Method of and Apparatus for Making Barrels.
Year: 1896

page_text: Date of Application, 11th Apr., 1896-Accepted, 16th May, 1896
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Method of and Apparatus for Making Barrels.
I, JOSEF POLKE, of 26 and 28 Kohlgasse, Vienna, in the Empire of Austria,
Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said invention and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :-
My invention relates to the manufacture of wooden bulging barrels and has for
its object a method and apparatus for producing such barrels by compression from
cylindrical blanks, and simultaneously forming the chimb or groove for the reception
of the barrel heads.
In the annexed drawings the apparatus for carrying my improved process into
practice is shown, of which
Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical section, showing a barrel body in the position just
before the pressing of the chimbs begins;
Fig. 2 shows one head of the apparatus, also in section with a barrel body in the
position when the pressing has been completed;
Fig. 3 shows the chimb disk in side view and its carrying plate in front view.
In all figures similar letters of reference indicate like parts.
For the production of wooden bulging barrels I employ cylindrical blanks, which
have by preference been subjected to a previous cylindrical compression in order to
prevent their subsequent sbrinking.
I form these cylindrical blanks into bulging barrel bodies by pressing over their
ends conical dies or forms, which will compress and thereby reduce these ends in
diameter, but will leave the middle part of the blank materially unchanged.
Simultaneously with and by this conical compression of the ends of the barrel blanks
I form the chimb or groove for the reception of the barrel head by placing into the
blank, before its conical compression, at the place where the chimb or groove is to
be formed, a disk having the circumferential form of a barrel head, and made of any
suitable material harder than the wood of the barrel blank.
This disk, which is held in its proper position by suitable means, rests at the
beginning of the compression loosely in the barrel blank; as, however, the
compression proceeds and the diameter of the barrel blank becomes reduced,
the interior surface of the latter closes around the edge of said disk, and, as the
conical compression of the barrel body is completed the edge of the disk is pressed
into the wood of the barrel body sufficiently deep to form the chimb or groove for
the barrel head.
This method of forming the chimbs or grooves for barrels by compression
simultaneously with their conical compression offers a considerable advantage over
the method, heretofore employed, of cutting the chimbs or grooves, as in the
former case the fibres of the wood are not severed by a cut, but are only bent and
compressed to form the groove, whereby a chipping or splitting of the ends of the
barrel is prevented.
The pressed chimbs or grooves offer a further advantage by their tendency to
swell out again when. the wood becomes wet, which causes them to close tightly
around the barrel head.
The machine for carrying into practice my improved process, as shown in the
annexed drawing, consists of a conical press form or die F, in the bottom or end of
which is inserted a piston or follower S for pushing out the barrel body after
it has been pressed into the die P. In a central opening of follower S is guided a

page_text: rod or shaft t, which carries at its forward end a head or plate R, to which the
disk V for pressing the chimb or groove is attached. A spring w keeps plate R
sufficiently far advanced in the die P that a barrel blank B, as it is pressed into
die P, will strike a flange » of plate R before blank B has been so far reduced in
diameter as to close upon the circumference of disk V. The end of the barrel
blank B having struck flange r of the plate R, the latter is carried along by
blank B as it advances into the die P until it has reached the end or bottom
thereof. The distance between the outer face of flange r, against which rests the
end of the barrel blank, and the edge of disk V being fixed, it follows that the
chimb or groove must be formed at exactly the right place in the barrel as the end
of the latter contracts by its continued compression in die P, spring serving to
hold flanger tightly against the end of the blank.
The pressing having been completed, follower S, which may be operated by
hand or by any other suitable power, starts barrel body B in the die, so that it can
be removed from the press with disk V by preference remaining in the groove
it has formed. Disk V may of course be fixed permanently to plate R, in which
case the barrel body will have to be sprung open sufficiently at its seam to clear
and remove it from disk V which remains in the die. As it is preferable, however
to leave disk V in the barrel body for a while, I connect disc V to plate R by
means of a clutch or in any other suitable manner that will permit an easy
separation of the two parts. By way of example I have shown a connection of
this kind in Fig. 3 of the drawing. Here disk V is provided with a central clutch
pin v and plate R with a corresponding central opening, which will permit connecting
or disconnecting disk V and plate R by giving the former a quarter of a turn, the
latter being prevented from turning by a key or groove upon its shaft t or in any
other suitable manner.
When the disks V are to be left in the barrel bodies, a temporary hoop must be
provided upon the ends of the latter. For this purpose I employ hoops of
triangular cross section p as shown in the drawing. Die P is turned out at its end
to receive these hoops p in such manner, that the inner surface of the hoop will
form a continuation of the conical interior surface of the die P. Thus when a
barrel body is pressed to the bottom of die P, it will receive and retain this
hoop upon its end, so that it can be removed from the die together with the barrel
body. As shown in the drawing, two opposite dies may be employed for simul-
taneously producing the conical compression of the barrel body and the chimbs
or grooves at both ends. In this case one of the dies may be stationary and
the other operated by hydraulic or other motive power, or also both dies may be
movable. There may however, but one die be employed and one end of a barrel
be pressed at a time."
The disks V may also be made so that they can remain in the barrel and serve as
permanent heads.
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 :-
1. In the manufacture of wooden bulging barrels, the method for producing such
barrels from cylindrical blanks by compression, with the simultaneous forming of
the chimbs or grooves for the heads, consisting in pressing the cylindrical blanks,
containing a disk or disks the circumferential form of which corresponds to the
form of the barrel head, into a conical die or form and thereby pressing the edge
of the disk contained in the blank into the wood of the latter for forming the chimb
or groove for the head; substantially as set forth.
2. In apparatus for carrying into practice the hereindescribed method of masking
wooden bulging barrels from cylindrical blanks, the combination with a conical
die P, of a disk V adapted to be pressed into the wood of the barrel body while
being compressed in die P; substantially as and for the purpose set forth.
3. In apparatus for carrying into practice the hereindescribed method of making

page_text: wooden bulging barrels from cylindrical blanks, the combination with a conical
die P of a disk V, a spring actuated plate R for holding disk V in position and
provided with flange r, and a follower S; substantially as described and shown in
the drawing.
4. In apparatus for carrying into practice the hereindescribed method of making
wooden bulging barrels from cylindrical blanks, the combination with a conical
die P of a disk V and of a hoop p adapted to be placed in die P and to remain
upon the end of the barrel body when the pressing is completed; substantially as
set forth.
Dand the 11th dof A 1806
PHILIP M. JUSTICE,
Chartered Patent Agent, London,
For the Applicant.