IMPROVEMENTS IN BUSHES OR FERRULES FOR CASES AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING THE SAME
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Lowry, Engineer and Machinist, of
Salford, in the County Palatine of Lancashire, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUSHES OR FERRULES FOR CASES AND OTHER PURPOSES,
AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING THE SAME."
Sealed the 18th June 1869, and dated the 23rd December 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Lowry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd December 1868.
GEORGE LOWRY, Engineer and Machinist, of Salford, in the County
Palatine of Lancashire, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BUSHES OR FERRULES FOR CASKS AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND
FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN FIXING THE SAME," to be as follows:-
These improvements consist in forming a ferrule or bush of malleable
irón or other suitable material with a flanch at one end. This ferrule
or bush is inserted in a hole previously made. in the barrel, into which
the ferrule or bush has to be fixed, the said flanch being pressed tightly

page_text: against the exterior of the barrel. An expanding mandril is then
introduced inside the ferrule, which presses the edges of the ferrule
firmly against the sides of the said hole in the barrel, and the joint is
made secure and water-tight. The ferrule is then ready to receive the
bung or cork ordinarily used for stopping barrels of beer or other
liquids.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said George Lowry in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 22nd June 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
LOWRY, Engineer and Machinist, of Salford, in the County Palatine of
Lancashire, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of December, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said George Lowry, Her special
licence that I, the said George Lowry, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Lowry, 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
BUSHES OF FERRULES FOR CASKS AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND FOR IMPROVEMENTS IN
FIXING THE SAME," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
George Lowry, 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 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 George Lowry, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to

page_text: be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
These improvements consist in forming a ferrule or bush of malleable
iron or other suitable material with a flanch at one end. This ferrule
or bush is inserted in a hole previously made in the barrel, into which
the ferrule or bush has to be fixed, the said flanch coming against the
stave of the barrel. An expanding mandrill is then introduced inside
of the ferrule, which presses or bulges out the ferrule with sufficient
force to make it secure and a water-tight joint.
And that the Invention may be fully understood I will proceed to
describe the same by aid of the accompanying Drawings hereunto
annexed and forming part of the Specification.
Fig. I. is a plan of the bush or ferrule with the points for securing it
in its place; Fig. 2 represents a plan of the ferrule when the ring has
been straightened by means of the expanding mandrill; Fig. 3 repre-
sents a sectional clevation of the expanding mandrill and ferrule as
placed in the hole of a stave of a cask ready for operation; Fig. 4
represents part elevation of the expanding mandrill. In each of the
above Figs. the same letters of reference indicate like parts.
The ferrule or bush B is cast in malleable iron in the form shewn in
Fig. I., that is, corrugated at the edges, and with points or pins A, A,
cast in the bottom of the corrugations. After the bush is inserted in the
bung hole of the cask, as shewn in Fig. 3, the expanding mandrill C
straightens the corrugations and makes the bush B into a circular shape
to fit the hole, and at the same time the points A, A, are made to enter
the wood or stave, and the bush is thus secured in its place.
The mandrill is constructed as follows:-D is a flanch piece, with a
hole for the passage of the screw K; the screw has a slot, in which a
key fixed in the said hole fits, and prevents the screw from turning
round, but admits of its rising and falling. To ear pieces or hinges
forming part of the flanch D are hung six segment pieces E, E, E. The
screw K passes through a nut formed in the boss of the handle L, which
rests upon the flanch D.
The method of securing a bush and the action of the expanding
mandrill is as follows:-The bush B is inserted in the bunghole suitably
prepared in the stave of the cask; the mandrill is then introduced

page_text: through the bush, as shewn in Fig. 3, on turning the handle L the
screw is made to rise by means of the nut formed in the boss of said
handle, and the head C of the screw being conical forces the seg.
ments E, E, outwards, and consequently the corrugations of the bush B;
this operation is continued until the bush is sufficiently tight in the
bunghole; the mandrill may then be withdrawn by turning the handle
in the opposite direction and lowering the screw.
What I claim as my Invention is, the construction of ferrules or
bushes for the bungholes of casks and other like vessels, and the mode
of securing the same, substantially in the manner herein-before described
and shewn in the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Lowry, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine..
Witness,
ARCHIBALD WATT.
June 21st, 1869.
(L.S.) GEORGE LOWRY.