IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC- TION OF CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Roberts, of the City of Manchester,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUC-
TION OF CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS."
Sealed the 27th January 1854, and dated the 27th August 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Roberts
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 27th August 1858.
I, RICHARD ROBERTS, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS" to be as follows:-
My improvements in casks and other vessels consist in adapting
them for being manufactured with facility, and for being stowed into
much less space when empty than they will occupy when full, and that
they may readily be made tight prior to being refilled.
The body of my metal casks is made of plate iron or other metal in
the form of a frustum of a cone or taper tube. The lesser end of the
conical tube is closed by means of a plate whose periphery is provided

page_text: with a suitable angle iron; or is bent up to form a flanch by which it is
united to the tube. On the larger end of the conical tube is a flanch
made of angle iron or other metal to which a plate is bolted to serve
as a cover for the vessel; or two corresponding vessels may be bolted
together by their flanches to make a cask of double the seize of the for-
A series of these metallic casks may when empty be inserted
one in another to economize space. Casks of wood also in the form of
a frustum of a cone are proposed to be so made that, by removing the
hoops from the larger diameter of the conical body, the head may be
taken out, and the cones inserted in each other, as before described.
It is likewise proposed to make casks of either wood or metal, which,
instead of being sufficiently conical for casks of equal size to be stowed
as before described, shall be made as regards their diameter in series
admitting of their being put one in another.
It will be obvious that polygonal vessels may be treated in the same
manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Richard Roberts in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 25th February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
RICHARD ROBERTS, of the City of Manchester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Richard Roberts, Her special
licence that I, the said Richard Roberts, iny executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Richard Roberts, 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

page_text: Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Roberts, 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 Richard Roberts, 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 (that is to say):
My Invention consists, first, in constructing metallic casks so that
they can be divided transversely into semi-casks of such a form as shall
admit of their being stowed one in another when empty; and,
secondly, in constructing metallic quarter casks which are also capable
of being stowed one in another when empty. And in order that my
Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into eflect, I
will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Richard Roberts, 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 Richard Roberts, 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 (that is to say):
My Invention consists, first, in constructing metallic casks so that
they can be divided transversely into semi-casks of such a form as shall
admit of their being stowed one in another when empty; and,
secondly, in constructing metallic quarter casks which are also capable
of being stowed one in another when empty. And in order that my
Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into eflect, I
will proceed to describe the means pursued by me, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawing, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
In Fig. 1, A, A, is a longitudinal section of one of my improved
casks, each half of which is shaped like the frustum of a conc. The
two parts are bolted together by their flanches, either with or without
the diaphragm B, whose use is to strengthen the cask, and, if required,
to form one end of a semi-cask; the joints are made tight by micans
of some yielding substance inserted into the grooves in the flanches.
C, C, are bung holes, by one of which the liquid may enter the cask
whilst the air escapes by the other. D, is an aperture in the dia-
phram B, to allow the liquid to fill both halves of the casks simultane-
ously; and E, is another hole for the escape of air. In Fig. 2,
F, F, F, is a series of semi-casks drawn in section to show the manner

page_text: tion of a quarter cask showing the manner of making up the side and
-end by a bent plate bolted to flanches on the cask. Fig. 4, is a view
of the small end of Fig. 3. Fig. 5, is a view of the large end of the
same. Fig. 6, shews the manner of stowing the quarter casks when
empty. Fig. 7, a side view of a half cask composed of two quarter
casks bolted end-to end, and to a plate on the flat side.
T
These improved metallic casks possess the following advantages over
those in ordinary use :-
.. 1st, greater strength and durability.
...2nd, the empty casks may be stowed into about th the space they
.occupy when full.
3rd, the empty casks may be set up perfectly tight by common
labourers in about th to th the time occupied by skilled labourers
in setting up wooden casks.
. 4th, each of the improved casks, being divisible into two or more
casks, affords greater facility for compactly stowing them when full,
especially in the irregularly-formed holds of vessels; and as the first
tier may be composed of semi-circular casks adapted to lie flat on the
floor, (if there be one), the time and expense of bolstering them will be
saved, and the chance of their being displaced by the pitching of the
vessel will be thereby greatly reduced, whilst their adaptation for
interlocking will render their displacement next to impossible.
5th, the capacity of the improved cask is a larger proportion of the
space it occupies than the capacity of the ordinary cask is to the same
space.
6th, the improved casks will admit of being emptied of coagulated
substances by the application of heat, without injury to the cask, or
waste of its contents.
7th, the improved metallic casks admit of being taken apart and
thoroughly cleansed with facility.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein set forth, so long as the peculiar
character of the Invention be retained. But what I claim is, the im-
provenients in constructing metallic casks and other vessels so as to

page_text: admit of their being divided transversely into semi-casks in the manner
and for the purposes herein-before described and shewn in the Drawing.
2nd, I also claim the peculiar construction of metallic quarter casks,
as shewn and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Roberts, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-fourth day of February,
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
RICH ROBERTS. (L.S.)