IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE-MADE CASKS, AND IN THE PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION BE USED IN MAKINGUCH
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles, of Great
Guildford Street, in the Borough of Southwark, Cooper, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE-MADE CASKS, AND IN THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Thomas Evans
Lascelles at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 10th February 1869.
I, CHARLES THOMAS EVANS LASCELLES, of Great Guildford Street,
in the Borough of Southwark, Cooper, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINE-MADE CASKS, AND IN
THE MACHINERY TO BE USED IN MAKING SUCH CASES," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to the manufacture of casks by the aid of
machinery, the object being to facilitate the cutting of the staves of
casks, and to produce joints akin to those which are formed only in
hand-made casks. This I effect by the use of a machine which contains
a pair of rotary cutters (conical by preference), and set radially in a
vertical plane, so that they may be adjusted to suit different widths of

page_text: stave, and to vary the bevil of their cut as desired. The wood to form
the stave I fix flat on a traversing table, which is caused to rise and
fall while traversing to give the stave the required taper at the ends.
The table will rest on cams or excentrics, the rotation of which will be
timed to suit the speed of traverse of the table, and consequent feed of
the wood to the cutters; or the table may slide in cam grooves or
These
guides, and receive its rising and falling motion therefrom.
cutters will have smooth cutting edges, and thus smooth bevil edges
will be given to the staves instead of the rough saw cut hitherto
deemed desirable for machine-made casks. Instead of making the
bevil of the edges of the staves correspond with radius lines drawn
from the centre of the cask, I propose to make the bevils take radial
lines that will meet beyond this point, and thus I form what may be
termed gaping joints, or joints which are formed by the inner edges
of the adjacent staves bearing closely together when the cask is hooped,
while the outer edges stand at an appreciable distance apart. The
tendency of this outwardly open joint will be to close with the rough
wear to which casks are exposed, and thereby to form a permanently
tight ioint.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 10th August 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
THOMAS EVANS LASCELLES, of Great Guildford Street, in the Borough
of Southwark, Cooper, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Tenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles, Her
special licence that I, the said Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles, 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,

page_text: 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 MACHINE-MADE CASKS,
AND IN THE MACHINERY TO BE USED IN MAKING SUCH CASкs," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles,
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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles, 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 statement, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that
is to say):
.
This Invention relates to the manufacture of casks by the aid of
machinery, the object being to facilitate the cutting of the staves of
casks, and to produce joints akin to those which are found only in
hand-made casks. This I effect by the use of a machine which contains
a pair of rotary cutters set in a vertical plane, so that they may be
adjusted to suit different widths of stave, and capable of varying the
bevil of their cut as desired.
In the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a side elevation of
the improved stave-cutting machine; and Fig. 2, Sheet II., is an end
elevation thereof.
A, A, are standards bolted to a bed plate B, and carrying a pair of
rotary cutters C, between which the staves to be shaped are passed.
The staves are mounted on a travelling carriage D, and are passed
singly between the cutters. This carriage is fitted with adjustable
points (like the heads of a lathe) to receive between them the stave
to be shaped, and these points are brought up to position and withdrawn
by means of the traversing screws d, d, (operated by hand) or by a right
and left-handed screw mounted on and extending the whole length of
the carriage; E is a slide supported in fixed guides G carried by short
standards A', A', and serving to impart a traverse motion to the
carriage D. The carriage is fitted with antifriction bowles d', d',

page_text: which bear upon an undulating or cam-shaped track F, F, made fast
to the bed plate B, and as it is moved to and fro it will receive a rising
and falling motion. To allow of this the carriage has free vertical play
in the slide E, guides being formed in it to receive the vertical supports
to which the antifriction rollers d' are attached. The slide E carries a
rack e, into which gears a pinion e¹ for working the slide. This pinion
is keyed on the inner end of a short axle 1, which carries at its other
end a spur wheel 2. Into this wheel gear the pinions 3 and 4, the
former of which is mounted loosely on a fixed axle 5, while the latter
is keyed to a sleeve shaft supported by the fixed axle 6; cast on the boss
of the pinion 3 is a pinion 7, which gears into and is driven by a pinion 8
keyed to a second sleeve shaft on the fixed axle 6. These sleeve shafts
carry the driving pulleys which give the feed motion to the carriage, the
pulley 4 being keyed to the shaft of the pinion 4, and the pulley 8*
being keyed to the shaft of the pinion 8. Between these pulleys is the
loose pulley 9, and a self-acting belt shipper 10 is provided for shifting
the driving belt from one pulley to the other. The axles 1, 5, 6, are
supported by a bracket piece H bolted to the face of one of the
standards A, and the axle 6 is further supported by a short standard I.
By the arrangement of gearing just described it will be readily under-
stood that the direction of rotation of the pinion e' may be instantly
reversed on the completion of the traverse of the stave past the rotary
cutters, the shifting of the belt from the pulley 8* to the pulley 4*
serving to give a quick motion directly to the wheel 2 in the direction
of the arrow, Fig. 1, and thus to return the carriage quickly to its
starting point, and the shifting of the belt from the pulley 4* to the
pulley 8 having the opposite effect, viz., to advance the stavo at a
moderated I pace up to and carry it past the rotating cutters. By providing
that the slide E when it reaches the end of its traverse shall strike
the belt shipper the reversion of the machine is made automatic.
Wood to form the staves having been provided of the proper thickness
and out up to a suitable size (according to the character and size of
cask required to be made), the stave blanks are placed singly on the
traversing carriage, and secured thereto as above explained. To keep
the staves steady while being cut, and yet to permit of the rise and fall
of the carriage for the purpose to be presently explained, a pressing
roller K is provided. This roller turns in bearings in the forked termi-
nation of a bar K', which is free to slide in a vertical guide formed by

page_text: the standards A, A. This bar is loaded by a weight, which serves to
keep the pressing roller in contact with the stave at a point in line
with the rotary cutters. These cutters consist each of a block, flat-
sided and tapering, to receive the blades c, c, which are formed with
elongated slots to receive the clamping screws which connect them to
the taper block, and admit of their adjustment thereon. The axles of
these cutters are mounted severally in bearings formed on slides L,
which are supported in dovetail guides attached to the standards.
These slides are adjusted laterally by means of screws 1, 2, to provide
for the setting of the cutters at a greater or less distance apart to suit
different widths of staves. The cutters stand at an inclination to each
other in order to give the required bevil to the edges of the stave.
The blades c, c, I form with smooth cutting edges, as shown in the
enlarged detached view, Fig. 3, Sheet II., and thus smooth bevil edges
will be given to the staves instead of the rough saw out hitherto deemed
desirable for machine-made casks. Keyed to the cutter spindles are
band pulleys M, which receive bands from adjacent shafting, the same
being led thereto over guide rollers N. The rotation therefore of the
cutters is independent of the traverse of the carriage or feed, motion.
Instead of making the bevil of the edges of the staves correspond with
radius lines drawn from the axis of the cask, I propose to make the
bevils take radial lines that will meet beyond this point, and thus I form
what may be termed gaping joints, or joints which are produced by the
inner edges of the adjacent staves bearing closely together when the
cask is hooped, while the outer edges stand at an appreciable distance
apart. The tendency of this outwardly open joint will be to close with
the rough wear to which casks are exposed, and thereby to form a
permanently tight joint. This result is obtained by the set of the
cutting edges which determine the angle of the cut or bevil. In order
to ensure the winding or irregular bevil which obtains in a more or less
perfect state in hand-made casks, and which requires great skill in the
workman to produce, I curve the edges of the blades of the inclined
cutters as shewn at Fig. 3, and give a rising and falling motion to the
stave blank by gradually elevating and depressing the carriage D, as
explained. Thus when the cutting of the stave commences the stave
will be, say, in the dotted position of Fig. 3, and as the work progresses
it will rise to the position shewn by full lines in the same Figure. It
will then gradually fall and leave the cutters at the first level. By this
means it will be readily understood that the rotary cutters will constantly

page_text: vary the bevil of their cut, and produce the desired winding or irregular
bevil, the bevil being sharper at and near the ends than at the largest
girth of the cask.
Having now set forth the nature of my Invention of "Improvements
in Machine-made Casks, and in the Machinery to be used in Making
such Casks," and having explained the manner of carrying the same
into effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part
recited Letters Patent I claim,-
First. The means above described whereby I am enabled to assimilate
machine-made casks to those produced by skilled labor.
Secondly. The arrangement of machinery above described for shaping
stave blanks with or without a winding or varying bevil.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Thomas Evans Lascelles,
have hereunto set my hand and seal, the Tenth day of August, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine.
CHARLES T. E. LASCELLES. (L.S.)