Abstract: A beverage dispenser includes a body having a bore with an inlet, an outlet and a valve seat therebetween. A valve stem has a seal to selectively engage the valve seat to open and close the bore to a flow of beverage between the inlet and outlet. A serving lever is pivotally connected to the body and selectively coupled and decoupled to the valve stem by a clutch which is operated by a solenoid. Operating the serving lever may move the seal away from the valve seat only when clutch couples the serving lever to the valve stem. A control circuit operates the solenoid to cause the clutch to decouple the serving lever from the valve stem when the beverage has been dispensed continuously for greater than a defined period of time.

Abstract: A totalizer assembly is enclosed in a housing having a base and a cover which cooperate to support and position a register assembly in the housing. The base and cover also cooperate to support and position a gear train in the housing. The gear train drives the register assembly. When units are to be totaled at a relatively fast rate, one gear train is used. When units are to be totaled at a relatively slow rate, a second gear train is used. The cover and base have surfaces for positioning the gears of either one of the two gear trains.

Abstract: Existing beverage dispensing taps may be retrofitted with a mechanism that provides an electrical signal which indicates when the tap is open. That mechanism includes a housing with an open bottom for placement over the tap with a lever of the tap projecting upward through an aperture in the housing. The housing is held in place over the tap by a compression bonnet the holds the operating lever on a conventional beverage tap. A switch assembly within the housing is engaged and operated by a component of the beverage tap to provide the electrical signal. The switch assembly has a unique double action actuator that tolerates different amounts of movement of the tap component. The actuator has a ring that is engaged by the tap component to operate the switch assembly and an annular flange secured to the housing. A first flexible web connects the ring to the annular flange and a button with a surface with a conductive surface is coupled to the ring by a second flexible web.

Abstract: A dispenser is programmed to automatically dispense a beverage into a plurality of different size containers by storing therein a volume designation for each size container. The flow rate of beverage through the dispenser is determined. To do so, a user manually operates the dispenser to fill a given container with the beverage while the dispenser measures the filling time. The dispenser calculates a beverage flow rate from the volume designation for the given container and the filling time. Then the flow rate and volume designations are used thereafter by the dispenser to derive a dispensing time for each different size container. Thus the dispenser is able to derive dispensing times for each container size from filling only one of the containers. A unique dispenser valve also is disclosed.