Catalogue reference: C 73/79

Specification for apparatus for diminishing evaporation of volatile vapours and preventing absorption of noxious effluvia in various fluids

No 7336, William Wynn. Drawn by Cornelius Varley, 4 April 1837

Brewers needed large quantities of heavy raw material, gallons of water and high temperatures.  A constant danger was the risk of vats bursting and injury from manipulating sacks of malt and barrels of beer. This 1837 patent addresses another, less obvious danger, that of the dangerous vapours given off by all distilled liquors, which seeped invisibly from stored barrels.