AN IMPROVEMENT IN MEANS FOR ADAPTING CASKS AND ANALOGOUS STRUCTURES TO RETAIN PETRO- LEUM, NAPTHA, AND THE LIKE FLUIDS
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Smith Cowles, of the City of New York,
in the United States of America, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT
IN MEANS FOR ADAPTING CASKS AND ANALOGOUS STRUCTURES TO RETAIN PETRO-
LEUM, NAPTHA, AND THE LIKE FLUIDS."-A communication from Louis
Sniger Robbins residing at New York aforesaid
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said Walter Smith Cowles at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition and Decla-
ration, on the 3rd October 1864, pursuant to the 9th Section of the
Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
5 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
SMITH COWLES, of the City of New York, in the United States of America,
send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
MEANS FOR ADAPTING CASKS AND ANALOGOUS STRUCTURES TO RETAIN PETROLEUM,
NAPTHA, AND THE LIKE FLUIDS," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent
for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it is a communication
from Louis Spicer Robbins, a person resident at New York, aforesaid.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Walter Smith Cowles, do hereby
5 declare that the following Complete Specification under my hand and seal
fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following statement :-

page_text: The Invention consists in partially or entirely saturating the material of the
cask at and near its inner surface with one substance and at and near its
outer surface with another and different substance, employing a material on
the inner side which will resist the action of the petroleum or other fluid to be
contained in the cask, and employing a material on the outer side which will
resist the action and prevent any escape of the said lining material. By the
aid of both I am able to effect the important end of retaining the contents of
the casks, and allowing their storage for any length of time, and their exposure
to ordinary changes of temperature or-of-hygrometic-condition-of-the-air, and
their transportation to any-distance without loss or change..
I employ oily material for the outer side and alkaline material for the inner
side of the staves and heads.
I have experimented with success on casks, barrels, kegs, etc. made of
different kinds of wood of various sizes and thicknesses, the same being some-
times quite damp and sometimes very dry before subjecting them to my treat-
ment. I have also tested a variety of alkalies and alkaline solutions for the
inside, and I believe that my Invention will apply, with reasonable care, under
all ordinary circumstances and conditions.
To enable others skilled in the arts to which my Invention relates or is
most nearly allied, to practice my Invention with success, I will proceed to
describe it in detail.
I first treat the outer surface and afterwards the inner surface of the cask.
Pour linseed oil in an iron kettle or vat, sufficiently large to admit one or
more of the casks or barrels that are to be operated upon. Light the fire
and raise the temperature of the oil to 150° or 200° Fahrenheit. For old
and dry barrels or casks, I use the oil at a temperature of 150° Fah. but for
new barrels or casks, I raise the temperature to 200° Fah. Maintaining
the oil at about that temperature I proceed to introduce the barrels or casks
one by one, first closing the bungs so that the oil may only be applied to the
outer surface, and turning each over so that every portion comes in contact
with the hot oil. A few seconds exposure in this manner is sufficient, though
a longer period will probably do no harm; they are then taken out and either-
while hot or after cooling ready for the treatment inside. For this purpose. I
prepare a nearly or quite saturated solution of common potash at a tem-
perature of 200° Fahrenheit or thereabouts in a kettle or vat provided with a
faucet so that the barrels or casks may be readily supplied in the obvious
manner through the bung hole. If filled full they may be left at rest, but
if only partially filled as will usually be the case they should be turned over
frequently. This solution will penetrate rapidly, and after a few minutes

page_text: if kept filled and hot, and a longer period say one or two hours if only a
little of the solution is used so that, it soon becomes cold, the wood will.be
sufficiently saturated. The solution may now be returned into the kettle or vat
to be employed in the preparation of other barrels or casks. The cask should
be filled with the petroleum or other fluid to be contained as soon as convenient
after the wood is thus prepared, or the bung should be kept tightly inserted,
but I have allowed casks thus prepared to remain several days unfilled, without
any appreciable. deterioration..
:
The 'advantages of my Invention, and improvement are, first, the hot oil
applied to the outer surface of the barrel or cask penetrates every portion of
it and renders. it impervious to moisture and the influences of the atmosphere
which otherwise causes the wood of the cask or barrel to shrink and undergo
a constant change detrimental to the cask for holding the oils or for dura-
billity.
.
: N
Secondly, it prevents the water of the alkaline solution from passing out
through the pores of the wood, composing the staves and heads of the
casks.
The effect of the alkaline solution--is to swell or-distend the cask.or barrel,
which it does in a remarkable degree by entering into combination with the
wood where it remains, being kept from passing outward by the coating of oil
applied to the surface and from passing inward by the pressure of the petro-
leum, etc., put in the cask or barrel for transportation. The barrel or cask is
thus kept tight as long as the oil remains in it.
**
I propose to employ any of the fixed oils in lieu of the linseed oil when
cheaper or more convenient, or to employ a mixture of oleaginous matter or
of such material with other organic or inorganic matter such as oil and resin,
or oil and litharge for coating and saturating the exterior of the casks. I
believe that the addition of small quantities of the ordinary resin of commerce
or litharge, or perhaps of various other substances to give body or thickness
to the material, will be found useful in many instances, but I have not experi-
mented sufficiently to assign definite proportions thereof. I propose in some
instances, as where a fixed oil cannot be obtained, to saturate the exterior of
the casks with crude petroleum, coal tar, or other of the products of the
refinery either pure or mixed with other matter. I believe that any substance
which will be unaffected by the contact of the material which coats or satu-
rates the inside of the cask, and which will not escape into the atmosphere,
but will remain either for a limited or for an indefinite period, may be used
with success in my Invention. So also of the inner or lining material.
I do not confine myself to the use of a potash solution alone, as I have

page_text: determined by experiment that soda ash will serve with nearly equal effect, and
have found strong soapsuds to serve well. I believe that any material which
will be unaffected by contact with the kerosene, naptha, or other contents of
the cask may be used, and that the lining material may sometimes be varied
according as the cask is intended to contain one or the other article, but I
consider alkalies preferable to any other, for the reason among others, that
they swell the wood rapidly and effectively.
Having now fully described this Invention and set forth the best means
known to me for applying it in practice, what I claim as-new-and-desire to
secure by Letters Patent is as follows:-I claim the preparation and use of
casks and equivalent structures having duplicate coatings or saturated strata
adapted to serve in combination to retain the contents in the manner sub-
stantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, September
20th A.D. 1864.
WALTER SMITH COWLES. (L.S.)