IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET METAL CASKS AND KEGS
Year: 1855

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Walter Brown, of 5, Catherine Street, Cornwall Road,
Lambeth, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SHEET METAL CASKS AND KEGS."
Sealed the 28th December 1855, and dated the 11th August 1855.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Walter Brown at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 11th
August 1855.
I, WALTER BROWN, of 5, Catherine Street, Cornwall Road, Lambeth, do
hereby declare the nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF SHEET METAL CASKS AND KEGS" to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of casks or kegs with six
equal sides, when using sheet iron, tin plate, or other sheet metal, and where
such casks or kegs are made with heads, with flanches, by raising the edges
thereof. For this purpose the sheet metal for each cask or keg is bent into
six equal sides, allowing for the joining and lapping of the edges or ends of
the plate used, and such bending is most conveniently performed on a six-
sided block or form, mounted on axes at the ends. The sheet of metal is

page_text: pressed against this block or form by a folding table. When the bending has
been performed, the ends are joined together in a similar manner to that
heretofore resorted to when making cylindrical casks or kegs of sheet metal.
In some cases both heads are fixed, in others only one head; and this is done
by forcing the head or heads into the partly formed six-sided cask with the
flanches of the head outwards, and then the fixing is completed by rivits
passed through the metal of the flanches, and through the metal at the end of
the cask or keg; or the same may be fixed by dipping the end into melted
metal, as has heretofore been performed when fixing heads in cylindrical
casks or kegs, and the moveable head is fixed in like manner to the moveable
heads of cylindrical sheet metal casks or kegs. The sheet metal for the heads
is cut out one from the other with very little waste, as compared with the
making of heads for cylindrical, casks or kegs. The edges of the heads are
raised into flanches by six-sided dies and forcers.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Walter Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on 11th
February 1856.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WALTER
BROWN, of 5, Catherine Street, Cornwall Road, Lambeth, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of August, 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 Walter Brown, Her special licence that I, the said Walter Brown,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Walter Brown, 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET METAL CASKS AND KEGS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Walter Brown, my executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said
Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the

page_text: 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 Walter Brown, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:-
The sheet of metal is
When the bending has
similar manner to that
This Invention has for its object the manufacture of casks or kegs with
six equal sides, when using sheet iron, tin plate, or other sheet metal, and
where such casks or kegs are made with heads, with flanches, by raising the
edges thereof. For this purpose the sheet metal for each cask or keg is bent
into six equal sides, allowing for the joining and lapping of the edges or ends
of the plate used, and such bending is most conveniently performed on a
six-sided block or form mounted on axes at the ends.
pressed against this block or form by a folding table.
been performed, the ends are joined together in a
heretofore resorted to when making cylindrical casks or kegs of sheet metal.
In some cases both heads are fixed, in others only one head; and this is, done
by forcing the head or heads into the partly formed six-sided cask with the
flanches of the head outward, and then the fixing is completed by rivets passed
through the metal of the flanches, and through the metal at the end of the
cask or keg; or the same may be fixed by dipping the end into melted metal, as
has heretofore been performed when fixing heads in cylindrical casks or kegs,
and the moveable head is fixed in like manner to the moveable heads of cylin-
drical sheet metal casks or kegs. The sheet metal for the heads is cut out
one from the other with very little waste, as compared with the making of
heads for cylindrical casks or kegs. The edges of the heads are raised into
flanches by six-sided dies and forcers.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figure 1 shews an end view, and Figure 2 a plan, of the apparatus
employed for bending the sheet iron, tin plate, or other sheet metal; Figure 3
shows one of the casks or kegs complete; Figure 4 shows the two ends
thereof; and Figure 5, a vertical section. In this cask or keg the two ends

page_text: mine the lateral dimension of the cask or keg to be formed; f, f, are clamps'
or holders, which serve to hold the sheet metal firmly during the bending up of
the sides of the cask or keg. The clamps or holders f. f, are so arranged,
that as soon as each bend of the metal is made, the part f¹ thereof comes
in contact with a suitable projection 9, carried by the mandril h, and causes
the clamps or holders f, f, to release the metal, and allow of the part b
of the table descending again into its former position, when the sheet metal
is again fed in against the regulating stop or bar e, and the lever handle i
again placed in position as before, to cause the holders or clamps ƒ to
hold the metal against the stop e. The lever handle i works on a stud or
centre, carried by the regulating bar e, and by means of connecting rods
j, j, and levers k, k, give the requisite motion to the clamps or holders f. f.
The part 6 of the table a, b, is raised on its centres 6', so as to bring the
the catch j³, by acting
sheet metal against the side h¹ of the mandril h, and
as described upon the projection of the mandril h, the metal will be released
as before, and so on, until all its sides are formed and the metal is removed;
and in order that this may be more readily effected; the mandril h is so
mounted in its bearing as to allow of its being raised therein by means of
a lever and treadle acting so as to depress its end h², which is extended for
that purpose, or by any other convenient means. The mandril h is at its other
end kept in position by means of a link m, connected to the mandril h by
means of a pin m³ passing through lugs h³, h³, formed on or affixed to the
mandril h, and the link m is provided with a suitable opening to allow of its
passing over the centre 6 of the mandril h. m² is a handle by which the
link m is moved in or out of position when required.
The sheet metal being thus bent, the edges are to be joined, either by simply
lapping and soldering, as shewn at Figure 6, or as shewn at Figure 7. The
heads or ends of the casks or kegs have their edges turned up into flanges, as
shewn at Figure 8, there being portions cut out at the angles, as shewn at a, a,
in Figure 9, and the flanches at the angles'b are soldered where the edges
somewhat overlap, in order that the heads may be as if formed of solid metal
without cutting out the parts at a, a. The heads thus formed are forced into
the casks or kegs, as shewn, and a hoop c is driven at each of the ends, as is
shewn. The heads or ends, when they have been driven into the ends of the
casks or kegs with their flanges outwards, may be fixed by means of rivets, or
by dipping the flanched ends of the casks or kegs into melted zinc, tin, or
solder, or by those means combined, in like manner to what has before been
the case when making cylindrical casks with flanched ends or heads.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that what I claim is, the
manufacture of casks or kegs each with six equal sides when using sheet
iron, tin plate, or other sheet metal, and when made with flanched heads or
ends, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Walter Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-six.
Witness,
FRED HARRIS.
WALTER BROWN. (L.S.)