IMPROVEMENTS IN BENDING OR SHAPING IRON HOOPS FOR CASKS.
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Reilly, of Essex Bridge, Dublin, Cooper, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN BENDING OR SHAPING IRON HOOPS FOR
CASKS."..
Sealed the 19th October 1855, and dated the 18th July 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Reilly at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 18th July
1855.
I, JAMES REILLY, of Essex Bridge, Dublin, Cooper, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BENDING OR SHAPING IRON
HOOPS FOR CASKS" to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in substituting for the present mode of shaping or
adapting iron hoops to their required form by hammering them on the cask,
a mode of rolling them in a cold state in such a manner as to stretch the
under side of the same, and give them a curve adapted to the form of the cask
to which they are intended to be afterwards applied.
The machine for the purpose consists of three rollers, grooved to the required
depth, suitably mounted in a frame, and driven by suitable toothed gear so
arranged as to draw the iron through the rollers when it is introduced between
them. The rollers are arranged so that one upper roller may be raised or
lowered and adjusted by means of a screw, so as to exert the required degree
of pressure upon the upper side of the length of iron intended to form the
hoop as it passes between such upper roller and the two lower stationary
rollers, thereby spreading out the lower side and forming the curve required to

page_text: fit the cask. By this means a considerable number of hoops may be operated
upon, so as to produce this preparatory bending simultaneously. If a number
of hoops clasped in ends so as to form a strong compact body were put in the
machine, I think in that particular case the grooves would not be required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Reilly in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th November 1855.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
REILLY, of Essex Bridge, Dublin, Cooper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-five, in the nineteenth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said James Reilly, Her special licence that I, the said James Reilly, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Reilly, 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 Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN BENDING OR
SHAPING IRON HOOPS FOR CASKS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said James Reilly, by an instrument in writing under my band and seal,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent:"
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Reilly, 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,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and
figures marked thereon (that is to say)
My Invention of "Improvements in Bending or Shaping Iron Hoops for
Casks" consists in substituting for the present mode of shaping or adapting
iron hoops to their required form by hammering them on the cask, a mode of
rolling them in a cold state in such a manner as to stretch the under side

page_text: of the same, and give them a curve adapted to the form of the cask to which
they are intended to be afterwards applied.
The machine for the purpose consists of three rollers, grooved to the required
depth, suitably mounted in a frame, and driven by suitable toothed gear so
arranged as to draw the iron through the rollers when it is introduced between
them. The rollers are arranged so that one upper roller may be raised or
lowered and adjusted by means of a screw, so as to exert the required degree
of pressure upon the upper side of the length of iron intended to form the
hoop as it passes between such upper roller and the two lower stationary rollers,
thereby spreading out the lower side and forming the curve required to fit the
cask. By this means a considerable number of hoops may be operated upon,
so as to produce this preparatory bending simultaneously. If a number of
hoops clasped at their ends so as to form a strong compact body were put in
the machine, I think in that particular case the grooves would not be required.
In order, however, that my Invention may be fully understood, I will pro-
ceed to describe it more particularly by the aid of the accompanying Drawing,
in which is represented the mechanism above referred to.
Figures 1 and 2 are side and end elevations of the machine, and Fig. 3 is a
plan or horizontal view of the same. In these several Figures the same letters
of reference indicate corresponding parts. A is the framework or standards of
the machine; B is the pinion on the driving shaft, which pinion gears with
the wheel C. The shaft of this wheel C extends to the other side of the
machine, and carries at its other end the pinion D, which gears with the two
wheels E and F on the axes of the rollers G and H, which latter, receiving
their motion from the same pinion D, through their respective wheels E and. |
F, will be made to revolve in the same direction. I, I, are two intermediate
wheels, by which motion is transmitted from the wheel F to the wheel K on
the axis of the upper roller L. This roller is adjusted so as to produce the
required degree of pressure upon the upper edge of the hoop as it is passed
through the rollers. M is a vertical screw, worked by a hand wheel N, by
means of which the end of the lever O may be raised or lowered, and cause the
requisite adjustment of the roller L, through the action of the cam P, mounted
on the fulcrum of the said lever; Q is a graduated sector, fixed to the frame of
the machine, by means of which the indicator R on the lever O may be made
to indicate the position of the lever and cam to suit the curve required to be
given to the hoop, the sector Q being graduated for curves required to corre-
spond with the different swells of various casks; S is a spiral spring, which, by
acting upon the under side of the bearings of the roller L, keeps the roller in
contact with the cam P; T is a lever, having its fulcrum at T*, which carries

page_text: at its end a punch U, and being worked at its reverse end by means of a
crank or an excentric on the shaft of the pinion D, is made to punch the hoops
as required; Y shews the hoops passing through the rollers..
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The straight piece of iron
intended to form the hoop is placed so as to rest on its edge in the grooves of
the two lower or bearing rollers G and H, which are separated from each
other; and the upper or pressing roller L being adjusted to its required position
by means of the screw M and lever 'O, as the iron is passed through the three
rollers, it will become pressed on the upper edge, so as to stretch the under
side, and give to the intended hoop the required curve to suit the cask. A
number of such intended hoops are then placed on their flat side, on the top of
each other, and passed through the rollers, as represented at Fig. 4, when
they become circular,, and are of the form required to fit the cask.
I would here remark that rollers of various sizes and with various depths of
grooves may be used, and they may be worked by means of different mechanism
from that shewn and described; also, in some cases, rollers without grooves
may be used; also, the punching apparatus above described may be dispensed
with..
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would have it understood that I do not
intend to confine myself to the precise forms of the parts shewn and described;
neither do I claim as of my Invention any of such parts except when used in
combination for the purpose described; but what I do claim as of my Inven-
tion is, the bending or shaping of iron hoops to the form of the cask by means
of rollers in substitution for hand labour, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Reilly, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, the 23rd day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-five.
Witness,
PETER KUGAN,
55, Bridgefoot St.,
Millwright & Engineer.
JAMES REILLY... (L.S.)