Object number
55/68
Description
The hoop driver is a wedge-shaped tool used by coopers in conjunction with a heavy hammer to to drive the metal hoops over the outside of the cask. Like most drivers, this one has a grooved nose to stop it slipping off the hoop. It came from the cooper's shop at H. & G. Simonds Ltd., known as the Bridge Street Brewery, in Reading.
Physical description
1 Cooper's Driver: Wood; Metal
Label Text
9. Cooper's driver. Cooper's driver or drift from the cooper's department of Reading company H. and G. Simonds Ltd. Coopers would use a driver to force down metal hoops onto newly raised casks, the driver's wooden section hit with a hammer to obtain the necessary pressure. The driver pictured is made from oak wood and steel and is a total of fifteen centimetres long. The end of the steel section has a single groove across its width to prevent the driver slipping off the hoop. Coopers who secured their casks with wooden hoops, hazel or willow for example, together with those whose work required the use of truss hoops would all use drivers made entirely of wood. 55/68.
Archival history
MERL 'Catalogue index' card – 'The driver or drift is made of steel, and is fitted with an oak handle. The narrow end is grooved to prevent the driver slipping off the hoop. The driver is mainly used to beat down the wire hoops on to the raised barrel. A similar tool, but made of wood is used when driving down wooden hoops, either in dry coopering or for truss hoops in wet coopering. Although the wooden handle of the driver soon wears out with constant hammering the steel tip is usually kept and fitted with another handle. The tool measures 6 inches long.', MERL 'Catalogue index' card – [Coopering – General Card, 55/37–55/56 and 55/66–55/68] – 'This set of Cooper's tools came to the Museum from the Cooper's Department, Messrs H & G Simonds The Brewery, Reading. Although the majority of the tools are modern, indeed some of them were never used, the tools are nevertheless the same as have been used for centuries by both urban and rural coopers.'
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External document
- L:\MERL\Objects\JISC 2012\60 series negatives\60_7773.tif - High resolution image
