AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING AND FITTING, BUNGS TO CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Talbot Pitman, of the American and European
Patent Offices, No. 67, Gracechurch St., London; for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING AND FITTING, BUNGS TO CASKS AND OTHER
VESSELS." A communication.
Sealed the 24th June 1859, and dated the 1st January 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Talbot Pitman at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on .the
1st January 1859.
I, JOHN TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices,
No. 67, Gracechurch St., London, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF MAKING AND FITTING BUNGS TO CASKS
AND OTHER VESSELS," a communication from a foreigner residing abroad, to be
as follows:
It consists in forming a screw on the bung or stopper and a corresponding
or female screw on the hole for the bung, or vice versa, by turning and fitting
the same by. suitable machinery, and in making the fitting air-tight by charring
each surface so that it shall be smooth and more durable by other suitable
devices, all of which will be more fully set forth and described in the Final
Specification.
I claim the fitting above mentioned, especially when applied to vessels made
of wood for liquids, and also the formation of a screw by turning upon a bung
or stopper to be used in any vessel made of wood, metal, glass, or other
material.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Talbot Pitman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st July 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
TALBOT PITMAN, of the American and European Patent Offices, No. 67,
Gracechurch Street, London, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the
year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Talbot Pitman, Her special licence that I, the said John Talbot Pitman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Talbot Pitinan, or 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 "AN IMPROVED
MODE OF MAKING AND FITTING BUNGS TO CASKS AND OTHER VESSELS," a communi-
cation, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said John Talbot
Pitman, or 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 immediately after the
date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Talbot Pitman, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereto annexed:-
Figure 1 represents a mandril mounted to hold the bung or the stave to be
operated when in contact with Figure 2, the burner for the bung, or Figure 3,
the burner for the stave; Figure 4 & 5 represents the stave holder and
section of the screw operating the clamps; Figure 6, an oven for heating the
burners; Figure 7, a bung to be burned; Figure 8, a stave with hole for
same purpose; Figure 9, a lever for putting on or removing the bung from
the mandril.
The nature of my Invention consists in forming a screw on the bung or
stopple and a corresponding one at the hole in the stave of the barrel or cask

page_text: by means of burning. This mode will produce, in consequence of the smooth
charred surfaces, an air-tight fit, and one not to be effected by any cut made
by a tool, as in doing so the grain of the wood would not permit a regular even
surface to be formed, but would give way.
The apparatus consists in mounting upon a stand, Fig. 1, a mandril C, with
a screw cut on the same corresponding with the screws on the burners
Figures 2&3. On the end of this mandril is to be placed the bung J,
(Fig. 7,) or the stave holder Figure 4, with the stave, for the purpose of being
forced against its proper burner properly held and adjusted by any suitable
device. These burners are previously introduced through apertures D, and
brought to the requisite degree of heat in the oven, (Fig. 6.) When adjusted
for operation these burners are not intended to revolve, but to remain
stationary while the mandril C makes the requisite revolutions. The stave-
holder I construct by placing the jaws or clamps G, G', upon a screw H, H,
turning right and left as represented, and supported in boxes in uprights
M, M. P is the hole to fit the end of the mandril C, and R a pin to fasten
it in place. The screw shaft is operated by a crank or wheel N.
Having now described the nature of the Invention, and the mode of
operating the same, as communicated to me, and without intending to be
confined to the apparatus herein-before described, I claim as my Invention,
and desire to secure under the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent,-
The application of a screw made on a bung, and another screw made in the
stave corresponding with that upon the bung, both being formed by burning,
substantially as described, to be used for all casks or vessels made of wood.
Also, forming a screw on a stopple or bung by burning, substantially as
described, to be used in any vessel made of any material, whether wood, metal,
glass, or other substance.
In witness whereof, I, the said John, Talbot Pitman, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, on this First day of July, A.D. One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-nine.
JOHN TALBOT PITMAN. (L.S.)