Improvements in Metal Kegs and the like for Holding Alimentary and other Substances.
Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 2nd Feb., 1887
Complete Left, 31st Oct., 1887
Complete Accepted, 6th Dec., 1887
Improvements in Metal Kegs and the like for Holding Alimentary
and other Substances.
I, WALTER SMITH BRADLEY, of Albion Works, Bilston, Staffordshire, Galvanizer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The object of my invention is the construction of metal kegs and the like for
holding alimentary and other substances in such a manner that the head or cover of
the keg can be more readily and securely fixed to the body of the keg and more
speedily removed therefrom when required.
By the existing method, the head, or cover is held in place by clips rivetted on to
body of keg, these are turned, or hooked over the ends, or edges of body, and cover,
to keep the cover in place.
Now by my invention I dispense with all clips and other mountings, by forming
parts, or sections of threads or projections and recesses in body and cover or head
by which the one fits into the other, so as to cause the cover, or head to be securely
fastened when put in place.
The said projections and recesses may be of various shapes as for instance they
may be made in the form of parts of screw threads of a very quick pitch so that by
placing the head or cover on the body of the keg and turning it through a small
angle it will be fixed in place and it can be removed therefrom by being turned in
the opposite direction. Or the recessed parts in the body of the keg may be in the
form of bayonet slots the cover having corresponding projections which when the
cover is placed on the keg and the projections in cover are brought opposite the open.
or clear parts of the recesses or grooves in body, the cover is pressed down and then
turned into position and so fixed to the keg; or the projections and recesses or
grooves may be reversed, that is to say, the projections may be made in the body and
the recesses or grooves in the cover.
Dated this 1st day of February in the year of our Lord One thousand Eight
hundred & Eighty seven.

page_text: Improvements in Metal Kegs and the like for Holding Alimentary
and other Substances.
I, WALTER SMITH BRADLEY, of Albion Works, Bilston, Staffordshire, Galvanizer,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:
The object of my invention is the construction of metal kegs and the like for
holding alimentary and other substances, such for instance as paint or nails, in such
a manner that the head or cover of the keg can be more readily and securely fixed to
the body of the keg and more speedily removed therefrom when required.
By the existing method the head or cover is held in place by clips rivetted on to
the body of the keg, which are turned or hooked over the ends or edges of body and
cover to keep the cover in place.
Now by my invention I dispense with all clips and other mountings, by forming
parts or sections of screw threads or projections and recesses in body and cover or
head by which the one fits into the other, so as to cause the cover or head to be
securely fastened when put in place.
The said projections and recesses may be of various shapes as for instance they
may be made in the form of parts of screw threads of a very quick pitch so that by
placing the head or cover on the body of the keg and turning it through a small
angle it will be fixed in place and it can be removed therefrom by being turned in
the opposite direction.
Various arrangements of the projections and recesses are shewn on the accom-
panying drawings of which Fig. 1 represents in part sectional elevation and in plan
a metal keg the body A of which has outwardly projecting parts of screw threads
formed from its upper edge downwards for a short distance by bulging or creasing
the metal of the body outwardly thus forming corresponding recessed parts a, a, a, a
inside. The cover B of the keg (which is shewn separately in elevation and in plan
by Fig. 2) also has projecting parts of screw threads b, b, b, b, similar to and
corresponding with the recesses a, a, a, a in the body so that by placing the cover B
in position on the keg, the projections b, b, b, b thereon entering the recesses a, a, a, a
in the body, and then turning the cover round through a short space by its handle B'
it will be fixed in place, or when so fixed it can be removed by being turned in the
opposite direction.
Fig. 3 represents in part sectional elevation and in plan a modified form of the

page_text: keg represented by the preceding Figures and Fig. 4 shews the cover of the same
separately in elevation and in plan. This modification is similar to the keg represented
by the preceding Figures except that the parts of the screw thread a, a, a, a in the
body project inwardly instead of outwardly and corresponding recessed parts b, b, b, b
are formed in the cover instead of projecting parts.
In another modification of my invention the recessed parts in the body of the keg
are in the form of bayonet slots the cover having corresponding projections so that,
when the cover is placed on the keg and the projections in cover are brought opposite
the open or clear parts of the recesses or grooves in body, by pressing the cover
down and then turning it into position it becomes fixed to the keg body. This
modification is illustrated by Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8 of the accompanying drawings of
which Fig. 5 shews the upper part of the body A of the keg and the cover B
detached therefrom; Fig. 6 shews a plan of the keg body A; Fig. 7 a plan of the
cover B and Fig. 8 shews in sectional clevation and sectional plan the cover B in
position on the body A. c, c, c, c are the recessed parts in the body A in the form of
bayonet slots opening out at c¹ at the top of the keg and each having a horizontal
side groove c². The cover B has projections d, d, d, d corresponding with the
slots c, c, c, c, the projections d, d, d, d being of such a size that when the cover B is
placed in the keg body they will pass down the bayonet slots c, c, c, c and on then
turning the cover round (see Fig. 8) will engage with the side grooves c², c², c², c²
and thus hold the cover on the keg body. To remove the cover froin the body the
cover is first turned through a small angle to free the projections d, d, d, d from the
side grooves c², c², c², c² and then raised up from the body.
The projections and recesses or grooves above described and shewn by Figs. 5, 6,
7 and 8 may be reversed, that is to say, the projections d, d, d, d may be made to
project inside the body and the bayonet slot like recesses or grooves c, c, c, c may be
in the outside of the cover as shewn by Figs. 9, 10, 11 and 12 of which Fig. 9
shews part of a keg so formed with the cover detached, Fig. 10 shews a plan of the
keg body; Fig. 11 a sectional plan of the cover and Fig. 12 shews the cover in
position on the keg body. In this modification the cover is fixed on to the keg body
by being pushed therein and then turned round through a small angle as herein before
described with reference to Figs. 5, 6, 7 and 8.
I find four grooves and recesses for holding the cover to the keg body to answer
well in practice but either a greater or smaller number may be employed according
to the size of the keg.
On my drawings I have illustrated the covers as fitting inside the keg bodies but
it will be evident without further description that my invention can be similarly
applied to those covers which fit outside of the keg bodies.
My invention is chiefly applicable to those kegs and the like which are made of
sheet metal, the various projections and recesses being formed by suitable dies or
other tools which bulge out the metal, but these dies or tools form no part of this
invention.
The heads or covers of metal kegs and the like which are constructed according to
my invention can be used over and over again as they are not damaged in being
removed from the keg and they can be very much more quickly fixed to the kegs
or removed therefrom than can those heads or covers which are fixed by clips in the
ordinary manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1st. The herein before described improved means of securing the heads or covers
to the bodies of metal kegs and the like for holding alimentary and other substances,
consisting in the employment of projecting (or recessed) parts in the periphery of
the cover and corresponding recessed (or projecting) parts in the body of the keg so
arranged that, when the cover is placed in position on the body, the projecting (or

page_text: recessed) parts on the cover will engage with the corresponding recessed (or
projecting) parts on the body, so as to secure the cover on to the body and permit
of its being readily removed therefrom, substantially as set forth.
2nd. Sheet metal kegs or the like having recessed (or projecting) parts formed in
the periphery of their covers (the said covers fitting in the bodies of the kegs)
engaging with corresponding projecting (or recessed) parts formed in the bodies of
the kegs, for the purpose of securing the covers in the kegs, substantially in the
several ways herein before described and illustrated by the accompanying drawings.
Dated this 29th day of October 1887.