Improvements in Caulking Tools.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Feb., 1893-Accepted, 24th June, 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Caulking Tools.
We, JOSEPH OCTAVIUS WALTON, Gentleman, GEORGE MCLELLAN ROBBINS,
Lawyer, and WALTER SUMNER GRAHAM, Lawyer, all of Titusville, in the
County of Brevard, and State of Florida, United States of America, 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 :-
Our invention relates to an improved caulking tool having revolvable wheels
adapted to thoroughly press the caulking material into the cracks of the vessel
operated on and means by which all parts of the vessel may be tightly caulked
even though said parts cannot be reached by the wheels, the said tool being also
provided with a reefer or seam opener and a cleaning-out hook so arranged as to
be closed in the handle of the tool out of the way and also with a compressor or
marking device which is adapted for use in shaping tank staves and similar staves
in such a way that they may be placed together so as to form a water-tight joint-
To this end our invention consists in certain features of construction and
combinations of parts, as will be hereinafter described and claimed.
Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this
Specification, in which
Figure 1 is a longitudinal sectional elevation of the tool with the seam opener
and cleaning-out hook both thrown open.
Figure 2 is a plan view of the tool.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the tool with the caulking blade removed and
with the compressing or marking wheel substituted for it; and
Figure 4 is a plan view of the tool when arranged as in Figure 3.
Similar figures of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.
The tool is provided with a handle 10 the end portions 11 of which are curved
outward, the handle being preferably made in two parts 12 which are fastened
together by a central rivet 13 and by end screws or bolts 14 although the handle
may be made in any convenient way. The handle is thickened somewhat at the
ends where the bolts 14 extend through it and these bolts are adapted to carry the
various caulking and compressing wheels and they are provided with suitable
thumb nuts 15 and 16 and one of them is provided with washers 17 which may be
arranged as required upon the bolt and which are used to hold the compressing or
marking wheel the desired distance from the large caulking wheel. The handle is
slotted at its ends, as shewn at 18, so as to provide for the movement of the
caulking wheels, and in one of these slots the larger caulking wheel 19 is held to
revolve, this being journaled on one of the screws 14 and the wheel is brought
nearly to an edge, so that it may be wedged into a crank and made to force the
caulking material in also. At the opposite end of the handle is another caulking
wheel or follower 20 which is preferably smaller than the wheel 19 and aligns
longitudinally with it and this wheel is not intended to press as deeply into a crack
as the wheel 19 but operates on the caulking material when the crack is nearly full,
and it is grooved as shewn at 21, so that two parallel edges are formed which have a
tendency to jam the caulking material firmly into the crack. On the same bolt with the
wheel 19 is a caulking blade 22 which has at one end an edge 23 adapted to be driven
into a crack, its opposite end terminating in a head 24 which may be struck with a
hammer. It will be seen then that this blade may be used in caulking a short
crack which cannot be reached with one of the wheels, and the caulking is effected
in the usual way by striking on the head 24 and driving the caulking into the crack.
When the blade is not in use it may be turned up into a position substantially

page_text: parallel with the handle, as in Figure 2, and fastened there with the nuts 15 and 16.
When the tool is used for caulking cracks which may be reached by the wheels 19
and 20 the material is inserted in the cracks in the usual way and is rubbed into
place by means of the wheels, the operator grasping the handle near the centre and
pushing the wheels back and forth in the crack, thus forcing the caulking into
place. The wheels may be used separately or together, but it is preferable to use
the larger wheel 19 to rub the caulking deeply into the seams and the grooved
wheel 20 to finish the operation.
In making tanks or other vessels where it is necessary to have a water-tight
joint between the staves and in which it is desirable not to use caulking material, a
marking wheel 25 may be used which is held the right distance from the wheel 19
by means of the washers 17. When this wheel is used, the larger wheel 19 iɛ
allowed to run along the side of the stave acting as a guide, and the wheel 25
makes a longitudinal indentation or groove in the edge of the stave and after the
stave is marked it is planed off or rabbetted down to the bottom of the indentation
or groove, and two staves fixed in this way will fit nicely together and make a
tight joint.
In the back of the handle 10 and extending longitudinally in opposite ends are
grooves 26 and 27 which have near their inner ends side recesses 28 in which the
thumb or finger may be placed to conveniently grasp the cleaning-out hook or seam
opener which lies in said grooves. The cleaning out hook 29 is pivoted in the
groove 26 and is adapted to fold inward and lie flatwise in the groove and this hook
has the hook proper or barb 30 formed on its outer end and this portion is adapted
to fold into a recess 26 at the inner end of the groove 26. Near the free end of
the hook 29 is a finger-hold 31 and the pivoted end of the hook turns on a bent
spring 32 which extends across a recess 32ª in the handle and the pressure of the
spring serves to hold the hook in either an open or closed position as desired. The
seam opener 33 is similarly arranged, but in the groove 27. The seam opener has
a short stiff blade 34 at its free end which closes into a recess 27" in the inner end
of the groove 27 and the shank of the seam opener is pressed by a spring 35 which
also extends across a recess 32" in the handle and which serves to hold the seam
opener in either a closed or open position. When the cleaning-out hook is to be
used it is swung open, as shewn in Figure 1, and it is forced into a crack and the
material therein dug out in the same way that it would be with an ordinary hook.
The seam opener is also used like an ordinary seam opener, that is, it is thrown
open and forced into the crack or seam so as to open it in the usual way.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed; we declare that what we
claim is―
1. A caulking tool comprising a curved handle and caulking wheels pivoted in
opposite ends thereof, substantially as described.
2. A caulking tool comprising a curved handle having caulking wheels pivoted
in its opposite ends and a caulking blade pivoted on the same axis as one of the
wheels and having means for fixing its position on said axis, substantially as
described.
3. A caulking tool comprising a curved handle having a longitudinal groove
therein, caulking wheels pivoted in opposite ends of the handle and a cleaning-out
hook pivoted in the handle and adapted to lie in the groove, substantially as
described.
4. A caulking tool comprising a curved handle having a longitudinal groove
therein, caulking wheels pivoted in opposite ends of the handle and a seam opener
pivoted in the handle and adapted to lie in the groove, substantially as described.
5. A caulking tool comprising a curved handle having longitudinal grooves
therein, caulking wheels pivoted in the opposite ends of the handle, a cleaning-out
hook pivoted in one of the grooves and adapted to lie therein and a seam opener
pivoted in the second groove, substantially as described.

page_text: 6. A caulking tool comprising a curved handle, and wheels pivoted in opposite
ends of the handle, one of the wheels having a grooved edge, substantially as
described.
7. The combination, with the handle and the caulking wheel pivoted in one end
thereof, of the marking wheel detachably and adjustably secured to the axis of the
wheel, substantially as described.
8. A caulking tool constructed substantially as shown in the accompanying
drawings and described in the foregoing Specification.
Dated this 25th day of February 1893
J. O. WALTON,
G. MCCLELLAN ROBBINS,
W. S. GRAHAM,
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Chartered Patent Agents.