Improvements in Barrel Hooping Machinery.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Nov., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 31st July, 1891-Accepted, 5th Sept., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by LEONARD DILLE MORRISON, of New York,
in the State of New York, United States of America, Superintendent of
Barrel Factory.]
Improvements in Barrel Hooping Machinery.
I JOHN THOMSON KING of 4 Clayton Square, Liverpool, in the County of
Lancaster Patent Agent do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
My improvement consists in a combination of devices for putting the end or
chine hoop on wooden barrels, and it is designed to be used in connection with the
well known barrel hooping machines in which a number of vertical arms are
pivoted to a frame or head, which is threaded so as to form the nut of the screw by
which the arms are raised, to enable the arms to engage the hoop which is to be
driven, and lowered to drive down the hoop over the staves of the barrel.
As ordinarily constructed in trussing machines, these arms are arranged at
equal distances around the barrel and are hooked or notched at their upper
end, so as to enable them to engage the hoop and thus draw it down as the
arms are simultaneously lowered by the screw which operates the head' to which
they are attached.
As the chine hoop is of iron and presents its thin edge to these hooks or notches,
of the ordinary construction just mentioned, the hooks have a very narrow bearing
upon the hoop, and the result is that the hoop is apt to be strained or twisted, in
which case it will not lie evenly on the surface of the staves, especially if, as is apt
to be the case, it is bent at the point where the arms engage it. To enable the
arms to take a wider and more uniform hold on the upper edge of the chine hoop,
I have made my improvement which consists in the use, in connection with the
vertical arms of the machine, of hand pieces, one of which is detachably connected
with the upper end of each arm, which hand pieces, extending outwardly on each
side of the driving arms and being curved in the shape of the arc of a circle,
and having a groove into which the chine hoop enters, draw down the hoop
with uniformity and thus prevent its being twisted or bent as before described.
Dated the Thirty-first day of October 1890.
Per pro J. T. KING,
W. B. Johnson.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Barrel Hooping Machinery.
JOHN THOMSON KING of 4 Clayton Square Liverpool in the County of
Lancaster Patent Agent 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 :-
My improvement consists in a combination of devices for putting the end or
chine hoop on wooden barrels, and it is designed to be used in connection with
the well known barrel-hooping machines in which a number of vertical arms
are pivoted to a frame or head which is threaded so as to form the nut of the
screw by which the arms are raised, to enable the arms to engage the hoop
which is to be driven, and lowered to drive down the hoop over the staves of the
barrel.

page_text: As ordinarily constructed in trussing machines these arms are arranged at equal
distances around the barrel and are hooked or notched at their upper end, so
as to enable them to engage the hoop and thus draw it down as the arms are
simultaneously lowered by the screw which operates the head to which they are
attached.
As the chine hoop is of iron and presents its thin edge to these hooks or notches,
of the ordinary construction just mentioned, the hooks have a very narrow bearing
upon the hoop, and the result is that the hoop is apt to be strained or twisted, in
which case it will not lie evenly, on the surface of the staves, especially if, as is apt
to be the case, it is bent at the point where the arms engage it. To enable the
arms to take a wider and more uniform hold on the upper edge of the chine hoop,
I have made.my improvement which consists in the use, in connection with the
vertical arms of the machine, of hand pieces, one of which is detachably connected
with the upper end of each arm, which hand pieces, extending outwardly on cach
side of the driving arms and being curved in the shape of the arc of a circle, and
having a groove into which the chine hoop enters, draw down the hoop with
uniformity and thus prevent its being twisted or bent as before described.
Figure 1 is an elevation of a barrel hooping machine provided with my
improvement
Figure 2 is a side view, partially broken away, and showing the drive arms
provided with hand pieces adapted to engage with the chine-hoop;
Figure 3 is a similar view, the chine-hoop being driven home;
Figure 4 is a like view of the upper part of a barrel, showing the hand pieces in
position to drive the catch hoop;
Figure 5 is a bottom plan view of one of the hand pieces.
Figure 6 is a cross-section on the line VI VI of Figure 5, and
Figure 7 is an elevation of the same.
Referring in Figure 1 of the drawing, a represents the vertical screw shaft, by
which the machinery is operated having a horizontal bevel wheel keyed thereto,
which wheel meshes with a bevel-pinion e keyed to a power-shaft e' which is driven
by power applied in any convenient manner."
C
On the shaft a is a cross-head, the hub d of which forms a screw nut within
which the screw-shaft a turns. From the hub d, spokes e branch radially, of
any desired number of uniform length (to the extremities of each of which is
pivoted one of the arms f) which extend upwardly in a substantially vertical
direction around or through apertures in the base plate or table m, on which the
barrel to be hooped is placed so that as the vertical shaft a is revolved in one
direction or the other, the cross-head and the arms pivoted thereto are corre-
spondingly elevated or depressed the arms being slightly curved so as to
accommodate them to the bilge of the barrel and to cause the upper end to
approach the chine of the barrel sufficiently close to engage the chine-hoop g. The
arms are held in position by the adjustable springs which are secured to the
arms by a loop and wedge or otherwise as may be found convenient and bear
against the outer extremity of the spokes e of the cross head. These arms are
not hooked at the upper end as in the ordinary constructions before described, but
are and may be of substantially uniform width and thickness with that portion of
the arm, which, when the arms are elevated, surround the barrel. A slotted hand
piece (shown in detail in Figures 5, 6 and 7) is secured to each of the arms j
near to their upper end, by means of a key ² or by a set screw, as may be
preferred. These hand pieces have a projection i on each side of the central. slot. "
through which the arm is passed, which projection is curved to correspond with
the curvature of the chine of the barrel and extends an equal distance on each side
of the central piece so as to give a firm hold and uniform bearing on the outer edge
of the chine-hoop. The curved projection is also flanged inwardly toward the
centre of the barrel, so as to form a ledge j, to rest on the top of the catch-hoop,
and a groovek in the under side of the ledge, having substantially the same
curvature as the chine of the barrel, serves to receive the upper edge of the chine-

page_text: hoop, and to prevent its being bent out of shape when driven home. On the
under side of the hand-pieces are ribs, which extend to the outer edge of the
groove as shown in Figures 5, 6 and 7; the function of which will be described
hereinafter.
P
of
The operation of the machine will be readily understood from what has already
been stated the arms being actuated in the usual manner by the cross-head d, e,
and screw-shaft a. In Figures 1 to 4 I have shown a catch hoop n, the
which is to draw the staves closely together at the chine of the barrel so as to
purpose
enable the chine-hoop to be more readily placed in position to be driven home by
the hand-pieces on the arm f. This catch-hoop consists of a hoop (see Figures 2
and 3) preferably of iron slightly larger in circumference than the chine of the
barrel having a radially projecting arm which is pivoted to a plunger placed
within the tubular cavity of a hollow standard 7 and resting on a spiral spring s
contained therein, the standard may be secured to the table m. At the outer end
of the armbeyond its pivotal point, is an adjustable balance weight. The
catch-hoop n is readily placed over the chine of the barrel or raised therefrom by
means of the weighted and pivoted arm the spring-piston p permitting the arm to
be raised from a pivotal point. This will be sufficiently obvious from inspection of
Figure 2 of the drawing where the catch-hoop is shown by dotted lines in an
elevated position.
It is not necessary for me to describe the details of construction of the catch-
hoop more fully as it is the invention of another, and is not claimed herein.
The barrel composed of staves, held together by truss hoops, is placed on the
table m of the machine, and then the catch-hoop n is lowered over the chine of the
barrel and is drawn down by the hand-pieces to the position shown in Figure 1.
The chine-hoop g is then placed on the chine of the barrel, as shown in Figure 2,
the arms are again elevated and lowered so that the hand pieces engaging the
hoop drive it into place, forcing the chine-hoop downwards uniformly so as to more
forcibly draw the staves together and thus hold the barrel head very firmly in
place. The catch-hoop is then lifted off the barrel which is up-ended, and a
chine-hoop is driven on the other end of the barrel in a like manner by my
apparatus.
As a general rule, the staves of the barrel when it put together, are still warm,
and when they cool, after the barrel is formed, a certain amount of shrinkage takes
place requiring that when the barrels are to be used the hoops should be driven
further on the barrel to make it sufficiently tight. For this purpose it is the pre-
ferred practice to drive the chine-hoop when the barrel is first made only part of
the way down, leaving it projecting beyond the extreme edge of the staves at both
ends of the barrel. This may be effected in my machine by making the groove k
in the hand-pieces sufficiently deep to allow the outer edge of the ledge j of the
hand-pieces to come in contact with the chine or beveled end of the staves, so as to
arrest its downward motion before the chine hoop is driven down flush with the
ends of the staves.
On the inside of the hand pieces h¹, are a number of vertical projections or ribs
which extend on the ledge of the hand pieces to the outer edge of the groove k
where they terminate as shewn in Figures 5 and 6. The purpose of these ribs is to
prevent the hand picces from coming close enough to the barrel to permit the
edge to engage the chine while the catch-hoop n is on the barrel and before the
hoop is driven down. As soon however as the catch-hoop is driven down and
he arms are raised again to engage the chine-hoop which is then placed on the
chine of the barrel these ribs guide the hands so as to cause the chine hoop to enter
he groove k in the under side of the ledge of each hand piece.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
ion and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what I
laim is
First In a barrel-hooping machine the combination with the driving arms and

page_text: suitable mechanism for operating the same of curved hand pieces attached to the
upper end of the arms for engaging the upper edge of the chine hoop, substantially
as and for the purposes described.
Second In a barrel-hooping machine the combination with the driving arms and
suitable imechanism for operating the same of curved hand pieces detachably
connected with the hoop driving arms-substantially as and for the purposes
described.
Third In a barrel-hooping machine the combination of the driving arms and
curved hand pieces having a groove or slot to receive the upper edge of the chine
hoop substantially as and for the purposes described.
Fourth In a barrel-hooping machine the combination of the driving arms and
curved hand pieces having guide-ribs on their inner face substantially as and for
the purposes described.
Per pro J. T. KING,
J...Johnson,
Agent.