US293278A - Tap-hole bushing and plug - Google Patents

Description

. (N0 Model.)

H. A. RUETER. `TAP HOLE RUSHING AND PLUG.

Petented Peb. 12, 1884.

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ee -E Ll UNITED STATES lPATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. RUETER, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

TAP-HOLE BUSHING AND PLUG.

SPECIFICATIN forming part of Letters lEatentA No. 293,278, dated February 12, 1884.

' Application lled February 26, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom, t may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY A. RUETER, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and Gommonwealth of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Bushings and Stop- I pers for Tap-Holes in Casks for Ale and Beer,

' cape of the contents of the cask, and preserve from injury byuse the faucet, the bushing, or

the tap-hole when no bushing isused; and it Vconsists in making the hole through the bushing to be inserted in a tap-hole, or ofthe taphole, if no bushing is used, one-halfofitslength next the outside of the Cask inform of a conefrustum, or iu the form of a frustum or zone of a spheroid, increasing in diameter from the middle, or the line where the change of form begins,`toward the outer end, and the other half of its length next the inner side headpiece or stave of the cask in the form of a cylinder having at its extreme inner end a short bevel from the inside surface to the outside surface of the bushing, or, if no bushing is used, a bevel in the wood of the cask; and in making the stopper with an outside form about half its length at the outer end a conel'rustum or a frustum or zone of a spheroid, and about half its length at the inner end in form of a cylinder, and with a `chamber in the center of its outer endlarge enough in diameter to admit the end of a faucet, and as deep as the line across it, where the cone or spheroid frustum and the cylinder forms meet, and with a narrow cut around its circumference, about opposite the line mentioned, perpendicular to its central axial line, and on or nearly on a plane with' the bottom ofthe chamber, and extending about half-way from the outer surface of the stopper to the bottom of the chamber.

In the drawings annexed, Figure 1 rshows a vertical sectional edge view of the metallic bushing, with its outer end in the form of a cone-frustum. Fi g. 2 shows the same, with its outer end in form of a spheroid frustum, and the tap-hole stopper in it. Fig. 3 shows a vertical sectional view of the stopper, and the chamber in the center of its outer end, and the Fig. 3, with the spheroid-i'rustum form. Fig. 5 shows a section of a head or stave piece of a cask, a metallic bushing in it, a section of the outer endof the stopper, the inner end of the stopper broken off and pushed out of the bushing, and a faucet driven to its place in the bushing and in the wooden packing formed by the outer chambered end of the stopper. Fig. 6 shows a device for use in placing the stopper or plug in its place in the tap-hole, or in the bushing in the hole made for it.

a is the metallic bushing.

cf is the cone-frustum-shaped end of the bushing.

c2 is the spheroid-frustum-shaped outer end4 of the hole through bushing. i

c is the cylinder-shaped end of the hole through bushing.

a is the bevel on the inner end of the bushino'.

ad is the cylindrical-shaped end of the taphole stopper.

a is the spheroid-frustu11i-shaped outer end of the tap-hole stopper.

aT is the` cone-frustum-shapcd outer end of the tap-hole stopper.

as is a transverse cut in the stopper entirely around its circumference on a line in or nearly in the plane of the bottom of the chamber in the outer end of it, the depth of which is such as to leave about one-eighth to OnesiXteenth of an inch of uncut wood between it and the bottom of the chamber. The purpose of` this transverse cut is to so nearly sever the plug in the middle into two parts that when the faucet is driven into its place it will break the end of the stopper off from the outer chambered end of it, and force the inner end of it into the cask.

c shows the wall of the chamber c", after lthe inner end of the tap-hole stopper is broken from it by drawing the faucet into its place.

c shows the expansion of the inner end of the stopper, `which the bevelV on the inner end of the bushing or tap-hole admits,`and which forms a head, which is pressed against the cone-frustum form. Fig. t shows the same as IOC) the pressure within the cask.

c is the wood of the head-piece or stave of f the cask.

c2 is the entering end ofthe faucet.

c3 is the chamber in the center of the outer end of the stopper. rIhis chamber will be of a diameter to admit the entering end of the faucet, generally about three-quarters of the diameterof the cylindrical end of the stopper, and its depth will reach vabout to the line of meeting of the cone or spheroid frustum and cylinder forms of the outside of the stopper. The object of the central chamber in the outer end of the stopper is to allowthe faucet to enter into the stopper about half ofthe length of the stopper, and to form a packing around the faucet to prevent its coming in contact with the bushing, or with the tap-hole, if no bushing is lused.

c* is a follower, the smaller part of which is of a diameter which will allow it to enter the chamber in the cuter end of the stopper, and reach to and against the b ottom of the chamber, so that the shoulders formed by the larger end of the follower will rest on and against the outer end of the stopper. The purpose for which this follower is used is to drive the stopper to its place in the bushing or tap-hole.

If no metallic bushing is used, the` tap-hole .will be reaincd out with an instrument suitable for that purpose, so as to give the inside of it the form described as the inside form of the bushing. When the stopper is driveninto its place in the bushing, the inner end of it will immediately expand iii the bevel in the inner end of the bushing or taphole, so that it cannot be forced out by the pressure inside the cask.

When the faucet is to be put into place for use in the cask, the entering end being placed in the chamber c, a forcible blow of a hammer on the outer end of the faucet will send it to its place, breaking off the inner end of the stopper and carrying it into the cask, the walls of the chamber c3, which form the packing a9 between the faucet and the inside of the bushing, will be retained between the faucet and the bushing, and will prevent the escape of fluids from the cask. W'hen the cask is empty and to be filled again, the faucet will be loosened and withdrawn, and the wooden packing a will be split and drawn out, and a new stopper will be inserted. l If the tap-hole stopper is made with the grain of the Wood transversely across it, the transverse cut es may be dispensed with, as the cylindrical end of the stopper will readily split off from the cone-frustum-shaped end when the faucet is driven in.

I am aware of the several patents -for b ungs heretofore issued to Pentlarge, Fountain, Pentlarge and Hursch, Borst, Pentlarge, Brown,

Shaw, and II. H. Rueter; but I do not claim anything described and claimed by eitherl of them, or by any others; but

c I do claim as new and my inventionl. The combination of a Cask having a taphole of afrustum of conical or spheroidal forni about half the length of the hole from the outer end of it, and of cylindrical form the remainder of the length of the hole to the inner end thereof, and a tap-hole stopper of a forni corresponding lto the form of the taphole, substantiallyas set forth.'

2. A tap-hole stopper having the chamber c3 and the transverse cut c5, substantially as set forth. Y

3. A cask having a tap-hole providedwith the 'short bevel c" at its inner end, substantially as described,v for the purpose set forth.

'HENRY A. RUETER.

Vitnesses:

CHs. HOUGHTON, FREDK. L. HoUGH'roN.

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