IMPROVE- MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING CASKS, TUBS, & OTHER LIKE VESSELS, WHEREBY TO RENDER THEM WATER-TIGHT
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer & Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CONSTRUCTING CASKS, TUBS, & OTHER LIKE VESSELS, WHEREBY TO
RENDER THEM WATER-TIGHT."-A communication from abroad by Mr.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Clark at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
8th June 1861.
I, WILLIAM CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer & Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN CONSTRUCTING CASKS, TUBS, & OTHER LIKE VESSELS
WHEREBY TO RENDER THEM WATER-TIGHT," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to rendering barrels, butts, casks, tubs, & other
vessels for holding liquids water-tight by coating them either onthe interioror
exterior with a thin sheet of metal. These vessels may be made of any kind
of wood, & the parts or staves united by tongue & groove, or in other way.
The sides and ends are then coated with metal, cither by means of the galvano-
plastic process, or with a brush; they may also be lined on the interior with
Price &

page_text: a thin coating of tin, or other metal, which is caused to adhere strongly to
the sides by means of glue or other material to cause adhesion. This metal
coating is applied to the surfaces of barrels by means of compressed air, or by
steam or hand pressure. Coatings of various metals are also applied sopar-
ately on the interior of casks or other vessels, with a lining of tow or oakum
between each layer for the purpose of imparting greater solidity thereto.
In certain cases I make the ends of the cask or vessel of metal of a
conical form, to which the staves are fixed. This arrangement causes the
latter to adhere more perfectly to the ends, & gives greater elasticity thereto.
The ends are also soldered to the staves.
The staves are nailed, screwed, or otherwise caused to adhere together
to prevent their separating from one another, & so break or tear the inner
metal coating. Bungs, plugs, corks, or other similar articles may also be
reudered water-tight by covering them with metal.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
7th December 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer and
Patent Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Clark, Her special licence that I, the said William Clark,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Clark, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any
time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 CONSTRUCTING CASKS, TOBS, AND OTHER LIKE VESSELS, WHEREBY TO RENDER
THE WATER-TIGHT," a communication from abroad by Mr. Louis Désiré
Trannin, of 29, Boulevart St. Martin, Paris, Oil Merchant, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Clark, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or ono of their hands

page_text: 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 William Clark, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to rendering barrels, butts, casks, tubs, and other
vessels for holding liquids water-tight by coating them either on the interior
or exterior with thin sheet metal. These vessels may be made of any kind of
wood, and the parts or staves united by dowels tongued and grooved, or in
any other suitable way. To enable the coating of the sides, I proceed as
follows:-
1st, before putting the heads or ends and body of a barrel together, they
are previously coated with a paste or adhesive matter and metallic covering,
inflated with air to give it the exact shape of the interior of the barrel. The
heads are then inserted, and the cask tightened and held together by means
of iron or wooden hoops, the former being fixed with screws. The operation
being completed, the metallic lining is caused to adhere to the inside of the
barrel by introducing steam at the bung-hole, or water or air under pressure.
The same means are employed for all kinds of vessels other than barrels,
which are required to be hermetically close.
I
2ndly, the wooden barrels are made with the bottoms adjustable.
introduce an iron framework, consisting of four iron supports in the form of a
circle of large radius cut in two equal parts, and joined by hinges and pins.
These frames are tightly screwed on the barrels and connected, so that by '
removing the pins the frames and barrels will separate longitudinally in two
equal parts. It is then very easy to apply the thin sheet metal lining to the
interior of the staves, and to the joints and chimes. I also coat the heads or
bottoms in such manner that the metal shall properly adhere. As continuity
of the metal cannot exist where the casks are cut in two, the metallic sheets
are folded in such way that their edges are closed and secured between the
two parts of the barrel. Before the bottoms or heads are placed in their
chimes, the metal is disposed so as to occupy its position previously. The
two parts being thus adjusted, they are tightened by means of the foundation
framing. The mountings are then unscrewed, and the cask hooped and
fastened. Further, I introduce at the bung hole steam, water, or air under

page_text: pressure, to fix more completely the metallic sheet to the sides. The wooden
bungs are covered in the same way with a metallic sheet. After the intro-
duction of the bung in the bung hole, a metallic sheet of larger diameter is
fixed outside the bung to prevent the ingress of air. The wooden taps or
cocks for maintaining the hoops,& whereby to extract the liquid, are dipped
into linseed oil rendered secative by means of litharge, and dried in the air.
3rdly, I also line casks, &c., in the interior with a metallic paste composed
of clotted milk, white off egg, or albumen of all kinds, quick lime, cast iron
or any other metal filings sifted. I clott the milk with vinager, separate
the clotted milk from the liquid when cold, and mix it with the white of egg
well beaten; then add to the mixture quick lime & iron filings to render
it a liquid or hard paste to be used as wanted.
The interior of casks and vessels may be coated by means of galvanoplasty.
To coat or live casks or vessels with a filamentous ligneous mastic.-This
consists, 1st, of sawdust; 2ndly, resin or india-rubber; 3rdly, pounded brick;
4thly, sand; 5thly, quick lime; 6thly, irou or any other metal filings. When
the cask or vessel opens in two parts lengthwise, they are maintained in
form by the iron mountings. as described; and when a coating of this mixture
has been applied on each part,tow or any other fibre is applied to form a body,
which coating is repeated on each layer except the last, the mastic being
left uncovered. The bottoms or heads are also coated with the same
mastic. Casks thus made are very strong, and will bear the hardest shock
without injury, by reason of the greater or less elasticity resulting from
the employment of filamentous matters. The metallization is effected as above
described to prevent porosity. To render the wood of casks and vessels less
porous,bythe following known means, I employ a solution of sulphate of copper,
pyrolignite of iron, or other metal, this is introduced into casks & other vessels,
and condensed therein by means of hydraulic pressure, so that the liquids may
be forced out through the pores of the wood. I metallize the interior of the
bottoms or heads of casks and other containing vessels by the aid of an
amalgam, composed of from three to six parts of tin & one to three parts of
mercury. I sometimes replace the wooden bottom of liguo-metallic casks and
other vessels by others of met il foil form, & fit them in the grow
or staves in the following manner:-The casks and vessels being hooped and
finished, a metal band is attached round the barrel at the point where the
bottoms or heads bear, (this is then covered with a double coating of metal
united by hand. These bottoms are fitted and soldered to the barrel of metal.
The solder or iron being cut to render it conical, which should be done after
the introduction of the latter in the cask, so as to leave all the space possible

page_text: to adapt it perfectly to the staves. To one of the heads is applied a metallic
socket firmly held by a conical trunk to receive the tap. All the staves
forming the barrel or other vessels are held together by dowels, fillets, or
simply glued, or otherwise secured to prevent the separation of the staves by
the contraction of the wood from blows received, so that the metallic lining
cannot be torn.
The system herein-before described offers this advantage, that casks may
lose their hoops without fear, as although they become disengaged from any
cause the liquid contained cannot escape, as the staves form but one substance
of the containing vessel. Corks used in bottles and jars may also be made
impervious, like the wooden bungs before mentionod, by coating them with
metal.
I can also make casks completely metallic, as represented at Figs. 9, 10, &
11. In this manufacture I take a sheet of galvanized iron, or other rolled
metal of suitable size to form the body of the cask of a single piece. The lon.
gitudinal joint is made by hooking and grooving the edges together, which is
afterwards soldered inside and out as represented in the Drawing Fig. 11.
To strengthen them (which is the principal feature of this Invention) iron
hoops of T and angle iron are attached, and soldered to the interior of the
cask. The angle iron circles are placed at each end in the position of the
chimes in order to receive the heads which rest on them. The heads of
the cask are formed plane or convex, and have a small flanch thrown up,
which fixes against the body of the cask, where they are soldered; a part of the
body of the cask being reserved,and extending beyond the plane of the bottom
for that purpose,
which also enables the handling of these casks as wooden
To complete the cask inside, on each head is fixed a wooden hoop held
by screws to prevent the body of the cask getting out of shape, and to one of
the heads is fixed a metal socket supported by a truncated cone, in which to
fix a stop-cock.
ones.
I have represented in the annexed Drawings different ligno-metallic casks
of my Invention.
Fig. 1 shows an elevation of a cask of a cylindrical formn; Fig. 2 shows an
elevation of a stave; Fig. 3 shows an edge view of the same stave; Fig 4
shows an elevation of a cask of a convex form; Fig. 5 shows a spile in eleva-
tion; Fig. 6 shows a bung also seen in elevation; Fig. 7 shows a plan of the
metal head ready for the cask; Fig. 8 shows an edge view of the same; Fig. 9
shows a central vertical section of a metal cask; Fig. 10 shows a section
through the bottom of the same; Fig. 11 shows the junction of the two edges
of the sheet of metal which forms the body of the metallic cask. In the

page_text: different figures the same letters of reference indicate the same parts seen in
different views. a, staves forming the sides of the cask; b, grooves made in
the stave; c, hoops for holding the casks together; d, bottom of cask; e,
interior metal hoop of a T-form placed inside the metal cask; f, angle iron
hoop also placed in the interior of the metallic cask; 9,socket fixed in the head
of the metal casks, in which is inserted the stop-cock.
Having described the nature of this Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is, rendering casks, barrels, and
other containing vessels tight by the means above described, which may be
thus enumerated :-
First, by means of metallic sheet, which is glued or cemented inside the
vessels, and applied closely to the sides by the pressure of air or steam, or other
fluid.
Secondly, by means of a metallic surface applied to the interior of casks by
means of a pad.
Thirdly, by means of metallic linings.
Fourthly,in rendering the wood less porous by means of a solution of sulphu
of copper or pyroliguite of iron.
Fifthly, in metallizing the wood by depositing a metallic coating by means
of an amalgam of tin.
Sixthly, in metallizing the wood by depositing a metallic coating by means
of an electric pile.
Seventhly, I also claim the right of making casks either whole or in parts
of sheet metal, as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Clark, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred & sixty-one.
W. CLARK. (LS.)