Opinion of the Court.

November 30, 1876, No. 114,737; Belgium, to Leo. Meller & Co., filed February 14, 1877, allowed and countersigned, Bruxelles, February 28, 1877, No. 41,517.

"The object of our invention is to overcome the difficulties above named, and also to produce in a shorter time a better quality of beer, containing more sugar and less alcohol.

"Our invention consists in treating the beer when in the shavings-cask step of the process, in one or more closed casks, under automatically controllable carbonic acid gas pressure, generated either by the mild fermentation of the beer or artificially. This equalizes the pressure in such cask or series of casks, and the effervescing quality of the beer in all the casks, when two or more are connected together, is uniform.

"The cask or casks being closed, none of the beer wastes by running over, and the foul smells and washing of the casks and cellars are avoided. The escaping carbonic acid gas is conducted from the relief-valve to the open air, and does not settle in the brewing cellars, to endanger life.

"Our invention consists, further, in similarly treating the beer when in the 'kraeusen' stage, or subsequently thereto, or both, or when in the settling-casks, (ruh-beer,') this being the second fermenting stage-that is to say, our invention consists in so treating the beer at any time or times previous to racking off and bunging or bottling.

"In order that those skilled in the art may make and use our invention, we will proceed to describe the manner in which we have carried it out.

"In the drawings A A are shavings casks, having faucets, a a, provided with valves ii, inserted tightly in their bungs. These faucets are connected to taps N on the main pipe a', by means of flexible sections k, provided with couplings. The taps or connections have valves i'i'. Pipe a' bends upward and passes above the level of a water column, C, and then, passing downward, enters the base of the column at x, where it is provided with a cock, b'. The water column or vessel C has a faucet, d, to draw off water, when desired to decrease the pressure. A depending branch-pipe, e, and cock, e1, serve to

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discharge any condensed moisture from pipe a, and a pressuregauge, e2, serves to indicate the pressure.

"By means of a gas-generator, located at h and connected. to pipe a by means of pipe f, having cock g, we are enabled to test the joints of the apparatus and drive all atmospheric air from the pipes when the operation begins.

"At the top of the water column is a conical cap terminating in a pipe, E, which is projected out of the building and leads all the gas into the open air. Located within this cap is a conical diaphragm, C', centrally located, so that, should the escape of the gas become so rapid as to lift the body of water upward, the water will be arrested by the diaphragm, while the gas escapes around its edges.

"It is evident that the pressure in all the shavings casks connected with pipe a' will be equal, and will be kept so indefinitely by means of the water column, and, as far as the enliv ening of the beer is concerned, it is always ready for market, be it ten days or four months, whereas in processes now practised beer has to be bunged at a particular time for a particular day's market.

"Our process enables the brewer to keep on hand merchantable beer, which can be shipped instantly, or, if trade decreases, it enables him to keep his stock on hand without deterioration till the demand is made for it.

"All that has been said above in relation to a series of casks applies, of course, equally to treatment in a single cask.

"It is obvious that means other than a water column may be adopted for equalizing the pressure of the gas, without departing from the spirit of our invention - as, for example, safety-valves and the like- and the apparatus is susceptible of many other variations without affecting the process itself, which constitutes the essence of our invention.

"By using our process we are enabled to clarify the beer and clear it of impurities in eight days or less, whereas in the ordinary process it takes from twelve to twenty days. This immense gain in time we ascribe to the following action: The air being forced out of the pipes, the carbonic acid fills them and the space in the casks above the beer. Then the gas

Opinion of the Court.

slowly accumulates in the space above the beer until the pres sure above is such as to overcome the density of the beer and reënter it, so as to charge it up to the pressure for which the column is set. This creates, in a manner, an equilibrium between the rising bubbles and the pressure above, during which gravity can act rapidly on the yeast and impurities in the beer and carry them down among the shavings at the bottom of the case, where they remain.

"We introduce the clarifying gelatine into the shavings casks after the beer is introduced, and before connecting with pipe a', and actual practice has demonstrated to us that to clarify the beer by our process requires only about one-half of the gelatine heretofore used. This saving, together with the saving of the waste beer heretofore mentioned, (one or more barrels in every forty,) and the saving of labor, will greatly cheapen the production of beer.

"When we desire to make beer for bottling, we attach our apparatus to the settling casks filled with beer, and no young beer (kraeusen) is added, but a little gelatine is added and the beer allowed to remain for from fourteen to twenty days, until it becomes 'lively,' (saturated with CO2,) and it is then bottled.

"We find that bottled beer prepared this way is healthier, and will last in good condition two or three months, whereas the beer bottled in the usual manner with kraeusen beer lasts only for eight or ten days, if pure and not steamed after bottling, the latter spoiling the aroma and flavor.

"Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by letters-patent, is

"1. The process of preparing beer for the market, which consists in holding it under controllable pressure of carbonic acid gas when in the 'kracusen' stage, substantially as set forth.

"2. The process of treating beer when in the kraeusen stage, which consists in holding it in a vessel under automatically controllable pressure of carbonic acid gas, substantially as described.

"3. The process of preparing and preserving beer for the

Opinion of the Court.

market, which consists in holding it under controllable pressure of carbonic acid gas from the beginning of the kraeusen stage until such time as it is transferred to kegs and bunged, substantially as described.

"4. The method herein described of preserving beer in a marketable condition after it has passed the kraeusen stage, which consists in holding it under pressure of carbonic acid gas, said pressure being automatically regulated by a counteracting hydrostatic pressure, substantially as described.

"5. The process of treating beer when in the second fermenting stage, (ruh-beer,') which consists in holding it under automatically controllable pressure of carbonic acid gas, substantially as described.

"6. The process of treating beer in the course of its manufacture, which consists in holding it in closed connected vessels under automatically controlled pressure of carbonic acid gas, substantially as described.

"7. The process of clarifying and settling beer in a series of shavings casks, and equalizing the rate of fermentation in all of them, whereby the beer is more rapidly and thoroughly clarified, and will be ready for racking off in all the casks at the same time, and can be kept so, which consists in holding the beer in closed connected shavings casks under automatically controlled low pressure of carbonic acid gas, substantially as described.

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"8. Casks A A, provided with cocks a a, flexible sections k and taps N N, in combination with main pipe a', water column C, and pressure-gauge 2, all constructed, arranged, and operated as and for the purposes set forth."

Infringement is alleged of claims 1, 2, 3, 4, 6 and 7. The Circuit Court dismissed the bill, and the plaintiff has appealed. The principal contest in the case is as to the validity of the patent, as a patent for a process. The state of the art of brewing beer, so far as it concerns the invention of the patentees, is set forth in the specification. That invention, so far as it is applicable to what is called the kraeusen stage of beer, is applicable to the beer after it is pumped into the shavings casks and the kraeusen beer is added for the purpose of start

Opinion of the Court.

ing a mild fermentation. By the old process, the fermentation lasted from ten to fifteen days, until the generation of the gas was reduced to a minimum. By the rising of the carbonic acid gas through the effervescence of the beer, a foam was formed, which ran over the edges of the open bung-hole and wasted more or less of the beer, say one barrel in every forty. This waste beer soured and mildewed, produced foul vapors injurious to health, altered the flavor of the beer in the casks, and sometimes spoiled it entirely. The washing of the barrels on the outside was required, the temperature of the cellar was raised by the use of the water for the washing, and the ice was wasted which was packed in the cellar to keep the temperature at about 41° Fahrenheit. After the beer had been in the shavings casks from ten to fifteen days, gelatine or some other clarifying medium was introduced, and at the end of a couple of days the beer was entirely clear. The shavings cask was then bunged up tightly for from three to five days, to confine the last portions of the rising carbonic acid gas, and charge the beer with it to make it merchantable. The proper degree of pressure in the shavings cask at which to draw off the beer into kegs for market was a matter of judgment in the workman. If the pressure was over seven pounds to the square inch, the keg filled with foam in drawing it off and the bubbles subsiding left an air space over the liquid beer, which absorbed a portion of the carbonic acid gas, and soon left the beer in the keg flat. As a result of the fact that the proper degree of pressure was merely a matter of judgment, no two shavings casks were drawn off at precisely the same pressure, and the effervescing qualities of the beer would vary considerably. If the beer was not put into market at once, at the proper stage, the bungs had to be removed from the shavings casks and the gas allowed to escape. The escaping gas then stirred up the yeast and impurities which had settled at the bottom, and the beer had to go again through the entire shavings-cask stage in the process. It required about twenty days to put beer on the market after it was pumped into the shavings casks. This delay required brewers to keep a large amount of capital invested during the time in unfinished beer,