IM- PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND TILTING CASKS CONTAINING LIQUIDS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Martin, Mechanic, of Bradford-on-Avon,
and John Allright Wheeler, Flock Manufacturer, of Westwood,
both in the County of Wilts, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Martin and John
Allright Wheeler at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 17th October 1872.
We, JOHN MARTIN, Mechanic, of Bradford-on-Avon, and JOHN ALL-
RIGHT WHEELER, Flock Manufacturer, of Westwood, both in the County
of Wilts, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND TILTING CASKS CONTAINING LIQUIDS,"
to be as follows:-
Our Invention has for its object the raising of casks from the ground
or floor on to a stand and tilting them as required when on such stand,
and consists in the use for these purposes of a machine in which two
adjustable claws for holding the two ends of the cask are fitted in a

page_text: carrier swinging on centres fixed in the frame or standards of the machine;
such claws and carrier together forming a sling or cradle for the cask,
which sling or cradle is worked as required on its centres by means of a
worm and worm toothed sector.
In order to raise a cask from the ground or floor the bottom end of
the cask is placed on one of the claws, and the other claw is adjusted to
hold the top end; then on turning the worm by means of a handle motion
is communicated to the worm toothed sector on the end of one of the
pivots or centres of the sling or cradle, and the cask is easily raised into
a horizontal position, resting on the sling or cradle, which forms a stand
to support the cask ready for use.
When the cask is required to be tilted the worm is readily turned by a
slight exertion of power applied to the handle, and the cask is thereby
tilted in any required degree with the utmost facility and without the
liability of injuring its contents by shaking.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Martin and John Allright Wheeler in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th April 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoHN
MARTIN, Mechanic, of Bradford-on-Avon, and JOHN ALLRIGHT
WHEELER, Flock Manufacturer, of Westwood, both in the County of
Wilts, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said John Martin and John Allright Wheeler, Her
special licence that we, the said John Martin and John Allright Wheeler,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Martin and John Allright Wheeler, our 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

page_text: of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR RAISING AND
TILTING CASES CONTAINING LIQUIDS," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said John Martin and John Allright Wheeler, our executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or
one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 John Allright Wheeler, on behalf
of myself and of the said John Martin, do hereby declare the nature of
our said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and
to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say)
Our Invention of "Improvements in Apparatus for Raising and
Tilting Casks containing Liquids," has for its object the raising of casks
from the ground or floor, and from a vertical position on to a stand, also
placing the cask in a vertical position for tapping and tilting it as re-
quired when on such stand, and consists in the use for these purposes of
a machine in which two adjustable claws for holding the two ends of the
cask are fitted in a carrier swinging on centres fixed in the frame or
standards of the machine, such claws and carrier together forming a
sling or cradle for the cask, which sling or cradle is worked as required
on its centres by means of a worm and worm toothed sector, or by
means of a lever, screw, or other mechanical means adapted to work
the cradle or sling so as to carry a cask from a vertical to a horizontal
position.
In order to raise a cask from the ground or floor the bottom end of
the cask is placed on one of the claws, and the other claw is adjusted to
hold the top end, then on turning the worm by means of a handle or
acting on a lever or other suitable mechanical agent the required motion
is communicated to the pivots or centres of the sling or cradle, and the
cask is easily raised into a horizontal position resting on the sling or
cradle, and tilted as required.
The sling or cradle being worked as described affords likewise the
facility of tapping the cask in a vertical position.

page_text: ceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of the accompanying
Drawings, in which is represented a machine adapted for working the
sling or cradle in the manner above referred to.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the machine;
and Fig. 3 is a plan or horizontal view of the sling or cradle in its
horizontal position detached.
A, A, is the frame or standards of the machine; B, B', are the two
adjustable claws for holding the two ends of the cask, which claws are
fitted in a socket in the carrier C mounted so as to be capable of swinging
on the centres D, D, fixed in the standards of the machine. The two
claws B, B', can be adjusted to the requisite distance apart by means of
the adjusting screws b, b', and they can be removed from the carrier C
and replaced by claws of a different length if required. The socket of
the carrier C is supported by two arms c, c, at the outer ends of which
are the centres or pivots D, D, and it is by applying power to one or
both of these centres or pivots that the carrier with the adjustable claws
is worked as required. E is a worm gearing with a worm toothed sector
or half worm wheel F, fixed on one of the centres D, D, such wheel
being of sufficient working range to admit of the cask on the carrier
being lifted from a vertical position at the front of the machine into a
vertical position at the back of the machine for the purpose of tapping,
and afterwards placed in a horizontal position as required.
By turning the hand wheel G the worm will be caused to impart
motion to the wheel F and the centre D, and work the sling or cradle in,
either direction as required; and the same effect may be produced by
acting on the centre D by means of a lever or otherwise.
When the sling or cradle is in the vertical position as shown in the
Figures it is ready to receive a cask on the bottom claw B, and the top
claw B being adjusted so as to lay hold on the other end of the cask, it
can be raised from the ground or floor into a horizontal position by
applying power to the centre D, and tilted as required by the same
means. The cask can be tapped when in a vertical position.
'
If desired the machine may be varied in construction by dispensing
with the arched form of the frame at the top, which in the machine as

page_text: represented serves as a stay for the two side standards. In such case
the top of the two side standards may be made to receive the ends of
the journals or centres of motion of the carrier, the arms of which may
be furnished with collars so as to form the required stay between the
two side standards, and the position of the worm would be altered so as
to gear with the worm wheel as required.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, we hereby declare that what
we claim as of our Invention is,―
First. The construction of a machine as described, in which a cask
can be raised on a sling or cradle with adjustable claws from a vertical
position at one side of the machine, and placed in a vertical position at
the other side thereof for tapping, and be afterwards placed in a
horizontal position and tilted as required in the manner herein-before
described.
And, secondly. The adaptation and application to machines of this
description of a sling or cradle composed of a carrier with adjustable
claws to take different sized casks, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Allright Wheeler, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Sixteenth day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
JOHN ALLRIGHT WHEELER. (L.S.)
Witness,
WILLIAM SPENCE,
8, Quality Court,
Chancery Lane.