CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING, MAKING, OR MANUFACTURING SHAFTS, RAILS, TIRE IRON, AND VARIOUS OTHER HEAVY ARTICLES OF METAL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE SAME
Year: 1838

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
HARDY, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Ironmaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Second day of June, in the first year of Her reign, and
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said James
Hardy, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said James Hardy, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said James Hardy, my executors, administrators, or assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all
times during the term of years therein mentioned, should and lawfully might
make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of
Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING,
MAKING, OR MANUFACTURING SHAFTS, RAILS, TIRE IRON, AND VARIOUS OTHER HEAVY
ARTICLES OF METAL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS USED IN THE SAME;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso obliging me, the said James
Hardy, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to
describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in Her

page_text: Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and imme-
diately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by
the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
James Hardy, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say):
My Invention of Certain Improvements in Rolling, Making, or Manu-
facturing Shafts, Rails, Tire Iron, and various other Heavy Articles of Metal,
and in the Machinery or Apparatus used in the same, consists, in the first
place, in adapting the principles set forth in the Specification of my former
Patent, granted by His late Majesty King William the Fourth, and sealed at
Westminster, Fourth April, One thousand eight hundred and thirty-five, for
manufacturing axletrees for carriages, and other cylindrical or conical shafts,
and applying the same principles to the manufacturing of certain other articles,
as square or polygonal shafts for machinery, rails for trams or railways, and
the tire irons for wheels, and various other articles, by a certain process of
rolling bars of iron to certain figures, and after faggotting such rolled bars
together, bringing them into the required form by rolling, or by swages
attached to a tilt hammer or metal helve.
Secondly, I introduce, as portions of the said masses of metal, longitudinal
bars of steel, in such situations as may be required for particular purposes,
and roll or weld these steel bars into combination with the iron.
Thirdly, instead of continuing to pass these masses of iron or of iron and steel
between rollers always revolving in one direction, until the mass is reduced to its
required figure, I cause, by suitable arrangements of machinery, the rollers
to reverse their rotary direction after every operation, in order that the mass
of metal may be pressed out or extended lengthwise in both directions; which
mode of treatment tends greatly to improve the tenacity of the metal, and to
facilitate the operation of rolling.
Having now stated the features of my present Invention, I proceed to shew
the manner in which the same are carried into effect. I procure the best
scrap iron or other iron, and cleanse it from rust and other impurities,
which I work into flat bars in the ordinary way, and then cut down and pile
the bars, according to the lengths and substances required. These piles are
then, in a furnace or hollow fire, brought to a welding heat, and afterwards
welded and reduced to segmental figures between revolving rollers, as described

page_text: in my former Specification. These segmental bars are placed radially round a
central rod to make a solid bar, and, after being again brought to a proper
heat for welding, are in their combined or faggotted state formed into one
compact cylindrical mass by means of rolling or swaging, as in my former
Specification. In this heated and compact state the cylindrical mass is then
passed through other grooves in the rollers or swages, having suitable inden-
tations in order to bring the mass into the required figure or form of bar for
the rail of a tramway or railroad, or for the tire of a wheel, or shaft of a
square or polygonal shape for machinery, or other form for any purpose, save
and except those claimed under my said former Patent. In the peculiar way
in which I introduce steel into the faggotted masses of iron, my object is to
unite the steel with the iron, in such proportions and in such positions that
the steel may retain its same proportion to and position in the mass after the
process of rolling or swaging into the required shape has been performed, in
order that the portions of steel so combined with the iron, may by the
rolling or swaging operation be brought into such situations of the rail or tire
iron or other article to be produced, as would, when in use, be most exposed
to the effects of wear and tear from friction or severe pressure. The manner
in which I carry this object into effect will be best understood by reference
to the Drawing hereto annexed, in which Figure 1 represents, in transverse
section, several flat bars of iron, a, a, a, piled together, with a bar of steel 6,
placed on the top of the pile. These, in their combined state, having been
properly heated in a furnace, are to be passed between suitable rollers for the
purpose of welding all the bars of iron and that of steel into one compact bar
of a segmental form, as shewn in the sectional Figure 2. A number (say eight)
of these segmental bars are then faggotted upon one central cylindrical shaft
or rod c, as represented in the section Figure 3, which may then be heated
and welded together, by passing the mass between rollers or swages, and thus
formed into a cylindrical or polygonal or square shaft of iron, coated on the
outside with steel, as at Figs. 3, 4, and 5. In forming the bars for trams or
railways, or for tires for wheels, in which it may be advantageous that the
surface most subject to wear should be of steel, I faggot together a number
of segmental pieces on a central shaft, as at Fig. 6, one or more of which
segmental pieces shall be coated on the outside with steel, in the way described
in reference to Figures 1 and 2. I weld these faggotted pieces together into
one cylindrical mass, and then roll or swage and draw out the cylinder into
the form of a rail, as shewn in section at Fig. 7, or of a fire bar, as shewn in
section at Fig. 8, or into any other form that may be required, observing that
the steel portion on the surface shall be ultimately in that part of the bar

page_text: when so rolled or swaged which may be required to resist the effect of wear
and tear from friction or pressure. Suppose it were required to produce in
the same bar alternate segmental portions of iron and steel for boring tools,
primers, taps, and a variety of other purposes, I either combine a faggot of
iron and steel, or steel faced, and iron radial bars alternately, and weld them,
as above described (see Fig. 9); or, I prepare the metal by piling flat
bars of steel and iron, in varying proportions, as may best suit to effect the
object required (as shewn a, a, a, and b, Fig. 10, and roll such pile of steel
and iron into a segmental bar, as Fig. 11. I then proceed to combine or
faggot and weld, as already described, into the cylindrical bar shewn at
Figs. 12 or 13. Supposing a steel centre for coining dies, or other similar
purpose, should be required, by combining iron segmental bars round a steel
centre bar, and welding as before described, that object is attained as shewn in
Fig. 14. From these details it will be evident, that any combination of iron and
steel, whether for internal coating of cylinders (as shewn at Figs. 15 and 16,
or in concentric circles, as shewn at Figs. 17, 18, and 19, whether for purposes
of ornament or utility, can be produced by the above-described method more
readily and more accurately than by any other yet in use. The advantages to
be derived from the third head of my Invention (viz'), applying alternate
rotary motions, or reversed motions, to the rollers, for rolling of iron or steel,
or of iron and steel combined, in a heated state, may be shew in a few words.
The ordinary and universally adopted method of rolling these metals in a
heated state is by means of rollers continuously revolving in one direction,
hence the metal under operation, when it has passed through the rollers has
to be lifted up, and drawn over the upper roller until its extreme end has
reached the other side. It has then to be presented to the succeeding groove
by the workman, to be passed through in the same direction as before, and
this process is continued successively until the metal is reduced to its required
figure. By thus continually presenting the same end of the bar to the rollers,
and pressing the metal always in the same direction, the cementing principle,
as I conceive, in a fluid state, is continually expressed towards the other end,
thus enriching one portion of the metal by impoverishing the other; hence the
inequality of bar iron generally, one end of the same bar being often found
to be tough and tenacious, whilst the other is chrystallized and brittle. By
my improved method this and other evils are avoided; for by reversing the
rotary motion of the rollers after each operation, and presenting alternately
each end of the shaft or bar to the opposite side of the rollers, and passing it
through the succeeding grooves in contrary directions successively, till the
figure required is attained, an article of uniform quality is produced with less

page_text: than half the labor, and little more than half the time and fuel consumed in
the usual way.
Having thus stated my improvements I proceed to define exactly what I
claim as my Invention :-
First, the application of iron or steel, or of iron and steel combined, pre-
pared in segmental bars, faggotted and welded together into one solid mass,
as before described, to the making or manufacturing of square, polygonal, or
other shafts not included in my former Patent, and to the making or manu-
facturing of crank axles for locomotive and other engines, to the formation of
rails, tire iron, and to all other purposes to which it may be applicable. I
likewise claim the adaptation and use of any known machinery or apparatus
for communicating an alternate rotary motion; for reversing the action of the
rollers; for the rolling of iron or steel, or any combinations of iron and steel,
in a heated state, for the purposes above set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Hardy, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.