An Improved Method of and Means for the Manufacture of Casks and other Vessels from Veneers.
Year: 1896

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Method of and Means for the Manufacture of Casks
and other Vessels from Veneers.
I, CARL WITTкOWSKY, of 11, Horn Strasse, in Berlin, Kingdom of Prussia,
German Empire, Manufacturer 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 :-
c
It has often times already been tried to manufacture a cylindrical or bellied
barrel or cask-mantle from a continuous piece of wood produced from the stem of
a tree by a circular cut made around said stem. Said piece of wood, or annular
board respectively, in which the grain ran parallel to the longitudinal axis thereof,
was then subjected to a rolling process. This latter, however, caused very often
clefts and cracks in the wood, and the barrel having its mantle formed out of said
rolled piece of wood could not, (owing to the natural contraction and expansion of
the wood) be kept constantly air or liquor tight, as their exists no means for
hindering said expansion and contraction in a mantle having its grain running
parallel to its longitudinal axis.
Said contraction and expansion might be rendered innocuous, if one succeeded in
manufacturing a cask or barrel mantle in which the grains would run around the
circumference of the mantle. There is, however, the great drawback, that the
grains of the wood do not allow of the stretching of the outer side, and the
contraction on the inner side, especially if the thickness of the wood is chosen so
as to correspond to the size of the cask or barrel. There occur in this method
very many breaks, and the barrel cannot possibly be used for liquids. The rolling
is somewhat easier if the wood is worked in a wet state, but then there is another
drawback that consists in the drying wood intensely tending to assume its former
shape.
It should be borne in mind, that the mantle to be produced is not to consist of a
simple veneer having a thickness of from 0.5 to 10 mm., but rather of a thin board
having a thickness of from 5 to 10 mm., in that the cask or barrel must necessarily
possess a great resistive power. To roll boards of that thickness when the grain
of these is parallel to the longitudinal axis of the cask or barrel has not been
attainable up to now, and the object of my invention, therefore, is to overcome
these obstacles, which I attain by the method and means hereinafter explained.
In order to make my invention more clear, I refer to the accompanying drawing
in which similar letters refer to similar parts throughout the different views, and
in which :-
Figure 1, is a vertical section through a bending machine having two pressing
and heating rollers c d and two bending rollers a, b.
Figure 2 is a front view of said machine, the bearing standards of same being in
section.
Figure 3 is a vertical section of a slightly modified form of construction of the
bending machine, the standards being omitted.
Figure 4 is a front view of the same, also with the standards taken away.
Figures 5, 6, 7 & 8 show curved veneers in various arrangements.
Figure 9 shows a longitudinal section through a portion of a barrel constructed
according to my invention, and
Figure 10 shows a detail of Fig. 9 drawn on a larger scale.

page_text: In carrying my invention into practice, I first unite two or more veneers by
means of a waterproof cementing medium, in such a manner that the two or more
layers cross each other (compare Figa. 5 & 6). I prefer to effect said union by
aid of slightly curved press cheeks, and I prefer to employ as a cementing
medium such a cement that after having become perfectly dry may again be
made liquid and sticky by the application of heat and pressure, and may become
dry again as soon as it is withdrawn from said pressure and heat. Caseine glue
has been found to answer best the conditions before mentioned, but also albumen
glue and similar preparations may well be used for this purpose.
After the two or more veneers have been united the first time, the dry two-
or-more-ply veneer board thus formed is introduced into the bending machine
shown in Figure 1. The two rollers c d of which are rotated by any suitable
power and heated by any suitable means. There then occurs the following
process.
The veneer board is contracted at its inner side and stretched at its outer side;
owing to the liquifaction of the cementing medium between each two of the
veneers proper in which there occurs no perceivable compression and extension
of the grains, but a distinct displacement or distinct displacements of the two or
more vencers relatively to each other. That is to say, the preliminary union between
the veneers is broken by the heat of the rollers c d as well as by the pressure
exerted by the same, and the disunited veneers are simultaneously therewith
curved as well as displaced one against the other; the portions of the veneers
treated as described remain in that state or position as long as they move between
the rollers c d to or from the roller b and they are during this time again and finally
united by the second solidification of the caseine or other glue or cement.
Whilst therefore, in cases where a single thick veneer bas been employed,
displacements of the grain invariably occurred within the wood, in consequence of
which the wood received clefts and cracks, or was caused to break but according
to my invention I avoid these results by employing, for instance, two veneers, each
having a thickness of 4 or 5 mm., or three veneers having each a thickness of 3 mm.,
instead of one having a thickness of 9 mm., which provides that the consequent
displacements occur not within the board, or the two or more ply veneer board
respectively, but between each two veneers constituting the said board. The place.
of displacement is, so to say, transferred from the inner of the wood or board to
the adjacent surfaces of the two or more veneers now forming that board. By
these means I not only fully preserve the wood in its sound state, but I also
cause the cylindrical mantle formed out of said wood to fully retain its newly
given shape. Besides these two effects there results from this method two other
advantages as hereinafter explained.
To show these latter more clearly, I must refer to an older method, in which
several moist veneers were wound around a drum, and were connected together
while in that position either by a glue or by rivets. If glue is employed, the
veneers must be kept under pressure until said glue has become dry, and the
veneers have firmly and securely been united by the same. This method causes
obviously a great loss of time, and cannot, therefore, be executed on a commercial
scale. My improved method, in contrary thereto allows of producing a cask or
barrel mantle in from 1 to 3 minutes according to the size of the mantle. This is
the first advantage afore hinted at. The second consists in the possibility of com-
bining any desired number of veneers in any desired way, such for instance, as
shown in Figs. 5 & 8. The outermost layer of which may be so arranged that its
grains run parallel to the longitudinal axis of the mantle. The latter when
manufactured according to my invention, receives a rigidness and resistibility that
is about three times as strong as that of a stave of equal thickness.
The success of my invention depends greatly on the employment of the four
rollers a b c and d and the provision that the rollers c and d or at least one of them
can be heated.
By employing the rolling apparatus before mentioned I attain the further

page_text: advantage, that by suitably adjusting the rollers a and b the veneer cylinder, or
cask or barrel mantle may be made of any desired diameter. Finally my improved.
method by the employment of a special rolling machine, enable me to produce
bellied mantles instead of cylindrical ones. I then effect the preliminary union of
the two or more veneers between press plates that are curved, not in one direction
only, but in two, and I let the rollers e d have a correspondingly shaped.
circumferential surface, as shown as an example in Figure 2.
I do not, however, confine myself to the configuration of the mantle as shewn in
Fig. 9, nor to the employment of heated rollers alone, nor is the success of my
invention dependent upon the moistening or non-moistening of the dry veneers
before subjecting them to the action of the rollers; my said invention and the
novel method in which I carry the same into effect being based on the cognizance
that veneers, in which the grains rau parallel to the longitudinal axis of the
cylindrical mantle, can be rolled, if, first, the said veneer is combinel with another
veneer or other veneers the grains of which is or are arranged cross-wise to the
first one or ones, and, secondly, the veneers are united by means of a waterproof
cementing medium of the kind described, and are, finally treated between straight.
or bellied rollers in the manner described.
By combining these points, I cause the otherwise compulsory displacement of
the grains to be transferred from the inner of the veneers to the neighbouring
surfaces of the same, and the said veneers are thus preserved in their original and
proper sound state. This is of eminent importance for producing highly resistible
mantles from thin veneers.
By my novel method I am further enabled to impregnate the wood with
substances that close the pores of the wood, and deprive the latter of its property
to impart its smell or taste to the liquor transported or stored within the cask or
barrel. This has up to now been attainable only by the use of oak wood of high
quality, and by covering the inner surface of the cask or barrel with a substance
that cannot be penetrated by the liquor, and does not impart its smell or taste to
the same. There is however no reliability in the latter means as the substances.
forming the said cover does not adhere to the surface of the wood.
Contrary to the older method before mentioned I provide the veneers with such
substances as may be caused to liquify by the application of heat. If therefore,.
the veneers have been furnished with a cover or covers of a suitable substance, such
for instance as paraffine, cerasine, gelatine, albumine, glue, waterglass, linseed oil,
varnish, or the like, they are passed through between the hot rollers c d as before
described, when the cementing medium as well as the cover become liquified, and
the latter is pressed into the wood, or into the pores of the same, and as the-
respective substances solidify within the pores the veneer or veneers treated in this.
way become impervious the more so as the substances in question cannot possibly
crack off or peel, by reason of the same being firmly retained within the pores of
the wood.
The same impregnating method may be employed, for the outer veneer of the
mantle, and by making use of this method I ain enabled to employ wood of an
inferior quality and such wood when treated as just described will become as.
impervious as wood of hetter quality.
My improvements in veneer mantles, or in cask or barrels or other vessels having
veneer mantles relate finally to a special manner of securing the bottoms p of such
in position, and of making them perfectly fluid tight. I attain this by making the
said bottoms of (preferably three-ply) veneer boards tapered at its edge so as to
form a wedge like space between this and a cut away portion of the mantle,.
forming a shoulder r as shown in Figs. 9 & 10. The bottom p is shown concave in
these figures, but I may make this plane or perfectly flat, provided its edges be-
shaped, as stated so as to form a wedge-like space with the projecting portion of
the mantle. The bottom p, Figs. 9 & 10, is not (as may appear by the view
Fig. 9) loosely inserted into the barrel, but is powerfully pressed down upon the
seat r formed by the removal of a portion of one, two or more veneers. If the

page_text: mantle consists of four veneers, as shown in Figs. 9 & 10, I prefer to so remove a
portion of two of them to form the seat whilst the remaining two project beyond
the bottom p, and form together with the said bottom the wedge-like space
before mentioned.
This space is finally filled up with a packings Fig. 10 consisting of hemp or
other suitable resilient material that, if desired, may be impregnated with pitch,.
tar or the like. The packing s is pressed down into the said wedge-like space
with as much power as possible, and I attain by this means a practically water tight
joint and absolute security against leakage.
I prefer to hold the packing s in place by means of a ring t, Fig. 9, and I further
provide each end of the cask or barrel with an outer iron hoop w, the flange wol of
which takes over the outer veneers of the barrel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
1. The method of manufacturing cask or barrel-mantles from veneers, consisting
in uniting crossed veneers by the use of any suitable cementing medium capable of
being re-liquified by heat, in combination with the means for bending, said united
veneers by pressure whilst exposing them to the said heat, so as, firstly, to re-liquify
the said cementing medium, and secondly, to displace the said veneers relatively to
each other; and finally re-uniting the so displaced veneers by letting the cementing
medium re-solidify whilst said veneers are in their bent state, substantially as and
for the purpose described.
2. The method of manufacturing cask or barrel-mantles from veneers, consisting
in uniting crossed veneers by a cementing medium adapted to be re-liquified by
heat; furnishing the veneer beard with an impregnating medium also adapted to
be re-liquified by heat with means for bending said compound veneer board, whilst
exposing it to pressure and heat so as, firstly, to re-liquify the cementing medium
as well as the impregnating medium, and secondly, to press the latter into the pores
of the board, and displace the veneers of the board relatively to each other, and
finally re-uniting the displaced veneers by letting the cementing medium re-solidify
whilst said vencers are in their bent state, substantially as and for the purpose
described.
3. In a cask or barrel composed of at least two crossed vencers, the combination
with said cask or barrel of bottoms, such as p, each consisting of at least two
crossed veneers, and each having its circumferential edge made sloping so as to
form an annular wedge-like space in combination with the said cask or barrel,
together with a seating r for the said bottom, with resilient packing such as 3,
inserted into the said wedge-like spaces, and therein retained by rings t and hoops to
substantially as herein described and shewn.
Dated this 4th dox of Februar 1806
CARL WITTKOWSKY,
By Geo. Thos. Hyde,
1 Broad Street Buildings, London, E.C., Agent for the Applicant.