AN IMPROVED BARREL OR CASE FOR THE CARRIAGE OR TRANSPORT OF EGGS, FRUIT, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, &
"
Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for the Invention of
AN IMPROVED BARREL OR CASE FOR THE CARRIAGE OR TRANSPORT OF EGGS,
FRUIT, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES." A communication from abroad by Eugen
Ritter, of Hamm-on-the-Sieg, in the Empire of Germany.
Sealed the 24th December 1878, and dated the 2nd July 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Robert Lake at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd July 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, "AN IMPROVED BARREL OR CASE FOR THE
CARRIAGE OR TRANSPORT OF EGGS, FRUIT, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES." [A com-
munication from abroad by Eugen Ritter, of Hamm-on-the-Sieg, in the Empire of
Germany.]
The packing up of eggs, fruits, and similar articles for transport from one place to
another in such a manner that they shall not be injured by shocks is very important,
and is attained but in a very incomplete manner by the usual means heretofore
employed. The said articles have to be carefully enveloped with a soft material in
order to protect them, and the weight of the upper layers bears upon the lower ones.
The packing up and unpacking is troublesome and much time is occupied, and as it
occurs in most cases that the packing material is wasted, it is also to some degree
expensive.
By practising this Invention the former troublesome manner of packing up is
dispensed with, and means are provided whereby the articles are completely assured
against shock and damage arising from pressure, and are protected from being
spoiled.

page_text: Another advantago is obtained, namely, that articles packed up according to this
Invention are surrounded with a material quite inodourous, and free access is given
to the air on all sides, this being of importance for their preservation.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I employ a paper barrel constructed
as follows, that is to say:-Around the cylinder or body of the said barrel are hoops
of wood or other material fixed to it, upon which head hoops are placed. The latter
are also made of wood and are connected by means of nails to the bottoms or ends,
these being of such a diameter as to just enter into the said head hoops. On a
smaller hoop, which is put into the latter and fixed thereto with nails, rests the
bottom.
The barrel bottoms or ends do not lie in the interior of the cylinder but are
pushed on from the outside, like the cover of a box, by means of the aforesaid
head hoops, thus causing the bottom of each side to rest upon the heads of the
cylinder.
The first-named boops may if desired be dispensed with, as the cover is pressed
against the head of the cylinder.
The two covers are held together by means of a bar of wood or metal in the
following manner, namely:-The said bar is fixed to the lower end or bottom by
means of two wooden nuts, and the opposite end of the bar passes through the
upper cover and is provided with threads so that the cover can be firmly screwed
up by aid of another nut. In the barrel so formed are placed trays designed to
receive eggs, fruit, or other articles. The said trays consist of pieces of paper having
rectangular bent flanges of the same diameter as the inside diameter of the cylinder.
Two of such pieces form a tray for a layer of eggs or fruit. The said pieces are
constructed in the following manner, that is to say-Three or more pieces of paper
are cemented together and perforated, while the cement is wet, with star-liko
cutters by means of a suitable machine. The points thus produced are then bent
up in crown-like form.
In consequence of the cement being still wet the separate parts of each point are
so placed by the flexion that one part projects beyond the others, that is to say,
the exterior are requires a greater length than the interior one, therefore the middle
and interior points stand back with regard to that of the exterior. Now if the
points are kept in this position by any suitable means till the cement has become
dry they possess a much greater elasticity than if they had been bent up after the
cement was dry, which would certainly have caused the pieces to break at the
angles. The above described arrangement avoiding this breakage forms therefore a
substantial feature of the said Invention.
To maintain the end pieces at their right distance from each other they are
provided with rectangularly bent flanges. The flange of the lower piece is a little
lower than that of the upper piece, that of one piece is bent up in the same
direction as the points, and that of the other piece is inverse to its points; the
opposite points of the said pieces embrace egg-like claws and maintain it in its
position. On account of the elasticity of trays so constructed a perfectly sure
packing is obtained.
The flanges of the pieces may be made in two different manners, that is to say,
they may be either notched in order to enable the bending up of the flaps, or they
may be corrugated.
In the first case a strip of paper is cemented at the inside and outside after the
flaps have been bent up, the object of which is to maintain the said flaps in their
position. In the other case the bending up and folding is effected by means of a
suitable machine serving also for the bending upwards of the aforesaid points. The
cemented pieces of paper first above mentioned remain in their position as long as
the cement is dry. The flange formed according to the last method is very strong
and is easily made.
In the centre of each sheet a
cut is made, both the flaps of which are
rectangularly bent up; said flaps are cemented to a piece of wood or paper board,

page_text: the height of which determines exactly the distance between the respective pieces
forining the trays.
It will be seen from this arrangement that all parts forming the trays of a barrel
touch each other with their exterior flanges and with the middle pieces, therefore
if the aforesaid nut for screwing up the cover is screwed up after all the trays filled
with eggs have been inserted and the upper cover has been adjusted, the parts
forming the trays will then be pressed upon each other at the centre, and at
the same time the exterior flanges will be pressed on each other by the bottoms or
covers of the barrel. The whole interior arrangement is thereby maintained in its
position in a completely safe manner. The interior part of the last tray rests upon
a wooden hoop fixed to the barrel or cylinder.
This mode of packing up affords also the advantage that each tray filled with
eggs can be at once taken out. This is done by putting the fingers into holes
provided for the purpose, when it will be easy to lift a tray filled with eggs from
the barrel.
It also has the advantage that the good eggs may be easily distinguished from
the bad ones by holding a tray filled with eggs toward the light and marking
those which have a dark color.
The unpacking and the counting of the eggs is effected as readily as the packing
of the same, as each tray contaius a certain number of eggs.
On account of dispensing with the packing material the packing up and
unpacking is effected with great cleanliness.
Barrels so constructed for shipping eggs may be used many times, the sending
back of the said barrels when empty not being expensive on account of their
lightness.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 31st
December 1878.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London. "AN IMPROVED BARREL. OR CASE FOR THE
CARRIAGE OR TRANSPORT OF EGGS, FRUIT, OR SIMILAR ARTICLES." A com-
munication from abroad by Eugen Ritter, of Hamm-on-the-Sieg, in the Empire of
Germany.
It is very important to pack eggs and fruit for transportation in such a manner
that they shall not be injured by concussion, and this can only be done very
imperfectly by the means usually adopted. The material used for filling up the
space between the articles has to be very carefully distributed in order to protect
them from concussion, and thus the weight of the top layers always rests on the
lower ones.
The packing and unpacking are very troublesome and involve waste
of time and are not very cheap, as in most cases the packing material is lost.
By this Invention the ordinary troublesome mode of packing is dispensed with
and a mode of packing is obtained which gives perfect security against injury by
concussion and pressure, and protects the articles that have been packed, and is
especially efficient for keeping fruit from being spoiled.
Moreover by the said Invention there is this advantage obtained, namely, that
fruit or eggs packed by this method are surrounded by an entirely odourless
material and are in contact with the air on all sides, which is of importance for
keeping them fresh.
The packing is effected by means of a specially prepared paper cask, the manu-
facture of which is the subject of another Patent.
In the accompanying Drawing, Figure 1 represents in vertical section such a
cusk.
A is the body or case; a, a, are the heads; b, b, are top or end hoops; c, c, are
two hoops made of wood or other suitable material, and on these the top hoops b, b,
rest. The latter inay also be made of wood and are secured by nails to the cask
heads a, a, which are of such a diameter that they just fit within the top hoops.
A narrower hoop d is placed inside each of the latter and fixed by nails; the cask
heads rest on these.
Neither of the cask heads, as will be seen, is fitted into the body of the cask, but
they are put on as the cover of a box by means of the top hoops b, b. The bottom
of either end therefore rests on the edge of the body of the cask.
The hoop c, c, may be entirely omitted as the cover rests against the body of the
cask.
Both the covers are held together by means of a wooden or metal rod or bar m
in the following manner, that is to say:-The said rod is fixed in the bottom of the
cask by means of two wooden nuts f, g, and the opposite end passes through the
top cover; the end of the rod being screwed, the cover can be fixed by means of
another nut outside of the same. In the cask thus made is placed the arrange-
ment for receiving the eggs or fruit, and which will now be described. This
arrangement consists of discs of cardboard or the like with the edges turned up at
right angles, and of the same diameter as the inside of the cylindrical part of the
cask. Every two of such discs D and S support one layer of eggs or fruit. The
said dises are made in the following manner:-
:-Three or more discs of cardboard
are glued together, and while the glue is still wet they are perforated on a special
machine with star-shaped knives, as represented in Figure 2, which is a plan partly
in horizontal section; I, I, are the star-shaped incisions. The tongues which are
thus produced are then bent up into a crown shape in another machine, as shown
in Figure 3, which is a transverse section drawn to an enlarged scale.

page_text: As the glue is still wet each layer of tongues can, as seen at x, x, Figure 3, be
placed in such a manner that one layer always stands somewhat back from the one
above it, this form being necessary in bending it round the corner y, y. The outer
curve requires a greater length of material than the inner one, and hence the inner
and middle tongues protrude further than the outer ones. If now the said tongues
are held by a special contrivance in this position till the paste or glue is dry they
will have a far greater elasticity than they would have if the beding process had
taken place after they had been dried. In fact the cardboard discs would in the
latter case have been cracked in the curved corners. This difficulty is avoided by
the above described arrangement, which therefore forms an important item in this
Invention.
The discs D and S have their edges w, w¹, bent round at right angles in order to
keep them separated from each other as required. The rim of the lower disc is
somewhat smaller than that of the one above it, and while that of the disc D is
bent round in the same direction as the tongues x, x, that of the disc S is turned
downward and the tongues are turned upward.
In Figure 3 will be seen how the bent tongues of the discs D and S clutch the
egg as with a claw, and thus hold it in its position. By reason of the elasticity of
this arrangement a perfectly safe packing is secured.
The rim of the discs may be made in two ways, that is to say, either the rim is
cut out in strips, as shewn in Figure at n, n, so that each individual strip can be
bent round, or it is laid in folds as seen at 2, 2, Figure 2.
In the first case a piece of cardboard is glued over the strips both inside and
outside after they have been bent, and keys them in their proper positions, as shown
at n', n; in the other case the bending over and folding process takes place in a
machine in which the tongues x, x, are bent up. The cardboard discs thus glued
together remain in this position till the glue is dry. The edge formed by the last
process is stronger than the smooth one n¹, n, and is very simple to make.
In the centre of each disc an I shaped cut is made, and both strips thus formed
are turned up at right angles, as at f*, f*, Figure 3. Theso strips are glued on a
piece of wood or cardboard h*, *, the height of which exactly corresponds with
that of the rim of the corresponding disc. The square wooden rod m passes through
the piece h*, h*.
It will be seen that with this arrangement all the discs touch the cask with their
outer rims and their centre pieces. If the nut h, Figure 1, is tightened up after all
the discs with the eggs in have been put in, and the top cover has been put on the
cask, then the discs will be pressed together at the centre, while at the same time
the outer rins of the discs will be pressed together by means of the cover a, a. The
whole of the internal arrangement of the cask is in this manner kept in its position
with perfect security. The bottom disc rests on a wooden hoop e which is fixed to
the body of the cask.
at once.
This mode of packing has the advantage that each layer of eggs can be taken out
For this purpose it is only necessary to put the finger through the
holes t, t, Figure 2, and lift each two connected discs with their eggs out of the
cask.
In the case of eggs there is this advantage, that the bad eggs are very soon
detected by holding such disc up against the light and marking the dark
eggs.
It is just as easy to unpack and count the eggs as it is to put them in and pack
them. Each disc holds a certain number, for instance, 60.
Owing to the absence of any kind of filling up material the packing and
unpacking can be effected with great cleanliness.
Such egg casks can be used many times, as the cost of their return when empty
will be very slight because of their lightness.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and the manner of performing the same, I wish it undor-

page_text: stood that I claim, the apparatus for packing eggs, fruit, and similar materials, as
above described, and shewn in the Drawing, and comprising,-
First. The above described cardboard discs, each two of which will carry a layer
of eggs, fruit, or other articles, and which have their tongues bent up into a crown
shape and formed to gripe the eggs or fruit from two sides and hold the same
in place.
Second. The cardboard discs with their rims turned up at right angles and their
crown shaped tongues in connection with a covered cardboard cask as above
described.
Third. The arrangement for securing the discs in the cardboard cask by means of
a rod to prevent their turning round in the cask.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
WA RORT LAKE Gol