Year: 1886

page_text: [Communicated from abroad by MAXIMILIAN JACKER, of Florence, County of
Florence, and State of Wisconsin, United States of America, and JOHN B.
MAAS, of Humbolt, County of Marquette, and State of Michigan, United
States of America.]
I ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of
Engineer do hereby declare the
same is to be performed, to be
the following statement :—
323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
nature of this invention and in what manner the
particularly described and ascertained in and by
This invention relates to certain improvements in the manufacture of chains,
and it has for its object to form the interlocking links from a single bar of metal as
more fully hereinafter specified.
This object is attained by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawing
in which
Figure 1 represents a view partly in side elevation and partly in section shewing
this improved machine complete, with the gearing for driving the rolls in unison with
each other.
Figure 2 represents a detached view of one of the rolls.
Figure 3 a detached view of a section of the chain.
Figure 4 is a side elevation showing a portion of two of the die rollers employed
to form the chain; Figure 5 a detached view of one of the die rollers employed in
the formation of the chain.
Figure 6 edge view of roll showing form of matrices full size.
Figure 7 detail of rolls full size showing junction of matrices.
Figure 8 section of bar of metal of which chain is to be formed and Figure 9
diagram showing change of shape undergone by bar in its formation into chain.
On
In carrying out this invention four rolls a a' c c are employed such rolls being
doubly bevelled or mitred at their edges. Two of the rolls are mounted in the same
vertical plane and two in the same horizontal plane so that their bevelled faces are
in close contact at the intersection of the planes as shown in Figures 1 and 7.
each edge or bevelled face of each roll are formed matrices m of the shape of a
quarter of a link supposing the link to be divided as indicated by the dotted lines
abed in Figure 3. The die rollers are mounted upon shafts f g h k journalled in
suitable bearings in the frame of the machine.
The shafts f g h k are formed in two parts connected
rolls can be adjusted independently of the driving gear.
by flanges o so that the die
The rolls are driven from

page_text: the main shaft on which is a toothed wheel gearing with another toothed wheel u
which drives the shaft g and the roll a. This train of gearing is continued by
toothed wheel t and bevil wheels P p so as to drive the shaft of the roll c'. The
shaft also carries a bevil wheel r which gears with a similar wheels on the shaft h
and drives the roll c. The motion is continued through the bevil wheel r¹ and
toothed wheels v³ to the shaft & of the roll a³.
ย
Operation of the machine is as follows:-
The die rollers are so arranged that the matrices in the faces 2, 3, 6 and 7 shall
exactly correspond whilst those in the faces 1, 8, 4 and 5 also correspond. A heated
bar of iron of the section shown in Figure 8 is presented to the rolls and drawn in
thereby. The rolls being in close contact the metal passing between them is forced
into the matrices and emerges therefrom in the form of a series of links arranged
alternately at right angles to each other and connected with each other by a film or
web of metal so thin and friable that it may be readily removed.
Figure 3 shows the relative position of the links as they emerge from the rollers
from which it will be seen that the links are not in contact with each other and
cannot come into contact until the web which holds then apart be removed. It
will be noticed that the form of the link and section thereof differ from the common
welded chain. This form enables it to leave the matrices readily whilst the shape
of the link is a good one and conducive to strength.
To leave the web between the links as thin as possible the rolls are countercut
between and close to the matrices so as to allow only a very small area of surface contact
between the rolls. The result is that the sheet or web which connects the links is
so thin that the chain as it comes from the rolls will not support its own weight
and can be cleaned by being placed in a tumbling box.
The countercutting is plainly shown at d in Figures 6 and 7.
It will be seen that the links in a chain formed according to this invention will be
all integral or a part of the original blank and will require no welding but will be
stronger weight for weight than any chain heretofore made whilst the facility and
rapidity with which the chain may be made will naterially reduce the cost of
manufacture.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondents and in what manner the same
is to be performed I declare that what I claim is :—
1. The process of making weldless chain of bars of steel iron or other material
by passing said bars through rolls having a matrix sunk into their peripheries
conformally with the shape and size of chains to be produced.
2. The combination of the bevelled rollers arranged to mitre at their junction
and provided with curved matrices at their peripheries, substantially as specified.
3. The combination with the bevelled die rollers arranged to mitre at their junction
of the mitre and cogged gearing whereby they are moved relatively to each other
so as to bring the dios successively into proper position substantially as specified.
4. The combination of the bevelled rollers arranged to mitre at their junction and
provided with a series of curved matrices at their peripheries the ends of the matrices
on one of the rollers being opposite the centres of the matrices on the opposite roller
the rollers being arranged so that the matrices will retain these rolative positions as
the rolls are rotated substantially as specified.
Dated this 94th day of A nonet 1000