IMPROVEMENTS IN STANDS FOR CASKS OR BARRELS
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Rudd, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN STANDS FOR CASKS OR
BARRELS."
Sealed the 19th December 1854, and dated the 23rd June 1854.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Rudd at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
June 1854.
I, THOMAS RUDD, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN STANDS
FOR CASKS OR BARRELS" to be as follows, that is to say:-
My said improvements, which have for their object to obviate the necessity
for all attention & manual exertion hitherto required in tilting casks or
barrels to draw off the liquor contained, consist in annexing to the stands of
the said casks or barrels an apparatus, through the intervention of which the
back part of each cask or barrel is gradually elevated as the liquor is drawn
off, in proportion to the diminished weight or pressure of the said liquor. In
order to effect this object, I cause the cask or barrel to be supported on suitable
crutch bearings or arms, one or more of which, placed under the back part or
towards the middle of the cask or barrel, are moveable, & mounted upon &

page_text: secured to a metallic spring or springs, tending to elevate the back of the cask
or barrel, but of suitable power to elevate it only gradually to a convenient
height, in proportion as.the pressure of the liquor is removed. The springs.
may be of various shapes & materials, but I prefer in most cases the employ-
ment of circular iron springs. I annex to the above apparatus one or more
chains & hooks, acting in connection with a rack & paul, or other similar
contrivance, for the purpose of confining the spring or springs when the cask
or barrel is laid upon the stand; also a chain or similar contrivance, for regu-
lating the ascent of the said springs, so that the front of the cask or barrel
may not be displaced as the back part is elevated or tilted.
I claim the construction & employment of stands for casks & barrels, in
such a manner as to render them self-tilting, through the intervention of an
apparatus for raising or elevating the back of the same, which is actuated by
the reduction of the weight or pressure as the liquor or other fluid is drawn off.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Rudd in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd.
December 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
RUDD, of Pimlico, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the eighteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Thomas Rudd, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Rudd, my.
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Rudd, 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 STANDS
FOR CASKS OR BARRELS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Thomas Rudd, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, 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

page_text: 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 Thomas Rudd, 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 state-
ment (that is to say):-
My said improvements, which have for their object to render casks or barrels
self-tilting, for the purpose of drawing of the liquor, so as to obviate all neces-
sity for attention and manuel exertion hitherto required in the process, consist
in casting with or fitting to the stands of the said casks or barrels an apparatus,
through the intervention of which the back part of each cask or barrel is
gradually elevated as the liquor is drawn off, in proportion to the diminishing
weight or pressure of the said liquor. In order to effect this object, I cause
the cask or barrel to be supported upon suitable crutch bearings or arms, one
or more of which, placed under the back part or towards the middle of the cask
or barrel, are moveable, and mounted upon or secured to a metallic spring or
springs, which tend to elevate the back of the cask or barrel, but have their
power suitably adjusted, so as only to elevate the said part gradually to a con-
venient height, in proportion as the pressure of the liquor is removed, so as to
produce the same effect as the ordinary tilting process. The springs may be of
various forms and materials, but I prefer in most cases the employment of
circular metallic springs, for which may be substituted spiral or S shaped
springs. The springs also may be made adjustable, so as to be brought to bear
singly or doubly upon the cask or barrel, in accordance with the weight thereof.
I annex to the above apparatus one or more chains and hooks, acting in
connection with a rack and paul, or other similar contrivance, for the purpose
of confining the spring or springs when the cask or barrel is laid upon the
stand. Another chain or similar contrivance may be employed to regulate the
ascent of each spring, so that the front part of the cask or barrel may not be
displaced as the back thereof is elevated or tilted. I prefer using the said
chain principally for large casks or barrels. And to stands for large casks or
barrels a lever may advantageously be added, for the purpose of depressing the
springs, in order to receive the cask or barrel, as shown in the accompanying
Drawings. A compound stand of the above description, adapted to large cellars
or public-houses, and capable of receiving any requisite number of casks or
barrels, may be formed by uniting any convenient number of the said stands in
one common frame or standard.
But in order that these my said improvements may be more fully understood

page_text: and readily carried into effect, I now proceed to describe them by the aid of
the accompanying Drawings, reference being had to the letters and figures
thereon marked, that is to say:―
Fig. 1 represents a front view of my improved stand, adapted to two descrip-
tions of casks or barrels, for containing four and a half or nine gallons of
liquor; Fig. 2, a side elevation; Fig. 3, a top or plan view thereof; Fig. 4 is a
back elevation of the same, showing the position of the springs when the full
cask or barrel is placed upon them. In each Figure the same letters of reference
denote similar corresponding parts. A, A, cask or barrel; B, B, stand; C, C,
fixed claw or crutch bearing, on which the cask or barrel is tilted; D, D, cir-
cular metallic spring, of sufficient strength for the purpose of tilting a four and
a half gallon cask or barrel; E, E, subsidiary spring, to be employed in con-
junction with the former, for a nine gallon cask or barrel; F, F, hinge, on
which the said subsidiary spring turns, and whereby it may be removed from
acting, and laid horizontally on the stand, as shown at Fig. 2; G, G, moveable
crutch bearing; H, H, bearing or bed, to which the outer spring is secured;
I, I, chain for controlling the action of the spring or springs; J, J, stud, to
which the said chain is secured in preparing the stand for the reception of the
cask or barrel, to obviate any injury that might arise to the spring or springs
from the sudden placing of the weight upon them, the said chain being released
as soon as the cask or barrel has been made to rest steadily on the two claws
or crutch bearings; K, K, rack, cast on and moving with the claw or crutch
bearing G, G, and serving, in conjunction with the paul L, to prevent its
descending when not required; M, M, projecting end of the stand, serving as
a guard for the wall against the end of the cask or barrel while being tilted.
Fig. 5 represents a side elevation of a detached portion of my stand, furnished
or fitted with certain additional contrivances which should be employed in the
larger descriptions of apparatus. N, N, hand lever, for depressing the spring
or springs to the position in which they are to be retained by the chain; 0, 0,
fulcrum for the same; P, P, guide chain, for steadying and confining the motion
of the spring nearly in a vertical direction.
Having now fully described the nature of my said Invention, and the mode
in which the same is to be performed, I would have it clearly understood that
I do not by any means confine myself to the precise details herein-before
described, as the same might be varied without departing from the general
principle of my said improvements, nor do I confine myself to the use of the
circular metallic springs shown in the Drawings, as spiral and other springs
might in some cases be substituted with advantage; but that which I do claim

page_text: as new and of my said Invention is, forming a cask or barrel stand actuated
continuously through the intervention of a metallic spring or springs by the
drawing off of the liquor, so as to give the cask or barrel the requisite self-
tilting action forwards.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Rudd, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-second day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
THOMAS RUDD. (L.s.)