Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1887
Complete Left, 14th Apr., 1888
Complete Accepted, 18th May, 1888
1, JAMES HILL, of No. 201 Bourke Street West, in the City of Melbourne, and
Colony of Victoria, bellfounder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
My improved apparatus for tilting casks is so constructed as to act automatically
and with the greatest precision, and so as to be casily removable from one cask to
another. It is suspended from an overhead rail or support of either T or H-iron
section, along which it can be readily slid from point to point or off one rail and on
to another.
I first provide a spiral or coiled spring of suitable strength and place it inside a
tubular casing or cylinder, which is closed at the top but has an opening at the bottom
to allow of the passage of a rod, the upper end of which is furnished with a flat disc
which rests on the top of said spring inside the cylinder. The lower end of this rod
below the cylinder terminates in a hook or an eye, to which is attached the upper
coupling-link of the suspension rod, which has a hook at its lower end to hook under
the chine of the cask. The suspension rod is composed of a cranked or lever-handle
coupling rod, the one stem of which has a right-handed and the other stem a left-
handed thread cut in it to suit the threaded holes in the ends of the coupling-links ;
so that, by rotating such coupling-rod in the desired direction, the suspension rod can
be lengthened or shortened. The top cap of the cylinder, has two hooks or lugs on it
to embrace the flat flanges of the Tor H-iron bar, which is suitably supported from
the beam above.
In order that my invention may be well understood, I will now describe it with
reference to the accompanying Sheet of drawings, which shew in,
Figure 1 a side view of my apparatus, suspended from a T-bar bolted to a bracket
secured to an overhead beam, the lower hook of the apparatus being attached to the
chine of a cask which is tilted.
Figure 2 is a view at right angles to Figure 1, with the tubular casing or cylinder
in section to shew its contained spring and bar.

page_text: Figure 3 is a side view of the top part of the apparatus, shewing an alternative
means for supporting it, consisting of the H-bar, such H-bar being movable as it is
supported in a slotted bracket attached to the overhead beam.
Figure 4 is a view of such alternative construction taken at right angles to
Figure 3.
Figure 5 shows an alternative construction of the screwed coupling rod.
.
A is the tubular casing or cylinder, having the upper and lower cap-pieces A¹ and A²
screwed on its ends; the upper cap-piece A having the hook-shaped snugs A³ formed
on it to embrace its supporting bar, while the lower cap A2 has a square hole through
it to allow of the passage of the square bar A, upon the upper end of which is rivetted
the disc or washer A, which fits loosely within the casing. The lower end of bar A*
has a hook A formed on it. The coiled or spiral spring B is arranged within the
casing between the lower cap
A2 and the disc A and around the central bar A. C is
the screwed coupling bar, shewn furnished with a crank handle in Figures 1 and 2,
and with a lever handle in Figure 5. The stems C¹ of the coupling-bar are screwed
in a reverse direction to one another, the upper stem passing into the screwed coupling
link C, which is supported on hook A before referred to; and the lower stem passing
into the lower coupling-link C3, which supports the lowermost hook Ct, which engages
with the chine of the cask D. In Figures 1 and 2, the hook snugs A³ are supported
on the flat flange of the T-iron bar E, which is bolted to the stem of the bracket-
pieces E', which in turn are bolted to the overhead beams E, as shewn. In Figures 3
and 4, the hook snugs are supported on the flat flange of the H-bar F, which is
loosely supported in the slotted brackets F, bolted to the overhead beams E2, as
shewn.
To put my improved apparatus for tilting casks in operation, when it is suspended
from either the Tor the H-bar above the end of a full cask, the lower hook C is first
attached to the chine of the cask and the screwed coupling rotated, until there is
sufficient strain upon the spring to barely lift the end of the cask; the spring being
so arranged with relation to the cask to which it is to be attached as that such com-
pression will reduce it to about one-half its normal length; then, as the cask empties,
the expanding power of the spring gradually lifts up the end of the cask, thus tilting
it in a gradual and automatic manner.
Dated this Third day of June 1887.
JAMES HILL.
W. H. Beck,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C.,
Consulting Engineer and Patent Agent.

page_text: I, JAMES HILL, of No. 201 Bourke Street West, in the City of Melbourne, and
Colony of Victoria, Bell-founder, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and
in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement :-
My improved apparatus for tilting casks is so constructed as to act automatically
and with the greatest precision, and so as to be easily removable from one cask to
another. It is suspended from an overhead rail or support of either T or H-iron
section, along which it can be readily slid from point to point or off one rail and on
to another.
I first provide a spiral or coiled spring of suitable strength and place it inside a
tubular casing or cylinder, which is closed at the top but has an opening at the bottom
to allow of the passage of a rod, the upper end of which is furnished with a flat disc
which rests on the top of said spring inside the cylinder. The lower end of this rod
below the cylinder terminates in a hook or an eye, to which is attached the upper
coupling-link of the suspension rod, which has a hook at its lower end to hook under
the chine of the cask. The suspension rod is composed of a cranked or lever-handle
coupling rod, the one stem of which has a right-handed and the other stem a left-
handed thread cut in it to suit the threaded holes in the ends of the coupling-links; so
that, by rotating such coupling-rod in the desired direction, the suspension rod can be
lengthened or shortened. The top cap of the cylinder has two hooks or lugs on it to
embrace the flat flanges of the Tor H-iron bar, which is suitably supported from the
beam above.
In order that my inventien may be well understood, I will now describe it with
reference to the accompanying Sheet of drawings, which shew in,
Figure 1 a side view of my apparatus, suspended from a T-bar bolted to a bracket
secured to an overhead beam, the lower hook of the apparatus being attached to the
chine of a cask which is tilted.
Figure 2 is a view at right angles to Figure 1, with the tubular casing or cylinder
in section to shew its contained spring and bar.
Figure 3 is a side view of the top part of the apparatus, shewing an alternative
means for supporting it, consisting of the H-bar, such H-bar being movable as it is
supported in a slotted bracket attached to the overhead beam.
Figure 4 is a view of such alternative construction taken at right angles to
Figure 3.
Figure 5 shews an alternative construction of the screwed coupling rod.
A is the tubular casing or cylinder, having the upper and lower cap-pieces A'
and A2 screwed on its ends; the upper cap-piece A¹ having the hook-shaped snugs A³
formed on it to embrace its supporting bar, while the lower cap A2 has a square hole
through it to allow of the passage of the square bar A, upon the upper end of which
is rivetted the disc or washer A³, which fits loosely within the casing. The lower end

page_text: of bar A has a hook A formed on it. The coiled or spiral spring B is arranged
within the casing between the lower cap A2 and the disc A and around the central bar A¹.
C is the screwed coupling bar, shewn furnished with a crank handle in Figures 1
and 2, and with a lever handle in Figure 5. The stems C¹ of the coupling-bar are
screwed in a reverse direction to one another, the upper stem passing into the screwed
coupling link C2, which is supported on hook A before referred to; and the lower
stem passing into the lower coupling link C³, which supports the lowermost hook C₁,
which engages with the chine of the cask D. In Figures 1 and 2, the hook snugs A³
are supported on the flat flange of the T-iron bar E, which is bolted to the stem of
the bracket-pieces E', which in turn are bolted to the overhead beams E2, as shewn.
In Figures 3 and 4, the hook snugs are supported on the flat flange of the H-bar F,
which is loosely supported in the slotted brackets F¹, bolted to the overhead beams E³,
as shewn.
To put my improved apparatus for tilting casks in operation, when it is suspended
from either the or the H-bar above the end of a full cask, the lower hook C₁ is first
attached to the chine of the cask and the screwed coupling rotated, until there is
sufficient strain upon the spring to barely lift the end of the cask; the spring being
so arranged with relation to the cask to which it is to be attached as that such com-
pression will reduce it to about one-half its normal length then, as the cask empties,
the expanding power of the spring gradually lifts up the end of the cask, thus tilting
it in a gradual and automatic manner.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is―
First The combination of a cylindrical casing containing a spiral or coiled spring,
with a rod having a cap at its top to press on such spring, and a screw-coupled sus-
pension bar connected to it below such bar having a hook on its lower end for attach-
ment to the cask, substantially as herein described and explained and as illustrated in
my drawings.
Second-The combination of the hooked upper end of the spring casing with either
the T or the H-section metal supporting bars, secured and arranged substantially as
herein described and explained and as illustrated in my drawings.
:-
Third The combination of the screwed suspension bar, having either a crank or a
lever handle at its centre, with the hook below and the spring and its casing above,
substantially as herein described and explained and as illustrated in my drawings.
Dated this Sixth day of March One thousand eight hundred and eighty-eight.
JAMES HILL,
115, Cannon Street, London, E.C.,
Applicant.