IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CASKS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Davidson, of Woolwich, in the County of
Kent, Mechanical Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY
FOR MANUFACTURING CASKS."
Sealed the 27th May 1864, and dated the 15th December 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION .left by the said James Davidson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
December 1863.
I, JAMES DAVIDSON, of Woolwich, in the County of Kent, Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED
MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CASKS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the cutting of staves, and the
turning and grooving the ends of casks or barrels. The staves I cut, by
preference, by means of a band saw, and in order to ensure a uniformity of
shape in any number of staves for a given-size or kind of cask, I provide a
novel construction of compound template, which carries the wood to be cut and
presents it to the action of the saw in such manner as to enable the saw to
follow the desired line of cut, the position of the wood being always so main-
tained that the saw band or blade, without torsion shall freely follow the
proper direction for the cut. By this means, therefore, I an enabled not
only to ensure a clean cut and remove the risk of breaking the saw, but
without marking on the wood the desired course for the saw, or requiring any
skill or aptitude for irregular sawing on the part of the attendant to effect the
expeditious cutting of staves..

page_text: On the table of the band saw is mounted horizontally a compound template,
consisting of two superimposed parts. The lower part is attached to the fixed
table by a hollow fulcrum pin in such manner as to leave it free to swing
to and fro thereon. This lower oscillating plate is fitted with guides having a
profile the counterpart of the cut to be made, and over these guides work
rollers projecting from the under surface of the upper plate. This plate is
fitted with suitable clamps for holding the wood to be cut, and it receives an
endway motion from the attendant, in order that the wood may be pressed up
to the teeth of the saw. The upper plate is slotted to the form of the cut
required, in order to allow the saw to pass through it freely while making its
cut through the wood that is to form the staves. The saw passes down this
slot and through the hollow fulcrum pin that connects the lower part of the
template to the fixed table. Through the face of this table an irregular
groove is cut of a form corresponding to the figure which a point projecting
from the upper part of the template would describe while that upper part was
being moved to keep the line of cut required in the wood in a line with the
saw band. A fixed bolt projecting through the upper. plate and through a
wide slot in the lower plate enters this irregular slot in the table, which slot
is made to receive it. As therefore the wood is moved forward under the
action of the saw, this groove will impart through the projecting pin an
irregular, lateral, or oscillating motion to the compound template, and thereby
to the wood, which will be presented without any skill of the attendant to the
saw, in the manner above explained.
I would here remark that the template may also be used in connection with
reciprocating saws. The traverse of the template may also be effected by
means of a draught cord instead of by hand labour.
For facilitating the turning and grooving of the ends of casks or barrels I
use a novel construction of lathe, which will admit of both ends being simul-
taneously turned and grooved, and will not require the stay usually employed
to support the cask in the lathe. The cask staves are first put together and
bound by hydraulic pressure, and the thus temporarily formed cask is mounted
on two expanding chucks worked by radial screws, carrying each a bevil
pinion, at their inner ends gearing into a pinion on a shaft which passes
through the hollow shaft that carries the chuck. The hollow shaft of each
chuck is mounted suitably in the head stocks, one of which is fixed, the other
adjustable, as usual. At each end of the lathe is mounted a slide rest which
carries two tools, one for turning the inner face of the cask and to which a
traverse motion is given, and the other for turning. the groove to receive the
cask head. These rests are set at an angle to the bed of the lathe, and thus

page_text: present the tools properly to their work. The tool holders are made capable
of receiving an axial motion to adapt the position of the tools to casks of
different curves, while ample means is provided for adjusting the slide rests
(and also the chucks) to different sizes of casks.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Davidson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th June 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
DAVIDSON, of Woolwich, in the County of Kent, Mechanical Engineer, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-seventh year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said James Davidson, Her special license that I, the said James
Davidson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said James Davidson, my 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 of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVED MA-
CHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING CASKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said James Davidson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and
seal, should particularly describe and ascertain 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 James-Davidson, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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):-
The object of this Invention is to facilitate the cutting of staves and the
chiming or turning and grooving of the ends of casks or barrels. The staves
I cut, by preference, by means of a band saw, mounted and driven in any
approved manner, and in-order to cusure a uniformity of shape in any number.

page_text: of staves for a given size or kind of cask, I provide a novel construction of
compound template, which carries the wood to be cut and presents it to the
action of the saw in such manner as to enable the saw to follow the desired
line of cut, the position of the wood being always so maintained that the saw
band or blade without torsion shall freely follow the proper direction for the
cut. By this means, therefore, I am enabled not only to ensure a clean cut
and remove the risk of twisting and breaking the saw, but without marking
on the wood the desired course for the saw cut, or requiring any skill or
aptitude for irregular sawing on the part of the attendant to effect the
expeditious cutting of staves.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings I have shewn my improved
template in side elevation at Fig. 1, in plan view at Fig. 2, and cross section
(taken in the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1) in Fig. 3. This compound template is mounted
horizontally on the table of the band or reciprocating saw frame. It consists
mainly of a slotted plate A, which carries two superimposed plates B and C.
The slotted plate A is attached by clamping bolts to the fixed table, and the
plate C is secured to the slotted plate A by a hollow fulcrum pin a in such
manner as to leave it free to swing to and fro thereon. This lower oscillating
plate C is fitted with guides having a duplicate profile, the counterpart of
the cut to be made, as shewn in the detached view, Fig. 4; and over these
guides work antifiretion rollers b, b, projecting laterally from the lower part of
the upper plate B. C* are flanges attached to the plate C for preventing the
plate B from becoming detached from the plate C. The upper plate B is fitted
with suitable clamps d, d, for holding the wood to be eut, and it receives an
endway motion from the attendant, in order that the wood may be pressed up
to the teeth of the vertical saw D. In the upper plate B a slot e is made of the
form of the cut required, in order to allow the saw to pass through it freely while
making its cut through the wood that is to form the staves. The saw D passes
down the slot e and through the hollow fulcrum pin a that connects the lower
part of the template to the fixed plate A. Through the face of the plate. A
an irregular groove f, f, (see the red line in Fig. 2) is cut of a form corre-
sponding to the Figure, which a point projecting from the upper part B of
the template would describe while that upper part was being moved to keep
the line of cut required in the wood in a line with the side of the saw. A fixed
pin or bolt g projecting through the upper plate B and through a wide slot c
in the plate Centers the irregular slot f in the plate A, which slot is made for
the purpose of receiving the bolt g and forming a guide for regulating the
lateral movement of the plate B. As, therefore, the wood to form the stave
is moved forward under the action of the saw, the combined action of the slut f

page_text: and the duplicate profile guide of the plate C will impart through the pro-
jecting pin g and the antifriction roller 6 an irregular, lateral, or oscillating
motion to the plate B, and thereby to the wood, which will be presented
without any skill of the attendant to the saw, in the manner above ex-
plained.
I would here remark that the template may also be used in connection with
reciprocating saws. The traverse of the template may also be effected by
means of a draught cord instead of by hand labor.
For facilitating the chiming or turning and grooving of the ends of casks
or barrels, I use a novel construction of lathe which will admit of both ends
being simultaneously turned and grooved, and will not require the stay usually
employed to support the cask in the lathe. In order to effect this operation
the cask staves are put together and trussed by metal hoops. The cask thus
temporarily formed is then transferred to the novel construction of lathe shewn
in Sheet II. of the Drawings. Fig. 1 is a side elevation, partly in section, of
the lathe, and Fig. 2 is a plan view, partly in section. Fig. 3 is a sectional
end elevation, taken at the line 1, 2, of Fig. 1, and looking in the direction. of
the arrow; and Fig. 4 is a similar elevation, taken at the line 3, 4, of Fig. 1,
and looking in the direction of the arrow. A is a fixed headstock, and Ba move-
able headstock, in which the lathe spindles A and B are respectively mounted.
Fitted to the inner ends of these spindles are expanding chucks C, C, which
are intended to carry the barrel end that is to be chimed and grooved. The
chucks may be made in any approved way; but I prefer to fit them with sliding,
radial blocks c, c, which are capable of being moved out simultaneously, so as
to bear against the inner face of the cask and hold it firmly, or drawn in to
release the cask. Tapped into the wedges c, c, are small radial screw shafts c¹,
which carry at their inner extremity bevil wheels in gear respectively with
bevil wheels keyed on the shafts a and b. These shafts pass respectively
through the lathe spindles A' and B', which are made hollow for that purpose.
The ends of the shafts a and b are squared to receive a key by which
they are turned to engage and disengage-the chucks. The headstocks. are
each cast with brackets, one on each side thereof, the one to carry a slide rest
D, and the other to carry an adjustable bearing E in which a rock spindle that
carries the grooving tool e is mounted. To this spindle is keyed a hand lever
which serves to throw the tool e in and out of action. Each slide rest D is
secured in position by a pin on its under side dropping into a socket formed to
receive it in its supporting bracket, and it is held fast by means of a clamping
screw. Upon the slide rest D is mounted the tool d for chiming or turning
the end of the barrel. The tool holder has a forward and backward traverse

page_text: on an adjustable turn plate, which admits of its being set to any angle to suit
the bevil required to be given to the ends of the cask. The headstock B is
mounted on a slide F, and it receives a traverse motion over that slide, to
adjust it to the desired position by means of a traversing screw f operated by
a hand wheel f. Mounted in the slide F is a cross shaft f³ which carries a
spur pinion in gear with a rack on the bed of the lathe. By turning this pinion
through a lever f³ taking into a capstan head on the shaft f, the headstock
may be rapidly drawn back, the expanding chuck having been contracted to
release the cask from the lathe. Rotary motion is given to the cask by a
belt from any first mover passing over the driving pulley on the spindle A¹,
and while in rotation the attendant advances the cutting tools to chime and
groove the ends of the cask. When this is effected the tools are thrown out
of action, the chuck is slackened, and the headstock B is moved back, in order
to release the cask. Another cask may be applied to the lathe, and the
operation repeated.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Manufacturing Casks, and explained the manner of carrying the same into
effect I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters
Patent I claim,-
First, the construction of compound template above described for presenting
the wood to be cut to the action of the saw.
Secondly, the arrangement of lathe above described, whereby the chiming
or turning and grooving of both ends of a cask may be effected at one fixing,
and without the use of the ordinary supporting stay.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Davidson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
J. DAVIDSON. (L.S.)