Classifications

• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B27—WORKING OR PRESERVING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL; NAILING OR STAPLING MACHINES IN GENERAL
  • B27H—BENDING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL; COOPERAGE; MAKING WHEELS FROM WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL
  • B27H3/00—Manufacture of constructional elements of tubes, coops, or barrels
  • B27H3/02—Manufacture of barrel staves
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B27—WORKING OR PRESERVING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL; NAILING OR STAPLING MACHINES IN GENERAL
  • B27H—BENDING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL; COOPERAGE; MAKING WHEELS FROM WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL
  • B27H1/00—Bending wood stock, e.g. boards
• • B—PERFORMING OPERATIONS; TRANSPORTING
  • B27—WORKING OR PRESERVING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL; NAILING OR STAPLING MACHINES IN GENERAL
  • B27H—BENDING WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL; COOPERAGE; MAKING WHEELS FROM WOOD OR SIMILAR MATERIAL
  • B27H5/00—Manufacture of tubes, coops, or barrels
  • B27H5/02—Building up with staves
  • B27H5/04—Forming staves into the final shape and assembling same

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a method of compression, bending and joining of staves to manufacture barrels or barrels, as well as a device for the implementation of this process.
• Oak has the property of possessing transverse fibers in large quantities called medullary rays; these spokes are more impermeable than other fibers so that they form, correctly arranged in the staves, a sort of sealing barrier.
• the staves are planks with particular properties used in the field of cooperage obtained by cutting logs generally in oak in the direction of the medullary rays and therefore according to the grain of the wood; the orientation of the medullary rays of the staves is essential with regard to their sealing properties and their oenological virtues; if the shaft used has a significant curvature, then the staves will be cut also according to this curvature, similarly if the tree used has an exaggerated spin, then the staves can also be cut twisted.
• the oaks used in Europe for the manufacture of barrels often have very different qualities in terms of tightness because their channels are more or less blocked by natural substances, thyls or minerals; these substances can also be degraded according to the way of preserving the logs or the staves and according to the process used in the manufacture of barrels.
• the staves are stored outdoors for a period ranging from 6 to 36 months, without particularly protecting them from bad weather, with a view to a beneficial modification of their physical and chemical structure.
• the porosity of the staves is very variable and depends above all on several factors: origin, forestry and condition of the trees, conservation and treatment of logs and staves.
• a barrel or a barrel is composed of a set of long machined and curved staves called staves, the set of staves forming the body is also called hull, two bottoms assembled with short machined and flat staves are necessary for the closing of the shell, all of these pieces of wood are held in place by powerful wooden or metal circles, the bottom pieces are assembled by means of wooden or metal studs; the tightness of the assembly is obtained only by the quality of the assemblies and the tightening of the parts together, the use of sealing products being highly detrimental to the oenological virtues of the barrels.
• the different machining operations of a stave are: shortening or cutting to length; bashing or planing in convex form at the external mean radius of the barrel; the recess or planing in concave shape at the interior mean radius of the barrel; the perfect jointing or cutting of the two faces forming the joints between the spindle-shaped staves and at the angle necessary to obtain the shape of the barrel; the trimming or milling of the two ends of the stave to form the jable consisting in particular of a groove to receive the bottom of the barrel.
• the method currently most used in the manufacture of barrels consists of joining the staves without first modifying their curvature or natural twist therefore by proceeding to the jointing operation according to the flat development of the subsequent shape that the stave will take, then partially assemble the staves to form a rose which is strongly heated by means of a wood fire placed in the center of the rose or any other means in order to obtain a sufficient temperature to succeed in bending all of the staves simultaneously using a cable wrapped around the rose for example and then obtaining the closure of the rose which becomes a shell similar to a barrel without its two bottoms; the shell is then tightened strongly by powerful mounting circles which compress the staves against each other, this circular compression comes to compensate for any machining defects, then it is reheated inside more or less strongly to modify the taste wood, the rim is machined after cooling.
• This process does not keep the wood fibers in areas subject to high stresses; it is not satisfactory with regard to the rate of repairs made necessary as a result of leaks or ruptures of staves; this rate is frequently of the order of 10% of the number of hulls manufactured; the staves must be perfectly oriented and machined and despite this and randomly, there are many problems in the manufacture of barrels and later in the use of these barrels.
• this process does not easily make it possible to obtain satisfactory staves in twisted or curved staves or in staves having small knots or having slight movements of fibers, defects which are encountered very frequently and which coopers do not hardly appreciate because of their implementation difficulties.
• staves from these staves are therefore not all capable of retaining liquids and may need to be replaced or clogged at the time of manufacture or during use, which is highly detrimental. There are also very frequently blisters on the concave part of the staves, these cavities in the wood considerably weakening the solidity, the tightness and the quality of the barrels.
• Wood fibers are compressible but not very stretchable, bending a piece of wood is mainly to control the compression of the fibers of the concave face and avoid stretching the fibers of the convex face.
• the glass transition temperature can be assimilated to the temperature at which a material softens and can maintain, durably and without deterioration of its mechanical qualities, the shape which is printed on it until cooling to a lower temperature.
• the glass transition temperature of oak stave is between 40 and 70 ° C, it is this temperature which is sought in the traditional process, but which is largely exceeded on the surface inside the hull and rarely reached early enough at the heart of the staves at the time of their bending.
• the second heating makes it possible to reach the glass transition temperature of the oak oak, which favors the adjustment of the staves between them; as the shell is left assembled in this way until complete cooling, the shape given to the staves is therefore permanently printed.
• the return to the initial state or the resumption of initial shape of a piece of compressed wood also depends a lot on the state of the fibers: intensity of the compression which was exerted, cycle and thermal stage, blindness.
• Controlling the bending of staves therefore amounts to permanently deforming the fibers making up the staves without significantly altering their structure and mechanical strength.
• Document FR 2 587 268 dating from 1986 describes a method and a device for obtaining identical staves by placing them one after the other in a profiled clamping mold while maintaining a pressure and heating the assembly; before removing the part, the edges of the mold are used to cut the joints.
• Document DE 120 909 describes a machine for bending staves of fixed length. In addition, the machine does not allow the compression to be properly applied to the stave.
• Document DE 46 341 describes a machine for manufacturing staves.
• the staves obtained have a predetermined length and width.
• the bending of the stave is not carried out under satisfactory conditions.
• the present invention relates to a method and a device for bending, compressing and joining staves for the manufacture of barrel hulls or barrels with optimized yield, productivity and reliability while also optimizing the oenological qualities of the barrels or barrels.
• this process consists in carrying out, automatically or not, the following steps: - put the stave at the desired curvature along the longitudinal axis , compressing the stave according to its thickness, first in the center then gradually towards the ends while simultaneously and gradually bending the entire stave; by also compressing in the longitudinal direction the fibers of the internal face of the barrel without causing the longitudinal fibers of the external face to break at the time of bending or subsequently;
• the stave is at the desired curvature and after having more or less compressed its fibers over its entire surface, cut its joints according to the desired radius, for example by milling or planing. After these operations, the shell can be assembled immediately or later with these staves by metal mounting circles.
• the bending of the stave and the cutting of the seals of the stave are carried out using a single machine which essentially comprises a press with variable curvature and tools for cutting the seals .
• the two joints are made successively.
• the bending is carried out using a first machine and the stave thus formed is placed on a second machine for cutting the joints.
• the two joints can be made simultaneously.
• the hulls thus produced can be heated to modify the taste of the wood and then the other known and current operations are completed, making it possible to obtain barrels or barrels.
• Whatever the shape or the initial weakness of the stave following the presence of small knots or movements of fibers or excessive porosity, such a process allows obtaining real staves with mechanical and oenological qualities much more reliable than by the classic process most commonly used which consists, after joining, of simultaneously bending the staves by heating and clamping in pink, without maintaining the wood fibers in areas subject to high stresses.
• the present invention also relates to an associated device for implementing the method of the invention.
• the associated device for implementing the method of the present invention is characterized in that it comprises a set of means making it possible to bend, compress, join staves of any width, even very small, automatically or not so as to to make hulls of barrels or barrels with staves previously shortened, sore, hollowed out completely or partially.
• These means are:
• the assembly of the bending, holding and compression means will preferably comprise a press of shape corresponding to the desired final curvature, the stave being disposed between the upper and lower parts of this press.
• Its lower heating part is preferably convex in the transverse and longitudinal direction corresponding to a portion of the interior of the barrel, and has a fixed curvature. Its upper part corresponding to the same symmetrical portion of the interior of the barrel is preferably:
• the means for precise cutting of the two faces forming the joints between the tubes and along the radius of the barrel will preferably be associated with the press described above and will comprise two cutting tools, one on each side of the press, each being capable of one after another to cut the joints of the stave according to a plane passing through the central axis of the barrel.
• the precise means of placing, moving and ejecting the staves before, during and after the bending, compression and jointing operations will preferably include: - a chain or a belt at the entry and exit of the press; and
• All the bending, holding, compression and cutting, positioning, displacement and ejection means can be automated according to a program for optimizing the different sequences defined by the general or particular characteristics of the staves.
• the entire device can be adapted according to the desired curvature thanks to different sets of shims and stops corresponding to the different shapes sought.
• FIG. 1A is a partial schematic view in cross section of all the bending, holding, compression and cutting means, positioning, displacement and ejection;
• Figure 1 B is a top view of the means shown in Figure 1a;
• FIG. 2, 3 are schematic longitudinal front views of a press ensuring the bending, holding, compression means, shown in the two positions;
• FIG. 4, 5 and 6 are simplified top views showing the different positions occupied by the stave relative to the press; and
• FIG. 7 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of the press along VII of Figure 1A.
• the lower part 1 of the press is fixed. Its upper face 1a has a fixed curvature which is that which the stave must take.
• the upper part 2 of the press is movable vertically and deformable, in its longitudinal direction. It always remains concave in the transverse direction.
• the upper part 2 is fragmented into small lengths 2a proportional to the desired curvature, articulated together according to a certain rigidity obtained for example using a powerful spring leaf 2b; these lengths will be sufficiently spaced from one another to allow a reduction in the total length of the upper part when the latter is brought to the hanger, which ensures the maintenance of the external fibers and therefore allows the longitudinal compression of the fibers of the internal face of the stave during the bending operation.
• the spring 2b must have significant rigidity.
• the central part of the spring applies pressure to the central zone of the stave, the spring 2b remaining rectilinear.
• the periphery 3b of this active face comes into contact with the periphery of the spring 2b and thus initiates the taking of regular curvature of the spring, curvature which is transmitted to the stave.
• the curvature of the spring and therefore of the stave gradually increases until the block 3 comes into abutment. In this position, the stave is compressed between two parallel surfaces, namely the face 3a of the block 3 via the spring 2b and sections 2a and the face 1a of the lower part 1 of the press.
• the stops 10, symmetrical with respect to the press, allow very precise positioning of the stave D with respect to the upper 2 and lower 1 parts of the press and are articulated around an axis corresponding to that of the barrel 13 to be produced.
• the stops 10 are controlled by jacks 12. These stops 10 also serve to tighten the longitudinal edges of the staves on its central third and they have a thickness slightly less than that of the stave to be produced. They are capable of very precisely maintaining the central portions of the longitudinal edges of the staves during the bending and compression operations.
• the ejection of the stave D from the press towards the outlet conveyor 17 is also obtained by means of the jacks 16.
• a retractable support plate 19 controlled by the jack 18 makes it possible to ensure a continuous movement path for the staves between the press and the output conveyor 17.
• FIGS. 4 to 6 These different operations are illustrated in FIGS. 4 to 6. It will be noted in these figures that the lower part 1, like the upper part 2, has edges 1b and 1c, in their longitudinal direction, which are not straight. They have a curvature corresponding to that of the seals to be produced on the stave D.
• the entire device can be managed for example using a programmable automaton using a set of sensors and safety devices informing it of the respective position of each element so as to optimize the sequence and the duration of the different sequences according to the general or particular characteristics of the staves; so that the operator only has to modify two or three parameters depending on the initial nature of a batch of staves and according to the characteristics sought, his work essentially consisting in placing a large quantity of staves on the chain 15 simultaneously which gives him enough time to resume the staves thus machined on the chain 14 and assemble them in pink, or any other work.
• the operations of bending the staves and cutting the joints are carried out using a single machine which essentially comprises a press with lower 1 and upper 2 parts, and cutting means positioned with respect to the press to make the joints of the staves.

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• Life Sciences & Earth Sciences (AREA)
• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• Wood Science & Technology (AREA)
• Forests & Forestry (AREA)
• Manufacturing & Machinery (AREA)
• Casting Or Compression Moulding Of Plastics Or The Like (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (3)

Publications (1)

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• 1999
  • 1999-07-20 FR FR9909560A patent/FR2796586B1/fr not_active Expired - Fee Related
• 2000
  • 2000-07-20 AU AU65785/00A patent/AU6578500A/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2000-07-20 EP EP00953268A patent/EP1202847A1/de not_active Withdrawn
  • 2000-07-20 WO PCT/FR2000/002083 patent/WO2001005563A1/fr not_active Application Discontinuation

Non-Patent Citations (1)

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