Closing Cap for use in Impregnating Timber, Beams, Piles, and the like.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Jan., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 17th Oct., 1899-Accepted, 13th Jan., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Closing Cap for use in Impregnating Timber, Beams, Piles, and
the like.
I, LEOPOLD FIEGLMUELLER, of Brunn a/G, in the Empire of Austria, Gentle-
man, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows;-
The object of this invention is a new or improved closing device or cap for use
in the process of impregnating timber, such as beams, piles, sleepers, felegraph
poles, and any other kind and species of wood for building and other purposes,
of any length and thickness, in order to admit of the liquid or gaseous impregna-
ting material being forced direct into the cells of the wood running in the direc-
tion of the longitudinal axis of the piece of timber to be treated, by means of
high pressure supplied by suitable machinery.
The closing device or cap essentially consists of a metal plate of suitable con-
formation, size and strength having a circumferential rim or flange, and a steel
ring of corresponding diameter and suitable width, one edge of said ring being
flattened and lying tightly against the plate, while the other i.c. outward edge
is formed into a sharp, sectionally wedge-shaped, cutting edge. The ring may
either be secured to, or be integral with, the flanged plate, or may be inter-
changeable in order to admit of rings of various diameters being used with the
same plate according to requirement.
In preparing the closing device for use and adjusting the same to the piece of
timber to be treated, the cutting edge of the ring is placed in position upon the
cross-cut end of the timber, the sharp cutting edge being forced into the material
and the aforesaid plate now forming the back of a chamber into which opens a
pipe, passing through a central bore in the said plate; the impregnating
material is forced under suitable high pressure through the pipe into the afore-
said chamber and into the cells and fibres of the wood.
For the purpose of keeping the closing device or cap firmly in position, a flat
clamping piece, having two, three or more arms radiating from the centre, is
placed over the plate and is pressed against the said plate by means of stays
held at one end by hooks driven into the sides of the timber under treatment,
while the other ends are formed into loops and passed over the aforesaid radia-
ting arms of the clamping piece, against which arms they may be further
tightened by means of set screws or in other efficient manner.
The centre por-
tion of the clamping piece is partly cut away in order to admit of the passage
of the pipe supplying the impregnating material.
The closing caps or flanged plates as described may be made of strong boiler
plate, or case-hardened or bronze casting, and be copper- or tin-plated in order
to resist the action of chemicals used in the process of impregnating. The
flanged plates as well as the cutting edges may be of circular, square, polygonal,
or other suitable shape, and must be made to approximately correspond to the
measurement and sectional shape of the timber under treatment, so that the

page_text: cutting edge may at all points enter into the wood in order to ensure tight
closing of the chamber.
Dated this 17th day of January 1899.
CAMBIE & WINCKELSETT,
Warwick Buildings, 40, High Holborn, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.
Closing Cap for use in Impregnating Timber, Beams, Piles, and¯
the like,
man,
I, LEOPOLD FIEGLMUELLER, of Brunn a/G, in the Empire of Austria, Gentle-
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:-
The object of this invention is a new or improved closing device, or cap for
use in the process of impregnating timber, such as beams, piles, sleepers, tele-
graph poles, and any other kind and species of wood for building and other
purposes, of any length and thickness, in order to admit of the liquid or gaseous
impregnating material being forced directly into the cells of the wood running
in the direction of the longitudinal axis of the piece of timber to be treated,
by means of high pressure supplied by suitable machinery.
For this purpose there are provided closing caps, an example of which and its
application are shewn in the accompanying drawings.
Figure 1 shews the cap driven into the end of a log; the cap and the end of
the log being in section.
Figure 2 is a perspective view corresponding to Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a perspective view of the cap in position on the end of a log, the
holding or retaining device for the cap and the injector pipe in position in the
cap.
Figure 4 is a section drawn to a larger scale, of the cap without packing rings.
Figures 5 and 6 are sections shewing the manner of adapting the cap for
timber of different thicknesses.
The closing cap is composed of a disc or plate a with turned-up edge or
annular flange g, which flange encloses the ring f, having a sharpened cutting
edge . In order to adapt the cap for timber of smaller cross-section or for use
when only part of the cross-section of the log is required to be impregnated,
there are provided packing rings m of different sizes, which are interposed
between the annular flange of the disc a and the ring f and so secure the latter
as shewn in Figure 5 or smaller cutting rings f of lesser diameter may be in-
serted inside the larger outside cutting ring either with or without the packing
rings m, as shewn in Figure 6.
The closing cap, which by means of its sharp cutting edge c, is driven into
the end of the timber to be treated, hermetically closes the same.
The caps themselves may be made out of strong boiler-plate, or may be case-
hardened castings, and when desirable they may be internally plated with
copper or tin, or may even be composed of bronze or other anti-corrosive metal,
so as to resist the corrosive action of the chemicals used for impregnating the
wood.
The flanged plates as well as the cutting rings may be of circular, square,

page_text: polygonal or other suitable shape approximating that of the timber under treat-
ment.
The size of the closing caps and their component discs a and cutting rings f
varies and corresponds approximately to the diameter of the logs or to the area
of that part of the logs which is to be treated. In all cases there must be a
margin left outside the cutting edge as shewn.
The closing cap may be additionally held and secured in position on the end
of the timber by means of a clamp such as shewn, having two, three or more
radial arms i according to the size of the respective closing cap it is intended
to secure.
Links pointed and driven into the timber at one end and provided with an
eye at the other end are threaded by this eye over the arms of the clamp, see
Figure 3. The eyes are provided with set-screws p for adjusting the pressure on
the arms of the clamp. Supplementary links are provided to secure the ends
of the links down in position, their points being likewise driven into the
log. After the links have all been secured in the proper positions, the set-
screws are tightened up, thus securing the closing cap firmly in position.
After the cap has been secured in position, a tube or extension n provided
with a stop-cock is screwed into the central bore r, see Figure 3, and serves
to connect the cap with a force pump, and the impregnating fluid, gas or vapour
is forced under considerable pressure (up to about 20 atmospheres) directly
into the timber, without an intervening reservoir, whereupon the sap is forced
out of the entire length of the timber and extending throughout an area equal
to the diameter of the closing cap, and the impregnating fluid takes its place.
Although it forms no part of the present invention it may facilitate the under-
standing of the same to explain that in order to permit the direct forcing of the
fluid, gas or vapour into the timber, the pump is fitted with a piston, built up
of two interfitting and interchangeable parts, and with a corresponding air
chamber and manometer; also the delivery conduit is subdivided into several
arms, each provided with a stop-cock, whereby the pump can work continuously
and the impregnation of several timbers proceed simultaneously. Such pumps
are known and need not further be identified here.
In order to be able to force gas and vapour into the timber the suction tube
of the pump must be in hermetic connection with the gas generating cauldron
or the gas-holder.
Wood, telegraph poles, masts, building-timbers, posts, floor-boards, laths,
pillars, railway-sleepers, and in short all descriptions of timber can be deprived
of the sap, impregnated with any fireproof or other preserving agent and
coloured by means of this apparatus.
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 what
I claim is:-
-
A closing cap for use in impregnating logs and other timber, characterized
by consisting of a disc provided with a central hole and an upright flange con-
taining a sharp-edged ring with or without the addition of packing rings, so
arranged that the cutting edge of the ring is outwards and when in use is
driven into the end of the timber to be treated forming with the flanged disc
the closing means for the said end.
PHILLIPS & LEIGH,
No. 22, Southampton Buildings, Chancery Lane, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.