Process and Apparatus for Ageing or Ripening Wines, Spirits, and other Liquors.
Year: 1892

page_text: Date of Application, 8th Nov., 1892-Accepted, 17th Dec., 1892
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Process and Apparatus for Ageing or Ripening Wines, Spirits, and
other Liquors.
I, THEODORE RUGGLES TIMBY, of 1329 F Street, Northwest, Washington, in
the District of Columbia, United States of America, Mechanical Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of this 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 is based in part upon the well known fact that in transporting
wines and spirits on long voyages, the ageing or ripening effect, ordinarily produced
by storing the liquor for a long period, is greatly expedited. It is well understood
that this results from the constant agitation facilitating the oxidation of the fusel-
oil in spirits and a similar chemical change which is required with wines and other
liquors to fit them for use or improve their condition.
The subject of the present invention is a process and apparatus by which the
required change is brought about in a short time, within the limits of a warehouse
in which the liquor is stored, and at trifling cost compared with the value of the
result.
To this end the wine, spirit or other liquor is stored in suitable containing vessels
(which may be the ordinary casks or barrels) upon railway trucks, preferably
without springs, running on an endless railway, the surfaces of the rails of which
are preferably notched or recessed so as to produce greater agitation.
Relative movement between the trucks and the railway track is produced either
by running the trucks upon the track or by running the track beneath the wheels
of the trucks, and it is preferred that such relative movement shall be continuous.
The trucks may be driven by an endless cable passed around them and driven by
suitable machinery, the trucks thus constituting sections of a large spokeless
pulley; or, the trucks being secured against rotation, the track, mounted upon a
turn-table, may be continuously rotated beneath the trucks with like effect. The
effect of this treatment, under either mode, is to subject the liquor to sustained
tremulous motion extending throughout its body, without necessarily removing it
from the casks in which it is contained.
The process is further accelerated by raising the temperature of the liquor while
under treatment, and especially by subjecting it to alternations in temperature.
Heating apparatus and refrigerating apparatus are accordingly provided in the
warehouse in which the liquor is stored and treated, by means of which its
temperature may be raised to any desirable degree and there maintained or may be
quickly cooled and re-heated.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure I is a perspective view of an apparatus illustrating the invention.
Figure II is an elevation of the same, within a warehouse, showing heating and
cooling apparatus and cable driving apparatus and omitting the liquor casks.
Figure 11 is a detail sectional view of the railway and one of the trucks.
Figure III is a plan view illustrating the turn-table modification.
Figure IV is a vertical section of the same partly in elevation.
Figure V is a plan of a section of the railway, on a larger scale, illustrating the
notched or recessed rails.
Figure VI is an elevation of the same with one of the trucks in position, also on ⚫
a larger scale.
Figure VII is a side elevation illustrating a modification of the apparatus, in
which a reciprocating movement is imparted to the trucks on a notched track.

page_text: Figure VIII is a plan of the same.
Figure IX is a sectional elevation of a truck wheel with a flattened or uneven
tread for imparting the desired tremulous agitation to liquor in casks or other
vessels carried on such trucks.
Figure X is a similar view of a truck wheel with notched or grooved tread for
the same purpose.
Figure XI is an edge view of the same.
1 represents a railway track of circular, elliptic or other suitable endless form,
supported on a solid foundation 2 and enclosed in a suitable building 3. 4 represents
springless trucks, adapted to run continuously upon the endless track 1, and carrying
barrels or containing vessels of any sort, which are partially filled with the liquor
to be treated and loaded upon the trucks 4 by means of suitable cradles 6 and
stakes 7, or other usual means.
For driving the trucks it is preferred to employ an endless wire cable 9 engaging
by friction in a grooved seat 10, see Figures II and VI, prepared for it on the outer
side of the truck frames, so that the said trucks 4 constitute in effect sections of a
spokeless pulley. The trucks, forming the sections of such pulley, require no
coupling and do not need to be in contact or to forin a complete pulley-rim. Any
smaller number of trucks will be effectually driven by the cable, and it is not
necessary that all of the trucks should be provided with cable seats 10. Any
trucks not so provided will be propelled around the track by the contact of the
driven trucks behind them.
The cars are conducted to and from the endless track by means of a switch 11
located within the bight of the cable 9, where it passes from the endless track to
the driving machinery. The cable is shown carried over the guide sheaves 12, 12"
and 13, 13ª to and from driving mechanism consisting of a grooved driving drum 14,
an engine 15, pitman 16, crank 17, fly wheel 18, pinion 19 and cogged rim 20. The
cable is carried in customary manner around a grooved tightening drum 21, which
runs in bearings in a sliding frame mounted on an inclined way 23 and drawn in
opposition to the strain of the cable by a short cable 24 passing over a pulley 25
and provided with a weight 26 in order to maintain the requisite tension in the
cable 9.
Suitable grooved and cone shaped sheaves 26 are arranged around the endless
track to support and guide the cable 9 in its circuit at points where it is not carried
by the trucks. The guide sheave 13ª, from which the cable 9 passes out from the
cable driving mechanism to the endless track, is mounted at the proper height to
deliver and guide the cable within reach of suitable catching arms or horns 27,
which project downward and outward in the cable seats 10, see Figure VI, on the
truck frames, so that each cable seat 10 on the truck frames will properly engage
the cable as it passes from the switch 11 to the endless track, or as it is carried
across the bight of the cable by pressure of the cars behind it in the continuous
movement of the trucks around the endless track.
It is found that the oxidation of the fusel-oil in spirits is accelerated by raising
the temperature to one hundred, or even one hundred and twenty, degrees
Fahrenheit, and furthermore, that it is accelerated by alternating temperatures, the
temperature being alternately raised to one hundred or one hundred and twenty
degrees and reduced to forty or thirty degrees or even less. Accordingly, in
connection with the agitating apparatus, heating and cooling appliances are
employed, which may consist of a steam coil 28 connected with the boiler 29 and
controlled in customary manner by globe valves 30, 31, and a cooling coil 32
connected with an ammonia or other well known cooling device 33. The changes
in temperature will be very quickly communicated to the atmosphere of the
warehouse in which the operation is carried on and more gradually to the liquor
contained in the barrels 5. For more rapid operations flat or shallow tanks 34
of metal may be used having covers 35 to protect the liquor, but provided with
vents 36 giving free access of the air to the surface of the liquor. By reason of
the extended surface, the free exposure to the air, and the rapid transmission of

page_text: heat in the flat metallic tanks 34 carried by trucks 4 as shown and described;
the change produced by this apparatus is very rapid.
As a mechanical equivalent of the endless track 1 and trucks 4 driven
continuously thereon by suitable machinery, the endless track 1 is shown in
Figure III mounted on a turn-table 1, which is driven by gearing 9" beneath the
wheels of the trucks 4, said trucks being held stationary by an abutment 37 against
which they are carried by the movement of the turntable when just run thereon.
This produces the same effect as the movement of the trucks on a fixed track.
The trucks may remain constantly on the track, being loaded and unloaded as
occasion requires.
The entire structure constitutes a warehouse for the storage of liquor for an
indefinite period, and while thus in store it undergoes the rapid ageing process as
described.
As before stated the tremulous action is greatly increased by making the faces
of the rails and the truck wheels relatively uneven, either by the use of a notched
or recessed track, or inversely by using notched or recessed wheels. Suitable
notched tracks are illustrated in the larger scale, Figures V, VI, VII and VIII,
the notches in the rails being indicated at 3*.
Reciprocating movement may be imparted to the truck as illustrated in
Figures VII and VIII by means of a pitman 28", crank shaft 29" and fly-wheel 30ª
rotated by a pulley 31 and belt 32ª, or other suitable means.
It will be understood that the tremulous. movement desired may be effected by
making the surfaces relatively uneven in various ways. For example, the
treads 35 of the wheels may be made uneven as illustrated in Figures IX X
and XI, instead of using notched or recessed rails.
This invention is distinguished from earlier processes for accelerating the ageing
of liquors by mechanical means in the rapid tremulous character of the vibrations
which are diffused throughout the body of the liquor and appear to have the
effect of causing a much more rapid solution or permeation of the air to which the
surface of the liquor is exposed, which results in bringing the oxygen into more
rapid and thorough contact with all parts of the liquor. The rapidity of the
vibrations may be from 200 to 3000 per minute and should be at least 600 per
minute, which is the effect produced by the passage of the two pairs of wheels of
a four wheeled truck moving at four miles an hour over a track with notches or
indentations one foot apart.
The vibratory tremulous motion thus diffused through the body of the liquor, as
the trucks on which it is stored pass at moderate speed over an uneven track,
greatly expedites the chemical change which occurs in liquors gradually when
stored at rest, and more quickly when transported on long voyages. The valuable
results, which require many years of time in the ordinary mode of storing wines
and spirits and other liquors for ageing and ripening and are partially effected by
transporting the liquors on very long voyages, are by the present invention
accomplished within the area of a storehouse and within the period of a few weeks
or even days.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that I
claim is :-
1. The process herein described of ageing or ripening wines, spirits or other
liquors, which consists in subjecting the liquor, in bulk, to rapid mechanical
vibration, producing a sustained tremulous action throughout the body of the liquor
as explained.
2. The process herein described of ageing or ripening wines, spirits or other
liquors, which consists in storing the same, in bulk, on trucks on a railway track,
the surfaces of the truck wheels and rails being relatively uneven, and by sustained
relative movement between the trucks and the supporting track, producing
tremulous agitation throughout the body of the liquor, as explained.

page_text: 3. An apparatus for ageing or ripening wines, spirits or other liquors consisting
of an endless railway track, a springless truck or trucks supported thereon and
adapted for storing and carrying the liquor to be treated, and suitable driving
mechanism for producing relative movement between the trucks and the railway,
substantially as set forth.
4. An apparatus for ageing or ripening wines, spirits or other liquors consisting
of a railway track, one or more trucks mounted thereon adapted for carrying the
liquor to be treated, the surfaces of the railway rails and of the wheels being
relatively uneven, and means for communicating relative movement between the
trucks and the supporting track, for producing tremulous mechanical agitation
throughout the body of the liquor, substantially as explained.
5. The combination of an endless railway track, one or more trucks supported
thereon and carrying the liquor under treatment, suitable driving mechanism for
imparting sustained relative movement between the trucks and railway, and
heating apparatus for elevating the temperature of the liquor under treatment,
substantially as explained.
6. An apparatus for ageing or ripening wines, spirits or other liquor, consisting
of a railway track, one or more trucks supported thereon for carrying the liquor
under treatment, mechanism for imparting sustained relative movement between
the truck and supporting track, and heating and cooling appliances for producing
changes in temperature in the liquor, substantially as explained.
Dated this 8th day of November 1892.
THEODORE R. TIMBY,
By Harris & Mills,
23, Southampton Buildings; London, W.C., Agents.