Year: 1886

page_text: We CHARLES HEWITT and WILLIAM WALTER HEWITT both of Swanscombe in
the County of Kent Engineers do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
At the present time it is common in trussing casks to einploy a bell in which
are grooves or recesses to receive truss hoops. The staves suitably prepared are set
in order on a platform and the platform is then raised by hydraulic or other power.
The cone then catches the upper ends of the staves and draws them in towards the
centre until they abut the one on the other and the joints are thus closed. The
bell which is made in parts jointed together is then opened and the cask with the
truss hoops upon it is taken out.
According to the present practice these truss hoops are afterwards removed by
hand and replaced by permanent hoops.
According to our invention we make the recesses in the trussing cone to receive
the permanent hoops in lieu of the truss hoops and by means of such a trussing
cone we put on the permanent hoops and not trussing hoops. The staves are thus
bound together much more closely than is possible when the permanent hoops are
put on by hand.
In the use of casks to contain liquids we croize the cask and prepare it to receive
the head when the trussing operation is partly performed and then we put the
head in place and complete the trussing at the same time securing the head.
For light casks to contain solids we complete the trussing and put in the head
afterwards.
CARPMAEL & Co.,
Agents for the Applicants.

page_text: We CHARLES HEWITT and WILLIAM WALTER HEWITT both of Swanscombe in
the County of Kent Engineers 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:―
This invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of casks.
In making casks it is now usual after the staves have been set up to force
temporary hoops known as truss hoops around them; then whilst the staves are
held in the truss hoops the staves are finished at the ends and grooved to receive
the head these operations being known as "chiming and croizing." Finally the
truss hoops are removed, the head is put into its place and the permanent iron
hoops are put on.
Now according to our invention we save much labour and produce a more perfect
cask by abolishing the use of truss hoops and trussing or closing the cask together
originally in the permanent iron hoops,
We groove the ends of the staves to receive the edges of the head before the
staves are brought together in place of as at present whilst they are in position as
in the finished cask. The head also we insert before the trussing or gathering in
of the staves is complete in place of first bringing the staves together in truss hoops
and then separating them again to receive the head.
In trussing the cask and putting on the hoops we employ a cone or bell some-
what similar to that hitherto employed in applying the trussing hoops; it is mado
in parts jointed together. The permanent iron hoops are inserted into shallow
grooves in the cone or bell, spring stops being provided to support them. The
cask is placed on the rising table of the trussing machine which forces it up into
the cone and into the hoops which the cone contains as when trussing hoops are
used as heretofore. Or in place of putting the hoops into grooves in the cone or
bell they may be placed loosely on the cask. Then as the cask. rises within the
cone or bell the hoops are caught by the grooves and brought to their places on the
cask. The head of the cask according to our method is put in during the trussing
operation as the staves come together.
Casks for containing solids may have the heads put in after the hooping is
complete as herein after explained.
In order that our said invention may be fully understood and readily carried
into effect we will proceed to describe the drawings hereunto annexed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 is a vertical section of the trussing machine which we employ in
trussing or collecting the staves at once into the permanent hoops.
Figure 2 is a front elevation partly in section of the same machine. In this
figure the cask is represented as it appears at the end of the hooping operation.
Figure 3 is a side elevation of the upper part of the machine.
Figure 4 is a plan of the rising table.
Figure 5 is a plan of the cone or bell.

page_text: Figure 6 is a sectional elevation showing a modification in which the cask when
complete projects above the top of the cone or bell.
Figure 7 is a sectional elevation of a cone or bell such as we use when the hoops
are placed loosely on the cask and not in grooves in the bell or cone.
Figure 8 is an elevation of an apparatus we employ in arranging the staves
ready for the machine.
In Figure 1 a a are the staves preferably they are already of the finished form
at the ends as well as elsewhere and (if for a cask to contain liquid) already
grooved to receive the head.
k
In arranging or setting up these staves the apparatus shown by Figure 8 has
been used. It consists of a cast iron dise or foot 6 having a raised flange b¹ around
it and a standard c springing from the centre of the foot and carrying a disc d.
The disc d screws upon the standard c and when set to the desired position it is
locked fast by means of a locking nut. The position of the disc is adjusted
according to the size of the cask to be made and so that the staves when leaning
around the disc shall at their upper ends touch each other all around. In setting
up a cask the staves are fitted until they meet together properly at the top, then
three hoops are put upon them, a small iron raising hoop seen at e in Figure 1 at
the top, a large hoop near the lower end of the cone and a pitch hoop seen at fin
Figure 1 at the centre. The next operation is the firing of the cask during which
the lower hoop is worked down and the pitch boop is brought to its place, care
being taken all the while that a fair face is kept in the neighbourhood of the pitch
hoop. The cask is then ready to be taken to the machine shown by the Figures 1,
2, 3, 4 and 5 in which the cask is trussed or the staves gathered in and in which
the permanent hoops are put on. The cask is placed as represented in Figure 1 on
the table g which as in other trussing machines can be forced upwards by an
hydraulic ram or otherwise. h represents the ram and i a stationary foundation
plate to which the pillars k. k. are secured. The pillars carry the cone or bell 7.
which is in two parts. The parts are connected by a hinge joint and one of the
pillars forms the joint pin as the drawing shows. The other pillar passes through
one of the parts only but it also carries a latch m provided with a set screw m¹ and
by this latch the parts are locked when they are closed together. n. n are spring
projections or supports within the cone or bell, the permanent hoops o. o. of hoop-
iron are laid upon them-these hoops are accurately made of a size suitable to the
cask. The hoops lie beneath shoulders in the cone so that they cannot rise when
the cask being levelled is forced upwards through them. The machine being thus
prepared, the hoops in their places and the cone closed the hoop e is knocked off
and the table g is set in motion. The table carries the cask which is supple with
the firing upwards through the hoops. As the cask rises the spring projections n. n.
yield back and pass out of the way. When the staves are partially gathered in the
finished head previously dowelled together is presented at its place by the operator
and as the gathering in of the staves progresses the edges of the head become held
by the grooves. The movement of the table continues until it is stopped by the
nuts p. p. which have previously been set on the columns to a suitable position.
The cone is then opened and the cask is released. The cask is now turned over
and by a repetition of the operation, the other hoops are put on and the other head
secured.
The table g as will be seen has two projecting ridges upon it, the outer one g¹
keeps the lower ends of the staves in place when they are first placed upon the
table, and the inner ridge g² retains the casks centrally on the table whilst the
second end is being hooped.
Sometimes we so make the cone that at the end of the operation the end of the
cask protrudes through it as represented in Figure 6 and then we put on the end
hoop by hand whilst the cask is so held.
Another modification in the process consists in placing the permanent hoops on
the cask in place of in the grooves of the bell or cone. In this case a permanent
hoop takes the place of the raising hoop e. and another larger permanent hoop is

page_text: dropped loosely on to the cask before it is forced into the cone or bell. The cone
or bell shown by Figure 7 is employed, the grooves in it are so formed as to
engage with the upper edges of the hoops and to retain them whilst the ends of
the staves pass the grooves without much resistance The end of the cask is
allowed to project through the bell or cone as in Figure 6.
In place of bringing the staves to the machine complete in form and already
grooved to receive the head we sometimes bring the staves to the machine without
these grooves and when the table g has risen a certain distance we stop it and
proceed to produce the grooving or croizing either by hand or by a rotating tool
which is then lowered from overhead into the cask, the head is then inserted as
already described, the table is again set in motion and it rises until stopped by the
nuts p. P.
When the casks are intended to contain dry materials we sometimes complete
the hooping of the cask without inserting the heads and then afterwards we fix
the heads in a well known way by nailing a hoop or ring of wood within the
mouth of the cask to form a shelf. On this shelf the head is placed and it is
secured by nailing to the staves a similar-hoop or ring outside the head.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:
1. The process herein described for the manufacture of casks consisting in
trussing or gathering the staves at once into the permanent hoops and in inserting
the head before this gathering is accomplished the staves being grooved to receive
it substantially as described.
2. The process for the manufacture of casks to contain solids consisting in
trussing or gathering the staves into the permanent hoops in place of into
temporary truss hoops and afterwards without disturbing the hoops fixing a head
substantially as described.
3. A trussing machine with a cone or bell with shallow grooves of dimensions
corresponding to the permanent metal hoops for the cask which hoops the cone or
bell receives within it applies and brings home to their places upon the cask
substantially as described.
4. A trussing machine with a cone or bell adapted to receive into it the
permanent hoops for the cask and with spring projections or supports within the
cone or bell to sustain the hoops substantially as described.