IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FERMENTING SQUARES AND VATS OR TROUGHS USED BY BREWERS
Year: 1875

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Cutler, of Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Glass Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FERMENTING SQUARES AND VATS OR TROUGHS USED
BY BREWERS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Outler at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 18th February 1875.
I, WILLIAM CUTLER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Glass Merchant, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF FERMENTING SQUARES AND VATS OR
TROUGHS USED BY BREWERS," to be as follows, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in constructing the vessels known in the
brewing trade as fermenting squares or barm troughs of wood and glass,
and in so combining or putting together these materials that there may
be no breakage or leakage arising from expansion or contraction of these

page_text: materials under variations of temperature in the liquor. I effect this in
the following manner :-A strong framework of wood consisting of a
sill or sole plate, into which are framed sufficient uprights and rails to
form the bottom, the sides, and ends of the vessel into a series of panels
of any convenient size. I then line this framing with thick plate glass,
bedding each plate butt joint on its neighbour in a composition (by
preference of red lead), white lead, litharge, and hemp to act as a
cushion; each square of glass is then seemed to the wood framing by
taking off the angle of each square, and inserting a small beaded bolt of
gun metal or other metal not acted on by barm, which bolt passing into
the wood framing securely holds the glass up to it. These bolts are not
necessary for the bottom; as the weight of the liquor of course keeps
those plates in position. The result is a vessel completely and closely
lined with thick glass:
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Cutler in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 18th August 1875.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
CUTLER, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Glass Merchant,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Eighteenth day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-five, in the
thirty-eighth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said William Cutler, Her special
license that I, the said William Cutler, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said William Cutler, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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
CONSTRUCTION OF FERMENTING SQUARES AND VATS OR TROUGHS USED BY BREWERS,"

page_text: .
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Cutler,
my executors or administrators, 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 same to be filed in the
Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Cutler, 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
following statement, that is to say :-
This Invention consists in constructing the vessels known in the
brewing trade as fermenting squares, vats, and barm troughs of wood
and glass, and in so combining or putting together these materials that
there may be no breakage or leakage arising from expansion or con-
traction of these materials under variations of temperature in the liquor.
I effect this in the following manner :-I construct a strong framework
of wood consisting of a sill or sole plate, into which are framed sufficient
uprights and rails to form the bottom, the sides, and ends of the vessel,
which are arranged as a series of panels of any convenient size. I then
line this framing with thick plate glass, bedding each plate butt joint on
its neighbour in a composition (by preference) of red lead, white lead,
litharge and hemp, leather, felt, india-rubber, or other suitable material
to act as a cushion. Each square of glass is then secured to the wood
framing by taking off the angle of each square, and inserting a small
headed bolt of gun metal or other metal not acted on by barm, which
bolt passing into the wood framing securely holds the glass up to it.
These bolts are not necessary for the bottom, as the weight of the liquor
of course keeps those plates in position. To face the joints of the glass
plates where they butt upon or up to each other, I use a cement
composed of chloride of zinc and water, and equal parts of zinci-oxide
and ground glass mixed together, and used immediately. The result of
my improvements is a vessel completely and closely lined with thick
glass.

page_text: without confining myself to these precise details, the combination of
wood framing and glass sheets in the construction of fermenting squares,
vats, and troughs used by brewers, arranged and united together substan-
tially in manner as herein more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Cutler, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight húndred and seventy-five.
WILLIAM CUTLER. (L.S.)