IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CASKS
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Johnson, of Hadleigh, in the County of
Suffolk, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CASKS."
Sealed the 12th January 1864, and dated the 17th July 1863.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Johnson at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
17th July 1868.
I, THOMAS JOHNSON, of Hadleigh, in the County of Suffolk, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of tho said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CASES," to be as follows:-
I have a fixed horizontal shaft supported on uprights, and on such shaft I
have a cylinder carrying two, three, or more arms, and to each arm a cradle
to hold a cask is attached; the cylinder and arms are caused to revolve by
means of a wheel and pinion, and each cradle is caused to revolve in a different
direction to the cylinder and arms by means of arother pinion and a wheel,
which may be kept stationary or allowed to revolve on the fixed shaft; the
cradle may be made to hold casks of different sizes by means of a round plate
and two arms with adjusting screws to suit the length or bulge of the cask.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Johnson in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
16th January 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
JOHNSON, of Hadleigh, in the County of Suffolk, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS IIer most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, IIer heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Thomas Johnson, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Johnson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR WASHING AND CLEANSING CASKS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Thomas Johnson, 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 Thomas Johnson, 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, that is to say:-
This Invention has for its object "Improvements in Machinery for Washing
and Cleansing Casks," and which improved machinery I propose to construct
in the following manner:-Upon the uprights or bearing frames I fix a hori-
zontal shaft, over which fixed shaft I pass a second or hollow shaft or cylinder
so as to turn upon the fixed shaft. Upon the hollow or cylindrical shaft I
form two, three, or more radiating arms, which may be either hollow or solid,
and in or upon each of these arms I fit a rotating cradle or cask holder. The
cylindrical shaft, which now carries the rotating cask holders, is turned by
means of a wheel and pinion, and as the cradles revolve therewith about the
axes of the two main horizontal shafts above mentioned, they, together with
the casks, are also caused to rotate about the axes of the radial arms by means

page_text: working on the feather Z, by which it is prevented from turning. The object
of thus mounting the large bevel wheel is to thereby afford the means of
turning the cradles to any desired position when putting in and taking out the
casks to or from the machine. G, G, G, G, cradle plates, cast entire with the
cradle pinions, or bolted thereto; H, H, H, H, wrought-iron arms securely
bolted to the wheel plates; I, I, I, I, circular sole plates upon which the casks
rest, as shewn at Fig. 2, theso plates are made as nearly as may be to fit the
cask head, or are made plain or with a flange to just enter or enclose the
chine, the two latter forms being intended to keep the end of the casks from
moving. K, K, K, K, centres or hinges at the upper end of the cradle arms;
L, wrought-iron bands or strong hoops hinged at K, in the ends of one of
which a number of eyes 1, 1, 1, are formed, and in the ends of the other or
upon the end of one of the arms brought round on one side the staple 2 is
fixed, of such a shape and size as to enter the eyes 1, 1, 1. One or both of
these arms may be hinged or made so as to move upon a joint at the back or
side, so as to allow them to be opened or closed a little to adapt their width of
opening to the variations in the size of the barrels, and they may be fixed by a
clamp or otherwise. In order to fix the cask it is merely required to turn the
cradle round so that it is in the position shewn at Fig. 3, the arm, bands, or
hoops L, L, being opened or turned back; the cask is now placed upon the
plate 1, the arms and ends of the bands are closed round the barrel firmly,
and one of the eyes passed over the staple when the pin or split key 3, which
is attached to a small chain being passed into the staple the cask is secured.
Another mode of fastening is shewn at Fig. 7, or a simple chain may be used
instead of the bands when required. Each cradle being thus occupied and the
casks charged with the washind and cleansing media, and the wheels E and F
respectively in gear, the machine is moved by turning the handle N' or the
driving pulley N', which turns the pinion O and wheel P, the latter being
fixed to the cylindrical shaft B, causes the whole to revolve and rotate as
before described. For cleansing the external surface of the casks, and also
for containing the discharged fluid, I propose to form a tank, as here shewn,
and to mount the machine across it, so that as the casks revolve they may
traverse the interior, and pass through or partially through its liquid contents.
When it is required to wash and cleanse casks or barrels of various sizes
changing plates S, see Figs. 5 and 6, are fitted to the sole plate 1, secured
thereto by the blocks T and screws and nuts U. For holding the machine in
any required position when putting in or taking out a cask a pawl and ratchet,
or break wheel and band may be fitted to the hollow shaft upon which the
cradics revolve.

page_text: Having thus particularly described the said improved machinery, and
illustrated one of such machines upon the accompanying Drawing, I hereby
further declare that I do not thereby restrict myself to the precise details of
construction shewn, as the same may be modified both in form and dimensions,
and therefore while the peculiar motion and operation of the said machinery
is identical with that herein explained, I include all such modifications as
forming part of my said Invention.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Johnson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
THOMAS JOHNSON. (L.B.)