184 



THE CIVIL ENGINEER AND ARCHITECTS JOURNAL. 



[Jlni 



beer, &c., we will now proceed to describe the process lately inveoted by 

 Davison and Symington. 



Tlic invention relates — 1st, to a new method of making ca^ks ; 2ndly, 

 to a new methiid of cleansinu casks by machinery ; 3rdlj, to a method of 

 purifying casks. On the improved mode of making casks ; — hut first a 

 few words on the present pUns. According to the present mode, the mas- 

 ter cooper being desirous of sending to his customers only such as are 

 made of pure and well seasoned wood, is compelled to lay by the wood 

 for a considerable period, in some cases two or three years. Now, after 

 this, the wood is, no doubt, freed from much of its moisture ; some of the 

 vegetable juices have been evnporatcd by exposure to the sun and wind; 

 but it should be remembered tliat the wood in this state is much harder to 

 bend than it was in its former green state, so much so, ilial frequent appli- 

 cations of water, assisted by heat, are oblijcd to be made, before the ne- 

 cessary bending can be accomplished ; with all the care that can be be- 

 stowed, the slaves frequently crack in the cross way of the wood, which, 

 if not through the entire thickness, exhibits itself in the inside in the form 

 of a blister, many of which may sometimes he found in one cask, to the 

 great annoyance of the brewer and those whose business it is to see that 

 the casks are in a fit state to contain beer or other liquids, as it most fre- 

 quently happens, that when moisture is admitted into these casks, the 

 listers expand, and form a receptacle for any vegetable or other matter 

 which may deposit itself from the contents of the cask, and by subsequent 

 exposure to the atmosphere soon become mouldy, if not in a musty state; 

 hence the plea of the coopers when they say— •' We must un-head the cask 

 to chip out tlic blisters." 



To avoid this expensive and injurious process, as well as to render casks 

 in a much better seasoned state than by long exposure to the atmosphere, it 

 is proposed to make use of wo"d in its new or green state, that is, when 

 the vegetable juices are in the pores, in which state the staves are easily 

 bent to the desired curvature, wiihoiit cracking or otherwise injuring the 

 slaves ; after being thus bent in the form of casks with temporary hoops, 

 making due allowance for slirinkage, they are in this stale to be subjected 

 to the action of a continuous and rapid current of heated air passing 

 through the interior of the cask (the cask being supplied with a temporary 

 cover over the top end, with a small hole in the same for the exit of the 

 air), until the wood has exhaled all its naluial sap or other aqueous mat- 

 ters with which it was foinierly impregnated ; the staves thus become 

 denser and harder, all the libres being brought closer together ; this done, 

 the casks are finally hooped and finisli'-d otf in the usual way, the wood of 

 which the heads are composed having been previously seasoned in a simi- 

 lar manner, in chambers properly conslrucled for the purpose. Casks so 

 made ere rendered entirely free from sap and other moisture, hence tlieir 

 peculiar fitness for warm climates ; and whilst it is of great importance 

 for some kinds of beer to have the casks free from all coloured juices, it is 

 equally so for other articles, such as bread, beef, &ic. In proof of llie 

 heated air so removing these aqueous matters, Ur. D. B. Reid, who was 

 professionally engaged to investigate the merits of ihis invention, states — 

 " A new cask of green wood, subjected to the action of heated air, gives 

 out a volatile matter along with a large quantity of waier, which, when 

 condensed in a refrigerator, sustained at a low temperature by a freezing 

 mixture, presents a liquid, limpid and culuurlfss, like nater, but strongly 

 impregiiateii with the odour of the wood. Also, the wood not only be- 

 comes denser, but has less taste, at least at first, and must necessarily vary 

 in its texture, according to the extent to which it has been heated, and the 

 amount of moisture expelled." 



The new cleansing machines consist of two frames made of iron, one 

 revolving inside the other ; the inner may be termed a cradle, in which the 

 cask is secured by means of a chain, lever, and catch ; motion being gi\en 

 to the ouier frame, either by hand or engine power, causes the inner one 

 to revolve in a contrary direction, which is accomplished by an eccentric 

 next the axis of the outer frame, and to which is connected a set of jointed 

 rods communicating with a ratchet, which is fixed on the axis of the inner 

 frame. The action is thus ; — for eveiy turn the outer frame makes in the 

 direction of its length, the inner one, which coiilaiiis the cask, moves at 

 right angles with the other frame, a distance equal to one tooth of the 

 ratchet, or l-20ih of the circumference of the ca.-k ; in this way, by the 

 time the outer frame with the cask has made t»enly revolutions end over 

 end, the inner frame has moved the cask round only once siilewavs. Thus 

 by means of a chain of peculiar construction, attached to a plug suited to 

 the bung hole, which is in the first instance inserled in the cask, together 

 with two or three gallons (if hot water, every inch of surface becomes 

 acted upon and freed from all adhering matter in a very short time. For 

 the purpose of more thoroughly cleansing a very bad cask, it is usual, 

 after it has revolved for about a quarter of an hour, to loosen the plug, 

 and allow the first water and dirt to run out ; then, from a main over the 

 machines, to let in about a gallon of clean hot water, for the purpose of 

 giving a second rinse. The very worst descriptiou of casks are, by this 

 process, rendered perfectly clean in the course of half an hour. It is only 

 necessary further to observe, that any number of machines may be made 

 to revolve at the same time, liy appijiug adequate power. 



To lest the merits of this part of the invention, a great number of very 

 interesting experimenis were gone inio, some of which were made imme- 

 diately under the ilirectiou of Dr. Keid, fniiu which it «uiild appear that 

 rapid currents of heated air in passing tliiougli a iiiiiuhly ca.sk becmiies 

 loaded not only wiih moisture, but also «iili ininuie particles of mould, or 

 at all events, with some maieruil from the mould, which is proved to de. 



velope mould into other substances; which was ascertained by condensing 

 the vapour which passed from a mouldy cask, by a current of healed air, 

 being found to deposit on tlie corks of the bottles containing the liquid, a 

 very rich vegetation of mould, whilst no such appearance was traced in 

 the liquid condensed from fresh casks ; showing that the fact refered to is 

 one of the greatest importance, as indicating that the action of heated air 

 is not merely exsiccative but that it does dissipate mould. 



Dry heat is a well known purifier, it having been sati-factorily proved 

 lately in Syria, that even the clothes worn by persons who had died of the 

 plague, were rendered perfectly harmless by being exposed to -.iSO" Fah. ; 

 but lest this should be going loo far away from the subject in question, one 

 or two other simple circumslances may be mentioned, as showing that dry 

 heat is the thing needed between the fibres of the wood ; take for instance 

 a chip from a musly cask, and carry it in the waistcoat pocket for an hour 

 or more, and it will be found that the warmth of the body alone has mate- 

 rially, if not wholly, removed the uiipleasanl odour. In the process of 

 firing a cask, it was found that the average heat from the cres-et against 

 the sides of the cask, was equal to 350°, and the application of this tem- 

 perature for half an hour is usually considered suflicieot to remove the 

 moisture and smell; but great difficulty is experienced in applying the 

 heat uniformly, and ills at all limes loo sudden to effect a complete re- 

 moval of the moisture and taint from the body of the wood, in addition to 



the ill effects of charring. The 



new process insures one temperature 



througliout every portion of the cask, and as it requires only five seconds 

 of lime (from the rapidity with which the air is propelled) to give every 

 crevice ot a 3G gallon cask a fresh supply of heat, it will be readily un- 

 derstood that by such means, all danger of the wood being burnt is re- 

 moved, the cask becoming gradually and speedily deprived of all moisture, 

 and with it the complete evaporation of the " must" with which that raoir.- 

 ture is impregnated. 



Contrary to the opinions of some, this process is not attended with any 

 injurious effects upon the wood, but the very reverse ; it being found to 

 close the pores and render the surface much harder, and consequently less 

 susceptible of re imbibing moisture, and which would be particularly so if 

 steam could be altogether abandoned in the process of cask cleaning ; the 

 residue of the beer would then become hardened in the pores upon each 

 application of heated air, and would eventually effect an internal protect- 

 ing crust or glaze on the surface, which would materially facilitate the 

 future cleansing of the casks. 



The advantages of the new system are these :— First, that casks can be 

 made out of green wood instead of very dry and seasoned wood, and by 

 this means be free from blisters, and in every way better fitted to resist 

 moisture and its evil consequences. Secondly, that the cleaning of casks 

 may be effected by machinery, with every degree of certaintv, without un- 

 heading or otherwise destroying the constitution of the casks. Thirdly, 

 that casks may be rendered sweet, pure, and uniformly dry, without the 

 injurious effects of either un-heading, the use of chemicals, or hard steam- 

 lug. Lastly, that the means by which the whole is accomplished, are not 

 only simple, speedy, and to be depended upon, but at one-fourth the ex- 

 pense of any oilier system where un-heading is resorted to. 



The heating apparatus consists of 1.5 cast iron pipes of a horse-shoe 

 form— the internal sectional area of each being 12 inches, and the external 

 heating surface 10G5 superficial inches — these drop into sockets connected 

 with a horizontal pipe, of 9 inches diameter, which is placed on each side 

 of the surf.ice, and the divisions in the latter are so arranged that the air 

 in its passage towards the nozzles first passes through four of the horse- 

 shoe pipes ; next five, and then six, pipes ; this is for the purpose of mak- 

 ing room for the expansion of the air, which, it will be observed, has by 

 this time passed tlir. e times over the furnace. The air on passing away 

 from the six pipes immediately rushes through the nozzles, and from thence 

 to the interior of the casks over which they are placed. The air is pro- 

 pelled by means of a fan of 18 inches diameter, at a speed of 1,400 revo- 

 lutions per minute. The apparatus is also furnished with a boiler which 

 is placed over the heating-pipes, the external heat of which tends greatly 

 to forward the generatiou of steam, which is used for the purpose of warm- 

 ing and slighly moistening the casks previous to being finished off with the 

 heated air. The water in the boiler serves for charging the casks during 

 the cleansing process, as before described. 



.\n apparatus such as now described, consisting of cleansing machines, 

 and 21 nozzles, for heatni air. has been in operation at Messrs, Truman, 

 Hanhurj, l5uxtou, and (.'o.'s brewery for upwards of two years, during 

 which time upwards of 70,01)0 mouldy casks have been cleansed and pu- 

 rified ; a great proportion of which would have required, under the old 

 system, to have been either uuheaded, and remained so for a considerable 

 time, or have been subjected both to " firing" and hard steaming, at an 

 expense of at least lOd. per cask. The apparatus alluded to is capable of 

 cleansing and purifjing 220 casks per day, or 1,320 per week, at an ex- 

 pense as under, viz. ; — 



Fuel for furiiai e, 2i tons, at 22s. .... 

 Proportion of fuel to engines, 12 cwt. 

 2 men and I boy, but say 3 labourers, to attend to ma- 

 chines and hot air apparatus, each 20s, . 



Total . .£083 



Or under 1 Jd. per cask. 

 This does not include the interest of money sunk in fitting up the ap- 

 paratus, or the cost of wear and tear; but including the whole after two 



