IMPROVED FITTINGS FOR CASKS, JARS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF EARTHENWARE, PORCELAIN, GLASS, OR OTHER - MATERIAL, FOR CONTAINING WINE, BEER, OR OTHER LIQUIDS.”
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Burns, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Commercial Traveller for Henry Kennedy, Stone Bottle and
Jar Manufacturer thero, for the Invention of "IMPROVED FITTINGS FOR CASKS,
JARS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF EARTHENWARE, PORCELAIN, GLASS, OR OTHER
- MATERIAL, FOR CONTAINING WINE, BEER, OR OTHER LIQUIDS.”
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Burns at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 19th August 1876.
EE
WILLIAM BURNS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Com-
mercial Traveller for Henry Kennedy, Stone Bottle and Jar Manufacturer there.
"IMPROVED FITTINGS FOR CASKS, JARS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF EARTHENWARE,
PORCELAIN, GLASS, OR OTHER MATERIAL, FOR CONTAINING WINE, BEER, OR OTHER
LIQUIDS."
This Invention relates to an improved mode and means of inserting and fixing
the draw-off taps into casks, jars, filters, or others vessels, for containing wine,
spirits, beer, or other liquids, whereby these casks or vessels are rendered perfectly
liquid-tight, so as to prevent the loss of the liquid by leakage which is so frequent
under the existing methods of fixing taps, particularly in those vessels made of
such materials as glass, porcelain, or earthenware.
And the nature and novelty of the Invention consist in forming a screw thread
in and through the bung or bush, into which a hollow stopper or sheath, having a
corresponding screw thread on its outer periphery, is screwed after the tap proper
has been fixed into it. The tap proper has also a screw thread cut on the outer
surface of its tail or entering end, which passes through the hollow stopper and
enters a screw nut at the extreme inner end of the stopper, the nut being screwed
up against a washer until the flange or body part of the tap is drawn in liquid-tight
against a washer between it and the face or outer flange of the stopper. The
stopper, with tap fixed into it, is then screwed into the bung or sheath until the
said flange presses liquid-tight against the face of the bung or surface of the cask,
which is then ready for being filled with any desired liquor or liquid for being
drawn off in the usual way.
Under another modification, instead of using the hollow stopper, the tail or

page_text: entering end of the tap itself may have a screw thread on it so as to be screwed
into the bung or bush aforesaid, and the tap proper may be made of any ordinary
or suitable material.
It is preferred that the bung should be of the same material as the cask or vessel
itself, and rendered liquid-tight in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Burns in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 10th February
1877.
WILLIAM BURNS, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Com-
mercial Traveller for Henry Kennedy, Stone Bottle and Jar Manufacturer there.
"IMPROVED FITTINGS FOR CASKS, JARS, OR OTHER VESSELS OF EARTHENWARE,
PORCELAIN, GLASS, OR OTHER MATERIAL, FOR CONTAINING WINE, BEER, OR OTHER
LIQUIDS."
My said Invention relates to an improved mode and means of inserting and
fixing the draw-off taps into casks, jars, filters, or other vessels, for containing wine,
spirits, beer, or other liquids, whereby these casks or vessels are rendered perfectly
liquid-tight at the joints of these taps, so as to prevent the loss of the liquid by
leakage which is so frequent under the existing methods of fixing taps, particularly
in those vessels made of such materials as glass, porcelain, or earthenware, to which
this Invention essentially applies.
And in order that the nature, novelty, and mode of performing my said Invention
may be properly understood, I shall now proceed to describe the several Figures on
the accompanying Sheet of Drawings which I have hereunto appended, for the
purpose of showing the best modes and means I am at present aware of for putting
the same into effect or practice.
Figure 1 shows a side elevation of a porcelain cask z as fitted with one modifi-
cation of my said improvements; and Figure 2 shows a corresponding section to
a large scale, while Figures 3 and 4 show a side and end elevation of the new or
improved hollow screw bush A with its soft or clastic washer a, and to which the
tap B is fixed for securing it to the vessel 2.
Referring to these Figures, the nature, novelty, and mode of carrying out my
said Invention consist in forming a minor screw thread c in and through the bung
or bush hole of the vessel at 2, into which a hollow bush, stopper, or sheath A,
having a corresponding major scrow thread c¹ on its outer periphery, is screwed
after the tap B proper has been fixed into it with a washer of vulcanised india-
rubber (leather or other soft or elastic fabric) placed between its collar head A¹
and outer face 21 of the screwed hole in the vessel. The tap proper B has also a
screw thread cut on the outer surface of its hollow fixing stem at B¹, which is
passed through the hollow stopper or bush, and fixed thereto by a screw nut on its
extreme inner end at B" with a corresponding washer b of vulcanised india-rubber,
leather, or other soft or elastic fabric between the outer end, and it may be the
inner end also of the bush A and the outer flange or body part B2 of the tap or
drawing-off branch and the nut Bч at b¹, which are screwed up against the
washers b, b¹, until the joint at the flange or body part B2 and nut B" are drawn
up liquid-tight against the outer or inner faces or ends of the bush A. The bush
stopper A, A, with tap B so fixed liquid-tight in it is then screwed into the
screwed bung or shoath hole c of the nozzle z¹, until its head or flange collar A¹
presses liquid-tight against the washer a between it and the face or surface ¹ of
the bush hole in the cask, which is then ready for being filled with any desired
liquor or liquid for being drawn off in the usual way by the tap B.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the manner in which
the same is or may be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to

page_text: the precise details herein described or delineated; but what I consider novel and
original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the construction and use of a removable and
portable liollow bush A, A', (whether made of porcelain, glass, wood, or metal) with
intermediate soft or elastic washers a, b, b¹, for securing and jointing liquid drawing-
off taps or tubes to porcelain and glass casks or other vessels, substantially as
herein described in reference to and shown in the accompanying Drawings or any
mere modification thereof.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Burns, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Ninth day of February, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-seven.
Witness,
JOHN BROWN,
Patent Agent,
96, Buchanan Street,
Glasgow.
WILLIAM BURNS. (L.S.)