Improvements in Machinery for Finishing Stave Blanks for Casks.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 8th Jan., 1894-Accepted, 8th Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Finishing Stave Blanks for Casks.
I ALEXANDER DUNBAR of 66 South John Street Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster, Barrister at Law, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
The object is to provide improved machinery for accurately finishing stave blanks
which have been so far shaped as to require simply the necessary transverse
curvature called backing and hollowing and the longitudinal curvature called
jointing imparted thereto to enable them to be built up into casks.
For giving the transverse curvature according to the diameter of the cask I
employ in combination two rotating cutters or sets of cutters between which the
staves are passed transversely by means of a carrier moving on a suitably disposed
axis. The distance apart of the cutters and of the axis from the carrier are
adjustable.
For imparting the necessary longitudinal curvature to the said staves, or as
commonly called "jointing the staves" I make use of four rotating cutters, between
which the staves are passed longitudinally by means of a carrier, and open or close
or vary the distance apart of the cutters whilst the staves are passing through
between them by means of templates acting on the cutter carriers substantially as
set forth in the Specification to British Letters Patent No. 3977 of the year 1888,
and No. 19,268 of the year 1890 granted to me, and in order to render the action
of the apparatus more automatic and effective 1 (a) feed the staves to the carrier
through self centring guides (6) I make the guides adjustable laterally (c) I regulate
the opening and closing action of the cutters by means of self centring stops
between which a stave is centrally placed, such stops acting on suitable gear to
move the templates controlling the motion of the cutters nearer together or further
apart so that the said cutters will shape a stave on the carrier to the exact width
of the above mentioned stave, (d) I so fit and rotate the cutters that they act on
the staves angularly both in the transverse and longitudinal direction.
Dated this 7th day of March 1893.
Per pro J. T. KING,
J. Johnson,
Agent.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Finishing Stave Blanks for Casks.
ALEXANDER DUNBAR of 66 South John Street Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster Barrister at Law, 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 is to provide improved machinery for accurately finishing stave blanks
which have been so far shaped as to require simply the necessary transverse and
longitudinal curvature called jointing imparted thereto to enable them to be built
up into casks.
For giving the transverse curvature according to the diameter of the cask I
employ in combination two rotating cutters or sets of cutters between which the
staves are passed transversely by means of a carrier moving on a suitably disposed
71

page_text: axis. The distance apart of the cutters, and the axis from the carrier are
adjustable.
For imparting the necessary longitudinal curvature to the said staves or as
commonly called jointing the staves, I make use of four rotating cutters between
which the staves are passed longitudinally by means of a carrier, and open or close
or vary the distance apart of the cutters whilst the staves are passing through
between them by means of templates acting on the cutter carriers substantially as
set forth in the Specification to British Letters Patent No. 3977 of the year 1888
granted to me and in order to render the action of the apparatus more automatic
and effective, I (a) feed the staves to the carrier through self centring guides.
(b) I make the guides adjustable laterally (e) I regulate the opening and closing
action of the cutters by means of self centring stops between which the stave is
centrally placed such stops acting on suitable gear to move the templates controlling
the motion of the cutters nearer together or further apart (d) I so fit and rotate
the cutters that they act on the staves angularly both in the transverse and
longitudinal direction.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 is a transverse section and Fig. 1 is a plan of a machine for backing and
hollowing or giving transverse curvature to stave blanks, a one of the end frames,
the said frames are connected together by struts or tie bars 6 and a bed plate e in
any usual way. d d' rotary cutters carried on shafts in bearings e e¹.
The top
cutters which act on the inside of the staves vary in length and shape according
to the length and shape of the inner joint. The lower cutters are of any desired
length, usually as long as the longest stave fare slides one at each end of the
machine pivotted to radius rods g. The radius rods fit through sockets on shafts i,
the shafts are carried in slots in the end frame. The radius rods g are held in the
sockets and are adjustable as to length by means of nuts ; in order that the curve
of the staves may be varied according to the diameter of the cask to be made.
The position of the shafts in the slots are varied to suit the position of the radius
rods in the puts that is the shafts are raised as the rods are shortened. kk are
gripper bars extending from slide to slide and having nuts at each end into which
fit right and left handed screws 1. The screws at each end of the machine are
connected by bevel gear m, so as to move simultaneously when one of them is
operated by the hand wheel n. The bars grip the edges of the stave between
them and the staves are caused to move transversely between the cutters by means
of the connecting rod and crank pin driving gear o. Other suitable gear may be
used. The top cutter bearings may be raised or lowered by means of set bolts p
so as to separate the cutters for diferent thicknesses of staves.
Fig. 2 is a plan and Fig. 3 an elevation of so much of a jointing machine as is
necessary to illustrate my invention. Fig. 2 is a transverse section at the line A A.
& Fig. 34 is a transverse section at the line B B. a are four rotary cutters,
b cutter carriers or slides c templates all acting in combination to correctly joint
cask staves passing longitudinally between the said cutters substantially as set
forth in the Complete Specification to my British Letters Patent No. 3977 of the
year 1888.
In order that the staves may be equally acted on on both sides by
the cutters the said staves are fed to and directed past the said cutters by means of
guides which guides are pivotted at e and caused to work in unison by means of
toothed quadrants or their equivalents geared together, springs or weights keep
the guides closed. In order to be able to adjust the self centring guides d
accurately between the cutters or to allow of their being so placed as to cause the
cutters to act more on one side of a stave the said pivots e are secured to a plate g,
carried in slides h the plate is adjusted in the slides by means of a rock shaft i and
connections motion is given to the rock shaft by means of a hand wheel and screw
gear any suitable device may be used for adjusting the position of the plates g.
are self centring stops or guides constructed substantially like the guides d
hereinbefore described but the said stops are connected through gearing with the

page_text: 1
templates c so that when a stave passes between the said stops the templates e are
adjusted so as to cause the cutters to correctly act on the said stave. The
templates c are moved to and fro by bevel and spur gear m terminating in a cross
shaft n to which shaft motion is given when necessary in one or other direction by
means of clutches o o' and pulleys p driven by straight and crossed belts pl. The
pulleys p are loose on the shaft n and can be connected thereto by the clutches o o'
which are operated by rocking shafts 79' connected thereto by arms, springs q² 7³
act on arms secured to the said rock shaft 'y' so as to force the clutches o o¹ into
gear. The said clutches are kept out of gear as required by means of weights .
The said weights rest on levers attached to rock shafts s s'. The rock shafts s st
act on the rock shafts g' by means of arms s² 83 which abut against arms q1 9. The
weights are attached to levers t t and are lifted with the rock shaft levers s s¹ by
means of cams u u' the said cams u u¹ are so shaped as to press against levers 96 97
on the shafts-q q' whilst the said levers are being lifted and so prevent the
clutches o o' from being moved into gear.
When the levers t t have been lifted
by the cams' they are held lifted by means of the catches 12. At the same.
time the levers t ' are lifted pins u² us in the cams u u' lift weighted arms v¹ into
position to be engaged by catches 23. The catches are operated from the
self centring stops / by rods and levers in such manner that when staves are being
fed to the machine which do not necessitate the moving of the stops / the said
catches do not engage with the arms vv which consequently fall upon the catches (2
and thus release the levers t t' and weights which weights falling upon arms on
the rock shafts s s keep the clutches out of gear as before described and the
templates are not moved. If staves are being fed to the machine which necessitate
the moving of the stops / one or other of the catches v² engages its corresponding
weighted arm or which therefore does not fall and the corresponding levert or t
and weight are not released. The rock shaft q orq' controlled by such lever is when
free from the cam w or w¹ free to move its clutch into gear with one of the pulleys p
and thereby give motion to the bevel gear m which moves the templates c so as to
bring the cutters a into position to act properly on the stave which caused the
stops to be moved. At the same time the motion of the shaft m¹ connected with
the bevel gear causes a nut m² which is threaded on the said shaft to move along
such shaft carrying with it an arm m³ which has fixed thereto the fulcrum pin m
of a bell crank lever we one end of which lever is connected to the stops / by a
link . The other end of the said bell crank lever w is connected through a sliding
joint w to an arm w² on the rock shaft w³ which latter through arms and rods w
gives motion to the catches 2 and 3. When the lever w and connections have been
displaced by moving the stops the motion of the nut m² and arm m³ causes the
lever w to move to such an extent as to bring by acting on the fulcrum m* the rock
shaft and catches into central or neutral position. The clutches o o¹ are
then both out of gear and the templates c will remain stationary until a stave of a
different width again moves the stops 7. pulleys and gear for giving motion to
the pulleys p. y main driving shaft with cams y for giving to and fro motion to
the frame carrying the templates c and for moving the pusher for feeding the
staves into the guides. It will be noticed that the angle of the axis of rotation of
the cutters a is such that the staves are acted on angularly both as regards the
transverse and longitudinal axis.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The combination of rotating cutters with adjustable pivotted stave carrier
operating substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Second. Constructing stave jointing machines with self centring guides for the
purpose set forth.
Third. Construeting stave jointing machines with self centring guides adjustable
laterally for the purpose set forth.

page_text: Fourth. The combination in stave jointing machines of self centring stops
differential gear and cutter templates for the purpose set forth.
Fifth. Constructing stave jointing machines with cutters rotating about angularly
disposed axes substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
Sixth. Stave jointing machines with two or more of the improvements under the
second, third, fourth, and fifth claims.
Seventh. The combination for machinery for giving transverse and longitudinal
curvature to stave blanks substantially as set forth.
Dated the 6th day of January 1894.
Per pro J. T. KING,
J. Johnson,
Agent.