MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE INSIDE OF CASKS AND PUNCHEONS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Humphrey Roberts, of Plymouth, in the
County of Devon, for the Invention of "MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
CLEANING THE INSIDE OF CASKS AND PUNCHEONS."
Sealed the 20th November 1857, and dated the 23rd May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Humphrey Roberts
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd May 1857.
I, THOMAS HUMPHREY ROBERTS, of Plymouth, in the County of Devon,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "MACHINERY or Appa-
RATUS FOR CLEANING THE INSIDE OF CASKS AND PUNCHEONS," to be as follows (that
is to say):-
My Invention, which has for its object the cleaning of the inside of casks,.
butts, and puncheons by a more simple and expeditious method than hitherto,
without involving the necessity of unheading the said casks, butts, or other-.
wise, consists in the construction and employment of machinery or apparatus
by which the said casks or otherwise are made to revolve, charged with propor-
tionate quantities of hot water and shot, or iron or stone balls, for the purpose
of cleaning them; to effect which object I cause an endless metallic band or
belt to be suspended and receive rotary motion from a revolving drum or.
roller in gear with steam mechanism or other motive power, and horizontally.
mounted upon suitable standard bearings, or fixed to a beam or girder in such

page_text: 'manner as to admit of any size cask or otherwise as aforesaid being placed or
suspended within the said belt, so as to revolve on its bilge, or end over end,
and cause the ends thereof to be as effectually cleaned as the sides.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Humphrey Roberts in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 21st November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HUMPHREY ROBERTS, of Plymouth, in the County of Devon, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Humphrey Roberts, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Humphrey Roberts, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Humphrey Roberts, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter 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 Inven-
tion for "MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CLEANING THE INSIDE OF CASES AND
PUNCHEONS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas
Ilumphrey Roberts, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-
ticularly 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 Thomas Humphrey Roberts, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement, and the Drawings therein referred to (that is to say):
My Invention, which has for its object the cleaning of the inside of casks,
butts, and puncheons by a more simple and expeditious method than hitherto,
without involving the necessity of unheading the said casks, butts, or other-
wise, consists in the construction and employment of machinery' or apparatus
By which the said casks or otherwise are made to revolve, charged with pro-

page_text: portionate quantities: of hot water and shot, or iron or. stone, balls, for the
purpose of cleaning them; to effect which object I cause an endless band or
belt to be suspended. and receive rotatory motion. from a revolving drum or
roller in gear with steam mechanism or other motive power, and horizontally,
mounted upon suitable standard bearings; or fixed to a béani or girder in such
manner as to admit of any sized cask.ör otherwise as aforesaid being placed
or suspended within theisaid belt, so as to revolve on its bilge, or end over end,.
and cause the ends thereof to be as effectually cleaned as the sides. .
31+
.But in order that my said Invention may be more fully understood..and
readily carried into effect, I now.. proceed to. describe it by the aid of the;
accompanying Drawings, reference. being had to the letters and figures.thereon.
marked, that is to say :-
Fig. 1 represents a front elevation of my machinery or apparatus, for clean-
ing the inside of casks and puncheons; Fig. 2, a side elevation thereof; and
Fig. 3, a top or plan view. In each Figure the same. letters of reference denote
similar corresponding parts. A, A, the cask, puncheon, or otherwise, to be
cleaned; B, B, endless band, formed of chains connected together by transverse
tie rods, as in manner shown; C, C, tapering drum, from which the endless
band receives and transmits rotatory motion to the cask; D, D, driving shaft,
firmly keyed and giving motion to the drum; E, E, bracket bearings in which
the said shaft revolves; F and F¹, fast and loose strap wheels or pulleys for
communicating motion from steam machinery or other motive power; G, G,
winch handle for enabling the same to be worked by hand labor when neces-
sary; H, H, metallic stay rods or guides for retaining the band in an uniform
position on the drum; I, I, nuts and bolts for securing the framing J, J, to
the floor or otherwise.
The operation of cleaning the inside of casks, butts, or puncheons is as
follows: I cause the cask, butt, or otherwise, (charged with hot water and
shot, or iron or stone balls, to the proportion of about eight gallons of water
to forty pounds of shot,) to be placed within the chain band, and to revolve by
communicating motion to the drum as aforesaid, during which a handspike,
crook, or other convenient lever may be employed for changing the uniformity
of the revolving motion, whereby the scouring of the cask through the medium
of the shot is more readily effected. Any ordinary cask may be cleaned in
the above manner in about from two to three minutes by being caused to
revolve from fifty to sixty times per minute. When the cask has been suffi-
ciently cleaned, the shot or otherwise may be removed by causing the bung-
hole to be held over a perforated pan or trough, into which the contents are
run out, and placed in any suitable receptacle for further use.

page_text: In conclusion to the foregoing description I would here briefly note, that
any size cask, from a six-gallon barrel to a butt of one hundred and eight-
gallons, may be cleaned without requiring any corresponding re-adjustment of
the machinery.
Having now fully described the nature of this my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed and carried into effect, I would-
have it clearly understood that I do not by any means intend to confine myself
to the precise details herein-before described, as the same might be varied:
without departing from the general principle of this my said Invention; but
that which I do claim as new, and of my said Invention, is, the general mode.
of constructing machinery or apparatus in the manner and for the purposes
herein-before set forth and described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Humphrey Roberts, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eighteenth day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
THOMAS HUMPHREY ROBERTS. (L.S.)