CASK 745 



the upper and lower edges of the cask are cut round and grooved, called chining, for 

 the purpose of receiving the heads. Thirdly, an apparatus not very dissimilar to the 

 last, by which the straight pieces of wood designed for the heads of the casks are held 

 together, and cut to the circular figure required, and also the bevelled edges produced. 

 And fourthly, a machine in which the cask is made to revolve upon an axis, and the 

 cutting tool to traverse for the purpose of shaving the external part of the cask, 

 and bringing it to a smooth surface. 



The pieces of wood intended to form the staves of the cask having been cut to their 

 required length and breadth, are placed upon the slide-rest of the first mentioned 

 machine, and confined by cramps ; and the guide, which is a flexible bar, having been 

 previously bent to the intended curve of the stave and fixed in that form, the rest is 

 slidden forward upon the bench by the hand of the workman, which, as it advances 

 (moving in a curved direction) brings the piece of wood against the edge of the re- 

 volving circular saw, by which it is cut to the curved shape desired. 



The guide is a long bar held by a series of moveable blocks fitted to the bench by 

 screws, and is bent to any desired curve by shifting the screws ; the edge of the slide- 

 rests which hold the piece of wood about to be cut, runs against the long guide bar, 

 and consequently is conducted in a corresponding curved course. The circular saw 

 receives a rapid rotatory motion by means of a band of rigger from any first mover ; 

 and the piece of wood may be shifted laterally, by means of racks and pinions on the 

 slide-rest, by the workmen turning a handle, which is occasionally necessary in order 

 to bring the piece of wood up to, or away from, the saw. 



The necessary number of staves being provided, they are then set round within a 

 confined hoop at bottom, and brought into the form of a cask in the usual way, and 

 braced by temporary hoops. The barrel part of the cask being thus prepared, in order 

 to effect the chining, it is placed in a frame upon a platform, which is raised up by a 

 treadle lever, so that the end of the barrel may meet the cutters in a sort of lathe above : 

 the cutters are then made to traverse round within the head of the barrel, and, as they 

 proceed, occasionally to expand, by which means the bevels and grooves are cut on the 

 upper edge of the barrel, which is called chining. The barrel being now reversed, the 

 same apparatus is brought to act against the other end, which becomes chined in like 

 manner. 



The pieces of wood intended to form the heads of the cask are now to be cnt straight 

 by a circular saw in a machine similar to the first described ; but, in the present in- 

 stance, the slide-rest is to move forward in a straight course. After their straight 

 edges are thus produced, they are to be placed side by side, and confined, when a 

 scribing cutter is made to traverse round, and cut the pieces collectively into the 

 circular form desired for heading the cask. 



The cask having now been made up, and headed by hand as usual, is placed 

 between centres, or upon an axle in a machine, and turned round by a rigger or band 

 with a shaving cutter sliding along the bar above it, which cutter, being made 

 to advance and recede as it slides along, shaves the outer part of the cask to a smooth 

 surface. 



Mr. Smart cuts the edges of thin staves for small casks on the ordinary saw-bench, 

 by fixing the thin wood by two staples or hooks to a curved block, the lower face of 

 which is bevelled to give the proper chamfer to the edges, fig. 440. One edge having 



440 



been cut, the stave is released, changed end for end, and refixed against two pins, 

 which determine the position for cutting the second edge, and make the staves of one 

 common width. The curved and bevelled block is guided by two pins p p, which 

 enter a straight groove in the bench parallel with the saws. This mode of bending 

 is from various reasons found inapplicable to large staves, and these are cut, as 

 shown in three views, fig. 441, whilst attached to a straight bed, the bottom of which 

 is also bevelled to tilt the stave for chamfering the edge. To give the curve suitable 

 to the edge, the two pins on the under side of the block run in two curved grooves 

 g g in the saw-bench, which cause the staves to sweep past the saw in the arc of a 

 very large circle, instead of in a right line, so that the ends are cut narrower than 



