IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASKS TO RENDER THEM IMPERVIOUS
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dillon Scally, of Moor Street, Burton-on-Trent,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASKS TO RENDER THEM
IMPERVIOUS."
Sealed the 10th March 1868, and dated the 12th November 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dillon Scally at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
12th November 1867.
I, JOHN DILLON SCALLY, of Moor Street, Burton-on-Trent, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASES TO
RENDER THEM IMPERVIOUS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating casks to
render them impervious. For this purpose treat the casks with an
I heat the cask
hydrocarbon, that which I employ being prepared paraffin.
on hot-air pipes, and I exhaust it of atmospheric air as much as possible:
then I allow the hydrocarbon to run into it in a spray or series of jets
The wood
by applying a hose at the bung hole and turning on a tap.
being warm and its pores exhausted will absorb the hydrocarbon with great
avidity, and thereby the cask is rendered non-porous. In this way the cost
Beers having
of filling up is avoided, loss by absorption being prevented.
to remain in cask all the summer will be better preserved, the air being
thoroughly excluded the alcohol cannot acidify. Casks thus treated do
not get fusty from wet, dirt, or exposure, the hydrocarbon being perfectly

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Dillon Scally in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
11th May 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, Jonx
DILLON SCALLY, of Moor Street, Burton-on-Trent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of November, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Dillon Scally, Her special license that I, the said John Dillon Scally.
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as 1, the said
John Dillon Scally, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times
thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN TREATING CASKS TO RENDER THEM IMPERVIOUS," upon the
condition (amongst others), that I, the said John Dillon Scally, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of
their hand and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Dillon Scally, 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 thereof, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in treating casks to render
them impervious. For this purpose I treat the casks with an hydrocarbon,
that which I employ being a pure paraffin. The paraffin may be applied
to casks in various ways:-For example, the. cask may first be heated by fire
or by filling it with hot air, some melted paraffin may be run into it and
the cask rolled about so that the paraffin may be brought into contact with

page_text: every part of its inner surface. If it be desired to impregnate the pores of
the wood still more thoroughly with the paraffin a pressure of steam or
air may be applied to the interior of the cask so as to force the paraffin
For this purpose a pipe may be applied to the bung hole of
into the pores.
Steam from a steam
the cask in such a manner as to make a tight joint.
boiler may then be allowed to flow through the pipe, or air may be forced
through it by a suitable force pump. In place however of thus applying the
paraffin prefer first to heat the cask by fire or by filling it with hot air and
then exhaust from it as much air as possible, so as to form a partial vacuum
inside the cask, which may be effected whilst the cask is still hot by fitting
or applying a pipe or nozzle fitted with a tap to the hole usually formed at one
end of the cask to receive a tap, and then by connecting the said pipe
A jet
or nozzle with an air pump the cask may be exhausted of air.
or spray of melted paraffin is then admitted to the interior of the cask
tap, and
through the bung hole by means of a pipe or nozzle fitted with
The melted paraffin
connected with a vessel holding the melted paraffin.
will then immediately fill up the pores of the wood and render it impervious.
0: the paraffin may be applied to casks when the heads are removed: in this
case the casks are as before heated by fire or hot air, and then the paraffin is
applied to the inner surface of the cask with a brush, the paraffin will then
from its extreme fluidity penetrate the pores of the wood. By thus rendering
a cask impervious the cost of filling up is avoided, all loss by absorption being
prevented. Beers having to remain in cask all the summer will be better
preserved, the air being thoroughly excluded the alcohol cannot acidify.
Casks thus treated do not get fusty from wet, dirt, or exposure, the hydro-
carbon being perfectly liquid-tight the gerins of fust are unable to impregnate
the wood. Fusty, woody, sour, and stinking casks also will be cured by the
application of this process, as the contents of the cask will be thereby perfectly
isolated from the fusty wood.
In witness whereof. I. the said John Dillon Scally, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
JOHN DILLON SCALLY. (L.S.)