US1478918A - Tap device for wooden barrels - Google Patents

Description

Dec. 25, 1923.

w. RUPP TAP DEVICE FOR WOODEN BARRELS' 7 Filed Jan. 11 1922 INVENTOR Zlfi'llz'am Rupp ATTORNEY Patented Dec. 25, 192 3.

- oNiTao'sTATas PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM RUYP, OF NEWARK, NEW JERSEY.

TAP DEVICE FOR WOODEN BARRELS.

Application filed January 1 1, 1922. Serial No. 528,387.

cess to the contents of the barrel, which is easily put back in place, and which is so simple that it hardly adds to the cost of the barrel. For this purpose I provide the barrel with a screw-threaded hole at a suitable point, which may be in the head or in a stave. This hole is formed with a shoulder.

at the outer end for receiving a gasket of suitable material. Into the screw-threaded hole fits a non-metallic screw plug (preferably of wood) having a flange arranged to engage the gasket when the plug is screwed tight. The head of the plug is provided ith'suitable means to permit turning of the plug into and out of closing position. The lug is locked'against rotation (as during shipment of tl 'e barrel) by readily remov fable fastening means:

-My new tap device 1s particularly applicable in wooden barrels containing bakers materials,-such as malt syrup, molasses, condensed milk, glucose, vegetable cooking oils,- etc. Herctofore these barrels have been just ordinary wooden barrels with the usual opening at the top closed by abunlg, but without any provision for tapping. 11 order to get to the contents of the barrel, the baker would either have to remove the head alto ether, or bore a. hole in the head. Both of t ese operations are objectionable. The

removal of the headof the barrelwould expose the contents, which would thus be liable to become unsanitary. Boring a hole in the barrel would cause cuttings or shavmgs of the wood to drop into the contents and this extraneous matter was liable to become mixed with the dough. Furthermore, in both instances the-baker had no means of keeping the barrel closed tight when the same was not in use. a

The foregoing andother objections and difiiculties are entirely overcome by the use of my new tap device. The wooden plug is easily unscrewed and as easily put back. Except for a key, which in the trade is fun ke lhe part B may or the like.

fits a plug, indicated as awhole by P. I.

nished with each barrel, the baker requires no special tools for removing or replacin the plug. The boring of a screw-threade hole in the head or stave of the barrel adds nothing to its cost of manufacture, while the wooden plugs may be made in quantity at a. very slight cost.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 shows a preferred form of my new tap device in cross-section;

' Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1'; j

Fig. 3 is a detached viewof the wooden phig shown in Fig. 1;

g. 4 is a view similar to 1 with the.

phig removed; a

ig. 5 is a plan view similar to Fig.- 2 on a smaller scale, showing difierentmeans for holding the plug against rotation; and

Fig. 6 is a perspective view of a suitable or turning the plug.

e considered as representing the head or a stave of a wooden barrel. refer to the part B as a wooden barrel. .The barrel B is provided with a hole consisting of a screw-threaded portion 1 and an enlarged cylindrical portion ,2 having-a. shoul-.

der :3 adapted to receive-a gasket-or washer 4 of suitable material, such as leather, fiber Into the screw-threaded hole prefer to' make the .plug of wood, but other suitable non-metallic materials may be used,such as compressed paper, fiber, hard rubber, and the like Thislpl'u comprises a screw-threaded body portion ahead 6, and a neck 6' of smaller diameter than the body portion 5. When the plug is screwed in t1ght, the underside of the head Gengages the washer 4 and thus roduces a tight joint through which no lea age can take place. It is preferable that the screw-threads 1 'of the hole and the screw-threads 5 of the plug be made heavy and easy to fit, so that only a few turns are required to screw the plug into or out of the hole. As shown in Fig. 1, when the plug is in tight,'the screw-threads 1 and 5 engage at the surfaces marked a and are out of holding contact'at the points I). So that, with the construction shown, merely giving the tight plug a fraction of a turn to the left, loosens the plug and makes its with drawal very easy, even should the screwthreads be covered with the contents of the barrel. When the plugis screwed home, it forms a leak-proofjoint andthe head 0f the orconvenience, I will therefore its ' and similar members 12 the cost of the .a practical extent plug lies substantially flush with the head or stave of the barrel.

The co-operating serew=threads of the hole and the plug are of such loose fit as to allow for expansion and contraction of the wood,'so that the plug is always easily removed and replaced.

To facilitate the turning of the plug, I provide a suitable key K, as shown in Fig. 6, having a pair of prongs or fingers? arranged to enter corresponding holes or sockets or recesses 8 in the head 6 of the plug. Instead of holes sockets or recesses 8, other forms of gripping surfaces may be used, as for instance, a key-slot.

The plug P is locked against accidental rotation, as when the barrel is in shipment, by suitable fastening devices, such as staples 9, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2. Or, I- may secure a metal strip 10 across the plug, preferably in position to cover and conceal the openings 8, as shown in Fig. 5. The strip 10 is secured to the stave or head of the barrel by removable fastening members 11, such as tacks, screws, .etc., pass through the strip into the head of the plug. By lacing the metal strip-10 so as-to concea the openings or sockets 8, the barrel will be to protected against unauthorlzed or mischievous o ening.

It will be seen from the foregoing that I have provided an exceedingly simple and formed as part of the inexpensive device, barrel itself, for readily etfecti'ngan opeir ing to permit access to the contents of the barrel and for keeping the barrel closed when not in use. My invention has nothing to do with metal bungs which have heretofore been suggested and which have not been found suitable for the purpose which my new ta device so well fulfills. Barrels -with metal ic bungs must be provided with metal bushin s or thimbles into which the buhgs fit, an these parts add so much to barrel as to make their use absolutely prohibitive in barrels which are not returned for refilling. It is a well known fact that wooden barrels ()ntaining bakers materials are used but once} When bung including a 1 permit easy tfac'esfor turning t a barrel is empty, it is not sent back to be refilled. but the user sells it'as a secondhand barrel. \Vhen the second-hand barrel dealer gets these empty barrels, he must put in a new head before he can sell them again. So it .is essential that the tapd evice in the original barrel be as inexpensive as possible. This indispensable feature is one of the advantages inherenttin my invention.

'lVhat I claim is}:

1. A wooden be having a 'screw threaded hole formed; through the wood, itself, said hole terminating at its outer end in an enlarged annular recess providing an annular shoulder, a gasket on said shoulder, said gasket having flat inner and outer faces. a screw bung of hard nonmetallic material seated in said hole, said screw shank or plug, and an enlarged cylindrical head, said head adapted to lit in said recess with its outer face flush with the outer fa e of the barrel and Is inner face engagingthe flat faced gasket, the cooperating threads of the hole and the plug being of loose fit whereby to allow for expansion and contraction and to removal and replacing of the means for locking the bung to the bung,

barre-l against retrograde movement of thebung, and gripping surfaces formed in the top',"-,of sa d head, in combination with a key adapted to engage said gripping sur- 1e bung.

'2. A wooden barrel having a screwthreadcd hole formed in the wood itself, said hole terminating at its outer end in an enlarged recess provided with a shoulder, a gasket on saidshoulder, a screw plug of hard non-mctallic material seated in said hole, said plug having an enlarged head adapted to fit in said recess and engage said gasket, sockets in the head of said plug adapted to accommodate a key to permit turning thereof, and a fastening plate extending over said head and coverin and concealing the aforesaid sockets, said plate secured adjacent its opposite ends to the barrel, and to the head-of the plug;

WILLIAM RUPP.

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