IMPROVE-. MENTS IN CASK WASHING APPARATUS
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Steel at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th July
1868.
I, JAMES STEEL, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,..
Brewer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-.
MENTS IN CASK WASHING APPARATUS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object the constructing of cask washing
apparatus in an improved manner and so as to act more efficiently and
conveniently than such apparatus as hitherto made.
The Invention comprises various modifications differing in details,
but all possessing the main feature of combining an axial or equivalent.
motion of each cask with a separate motion of the main frame.
In some modifications the improved apparatus comprises a large disc
or chuck plate fixed' on the overhanging end of a horizontal shaft made
to revolve backwards or forwards at any convenient speed. A series.
of cradles to receive the casks are arranged with their axes tangents

page_text: to a circle on the face of the disc, and are mounted on journals con
nected by bevil gearing with each other and actuated by suitable
gearing. The casks are placed in the cradles with their axes coin
ciding with the cradle journals, and when the machine is in action
each has a rotation about its own axis combined with the motion
due to being carried round by the rotating disc. There may be two
large discs, one on each end of the shaft, and they may be provided
with cradles for different sizes of casks. The gearing for imparting
the axial rotation to the cradles consists of a bevil toothed ring
encircling the main shaft, but fixed to the framing, and having in gear
with it a bevil wheel on a radially disposed shaft carried upon the
disc. This radial shaft rotates in consequence of being carried round
by the disc, and it imparts motion by bevil gearing to one of the cradle
journals. Each cradle consists by preference of two end discs having
the journals on their outer sides and connected by a barrel shaped
shell extending nearly half round. When a cask is placed in the cradle
it is held by means of a hinged metal strap which is brought over it
and secured by a cotter or latch. Instead of the cradles being disposed
with their axes tangents to the circle they may be placed radially, and
bevil wheels on their inner journals may all gear with the same large
bevil wheel, which may be on a shaft passing through the main shaft,
made tubular for the purpose. The central bevil wheel may be held
stationary, or if it does not thus impart a suitable axial motion to each
cask its shaft may be driven at any suitable speed. The tangentially
disposed cradles may also have an axial motion imparted to them by
an independent central shaft. For large casks or in small machines.
the disc may be provided with only one or two cradles.
In another modification suitable for small casks a long rectangular
frame is mounted on journals at its ends, and gearing is applied to
one of the journals to turn it. The casks are carried with their axes
at right angles or at other suitable angles to the axis of the frame,
being held by pairs of dished end plates. The end plates at one side
of the frame have journals formed or fixed on them and carried in
bearings in the frame, and the journals have bevil wheels on their
outer ends, which gear with bevil wheels on a parallel shaft carried by
the frame. This parallel shaft is driven in any convenient way and
imparts an axial motion to the casks. The end plates at the other

page_text: side of the frame are free to turn on the ends of spindles by means
of which they are screwed up upon the casks. The frame may be
arranged to receive two rows of casks.
In the various modifications the eradles or end plates for holding
the casks may, if preferred, be arranged to turn about axes not exactly
coinciding with the axes of the casks.