IMPROVEMENTS IN BUCKETS AND OTHER VESSELS OF WOOD OF ANALOGOUS IN MEANS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to
William Robert Lake. of the International
Patent Office." No. 8. Southampton Buildings. Chancery Lane, in
the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN BUCKETS AND OTHER VESSELS OF WOOD OF ANALOGOUS
IN MEANS FOR PRODUCING THE SAME."-A communication
from abroad by David Lyman. of Middlefield, Connecticut, United
States of America.
Sealed the 28th October 1868, and dated the 2nd May 1868.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration. ou the 2nd May 1868. pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852,
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, the Caunty of Middlesex. Consulting
Engineer, send greeting.
in
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN BUCKETS AND OTHER VESSELS OF WOOD OF ANALOGOUS FORM, AND IN MEANS

page_text: FOR PRODUCING THE SAME," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto
me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solema Declaration that it has been
communicated to me from abroad by David Lyman, of Middlefield,
Connecticut, United States of America.
NOW KNOW YE. that I. the said William Robert Lake. do
hereby declare that the following Complete Specification, under my
hand and seal. fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by
the following statement. reference being had to the accompanying Sheet
of Drawings making a part of this Specification:
The said Invention consists in the production of buckets and other
wooden vessels of analogous form by cutting a helical shaving of a
proper thickness from a log or mass of wood and springing it afterwards
into the desired regular and conical form and confining it there, the
several lengths of shavings being properly divided each from the other
by machinery or otherwise. and each provided with a suitable bottom
and with ventilating openings if such adjuncts are required. Both
the articles produced and the means employed for producing them
will be described below in the several modifications and varieties which
are esteemed most useful and valuable for the several different purposes
designated.
Figure represents a perspective view of the form of the product
which is adapted for use as a fruit basket; Figure 2 is a central vertical
section of the same. In this modification of the product a bottom is
attached by being pressed upon so as to lock with the lower edge of
the shaving. the parts being formed. as represented, so as to lock with
facility and to hold with considerable force. In this modification also
ventilating apertures are provided in the sides near the bottom, as
represented, which allow a circulation of air to the interior of the basket.
Figure 3 represents a central vertical section of another modification
of the Invention adapted for pails of different sizes, toy pails. toy tubs,
and analogous vessels. hat boxes, and a great variety of uses. It will
be understood that hoops may be applied to embrace this and any other
of the modifications at any points desired. They are especially called
for around the base of this modification. The crozing within the
base of this form of the Invention being omitted and the bottom also

page_text: as a cheap casing to surround and protect young plants and in a great
variety of situations where a casing without a bottom may be made
available.
Figure 4 represents a corresponding section of another modification
of the Invention adapted for a variety of uses. In this form the
bottom is forined in one with the sides by adopting a corresponding
variation in the form of the knife which is employed in producing the
articles.
Figure is a view of a log of wood from which a portion of the
surface has been removed according to my Invention in forming the
modification shown in Figures 1 and 2. It will serve also to explain
the mode adopted with all the several modifications here described
and any other modifications which may be desired.
The log of wood is first thoroughly steamed and thus made capable of
being cut with ease in the manner described. It is then turned in
cylindrical form either in the same machine which produces the shavings
or in another previously employed. A thin and very sharp knife is
then applied and is moved along from one end of the log towards the
other while the log slowly revolves, and the knife having been carefully
constructed and finished in the form desired a continuous shaving is
cut spirally or helically around the log in the form desired for the
several vessels, or rather for the particular modification of the vessels
which are desired. The means by which the log is rotated and the
knife fed forward will be familiar to mechanics accustomed to analogous
work and need not be represented. The knife can be made to guide itself
if desired by mounting it on a carriage carried upon suitable ways and
Additional knives
attending very carefully to its "set" or inclination.
may be carried upon the same carriage to trim the wood before or behind
the main cutter, and the shavings may be crozed and trimmed in
various ways by any approved machinery after their removal from the
log.
The means by which the shaving is divided in proper lengths is
peculiar. A wheel having a sharp cutter travelling upon the surface
of the log in advance of the main cutter, and at every revolution
impresses a deep cut in the wood just equal or about equal in depth

page_text: to the thickness of a shaving. When
an instant later this portion
of the wood is treated by the knife the shaving is found to be
completely and smoothly divided at this point. The apertures are
produced by similar means which are shown in Figures 1 and 2 for
ventilation. that is to say, the same wheel which cuts off the shavings
into lengths not only carries the straight knife extending lengthwise
to a sufficient distance along the log to cut off the shaving. but it also
carries a series of U-shaped cutters which cut out the proper forms
for these apertures. The short shavings thus produced are
all spiral
or portions of helices when thus cut, but the material is soft and flexible
and is readily sprung into the true conical form either by hand or
machinery immediately after being dropped from the log. A small
piece of tinned iron or other suitable material being applied at the
junction at the upper edge. and the bottom being suitably confined by
the same means or by other means. the bottomless form of the product
is now finished and ready for transportation and use. The other forms
will be readily understood. that shown in Figures and 2 having the
lower edge of the sides held with tolerable firmness by locking into the
bottom alone. It will be seen that these vessels are well adapted for
packing in nests for stowage or for transportation.
Referring to the several parts in detail in Figures 1 and 2, A is the
side; A, the thickened upper edge; A3, a slight inward deflection near
the base and A. a locking rim at the extreme base; while B is the
bottom correspondingly turned and grooved by suitable tools to receive
this base and lock with it; and C is the top clamp applied by hand
or by machinery to keep the upper edge in place. The joint or line
of junction of the ends of the shaving is indicated by a, and may be
made very tight or left open according as the work is to be tight or open.
The apertures for ventilation when the vessel is to be used for containing
strawberries or the like are marked E. Corresponding letters mark the
other forms or modifications so far as they agree in form. In Figure 3
the croze to hold the bottom by its edge in the manner as in ordinary
buckets as indicated by D. It will usually be easy to produce this or
to finish it smoothly and not too deeply by a later operation after the
shaving is sprung into the true conical form, but this is not essential.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim, buckets
may be

page_text: In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of May. "in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)