IMPROVE- MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR TRUSSING CASKS."
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Woodley, of Church Row, Limehouse, in
the County of Middlesex, Cooper, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR TRUSSING CASKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Woodley at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
80th July 1878.
I, JOHN WOODLEY, of Church Row, Limehouse, in the County of
Middlesex, Cooper, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR TRUSSING CASks,” to be as
follows:-
The object of the Invention is to facilitate the operation of closing
the ends of the staves at one end of a cask, when the opposite ends of
such staves have already been drawn together or closed, and which
operation is commonly called trussing.

page_text: In carrying out my Invention the cask the staves of which are to be
operated upon is placed upon a sort of cradle or other suitable support
with the end to be trussed resting in a plate curved to correspond
somewhat with the curve of the end of the cask, a chain is then passed
over these ends of the staves, thence over a pair of pulleys placed near
to each other, so that when the opposite ends of this chain are
simultaneously and forcibly drawn upon, the effect will be to draw
these ends of the staves together or to truss them, and thus to hold
them together until a hoop or hoops have been applied to them.
.
The description of chain I generally use for the purpose is that
commonly called the flat or plate chain, and the power required is
obtained by connecting the ends of the chain to the ram of a hydraulic
pump though I do not confine myself thereto.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Woodley in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 16th January 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WOODLEY, of Church Row, Limehouse, in the County of Middlesex,
Cooper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of July, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said John Woodley, Her special license that
I, the said John Woodley, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said John Woodley, 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 MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR
TRUSSING CASKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Woodley, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should

page_text: 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 Woodley, 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 :-
The object of the Invention is to facilitate the operation of closing
the ends of the staves at one end of a cask, when the opposite ends of
such staves have already been drawn together or closed, and which
operation is commonly called trussing.
In carrying out my Invention the cask the staves of which are to be
operated upon is placed upon a sort of cradle or other suitable support
with the end to be trussed resting in a plate curved to correspond some-
what with the curve of the end of the cask, a chain is then passed over
these ends of the staves, thence over a pair of pulleys placed near
to each other, so that when the opposite ends of this chain are
simultaneously and forcibly drawn upon, the effect will be to draw
these ends of the staves together or to truss them, and thus to hold them
together until a hoop or hoops have been applied to them.
The description of chain I generally use for the purpose is that
commonly called the flat or plate chain, and the power required is
obtained by connecting the ends of the chain to the ram of a hydraulic
pump, though I do not confine myself thereto.
But that the Invention may be fully understood I will by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings proceed to describe means pursued by me
in carrying the same into effect.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a front view, and Figure 2 a sectional view of
apparatus arranged according to my Invention; Figures 3 and 4 show an
upper side view and an under side view of parts. In each of the views
the same letters indicate corresponding parts.
•

page_text: -
with water or other liquid from a hydraulic pump, as is well understood,
and the water or other liquid forced into this ram acts on the piston or
plunger c with a tendency to force it downwards. The lower end of this
piston or plunger c is provided with a cross head c³, which by the
rods d, d, is connected to the two chains e, e. These chains pass up over
the two guide pulleys f, f, and are formed at their outer ends, one of
them with a hook e¹ and the other with a staple e³, to receive that hook,
so that they may be connected together around the ends of the staves of
a cask as is indicated, the outline of a cask to be operated upon being
indicated by the full red lines j. The cask to be so operated upon has 1
the ends of the staves at one end of it drawn together or trussed in
the usual way by a truss hoop, and that end of it is rested on a cross
bar g serving as a cradle, this bar being laid across the pit 6, and it is..
retained with capability of varying its position to the size of cask for the
to be operated upon by means of pins g¹, one at each end of it; the
end of the cask with ends of the staves thereof to be drawn together is
laid on the curved upper part a³ between the arms a¹.
By the action of the water or other liquid forced into the cylinder a
the piston or plunger c is forced downwards, drawing' the chains with it,
by which the ends of the staves of the cask will be drawn together 2
closing or trussing them as indicated by the dotted red lines, when
another truss hoop will be applied over those outer ends j³, as is well
understood. The water or other liquid is then allowed to escape from
the cylinder a, and the piston c will be caused to rise by means of a
counterweight attached to one end of each of the chains h, indicated by
dotted lines, which chains pass up from such weight over the stationary
guide pulleys i, i, and thence down to the cross head c³, to which those
ends are attached. Other trussing or gathering hoops may then be
applied to the staves to retain them in position until the application
of the final hoops. The staves trussed together at one of their ends ¹ a
for the one end of the cask are heated by steam or other heat before
subjecting them to these means of drawing together or trussing the
opposite ends thereof, so as to facilitate the operation of trussing, as is
well understood by coopers.
I would remark that although I have shown a hydraulic cylinder and a
piston as the means which I adopt for acting upon the chains e, e, other
means may be employed for acting upon them to draw those ends of the
staves together, and in place of such apparatus for closing or trussing

page_text: the ends of casks being applied to operate only on one end of them when
the other end has been trussed by hand, such apparatus may be arranged
double, so as to operate on to close or truss both ends of the staves of
casks at the same time when the staves are simply held together about
the middle of their length by a truss or holding hoop or other suitable
means, and the chains for one end and parts acting therewith will be
moveable to suit the different lengths of staves for different sizes of
casks.
Having thus described my Invention and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise arrangements of parts as shown and
described, as modifications may be made therein without departing from
the peculiar character of my Invention, but what I do claim is the
improvements in means or apparatus for trussing casks, whereby the
ends of the staves are operated upon to close them by chains or such
like flexible surface, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Woodley, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of January, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.