| 摘要 |
Carbonated and non-carbonated beverages are selectively dispensed under the driving force of a one time charge of pressurized inert gas inserted into the headspace of the beverage container at the time of bottling/canning. The gas, preferably nitrogen, is inert to the beverage liquid and is pressurized sufficiently to permit dispensing of all of the liquid from the container via a siphon tube. A cap valve seals the container and includes an elastomeric check valve preventing escape of gas while permitting the siphon tube to be inserted into the container. A throttling and diffusing valve controls outflow from the siphon tube to ambient and prevents fracturing of gas from the beverage liquid to minimize foaming/frothing. The valve has a conical valve member movable axially in a similarly conical valve chamber to establish a flow path having an annular cross-section that increases in circumference as the valve proceeds downstream to thereby gradually reduce the pressure of the liquid flowing through the valve to ambient pressure. A rounded tip on the upstream end of the valve member establishes a pressure stagnation point for the liquid entering the valve chamber. The resulting arrangement minimizes carbonation loss in the liquid so that it does not go flat as successive portions of the beverage are dispensed over long periods of time.
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