IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Brown, of Glasgow, in the County
of Lanark, North Britain, Cask Manufacturer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 2nd December 1853.
I, ALEXANDER BROWN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Cask Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC CASKS AND OTHER VESSEL3" to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the so constructing metallic casks and
vessels for containing liquids and other matters, that superior portability
and ease and accuracy of constructive finish may be secured. The
body portions of the casks are constructed in the ordinary manner, as
hitherto pursued in similar work, but each cask leaves the maker's
hands in two separate halves. The division is made transversely
across the central bulge of the cask, and each half has a circumferential

page_text: flange round its opening, perforated with a ring of bolt holes. Thus,
as one half can be placed inside the other, and the space so left open
may be filled with dry goods, the empty casks are of very easy stowage;
and when they are to be put together for use, the two joint flanges in
each case are bolted up together, with an india-rubber or other elastic
band or ring between them, so as to make a tight joint. Or, instead of
thus constructing the casks or vessels with a central joint or division,
the shell or body in each case may be made solid and complete, but
with one open end. The opening so left is of considerably less diameter
than the cask itself, a solid ring being left all round the interior of the
cask to carry a ring of holding bolts, and on the inner edge of this ring
an edge flange is turned up. This flange corresponds to an annular
groove on the inner face of the cap or detached end piece, which, groove
has in it an elastic joint piece. The end disc is bolted on by means of
lugs corresponding to the ring of bolts in the end ring of the cask.
Or, instead of thus bolting on the end, the junction picces may be
contrived with corresponding notches and projections, so that the ring
of projections on one piece may be slipped through the notches on the
other, and a slight turn of the cover will then fasten it, an elastic ring
being employed to make a tight joint. Casks with these loose ends
may be carried in one direction full of dry goods, and in the other, with
their heads shipped on, they will answer for liquids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alexander Brown in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 2nd June 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
ALEXANDER BROWN, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Cask Manufacturer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,

page_text: give and grant unto me, the said Alexander Brown, Her special
license that I, the said Alexander Brown, my executors, administra-
tors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Alexander Brown, my
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, exer-
cise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN METALLIC CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Alexander Brown, 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 Alexander Brown, 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 accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
My said Invention relates to the so constructing metallic casks and
vessels for containing liquids and other matters, that superior portability
and ease and accuracy of constructive finish may be secured. The
body portions of the casks are constructed generally in the ordinary
manner, as hitherto pursued in similar work, but each cask leaves the
maker's hands in two separate halves. The division is made trans-
versely across the central bulge of the cask, and each half has a
circumferential flange round its opening, perforated with a ring of bolt
holes. Thus, as one half can be placed inside the other, and the space
so left open may be filled with dry goods, the empty casks are of very
easy stowage, and when they are to be put together for use, the two
joint flanges in each case are bolted up together, with an india-rubber
or other elastic band or ring between them, so as to make a tight joint.
Or, instead of thus constructing the casks or vessels, with a central joint
or division, the shell or body in each case may be made solid and

page_text: complete, but with one open end. The opening so left is of con-
siderable less diameter than the cask itself, a solid ring being left all
round the interior of the cask to carry a ring of holding bolts, and on
the inner edge of this ring an edge flange is turned up. This flange
corresponds to an annular groove on the inner face of the cap or
detached end piece, which groove has in it an elastic joint piece. The
end disc is bolted on by means of lugs, corresponding to the ring of
bolts in the end ring of the cask. Or, instead of thus bolting on the
end, the junction pieces may bo contrived with corresponding notches
and projections, so that the ring of projections on one piece may be
slipped through the notches on the other and a slight turn of the cover
will then fasten it, an elastic ring being employed to make a tight
joint. Casks with these loose ends may be carried in one direction
full of dry goods, and in the other; with their heads shipped on, they
will answer for liquids.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood,
I shall now proceed to describe the several Figures on the Sheet
of Drawings hereunto attached. Figure 1 on the Sheet of Draw-
ings is a perspective elevation of one of my improved casks com-
plete, the two halves being bolted together. Figure 2 is a vertical
longitudinal section of a cask, with the two halves slightly separated,
to shew the construction of the joint. Figure 3 is an open end
view of one of the halves of the cask; and Figure 4 is a perspective
elevation of a number of casks, separated in halves, and packed together
to shew the space they occupy when in this condition. Figure 5 is a
perspective elevation of one of my improved cylindrical casks, and
Figure 6 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same. The cask
represented in Figures 1 to 4 is constructed of thin sheet iron, each.
half A, B, of the cask being formed by a piece of this metal shaped to
a cone, and strengthened by hoops C. The closed ends D are formed
by discs of the metal, and the edges are bent into cylindrical lips, to
form the junction surfaces for attachment to the ends of the cones A, B,
on the inside edges of the latter. The wider ends of the two cones are
formed with flanges E. by means of which the two halves of the cask
are bolted together. When the cask is of a large size, these flanges
:

page_text: are made separate, and are fixed on the cones by rivets, perfect union
of the junction surfaces being secured by coating them with tin, or other
suitable easily fusible metal or alloy, after being cleaned with acid. I
may also here remark that the junction surfaces of the ends and the
hoops of the cask are treated in a similar manner with a metallic coat-
ing. The flange E of one of the cones, as at B, for example, is placed
quite at the edge of that cone, but that of the other cone A is placed
at a slight distance from the edge. In this manner a projecting lip F
is formed on the cone A, serving to retain a ring G of india-rubber, or
other elastic material, to form a packing for the joint, and to strengthen
the joint, by being entered slightly into the end of the cone B, which
forms the other half of the cask. The flanges E are perforated for the
reception of a ring of screw bolts II, by which the two halves of the
cask are firmly held together, as represented in Figure 1. These bolts
are passed outside the ring of india-rubber G, and retain it outwardly.
Apertures I, J, are provided for introducing and drawing off liquids,
and these are fitted with screw plugs, as represented in the Drawings.
The cask represented in Figures 5 and 6 is made of a piece of thin
sheet iron, shaped into a cylinder A, being completed by the addition of
end pieces B, C. The end piece B is an entire disc of metal with the
edge turned up all round, to form a flange for uniting it to the cylinder
A, a hoop D being passed on externally to bind the whole together.
The other end C of the cask is united to the cylinder in the same
manner as the opposite end, but it has a large central opening for the
introduction of liquids or articles into the cask. The edge of this
opening is turned up as at E, to form an annular flange edge; a lid is
provided for this aperture, consisting of a disc F, the edge G of which
is turned down all round, and serves to overlap the turned up edge E
of the mouth of the cask. Just within the edge G of the disc Fis
placed a ring of india-rubber, which is retained by an inner metal
ring H, fixed to the disc. The ring of india-rubber is arranged to lie
upon the edge E of the cask mouth, so as to form a perfectly tight
joint when the cover F is fixed down. For the purpose of being fixed
down, the cover F is fixed down, has riveted to it a number of lugs I,
by means of which it is bolted down to the end C of the cask by screw

page_text: bolts, as at J. The cover details lie just within the extreme edge
of the cylinder A, and are consequently protected from accidental
derangement.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be used
or carried into effect, I may observe, in conclusion, that I do not
confine or restrict myself to the precise details or arrangements which
I have had occasion to describe or refer to, as many variations may be
made therefrom without deviating from the principles or main features
of my Invention; but what I consider to be novel and original, and
therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in
part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the general arrangement and construction of metallic casks
and other vessels, as herein-before described.
Second, the system or mode of constructing metallic casks and other
vessels in separate halves, formed with flanges, for the purpose of bolting
or joining them together, and with a lip or ring flange projecting beyond
the flange of one of the halves, and fitting within the other half, as
herein-before described.
Third, the application and use in metallic casks constructed as herein-
before described, of a ring of india-rubber or other elastic material
as a packing for the joint of the cask, as herein-before described.
Fourth, the system or mode of applying a packing ring of india-
rubber or other elastic material to the covers of casks and other vessels,
as herein-before described, in reference to Figures 5 and 6 of the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Brown, have hereunto
set their hands and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of May, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four
ALEXANDER BROWN. (L.S.)