AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REMOVABLE HEAD FOR CASKS, APPLICABLE TO THE CLOSING OF OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Solmons Benson, Merchant, and David Jones,
Manufacturer, both of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for the
Invention of "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REMOVABLE HEAD FOR CASKS,
APPLICABLE TO THE CLOSING OF OTHER VESSELS."
Sealed the 10th November 1863, and dated the 13th. June 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Solmons Benson and
David Jones at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 13th June 1863.
We, JOHN SOLMONS BENSON, Merchant, and DAVID JONES, Manufacturer,
both of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF REMOVABLE HEAD FOR
CASKS, APPLICABLE TO THE CLOSING OF OTHER VESSELS," to be as follows:-
The chief object of this Invention is to fit iron casks with air and water
tight heads which shall be easily removable at pleasure, but the Invention also
applies to other like uses, as, for example, the closing of manholes of boilers
and tanks. The cask or vessel that is to receive the head we fit with an iron
hoop, L-shaped in cross section, rivetting or otherwise securing the same within

page_text: and at the end of the cask. This hoop is pierced at suitable intervals to
receive screws, by which the lid or cover forming the removable portion of the
head is held in position. On the under side of the iron hoop, and immediately
below the holes therein, water-tight boxes are secured, the same being tapped
to receive the before-mentioned screws. The lid or cover consists of a metal
disc, in which are formed two annular concentric corrugations, the outer one
forming a lip to the cover, and thereby strengthening it, while the inner cor-
rugation is intended to receive a ring of india-rubber packing. The vertical
lip or flange at the inner edge of the iron hoop presses upon this india-rubber
ring when the cover is applied, and thus, by the aid of the screws, a secure air
and water tight joint is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Solmons Benson and David Jones in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 12th December 1863.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
SOLMONS BENSON, Merchant, and DAVID JONES, Manufacturer, both of Bir-
mingham, in the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said John Solions Benson and David Jones, Her special license that we, the
said John Solmons Benson and David Jones, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said John Solmons Benson and David
Jones, our executors, administrators, or 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 "AN IMPROVED CONSTRUCTION OF
REMOVEABLE HEAD FOR CASKS, APPLICABLE TO THE CLOSING. OF OTHER VESSELS,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John Solmons Benson
and David Jones, by an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, or
under the hand and seal of one of us, 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

page_text: within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Solmons Benson, on behalf of
myself and of the said David Jones, do hereby declare the nature of our said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be parti-
cularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures
marked thereon (that is to say):→
This Invention relates to the fitting of casks of wood and iron with air and
water tight heads which shall be easily removeable at pleasure. The Invention
also applies to the closing of manholes of boilers and tanks and openings in
other vessels requiring air or water tight coverings.
In the accompanying Drawing, Fig. 1 shews in sectional elevation, and
Fig. 2 in plan view, the improved head or cover applied to an iron cask; and
Fig. 3 is a partial section of the same, on an enlarged scale, shewing the
construction of fastening employed for securing the cask head or cover in
position.
u, a, is the iron cask fitted with an iron hoop b, which is L-shaped in cross
section, and rivetted or otherwise secured to the inner periphery of the cask,
and at or near the extremity thereof, for the purpose of receiving the cover c,
or removeable portion of the head. The hoop 6 is pierced at suitable intervals,
as shewn at Fig. 2, to receive screws d, d, by which the lid or cover c is held
in position on the hoop b. To the under side of the iron hoop 6, and imme-
diately below the holes therein, water-tight boxes e, e, are secured (see Fig. 3),
the same being tapped to receive the before-mentioned screws d. The lid or
cover c consists of a metal dise, in which are formed two annular concentric
corrugations c', c, the outer one c¹ forming a lip to the cover, and thereby
strengthening it, while the inner corrugation c² is made to receive a ring of
india-rubber packing f, which fills the corrugation and forms a cushion for the
vertical lip or flange at the inner edge of the iron hoop b to bed upon when
the cover is applied. It will now be understood that by tightening up the
screws after the manner shewn at Fig. 3, a secure air and water tight joint is
obtained.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "An Improved Con-
struction of Removeable Head for Casks, applicable to the Closing of other
Vessels, and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, we wish it
to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent we
claim constructing removeable heads for casks in the manner above described,

page_text: and applying heads so constructed to the closing of manholes or other like
openings in boilers, tanks, and other vessels.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Solmons Benson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three.
EDWIN LANDER,
256, Hagley Road,
Birmingham.
JOHN SOLMONS BENSON. (L.S.)