Today in 1873, US Patent 139976 A was issued, an invention of George Sichler, for his “Improvement in Apparatus For Pitching Barrels.” There’s no Abstract, though it’s described this way in the application:

My invention has for its object to furnish an improved apparatus for rolling beer-kegs after they have been pitched to keep the pitch spread over the inner surface of the kegs until they have become so cool that the pitch will not flow. The invention consists in the three cross-bars, the six-posts grooved upon their inner sides, the two adjustable crossbars, the two skids, the adjustable blocks, their connecting-round, and the tilting and weighted skid, constructed and operating in connection with each other as hereinafter fully described.