CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN TANKS, VATS, OR VESSELS TO BE USED FOR HOLDING, KEEPING, OR STORING OF MALT LIQUORS, WINES, SPIRITS, AND OTHER LIQUIDS FOR HUMAN CON- SUMPTION
Year: 1860

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Thomas Marshall Downing at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
26th July 1860.
I, THOMAS MARSHALL DOWNING, Engineer, of Handsworth, in the County
of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN TANKS, VATS, OR VESSELS TO BE USED FOR HOLDING, KEEPING, OR
STORING OF MALT LIQUORS, WINES, SPIRITS, AND OTHER LIQUIDS FOR HUMAN CON-
SUMPTION," to be as follows (that is to say):-
My improvements in tanks, vats, and vessels for the purposes above named
consist in constructing them of plain or bent plate glass, smooth or rough, as
may be desired, the glass being of any desired thickness and size, according to
the capacity of the vessel I wish to build, and which I purpose constructing
generally of the form of a parallelogram or parallelopiped, according to position
in which they may be desired to be placed, the sides, ends, or bottoms of
which being of one or more plates or pieces of glass as convenient, a close
joint being obtained by means of vulcanized india-rubber, cement, or any
other soft elastic or plastic material calculated to resist the action of the fluids
or liquids to be confined within, such cement being used uniformly through all
the butt and lap joints necessary in constructing vessels or tanks of this
material, which I purpose holding together by suitable angle supports or
otherwise, and further securing them by bolts and rods, which will equally
distribute and press the cement or other material used in the joints, so as to
render them perfectly secure; and for this purpose I believe that a cement

page_text: made of gutta percha and pitch mixed and rendered fluid by heat and at a
proper temperature suitably applied will answer well. Instead of using angle
supports, as before stated, an outer wood or other suitable frame or case may
be applied over the glass, the tension necessary for holding the glass plates
together at the joints being applied in or outside the same, so as to bind the
whole together. This plan would be highly essential in constructing large tanks
or vessels to enable the glass to resist the hydrostatic pressure within. And
in some cases additional support may be obtained by using tension rods suitably
applied through on the inside, and secured to additional ledges or clamps on
the outside. The covers for such kind of vessels I purpose making also of
glass, galvanized iron, wood, or other suitable material so fitted and held down
so as to make this part perfectly air-tight by suitable bolts, screws, or other
In constructing vessels of this material a small portion of the glass
vertically may be exposed and divided as a scale, or a scale may be placed on
the outside, so as to exhibit and indicate the state or amount of its liquid
contents, which may be convenient or desirable for some purposes. And in
drawing off liquids from vessels of this kind, I purpose effecting it by applying
'a metal union flange passed through a hole in the glass and the outer casing
any
suitable position; and to this collar I attach, by screwing or otherwise,
any suitable constructed tap, or other means may be applied according to
circumstances.
in