A METHOD FOR MAKING OR MANUFACTURING OF CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS BY IMPROVED MACHINERY, WHICH SAID MACHINERY IS APPLICABLE TO OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES
Year: 1811

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
PLASKETT, of Garlick Hill, in the City of London, Stave Merchant, and
SAMUEL BROWN, of Norfolk Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
Cooper, send grecting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of March,
in the fifty-first year of His reign, give and grant unto us, the said John
Plaskett and Samuel Brown, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John Plaskett
and Samuel Brown, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our
Invention of "A METHOD FOR MAKING OR MANUFACTURING OF CASKS AND OTHER
VESSELS BY IMPROVED MACHINERY, WHICH SAID MACHINERY IS APPLICABLE TO
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging us, the said John Plaskett and Samuel Brown, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us, to cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months of the date of
the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being there-
unto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Plaskett and Samuel Brown, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
particularly described and ascertained as follows (that is to say):-
Firstly, we do saw out the planking for the staves of casks in the usual
manner, or otherwise we do make use of a circular saw for that purpose, and
we do cut the said staves or pieces into fit or suitable lengths for making the
intended casks.
Secondly, we do provide machinery for cutting the edges of the said
staves either strait or curved, according to the figure of the cask intended
And the
to be made, which may be cylindrical, or conical, or spheroidal.
said machinery doth consist of a strong bench, having a board or platform
to be slided or moved endwise thereon; and upon the said board there is
placed another piece, capable of being slided crossways, which last-mentioned
piece hath a recess or hollowed part, into which the stave board may be laid,
so that one edge of the said stave board may and shall project clear beyond
the edge of the board or platform first mentioned. And we do regulate the
distance of such projection of the stave board by moving the piece before de-
scribed as being capable of sliding crosswise. And in order that the quantity of
the last-mentioned cross motion may be duly and readily affected and adjusted,
we do govern the same by a couple of racks and pinions, or by snail work and
an handle, or by joints similar to those commonly used in parallel rulers. And,
farther, we do fix above and beneath the said bench a circular saw, revolv-
ing on an axis nearly at right angles to the direction in which the first-
mentioned board or platform can be slided or moved, as aforesaid, and opposed
to the course or direction of the said motion of the projecting part of the said
stave board, and the said circular saw is to be made flat when straight-edged
staves are to be cut, and to be made of a dish or globular figure, to coincide
and agree (or nearly so, with the circular or curve line when curve-edged
staves are intended to be cut. And, moreover, with regard to the sliding or
moving endwise of the said board or platform first mentioned, we do perform
the same, either in right lines (and in that case the said board or platform
hath its motion confined between strait sliders or grooves, or else we do perform
the same in circular or curved lines, and in that case the said board or platform
bath its motion confined by circular or curved sliders or grooves); or, otherwise,
instead of sliders or grooves, we do make use of wires or rods, or surfaces
moving against pins, according to any of the numerous and well-known methods
And in order to
for producing straight lines or curved motions in machinery.
cut the edges of the said staves, we do place the stave board as herein-before

page_text: described, and slide the same onwards by the means aforesaid, so as to come
up to and pass the edge of the saw which is to be then in motion, and will cut
the intended line along the edge of the stave, so as to give a duly sloped face
to the said edge, suitable for constructing a cask. And in the said operation
care must be taken in turning the stave edge for edge, that the same surface
of the stave board shall in both cases be downwards.
Thirdly, we do make use of machinery for cutting the nose or projecting
part in the bung stave of small casks, called bottles, which machinery doth con-
sist of a flat or a concave circular saw, to be employed for cutting the face of
the stave close up to the said nose or projecting part accordingly as the said
face is required to be flat or curved, in which last case the said stave must be
moved upon a convex or slightly spherical bed; and the said machinery doth
also consist of another circular saw, duly placed on it arbor, to revolve nearly
at right angles to the plane of the other circular saw, and to be employed in
making the cut close to the said nose or projecting part, and after the two
faces on each side of the nose have been duly so formed, we do perforate the
bung hole by means of a bit, which we fix at the opposite end of the arbor
belonging to the last-mentioned circular saw.
Fourthly, we do set or put up the said staves so as to form a cask in the
usual manner, connected by truss hoops.
Fifthly, we do fix the said cask in a stout flat piece of wood, or other fit
material, called the chuck, having a circular bole therein, of a proper size to fit
and be driven upon the end of the said cask, and the chuck in this situation
retains the cask firmly, having the axis thereof concentric with the chuck and
at right angles to the flat face of the same.
Sixthly, we do construct cylindrical cage or hollow implement of sufficient
size and strength to hold a cask therein, and we do firmly fix the said cage
upon a strong upright arbor revolving between collars, and serving the oflice
of the mandril of a lathe; and the upper part or edge of the said cage is
turned true and fair, and two studs or pins project therefrom, which are fitted
and adapted to two holes in the face of the before-described chuck, so that
when the chuck is duly placed with the said pins in the holes thereof, the face
of the chuck shall fairly apply to the face of the cage and the axis of the cask,
which will then be in the cage (no otherwise supported than by the chuck
itself), will be in the same line with the axis of the arbor; in this situation wo
turn and finish the chime and groove for receiving the head by the application
of a turning tool or tools, duly fashioned for that purpose at the edge or cutting
part thereof; and we do make use of a rest for the tool upon or by the same
principle or mode of operation as is used or adopted in other processes of turu-

page_text: ing; and, moreover, in finishing the chimes of small casks, we do chuck,
suspend, or support the same, where needful or to be preferred, by an arbor
and cage, or hollow implement revolving round an horizontal line or axis,
instead a vertical one.
Seventhly, we do construct and make the heads of my casks out of pieces
wherein the holes for receiving the pegs or pins are bored by a bit or piercer
proceeding from a maundril, and the said pieces of wood are brought up to the
said bit or piercer upon a bearing or gage piece, by which the distances of
each of the said holes from the face of the board and from each other are
correctly regulated, and we do pin the head together as usual.
Eighthly, we do place the said head, pinned together upon a flat revolving
table or piece, having small points proceeding therefrom, and we do secure the
same in its place by the counter pressure of another flat piece which is to be
screwed against it, but so held on its centre as to be capable of freely revolving,
and in this situation we do apply any fit tool or tools to turn and shape the
circumference of the said head to its proper size and figure.
Ninthly, we do put the cask, when entirely connected together with the
heads in their places, between the centres of machinery of the nature of a
strong lathe, and for this purpose we do stick a small steel centre piece in the
middle of one of the heads for the purpose of receiving the centre from the
movable poppet head or piece serving that purpose; and we do also apply
against the other head another stout piece of wood or other material to fit into
the chime and attach itself to the head by points; and in the centre of the said
stout piece we do fix a steel piece to receive or be applied to the center or
point proceeding from the nose of the mandril; and I do connect the said
mandril with the said stout piece, so that the cask may be carried round in
turning by a throw chuck and log, or by a projecting piece and pin, or any
other contrivance well known to turners, and unto the said lathe we do fix a
bar or rod or wire, to serve partly in the manner of a rest to this bar or rod
or wire; we do apply, annex, or append, by a sufficiently long arm or arms,
a spoke-shave or other fit instrument, and we do apply the said spoke-shave
or instrument to the surface of the cask, and do thereby finish and complete
the same.
Tenthly, we do bend wooden hoops in a mere complete and expeditious
manner by applying the same in such a manner as to fasten one extremity
thereof to the surface of a wheel, which, being turned round and the remaining
part of the hoop pressed against the circumference thereof of the hoops,
receives the regular bend with great correctness and expedition.
And, lastly, we do declare that in giving motion to all the said machinery,

page_text: and in constructing, connecting, and using the same, we do avail ourselves of
the usual first movers or powers, and such millwork and other mechanical con-
nections as the local circumstances and purposes to be obtained shall or may
require; but that the same not being peculiar to our said Invention, but
common and necessary to all operative processes, and well known to all com-
petent workmen, we do not consider it as incumbent upon us to point out or
describe any of the said powers, works, and connexions.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Plaskett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eleven.
Inrolled the Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eleven.

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JoпN
PLASKETT, of Garlick Hill, in the City of London, Stave Merchant, and
SAMUEL BROWN, of Norfolk Street, Southwark, in the County of Surrey,
Cooper, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Third did, by
His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixth day of March,
in the fifty-first year of His reign, give and grant unto us, the said John
Plaskett and Samuel Brown, our exors, adЛiors, and assigns, His especial
licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that we, the said John Plaskett
and Samuel Brown, our exors, adñiors, and assigns, during the term of
years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our
Invention of "A METHOD FOR MAKING OR MANUFACTURING OF CASES AND OTHER
VESSELS BY IMPROVED MACHINERY, WHICH SAID MACHINERY IS APPLICABLE TO
OTHER USEFUL PURPOSES;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a
proviso, obliging us, the said John Plaskett and Samuel Brown, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one
of us, to cause a particular description of the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled in His
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months of the date of
the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, relation being there-
unto had, may more fully and at large appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the said
John Plaskett and Samuel Brown, do hereby declare that the nature of our
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, arc
particularly described and ascertained as follows (that is to say):-
Firstly, we do saw out the planking for the staves of casks in the usual
manner, or otherwise we do make use of a circular saw for that purpose, and
we do cut the said staves or picces into fit or suitable lengths for making the
intended casks.
Secondly, we do provide machinery for cutting the edges of the said
staves either strait or curved, according to the figure of the cask intended
to be made, which may be cylindrical, or conical, or spheroidal. And the
said machinery doth consist of a strong bench, having a board or platform
to be slided or noved endwise thereon; and upon the said board there is
placed another piece, capable of being slided crossways, which last-mentioned
piece hath a recess or hollowed part, into which the stave board may be laid,
so that one edge of the said stave board may and shall project clear beyond
the edge of the board or platform first mentioned. . And we do regulate the
distance of such projection of the stave board by moving the piece before de-
scribed as being capable of sliding crosswise. And in order that the quantity of
the last-mentioned cross motion may be duly and readily affected and adjusted,
we do govern the same by a couple of racks and pinions, or by snail work and
an handle, or by joints similar to those commonly used in parallel rulers. And,
farther, we do fix above and beneath the said bench a circular saw, revolv-
ing on an axis nearly at right angles to the direction in which the first-
mentioned board or platform can be slided or moved, as aforesaid, and opposed
to the course or direction of the said motion of the projecting part of the said
stave board, and the said circular saw is to be made flat when straight-edged
staves are to be cut, and to be made of a dish or globular figure, to coincide
and agree (or nearly so, with the circular or curve line when curve-edged
staves are intended to be cut. And, moreover, with regard to the sliding or
-moving endwise of the said board or platform first mentioned, we do perform
the same, either in right lines (and in that case the said board or platform
bath its motion confined between strait sliders or grooves, or else we do perform
the same in circular or curved lines, and in that case the said board or platform
bath its motion confined by circular or curved sliders or grooves); or, otherwise,
instead of sliders or grooves, we do make use of wires or rods, or surfaces
moving against pins, according to any of the numerous and well-known methods
for producing straight lines or curved motions in machinery. And in order to
cut the edges of the said staves, we do place the stave board as herein-before

page_text: described, and slide the same onwards by the means aforesaid, so as to come
up to and pass the edge of the saw which is to be then in motion, and will cut
the intended line along the edge of the stave, so.as to give a duly sloped face
to the said edge, suitable for constructing a cask. And in the said operation
care must be taken in turning the stave edge for edge, that the same surface
of the stave board shall in both cases be downwards..
Thirdly, we do make use of machinery for cutting the nose or projecting
part in the bung stave of sinal casks, called bottles, which machinery doth con-
sist of a flat or a concave circular saw, to be employed for cutting the face of
the stave close up to the said nose or projecting part accordingly as the said.
face is required to be flat or curved, in which last case the said stave must be
moved upon a convex or slightly spherical bed; and the said machinery doth
also consist of another circular saw, duly placed on it arbor, to revolve nearly
at right angles to the plane of the other circular saw, and to be employed in
making the cut close to the said nose or projecting part, and after the two
faces on each side of the nose have been duly so formed, we do perforate the
bung hole by means of a bit, which we fix at the opposite end of the arbor
belonging to the last-mentioned circular saw.
Fourthly, we do set or put up the said staves so as to form a cask in the
usual manner, connected by truss hoops.
7
Fifthly, we do fix the said cask in a stout flat piece of wood, or other fit
material, called the chuck, having a circular hole therein, of a proper size to fit
and be driven upon the end of the said cask, and the chuck in this situation
retains the cask firmly, having the axis thereof concentric with the chuck and
at right angles to the flat face of the same.
.:
Sixthly, we do construct cylindrical cage or hollow implement of sufficient
size and strength to hold a cask therein, and we do firmly fix the said cage.
upon a strong upright arbor revolving between collars, and serving the office.
of the mandril of a lathe; and the upper part or edge of the said cage is
turned true and fair, and two studs or pins project therefrom, which are fitted.
and adapted to two boles in the face of the before-described chuck, so that,
when the chuck is duly placed with the said pins in the holes thereof, the face.
of the chuck shall fairly apply to the face of the cage and the axis of the cask,.
which will then be in the cage (no otherwise supported than by the chuck
itself), will be in the same line with the axis of the arbor; in this situation we.
turn and finish the chime and groove for receiving the head by the application,
of a turning tool or tools, duly fashioned for that purpose at the edge or cutting
part thereof; and we do make use of a rest for the tool upon or by the same:
principle or mode of operation as is used or adopted in other processes of turn-

page_text: ing and, moreover, in finishing the chimes of small casks, we do chuck,
suspend, or support the same, where needful or to be preferred, by an arbor
and cage, or hollow implement revolving round an horizontal line or axis,
instead a vertical one.
Seventhly, we do construct and make the heads of my casks out of pieces
wherein the holes for receiving the pegs or pins are bored by a bit or piercer
proceeding from a inaundril, and the said pieces of wood are brought up to the
said it or piercer upon a bearing or gage piece, by which the distances of
cach of the said holes from the face of the board and from each other are
correctly regulated, and we do pin the head together as usual.
Eighthly, we do place the said bead, pinned together upon a flat revolving
table or piece, having small points proceeding therefrom, and we do secure the
same in its place by the counter pressure of another flat piece which is to be
screwed against it, but so held on its centre as to be capable of freely revolving,
ond in this situation we do apply any fit tool or tools to turn and shape the
circumference of the said head to its proper size and figure.
Ninthly, we do put the cask, when entirely connected together with the
heads in their places, between the centres of machinery of the nature of a
strong lathe, and for this purpose we do stick a small steel centre piece in the
middle of one of the beads for the purpose of receiving the centre from the
movable poppet head or piece serving that purpose; and we do also apply
against the other head another stout piece of wood or other material to fit into
the chime and attach itself to the head by points; and in the centre of the said
stout piece we do fix a steel piece to receive or be applied to the center or
point proceeding from the nose of the mandril; and I do connect the said
mandril with the said stout piece, so that the cask may be carried round in
turning by a throw chuck and dog, or by a projecting piece and pin, or any
other contrivance well known to turners, and unto the said lathe we do fix a
bar or rod or wire, to serve partly in the manner of a rest to this bar or rod
or wire; we do apply, annex, or append, by a sufficiently long arm or arms,
a spoke-shave or other fit instrument, and we do apply the said spoke-shave
or instrument to the surface of the cask, and do thereby finish and complete
the same.
Tenthly, we do bend wooden hoops in a more complete and expeditious
manner by applying the same in such a manner as to fasten one extremity
thereof to the surface of a wheel, which, being turned round and the remaining
part of the hoop pressed against the circumference thereof of the hoops,
receives the regular bend with great correctness and expedition.
And, lastly, we do declare that in giving motion to all the said machinery,

page_text: and in constructing, connecting, and using the same, we do avail ourselves of
the usual first movers or powers, and such millwork and other mechanical con-
nections as the local circumstances and purposes to be obtained shall or may
require; but that the same not being peculiar to our said Invention, but
common and necessary to all operative processes, and well known to all com-
petent workinen, we do not consider it as incumbent upon us to point out or
describe any of the said powers, works, and connexions.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Plaskett, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and eleven.
Inrolled the Fifth day of September, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eleven.