Improvements in Machinery for Hooping Casks, Barrels, and the like.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 29th Nov., 1897-Accepted, 19th Feb., 1898
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Machinery for Hooping Casks, Barrels, and the like.
I, JOHANN ANTHON, of Flensburg, in the German Empire, Manufacturer, 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 follow-
ing statement:-
-
The object of my invention is to effect improvements in machinery for hooping
casks, barrels and the like (all hereinafter intended to be included in the word
casks").
My invention is chiefly intended to he used in re-hooping old casks, that is to say,
casks already in use. Therefore it will be used principally in such business, where
the same casks have been a long time in use, in breweries, petroleum-refineries,
distilleries, cooperages, etc. Its greatest employment will probably be in breweries
where the casks are often re-used, the hoops must therefore be re-driven before
every new filling; a work, till now done by hand and therefore very expensive.
And in order that my said invention may be particularly described and
ascertained, reference is hereby made to the accompanying drawings, in which
similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts.
Fig. 1 is an elevation of the machine, partly in section.
Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of the upper part of Fig. 1, also partly in section,
the springs 26 being omitted.
Fig. 3 is a plan view of the upper disc shown in Fig. 2.
Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation, showing another method of fitting and actuating
the driver arms 6.
Fig. 5 is a plan view of the upper disc shown in Fig. 4.
Figs. 6 and 7 illustrate the method of working the machine by double action,
applied to an ordinary cask.
Fig. 10 shows the method of applying the machine to one end only of the cask
(single acting), and Figs. 8, 9, 11, 12, 13 and 14 are detail drawings explanatory
of this application of the machine.
Referring to Fig. 1-1, 1, are two columns of forged iron, fitted with cast iron
cross-heads 2 and 3, as shown, together forming the frame of the machine. The
lower cross-head 2 supports the hydraulic cylinder 4, the plunger of which carries
the table 5. The circular table or plate 5 is fitted with driver arms 6, pivoted at 7,
and arranged in a circle, the upper ends of the arms being fitted with steel claws
to engage the barrel hoops. The upper cross-head 3 is similarly fitted with a
circular table carrying pivoted driver arms 6 in an inverted position. The arms G
are fitted with springs 12 which press them towards the cask and ensure the
contact of the claws with the cask hoops. The pivoted ends 7 of the arms & are
fitted to sliding shoes 8 which are held in radial slots formed in the tables, in
such a manner that they may be arranged to a radial distance suited to the
diameter of the cask to be operated upon. Fig. 2 shows the fittings of the upper
able, drawn to a larger scale.
Two methods of adjusting the pivoted ends of the driver arms to suit the
liameter of the cask are shown. One method consists in fitting a pivoted plate 10,

page_text: as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. This plate has a number of curved slots 11 in which
the pins 9 of the sliding shoes S engage. The outer edge of the plate 10 is
formed with teeth in which a toothed pinion 18 engages, and whereby the plate 10
can be rotated. Each shoe 8 has a pin 9 fitting loosely in one of the curved slots
of the plate 10. By turning the plate 10, by means of the pinion 18, to the right
or left, the shoes 8 can be readily adjusted to the required diameter.
The other method of operating the arms 6 is shown in sectional elevation in
Fig. 4, and in plan in Fig. 5. Each of the shoes 8 is fixed in its radial position
separately by hand by means of bolts and nuts 13. Consequently the arms can be
readily adjusted to suit an elliptical cask. In this arrangement the arms are
provided with cross-heads; one end of each cross-head is fitted with a weight 17
which presses the steel claws of the upper series of arms inwards towards the cask.
The other end of the cross-head 14 impinges against a plate 16 which is free to
slide upon the bolt 15. The arms 6, by means of the levers 14, press the plate 16
upwards, the arms 6 being then capable of approaching the cask; and, on lowering
the plate 16, the arms Care disengaged from the hoops of the cask. This method
of operating the arms is specially applicable to elliptical casks, and casks which
have become mis-shapen in use.
In order to regulate the position of the lower arms simultaneously with the
upper arms, a vertical shaft 19 is provided, the upper and lower ends of which are
fitted with toothed pinions 18, and with an intermediate hand-wheel 20, as shown
in Figs. 1, and 3.
The plate 16 (Figs. 4 and 5) is regulated by means of an eccentric 21 fast on the
end of a spindle 23 actuated by hevel gear 22 in connection with the vertical
shaft 19.
The cask to be operated upon is placed between the two plates 24 and 25, as
shown in Fig. 1. These plates are made to slide vertically upon the columns 1, 1.
Springs 26 press the plates towards each other, the distance apart being regulated
by bolts and nuts 27.
When the plunger 28 is caused to rise, the cask is clamped between the plates 24
and 25, the springs 26 being compressed The steel claws at the ends of the arms fi
seize the hoops of the cask and drive them home.
It sometimes happens that the hoops of the upper and lower portions of the cask
are at various distances from the ends of the cask; or one of such hoops may be
entirely omitted at or near one end. In such cases the driver arms which first
seized a hoop will operate upon the cask until the opposite arms meet with a
hoop, as shown in Fig. 7.
What I term double-acting hooping, as shown in Figs. 6 and 7, is only applicable
in cases where the hoops of a cask are parallel or nearly so. But, when the hoops
are far from parallel, it is impossible to drive on two hoops at the same time, for
the following reason:-
If the cask rests on the nozzle hoop, and that is seized by the lower claws, and
this hoop is diagonal to the cask, the latter will not be in a vertical position, and
the corresponding hoop at the upper end of the cask would be driven irregularly,
the claws not being capable of gripping the hoop all round. I have therefore
devised means for converting the double-acting machine into single-acting by
simply fixing the lower arms out of action and utilising the upper series of arms
only, as shown in Fig. 10. For this purpose I prevent the lower arms passing
through the plate 25 by means of bolts or wedges, thus causing the plate 25 to
rest upon the ends of the arms 6, as shown in Figs. 8 and 9: Fig. 8 showing the
arms free to pass through the slots in the plate 25, and Fig. 9 showing them hel
back. 29 is a plate pivoted to the arm 6. In Fig. 8 it is shown in a vertical
position, the arm being unlocked, and in Fig. 9 the plate 29 is turned across the
slot and the arm is locked. Another method of locking the arms 6 is shown in
Figs. 11, 12 and 13, in which a number of radial gab-levers 30, centred on the
plate 25, are caused to lock the arms by a partial rotation, as shown. At the same
time the radial gear attached to the lower series of arms 6 is disconnected either

page_text: by withdrawing the key of the lower toothed pinion 18, or by disconnecting a
coupling, as shown in Fig. 14.
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:-
1. In a cask hooping machine the combination of driver arms 6 pivoted to shoes S
radially adjustable in slots for casks of different diameters the positions of the
shoes in the slots being governed by the partial rotation of a disc, while the pressure
of the driver arms against the cask is effected by means of springs 12, substantially
as herein before described.
2. In a cask hooping machine the combination with radially adjustable driver
arms 6, pivoted to shoes S arranged in slots and adaptable to casks of various
diameters and forms by separately adjusting each shoe in its slot to suit the required
position levers 14 operating upon a plate 16 loosely fitted to a bolt 15 while at
the same time the pressure of the driver-arms is effected by means of weights 17
substantially as described.
3. In a cask hooping machine the combination with the plates 24 and 25 for
placing the cask in position, of springs 26 elastically applied to the plates carrying
the driver-arms, and which, without leaving the cask, allow a considerable axial
motion thereof.
4. In a cask hooping machine the combination of an elastic connection of the
lower table with the plunger, and the means for converting this elastic connection
iuto a rigid connection, by preventing the driver-arms from passing through the
lower plate, by placing wedges or pins in the driver armas, or by moveable bolts.
or by a moveable disc with projecting gab-levers engaging the driver-arms, by
which arrangements the driver-arms are caused to lift the plate instead of passing
through it, substantially as herein before described.
5. In a cask hooping machine the combination of a lower set of driver-arms,
which by putting the lower intermediate wheel out of work, or by disconnecting
the clutch coupling, connecting the two parts of the shaft, can be thrown out of
operation, thereby preventing the radial movement of the lower arms, substantially
as hereinbefore described.
Dated 29th November 1897