
described, for the more effective admission of air through the vent peg.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Carliell in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
CARLIELL, of Union Street, Portsea, Hampshire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Carliell, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Carliell, iny
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Carliell, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
VENT PEGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Carliell, 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 Carliell, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-

page_text: formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to vent pegs used for admitting air to vessels whilst
drawing off the liquid contents thereof, and consists in constructing the same
in the following improved manner, that is to say:-I bore a taper hole
lengthwise through a taper piece of metal, and fit easily therein a piece of
metal or plunger of corresponding shape. The top of this said plunger is
formed enlarged or of a button shape, and into the bottom of said plunger I
screw a short piece of metal larger in diameter than the bottom of the plunger,
and place a washer of leather or other suitable material, which is kept in
forced contact with the bottom edge of the outer shell of the vent peg by a
helical spring placed therein, and thus all communication with the interior of
the vent peg is shut off. I form holes in the aforesaid plunger, one across the
upper part thereof immediately under the button-shaped head, and another
at a short distance from the bottom of said plunger, and connect these top
and bottom holes together by another hole formed lengthwise of the plunger,
so that when the vent peg is in use, by pressing down the plunger, atmospheric
air will pass through the same into the cask or barrel in which the vent peg
is fixed, and upon relieving the pressure from the plunger, the elastic force of
the helical spring will force the plunger up, and shut off the communication.
I am aware of hollow spring vent pegs having heretofore been made and used,
I do not therefore lay any claim to this mode of constructing vent pegs, but
declare this Invention to consist solely in making the plunger bollow as above
described, for the more effective admission of air through the vent peg.
In order to explain my said Invention as completely as possible, I now
proceed to describe the best means I am acquainted with for carrying the
same into practical effect, reference being had to the illustrative Sheet of
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the numeral figures and letters of
reference marked thereon respectively, as follows:-
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 is an outside elevation of an improved vent peg constructed
according to this Invention; Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof; Figure 3,
a transverse and vertical section through the line A, B, at Figure 2, showing
the vent peg closed; Figure 4 shows the vent peg open, and as it would
appear when inserted in a cask or barrel. A is a taper-shaped piece of metal
having a hole bored through the same, in which is fitted a hollow piece of
metal or plunger B, the top whereof is of a button shape, having orifices C, C,
formed therein. There are other orifices formed near the bottom of the

page_text: piece B, one of which marked D is exhibited at Figure 3. E is a piece of
metal screwed into B, and e is a wasber to prevent the passage of air through
the vent peg when out of use; G is a helical spring for keeping the washer 6
in forced contact with the bottom edge of the piece A. The operations of
this improved vent peg are as follows:-Suppose the said vent peg to be
inserted into a cask or barrel, and the several parts in the position exhibited
at Figure 1, the admission of atmospheric air through the vent peg is
entirely prevented, but upon depressing the piece B to its full extent, the air
will pass through the openings C and D as denoted by the arrow's flight at
Figure 3, and continue to do so until the pressure is removed from the piece B,
when the elastic force of the spring G will close the orifices marked D. As
in some cases it might be found desirable to keep the vent peg open for a
considerable length of time, for example, in bottling off beer or wine from
casks or pipes, to meet this requirement I propose to construct the vent peg
in the manner exhibited at Figures 1 and 4, where a represents a pin fixed in
the piece B; this pin works in a bayonet slit b, formed in the piece A, so that
when it is required to keep the vent peg open for a considerable length of
time, the operator has simply to turn the piece B partly round after he has
pressed said piece down to its full extent, by which the pin a will be locked
or held in the return part of the bayonet slit b, as at Figure 4. Figure 1
exhibits the vent peg closed.
Having now fully described and set forth the nature and object of my said
Invention of "Improvements in Vent Pegs," together with the best means I
am acquainted with for carrying the same into practical effect, I hereby
declare my Invention to consist in, and I claim, constructing vent pegs in the
manner above particularly described, set forth, and represented, and especially
I claim the hollow plunger B, for the passage of atmospheric air through the
vent peg, as above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Carliell, have hereunto set my
band and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS CARLIELL. (L.s.)