IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS << APPARATUS FOR SAMPLING LIQUIDS IN CASKS OR OTHER CONTAINERS."
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James O'Neill Mackle, of Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster, for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN IMPLEMENTS
<<
APPARATUS FOR SAMPLING LIQUIDS IN CASKS OR OTHER CONTAINERS."
OR
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James O'Neill Mackle at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th January 1881.
JAMES O'NEILL MACKLE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster. "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR SAMPLING LIQUIDS IN CASKS OR
OTHER CONTAINERS."
In sampling casks in the ordinary manner a tube is used from which the
operator has to suck up or exhaust the air with his mouth, thus producing a
vacuum into which the liquor enters; he then raises the tube out of the liquor and
closes the bottom of it with his thumb to prevent the liquor running out until he
pours it into a fitting receptacle. This operation besides having an unclean
appearance is apt to cause intoxication in the sampler, and is in some cases very
disagreeable.
Now my Invention consists of a tube with open and preferably truncated conical
ends, and a valve opening upwards at bottom, so that as the tube is depressed into
the liquor the valve is raised, allowing the liquid to enter the tube. On the tube
being taken out of the liquid the valve closes and the contents are retained, thus
doing away with the application of the mouth or finger. I sometimes place a
graduated scale on the tube and make the tube in several pieces of different lengths
screwed or otherwise jointed together so as to enable any length of tube to be used.
I also sometimes in metal tubes put a glass strip at each side or a glass tube
alongside to enable the sampler to see through the stuff and to test the quality
by eye.
These sampling tubes may be made of various materials, such as glass, metal,
wood, earthenware, gutta percha, composition, or a combination of materials.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said James O'Neill Mackle in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th July 1881.
« IMPROVE-
IN IMPLEMENTS OR APPARATUS FOR SAMPLING LIQUIDS IN CASKS OR
OTHER CONTAINERS."
JAMES O'NEILL MACKLE, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster.
MENTS
In sampling casks in the ordinary manner a tube is used from which the
operator has to suck up or exhaust the air with his mouth, thus producing a
vacuum into which the liquor enters; he then raises the tube out of the liquor and
closes the bottom of it with his thumb to prevent the liquor running out until he
pours it into a fitting receptacle. This operation besides having an unclean
appearance is apt to cause intoxication in the sampler, and is in some cases very
disagreeable. It is also very desirable to have all the automatic tests possible
combined in one implement, and this my Invention is designed to do. It consists
in a tube A preferably jointed at B and C with truncated conical ends, a valve D
opening upward, and a grating E below to prevent large solid matters getting into
the valve and choking it, an alkalometer or specific gravity float F armed with
thermometer and alcohol scale held in position by gauge rings G. I sometimes
also place rubber strips or buffers inside the tube to break the force of a blow and
prevent the float breaking should the tube be roughly used, a glass portion of
tube I to act as a window, so as to look through and thus test the color of the
liquor and read off the specific gravity while the float is in action. The tube can
be of any length, or made with joints, so as to be lengthened as desired. I prefer
to make it of tin-plate, iron, brass, or copper, nickel plated, but other materials can
be used. The mode of action is as follows:-The whole being screwed up tight I
lower the tube into the liquor to be sampled. The liquor rushes through the
grating E and the valve D and floats the float F appearing in the glass portion of
the tube. I now raise the tube; the valve drops and holds the liquor, and I can
read off the specific gravity and the thermometer and examine the liquor, and at
the same time I have drawn a sample for further testing that can be emptied out
through the top end of the tube. In manufacturing I prefer to have the three
parts of the tube screwed together, and the inner rings G fastened by screws
through the tube. A graduated scale on the tube enables it to act also as a
gauging rod. By this apparatus consequently the gauger can ascertain the depth,
the strength, the temperature, and the color of the liquor, and at the same time
collect a sample.
Having now described my Invention with the best mode known to me for
carrying it into into effect, illustrating it with a Drawing of my latest and most
improved design of sampling tube, I wish it to be known that what I believe to
new and desire to claim under Letters Patent is,―
First. The manufacture of implements or apparatus for sampling liquors in casks
or other containers, consisting of a tube preferably graduated for gauging in
combination with a valve such as D. Joints, such as B and C, and a glass portion
for seeing through to test the colour, or with any one or more of these, substantially
as and for the purposes described.
Second. The special arrangement and construction of sampling tube, substantially
as herein described and shewn.
In witness whereof, I, the said James O'Neill Mackle, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One-
thousand eight hundred and eighty one
J. O'NEILL MACKLE. (L.S.)