IMPROVEMENTS IN TRUSSING CASKS, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Stokes Cressoy, of Burton-on-Trent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRUSSING CASKS, AND IN APPARATUS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 26th June 1860, and dated the 29th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Stokes Cressey
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th December 1859.
I, THOMAS STOKES CRESSEY, of Burton-on-Trent, do hereby declare the
nature of the Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRUSSING CASKS, AND IN APPA-
RATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in trussing casks, and in
apparatus employed therein. For this purpose the staves to form a cask are
set up in three hoops, as is usual, the ends of the staves being held close
together at one end, and being at a distance apart at the other end. In this
state the cask is inverted over a standard, which rises from a plate forming the-
bed of the machine, and level with the floor of the workshop. On this bed the
lower ends of the staves rest, and a cross bar is put over the upper end of
the cask, and is attached to the top of the standard; this bar serves to prevent
the cask rising while the trussing proceeds. Underneath the cask and
around the standard is a fire-grate; the fire which it contains serves to soften

page_text: the staves, and cause them to bend freely. Around the cask a number of
levers are arranged radially to it, and they are jointed at their outer ends to
the bed plate. Each of these levers at its inner end carries a circular arc of
the same radius or thereabout as the circle into which the ends of the staves
have to be drawn, and near its inner end each of the levers is connected with
a rod, which at its other end is attached to a frame capable of being drawn
downwards by a screw or other suitable power. At the commencement of
the operation of drawing in the staves, the inner ends of the levers rest on the
lower hoop, which holds the staves together, and the levers being drawn down
by their rods, the hoop is forced down for some distance, thus partially drawing
in the staves; then the arcs at the extremities of the levers come against the
staves, and force them further inwards, the ends of the levers coming in
towards the centre as they are drawn downwards in consequence of the position
in which the centres are placed. When the levers are drawn completely
down, the ends of the staves will have been brought up the one to the other;
they are then bound together by a jointed hoop, the levers are again raised
to release the cask, which is removed from the machine, and finished, and
hooped with iron hoops by hand, as is usual.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Stokes Cressey in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
STOKES CRESSEY, of Burton-on-Trent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, Her special licence that I, the said.
Thomas Stokes Cressey, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, 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

page_text: Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN TRUSSING CASES, AND IN APPARATUS EMPLOYED
THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Stokes
Cressey, 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
samo 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 Thomas Stokes Cressey, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in trussing casks, and in
apparatus employed therein. For this purpose the staves to form a cask are
set up in three hoops, as is usual, the ends of the staves being held close
together at one end, and being at a distance apart at the other end. In this
state the cask is inverted over a standard, which rises from a plate forming
the bed of the machine, and level with the floor of the workshop. On this
bed the lower ends of the staves rest, and a cross bar is put over the upper
end of the cask, and is attached to the top of the standard; this bar serves
to prevent the cask rising while the trussing proceeds. Underneath the cask
and around the standard is a fire-grate; the fire which it contains serves to
soften the staves, and cause them to bend freely. Around the cask a number
of levers are arranged radially to it, and they are jointed at their outer ends
to the bed plate. Each of these levers at its inner end carries a circular arc
of the same radius or thereabout as the circle into which the ends of the staves
have to be drawn, and near its inner end each of the levers is connected with
a rod, which at its other end is attached to a frame capable of being drawn
downwards by a screw or other suitable power. At the commencement of the
operation of drawing in the staves, the inner ends of the levers rest on the
lower hoop which holds the staves together, and the levers being drawn down
by their rods, the hoop is forced down for some distance, thus partially drawing
in the staves; then the arcs at the extremities of the levers come against the
staves, and force them further inwards, the ends of the levers coming in towards
the centre as they are drawn downwards in consequence of the position in which
the centres are placed. When the levers are drawn completely down, the ends
of the staves will have been brought up the one to the other; they are then
bound together by a jointed hoop; the levers are again raised to release the

page_text: readily carried into elect, I will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto
annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
The Drawing shows a vertical section of a machine constructed according
to, and such as I employ in carrying out, my Invention. a is the bed plate
of the machine, from which a standard brises. Within the standard is a
screw c; it passes through the nut d, which has a flange at its top, as is
shown, and rests on the ring e, which is screwed down to the bed plate. On
the lower part of the nut is the worm wheel f, and a worm g, capable of being
driven by a pulley and strap, or otherwise. Between the worm wheel fand
the bed plate, friction balls are placed in grooves turned for them, to prevent
friction between these two parts. The lower end of the screw c is keyed in
a socket formed for it in the plate h, so that when the nut dis turned, the
plate his raised or lowered, and it is kept always truly parallel with the bed
plate a by guides i, i. To the plate h links j, j, are jointed; there may be
eight or other convenient number of these links arranged at equal distances
apart around the plate h. The upper ends of the links j, j, are furnished with
hooks, which hook on to pins on the levers k; (a plan of one of these levers
is also shown in the Drawing.) These levers at their upper ends carry circular
arcs, of the same radius or thereabout as the circle into which the staves
of the cask have to be drawn, as already mentioned; at their other ends they
bave slots formed in them, through which pins a¹, fixed in projections from
the bed plate a, pass. a are other pins carried by projections from the under
side of the bed plate, and the levers are furnished with arms which abut on
the said pins. The lovers k are mounted in this manner, so that when out
of use they may be detached from the links j, and turned back out of the way
to allow the cask to be trussed to be placed between them; when at work, the
levers turn on the pins a³, as on axes. 1 is a fire basket to contain a fire to
heat and soften the staves during the operation of trussing; m, m, are the
staves of a cask set up in the hoops n, n, and inverted over the standard;
o is a cross-bar, to keep the cask from rising during the trussing; the cross-
bar is secured by a key, as is shown. When the parts are in the position
indicated by the Drawing, the screw c is put in motion, and it draws down
the levers and the lower hoop w until the ares begin themselves to bear

page_text: A
on the staves, and then this hoop falls off, and the levers bend the staves
further inwards until they are brought close together at the bottom.
jointed hoop is then clasped on to the cash immediately over the levers, the
cross bar o is taken off, and the cask is removed, and finished in the usual
5 manner.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Stokes Cressey, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of June, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
THOMAS STOKES CRESSEY. (L.B.)