IMPROVEMENTS IN CASKS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Kenneth Henry Cornish, of York Road,
Battersea Park, S.W., Gentleman, and Alexander Strange, F.R.S.,
Lieutenant-Colonel of Her Majesty's Indian Army (Retired), for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASKS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Kenneth Henry Cornish
and Alexander Strange at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 31st December 1872.
We, KENNETH HENRY CORNISH, of York Road, Battersea Park, S.W.,
Gentleman, and ALEXANDER STRANGE, F.R.S., Lieutenant-Colonel of
Her Majesty's Indian Army (Retired, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CASKS," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of new casks, and also to
the conversion of old ones.
The objects of our Invention are principally,-1, to enable casks to be
thoroughly cleansed and dried; 2, to enable them to be used as packing
cases for dry goods without requiring to be unstaved; 3, to diminish
the space required for the stowage or carriage of empty casks.

page_text: In making or converting a cask to our system, we divide the barrel
transversely to its long axis, and preferably equatorially, i.e., at the
middle of the bulge or belly (which is mechanically the weakest part of
the casks in ordinary use) into two segments or tubs. We drive over the
free rim of each of these segments or tubs, where it has been sawn, or
otherwise suitably cut through, a ring of metal, and preferably of
stamped or wrought iron of the quality usually employed for hooping
casks. The section of this ring is rectangular. The longer side of
the rectangle, which should be of the same thickness as, and about two
thirds of the width of the strongest and widest hoop ordinarily used in
manufacturing a cask of the size under treatment, is driven over the
staves; and the shorter side of the rectangle, which should be about double
the thickness of the longer side, and nearly as wide as the thickness of the
staves, should preferably rest on the free rim of the staves, which should
be grooved for their reception, so as to make a flush surface of wood and
iron on the top of each segment. When the rings have been driven
home on each segment or tub, they must be secured firmly, and pre-
ferably by wood screws driven through holes drilled, punched, or
stamped in the long side of the ring, into the staves at about the medium
line of each stave.
It is a matter of no great importance should the points of the screws
penetrate into the inner side of the staves, but we prefer that the screws
should be an eighth of an inch shorter than the thickness of the staves
to which they are applied. It is evident that the tubs thus prepared
will if properly bolted together resist longitudinal extension, and that by
adding steady pins lateral movement may be perfectly controlled. It
is also clear that the interposition of a washer ring of leather, hemp, or
other suitable material between the opposing surfaces of the metal
rings of the two tubs will render the cask water-tight when the two
segments are bolted together. We therefore place steady pins on our
rings, with corresponding, holes, each to each, as the size of the cask or
other circumstances may render desirable. In lieu of steady pins, wo
prefer stamping up hemispherical nipples on the upper surface of onc
ring, and suitable cups for their reception in the correspondent surface
of the other ring.
To bolt the two segments together to the greatest economy and
advantage, we employ suitably proportioned bolts with nuts at one
extremity, and solid heads at the other, at intervals of from twelve to

page_text: fifteen inches in the circumferences of the segments under treatment.
In casks of moderate dimensions three or four of these bolts placed
equidistantly will suffice. In bolting the segments together it is
desirable, 1, that the bolt heads, nuts, and rings shall not project
beyond the natural equatorial diameter of the cask, as in such case they
would be liable to be injured or loosened, besides interfering with the
facility with which a cask is now rolled along the ground; 2, that the
segments should be seperable by simply loosening the nuts without
removing the bolts; 3, that the bolts should hold the washer in its
place, so that it may not be lost or injured when the casks are in store,
or in transit as empties.
The, method we prefer to employ is to make a hole for each bolt to
pass through (slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt) in the
uppermost surface of one of the rings, at about its middle, and in the
other a corresponding eyelet hole for the head and neck of each bolt.
At its large end this eyelet hole is rather larger than the head, and at
its prolongation than the neck of the bolt. Of course the wood of the
stave is cut away to let the head and neck of the bolt pass freely into
and along the eyelet hole. Where the nut is screwed on the tapped end
of the bolt, it is also necessary to cut away wood, as well as a sufficient
amount of iron from the long side of the hoop ring. The diameter of the
nut should be from a quarter to an eighth of an inch less than the
thickness of the staves at the bulge. The iron and wood should
be cut away to as small an extent as possible, and form an arched
cave over the nut, which is of course flush with the short side of
the rectangle of the ring hoop. The continuity of this side must of
course be maintained, the only. permissable perforations being the bolt
holes and cyclets, with those for the steady pins, when the nipples
previously described are not employed. When the nuts are screwed on
the bolts, the latter should first be passed through the washer, their
heads serving to keep it from becoming detached and lost. When the
cask is "put together" the bolt heads should be passed into the eyelets.
and the upper segment turned, so that the steady pins or nipples
may bear together, and the bolt heads lio well under the narrow necks of
the cyclets. It well then only be necessary to tighten up the nuts, and
the cask will be ready for use. A bung hole for filling should be formed
in the head of either segment.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Kenneth Henry Cornish and Alexander Strange
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th June 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, KENNETHI
HENRY CORNISH, of York Road, Battersea Park, S.W., Gentleman, and
ALEXANDER STRANGE, F.R.S., Lieutenant-Colonel of Her Majesty's
Indian Army (Retired), send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her lcirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Kenneth Henry Cornish and Alexander
Strange, Her special licence that we, the said Kenneth Henry Cornishi
and Alexander Strange, our executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as wc, the said Kenneth Henry Cornish and Alexander
Strange, our executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 CASKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Kenneth Henry Cornish and Alexander Strange, our
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, or
one of our, or their, or one of their hands 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 we, the said Kenneth Henry Cornish and
Alexander Strange, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of new casks, and also to
the conversion of old ones.
The objects of our Invention are principally :-First, to enable casks
to be thoroughly cleansed and dried; second, to enable them to be used

page_text: as packing cases for dry goods without requiring to be unstaved; third,
to diminish the space required for the stowage or carriage of empty
casks.
In making or converting a cask to our system, we divide the barrel
transversely to its long axis, and preferably equatorially, i.c., at the
middle of the bulge or belly (which is mechanically the weakest part of
the casks in ordinary use) into two segments or tubs. We drive over
the free rim of each of these segments or tubs where it has been sawn, or
otherwise suitably cut through, a ring of metal, and preferably of
stamped or wrought iron, of the quality used for hooping casks. The
section of this ring is rectangular. The longer side of the rectangle,
which should be of the same thickness as, and about two thirds of the
width of the strongest and widest hoop ordinarily used in manufacturing
a cask of the size under treatment, is driven over the staves, and the
shorter side of the rectangle, which should be about double the thickness
of the longer side, and nearly as wide as the thickness of the staves,
should preferably rest on the free rim of the staves, which should be
grooved for their reception, so as to make a flush surface of wood
and iron on the top of cach segment. When the rings have been
driven home on each segment or tub, they must be screwed firmly, and
preferably by wood screws driven through holes drilled, punched, or
stamped in the long side of the ring into the staves at about the medium
line of each stave.
°
It is a matter of no great importance should the points of the screws
penetrate into the inner side of the stave, but we prefer that the screws
should be an eighth of an inch shorter than the thickness of the
staves to which they are applied. It is evident that the tubs thus
prepared will if properly bolted together resist longitudinal extension,
and that by adding steady pins, lateral movement may be perfectly
> controlled. It is also clear that the interposition of a washer ring of
leather, hemp, or other suitable material, between the opposing surfaces
of the metal rings of the two tubs, will render the casks water-tight when
the two segments are bolted together. We therefore place steady pins
on our rings, with corresponding holes, each to each, as the size of the
5 cask or other circumstances may render desirable. In lieu of steady
pins, we prefer stamping up hemispherical nipples on the upper surfaco
of our ring, and suitable cups for their reception in the corresponding
surface of the other ring.

page_text: To bolt the two segments together to the greatest economy and
advantage, we employ suitably proportioned bolts with nuts at one
extremity, and solid heads at the other, at intervals of from twelve to
fifteen inches in the circumference of the segments under treatment.
In casks of moderate dimensions, three or four of these bolts placed
equidistantly will suffice. In bolting the segments together it is
desirable, first, that the bolt heads, nuts and rings, shall not project
beyond the natural equatorial diameter of the cask, as in such case they
would be liable to be injured or loosened, besides interfering with the
facility with which a cask is now rolled along the ground; second, that
the segments should be separable by simply loosening the nuts without
removing the bolts; third, that the bolts should hold the washer in its
place, so that it may not be lost or injured when the casks are in store,
or in transit as empties.
The method we prefer to employ is to make a hole for each bolt to
pass through (slightly larger than the diameter of the bolt) in the
uppermost surface four of the rings at about its middle, and in the
other, a corresponding eyelet hole for the head and neck of each bolt.
At its large end this eyelet hole is rather larger than the head, and at
its prolongation than the neck of the bolt. Where the nut is screwed
on the tapped end of the bolt it is also necessary to cut away wood, as
well as a sufficient amount of iron from the long side of the hoop ring.
The diameter of the nut should be from a quarter to an eighth of an
inch less than the thickness of the staves at the bulge. The iron and
wood should be cut away to as small an extent as possible, and form an
arched cave over the nut, which is of course flush with the lower
surface of the short side of the rectangle of the ring hoop. The con-
tinuity of this side must of course be maintained, the only permissible
perforations being the bolt holes and eyelets, with those for the steady
pins, when the nipples previously described, are not employed. When
the nuts are screwed on the bolts the latter should first be passed
through the washer, their heads serving to keep it from becoming
detached and lost. When the cask is "put together," the bolt heads
should be passed into the eyclets and the uppermost segment turned, so
that the steady pins or nipples may bear together, and the bolt heads be
well under the narrow necks of the eyelets. It will then only be
necessary to tighten up the nuts, and the cask will be ready for usc. A
bung hole for filling should be formed in the head of either segment.

page_text: E. THE DOIting, or otherwise suitably fastening the two segments of
he cask together, as described.
5. The employment of a washer, as described.
6. The whole Invention, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Kenneth Henry Cornish, on behalf
of myself and the said Alexander Strange, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this
day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
KENNETH HENRY CORNISH. (L.S.)