Improvements in Apparatus for Making Wooden Casks.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Nov., 1899-Accepted, 6th Jan,, 1900
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Making Wooden Casks.
I, OTTO POLAND, of Giebichenstein, near Halle on the Saal, in the Empire of
Germany, Master Wheelwright, 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 machine for making casks, with staves shaped
in accordanco with the forms of the casks. The essential feature of the invention
is that the employment of pieces of equal width is replaced by staving together
suitably prepared staves with tapering ends, by means of pressing pieces, the
working edges of which correspond with the form of the cask to be produced, the
pressing piece, owing to its being guided in horizontally arranged bearing
rings, oscillating radially in a vertical plane. Machines have already been built,
by means of which the staves are suitably shaped, after having been previously
cut out cylindrically and softened by steaming, and are staved together by means
of "forked shaped" rings corresponding to the form for the cask, and the British
Patent No. 21333 of 1893 describes a machine for carrying out that process.
In opposition to these publications, it should be mentioned, as already stated,
in the introduction to the specification, that the distinguishing feature of the
present application consists in, not using pieces of equal width, but, in staving
together suitably prepared staves, with tapering ends, by means of suitably fitting
pressing pieces, which are attached to two contrically arranged and mutually
actuated rings.
An arrangement is known which, at first sight, appears to resemble that
mentioned above, and in which an apparatus is shewn, with which the stave is
worked over a form or pattern-plate, by means of an oscillating motion of the
pressing piece. With this apparatus, the machine now in question is so far
alike that, in consequence of the oscillating motion of the pressing pieces, every
part of the surface of the stave is acted upon, the difference between the two
arrangements being that, in the present invention, the form or pattern plate is
dispensed with, the line of contact of the pressing pieces, corresponding in form
to the shape of the cask.
In the accompanying drawing, the novel apparatus is shown in four different
figures.
!
Fig. 1, being a longitudinal section of the machine in the position in which the
staves have already received the desired form.
Fig. 2, a plan view of Fig. 1.
Fig. 3, a partial section, shewing the machine at the moment, when the straight
staves are adjusted in the machine for the purpose of being pressed.
Fig. 4, is a view showing details of the table on which the staves are adjusted
in the machine.
The actual machine consists of a foot-plate a with vertical side supports b.
On those supports a circular ring o of round-iron or the like, is seated. Suitably
shaped pressing pieces are pivoted on the ring in such a manner that the

page_text: several pressing-piecos radiate inwards. On the under surfaces of the pressing
pieces d, guide pieces e are provided, which are preferably formed of two blocks,
over which a piece of flat or hoop-iron or the like is laid. In these guide-pieces
a circular ring f is seated, also made of round iron. This ring supports stays g,
the free ends of which are fixed in a plate h, which may be of circular or similar
shape. Through the middle of the plate h runs the lifting-rod i, of a lifting-jack.
On this rod a narrow board is arranged in the manner of a hinge-joint, its
purpose being to retain in a horizontal position the staves placed on the plate /,
Eo that the staves are prevented from moving upwards.
The action of the machine is as follows:-
The staves l, which are to be bent, are placed with their lower ends on the
plate h, in a ring m, the circumference of which corresponds with the lower
part of the cask to be constructed, after the plate h has been raised by means of
tho lifting-rod i, so that the ring has passed through the ring e and is above
the same. By this motion, also, the pressing-pieces are raised through the
medium of the ring f. The suitably shaped staves are laid against the
pressing-pieces d and the plate h drawn downwards by means of the lifting-rod i
and the horizontally lying board k. The pressing-pieces press the several staves
into the desired form. The machine is so arranged that the upper ends of the
staves, after the pressing has been effected, remain free so far that a ring can be
pushed over them, which, after the pressing pieces have been released, hold
the staves together. When the ring has been pushed over the board k is
flapped" into the vertical position, and after the plate h has been pressed
upwards again by means of the lifting-rod i, the cask can be removed from the
machine. Before being placed in the machine, the staves are treated in the
usual manner, with steam, or the like, in order that they may receive the form to
be given to them permanently.
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;-
An improved machine for making casks, with staves shaped correspondingly
to the form of the cask, the distinguishing feature of which, is that a number
of pressing-pieces, the pressing surfaces of which correspond to the form to be
given to the staves, are pivoted so as to move radially in a circular ring, and
furnished on their under-surfaces with guide-pieces, in which a ring is seated,
which is fixed in a plate by means of stays or the like, through which plate the
lifting-rod of a lifting jack is guided, a narrow board being attached to the upper
end of such rod in the manner of a hinge-joint, so that the staves, which are at
first straight, after being adjusted on the plate, in a fixed ring, corresponding
in shape to the form to be given to the lower end of the cask, are brought to
the desired shape by the mutual action of the two rings, with which the pressing
pieces are connected, substantially as shewn and described.
2. An arrangement in connection with the machine claimed under Claim 1,
the distinguishing feature of which is the attachment of a narrow board, in the
fashion of a hinge-joint, to the lifting-rod of the lifting-jack, the staves being
secured against rising upon the inner ring being drawn through the outer one,
and after the "flapping" of the board, the cask can be removed from the machine,
substantially as shewn and described.