IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING CASK HEADINGS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clapperton, Manager to Messrs. John
McDowall and Sons, Walkinshaw Foundry, of Johnstone, in the County
of Renfrew, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clapperton at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
9th December 1867.
I, WILLIAM CLAPPERTON, Manager to Messrs. John M Dowall and Sons,
Walkinshaw Foundry, of Johnstone, in the County of Renfrew, North
Britain, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING CASK HEADINGS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," to be as
follows, that is to say:-
This Invention relates to improved machinery designed for shaping cask
headings in a rapid and economical manner.
The principal features of the improved machinery are,-A table or chuck
on a vertical spindle with appliances for holding the headings to be shaped
and for slowly turning them; an adjustable headstock carrying revolving
cutters for taking a first square cut and thereby rounding the heading; a
second adjustable headstock carrying revolving cutters for cannelling or bevilling
the edge; and a guiding cam surface for acting on the headstocks, and to be
used for making the headings slightly oval when required.

page_text: In a modification of machinery embodying the improvements, the vertical
spindle for carrying the headings is mounted in the centre of a strong cast-
iron pedestal to the back of which are fixed two vertical guide plates extending
horizontally on each side to receive the headstocks which can be adjusted upon
them to suit different diameters of heading. The vertical spindle has fast on
it a worm wheel in gear with which is a worm driven in any convenient way
but with a clutch permitting it to be put into or out of gear independently of
the other gearing. On the upper end of the spindle there is a table or chuck
face down upon which the wood pieces composing the cask heading are held
by a covering plate fixed by a screw. A number of variously sized covering
plates are kept to suit different diameters of headings, and each is provided
with a number of spring holders to accommodate unequal thicknesses of wood.
The revolving cutters for the first cut are by preference made to comprise a
front saw-toothed disc and two or more chipping cutters or chisels, which last
cut away the parts outside of the saw cut. The finishing cutters are of course
shaped' to the particular form of edge required. If the headings are to be
made slightly oval to compensate for inequality in the shrinking of the wood,
there is fixed on the vertical spindle a disc formed, or the chuck plate itself
may be formed with a cam surface on its edge shaped to the required oval.
The headstocks are then set free to move on their guides and are pressed
inwards by weighted bell-crank levers, so as to bear by means of suitable
adjustable pieces on the cam surface. With this arrangement the headstocks
will have a slight movement to and from the centre which will produce the
required oval form.
The machinery has been described as for operating on a single cask
beading at a time, but it may be easily arranged to act on two or more at
once if required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clapperton in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
9th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLAPPERTON, Manager to Messrs. John McDowall and Sons, Walkinshaw
Foundry, of Johnstone,. in the County of Renfrew, North Britain, send
greeting.
: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Ninth day of December, in the year of our Lord

page_text: 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 William Clapperton, Her special licence that I, the said William
Clapperton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Clapperton, my executors, adininistrators, 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 "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING CASK HEADINGS AND SIMILAR ARTICLES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that 1, the said William Clapperton, my executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, 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 causo
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 William Clapperton, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to improved machinery designed for shaping cask
headings in a rapid and economical manner.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be berein-after referred to and representing an.
example of my improved machinery.
Figure 1 is a plan of the apparatus; Figure 2 is a front clevation:
and Figure 3 is a vertical section; Figure 4 is a front elevation showing one
modification of parts for ovalling the beading; and Figure 5 represents in
side and end view certain details for ovalling according to another modification
whilst Figure 6 is a front elevation showing a modification of parts for effecting
the first square cut and differing from what is shown in Figures 1 and 2.
The same reference numerals are used to mark the same or like parts in all
the Figures.
In the modification shown in Figures 1, 2, and 3, a vertical spindle 1 for
carrying the cask heading 2, is mounted in the centre of a strong cast-iron
pedestal 3, to the back of which there are fixed two vertical guide plates 4, 5,
extending horizontally on each side to receive headstocks 6, 7, carrying cutting.

page_text: tools, and which can be adjusted upon the guides to suit different diameters of
heading. The vertical spindle 1 has fast on it a worm wheel 8, in gear with
which there is a worm 9 on a horizontal spindle carried by short levers 10, by
means of which it can be put into or out of gear independently of the other
gearing. The spindle of the worm 9 bas on it a set of different speed
pulleys 11 to receive a belt 12, from corresponding pulleys on a first-motion
shaft 13. On the upper end of the main vertical spindle 1 there is fixed a
table or chuck face 14, down upon which the wood pieces 2 composing the cask
heading are held by a covering plate 15 fixed by a screw 16. The screw 16
is tapped through a nut held in a crosshead 17, which is fixed upon pillars 18
carried one by one of the guide plates 5, and the other by a bracket 19 bolted
to the pedestal 8. A jam nut wheel 19 is provided for fixing the scrow
spindle 16, when it is adjusted. A number of variously sized covering plates
15 are kept to suit different diameters of heading, and each is provided with a
number of spring bolders 20, to accommodate unequal thicknesses of wood.
These holders 20 consist simply of boxes containing spiral springs which press
Whilst the heading
downwards on small plungers that bear on the heading 2.
Instead of a
is being carried slowly round by the main vertical spindle 1, a first square cut
is, according to one modification, taken by revolving cutters 21, which round
the heading. These cutters 21 are on a spindle 22, carried by one 7 of the
adjustable headstocks, and driven by a belt 23 from a drum on the first-motion
-shaft 18, and they comprise a front saw-toothed disc and two chipping cutters
or chisels, which last cut away the parts outside of the saw cut.
circular saw being used for the first cut, that cut may be taken by a recipro-
cating saw 24, arranged as shown in Figure 6, being fixed upon a frame 25,
fitted to slide vertically on guides upon the headstock 7, and actuated by a
connecting rod 26 from a crank shaft 27, driven by a belt from the first-
motion shaft 18. The other adjustable headstock 4, carries revolving cutters
28 for cannelling or bevilling the edge of the heading, and these are of
course shaped to the particular form of edge required. They are fixed on the
upper end of a vertical spindle 29 driven by a belt 80 from the first motion
shaft 18. If the heading 2 is to be made slightly oval, as is some-
tines done to compensate for the shrinking of the wood, there is fixed on the
vertical spindle 1, according to one modification shown in Figure 4, a disc 31
formed with a can surface on its edge shaped to the required oval; or the
chuck plate 14 itself may have its edge so shaped. The headstocks 6, 7,
are then set free to move on their guides and are drawn inwards by means of
weights 32, 33, acting through chains passing over pulleys or in any other
convenient way. The exact positions of the headstocks .6, 7, are determined

page_text: by rollers bearing on the edge of the cam disc 31, and carried by bars 34,
which are adjustable in the headstocks. A more convenient and preferable
modification of parts for producing the oval form is shown in Figures 1 and 3,
but acts in a very similar way. In it the movement of the headstocks is
derived from a horizontal spindle 35, carried by the pedestal 3, and driven by
bevil wheels from the main vertical spindle 1 so as to turn at double the speed
of that spindle. On the spindle 35, a pair of eccentrics 36, made in one
piece and shown enlarged in Figure 5 is fixed and acts on the headstocks
6, 7, by means of connecting rods 37. These eccentrics 36 can be very
easily changed for different proportions of ovalling; they cause the headstocks
6, 7, to move slowly inwards and outwards twice during one revolution of the
vertical spindle 1.
The machinery has been described as for operating on a single cask heading
at a time, but it may be easily arranged to act on two or more at once if
required.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I'
believe to be novel and original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, the constructing and
arranging or combining together of the parts of machinery for shaping
cask headings and similar articles, substantially in the manner herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clapperton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM CLAPPERTON. (L.S.)