IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE OR SHEET IRON AND STEEL.
Year: 1865

page_text: London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE OR SHEET IRON AND STEEL.".
A communication from abroad by Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil
Engineer, of Saint Servais, near Namur, Belgium.
Sealed the 19th January 1866, and dated the 3rd August 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ephraim Sabel at the
Office of the Commissioners of -Patents, with his Petition, on the 3rd
August 1866.
I, EPHRAIM SABEL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE OR SHEET IRON AND STEEL,"
(a communication to me from abroad by Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil
Engineer, of Saint Servais, near Namur, Belgium,) to be as follows::
This Invention consists in a new arrangement of trains with triple rolls,for
making plate or sheet iron, using pressure by means of wedges, triple rolls
for "brames" (blocks of hammered iron), and vertical rolls, by means of
which combination plate or sheet iron is manufactured, without clip or shred
waste, direct from the faggots at a single heating, from the thickest plate to

page_text: the thinnest sheet. The arrangement of trains proposed doubles and more
than doubles the quantity of plate or sheet iron made in the same time by the
ordinary trains, and reduces the consumption of fuel to its minimum, and the
waste of iron in the heating furnaces to a moiety of the waste sustained by
the ordinary mills.
To illustrate the Invention four Drawings accompany and form part of this
Provisional Specification, of which Sheet 1 is a 'front view of the new set of
rolls for plate and sheet iron, shewing the mode of pressure by means of wedges
under the lower roll; A, is a well planed plate of iron or steel, on which the
travelling wedge works; B, cast-iron wedge supporting the lower roll with its
cushion; B¹, cast-iron guides (also well planed); C, well planed travelling
Firon wedge, with rack underneath; D, fly-wheel for working the travelling
wedges; E, support for iron beam supporting the vertical rolls with their
-cast-iron table.
Sheet 2 is a side view of the set of three plate rolls shewn at Sheet 1 ;
a, iron shaft, having two small pinions, which tooth with the rack of the
travelling wedges; P, opening for the travelling wedges; D, fly-wheel of the
two travelling wedges.
Sheet 3 shews sets of triple rolls with wide grooves for producing sheet
iron direct from the faggots; and at Sheet 4 will be seen a new arrangement
of trains with sets of triple rolls for sheet iron, with vertical rolls and triple
rolls with wide grooves, working with pressure by means of wedges under the
lower roller. Sheets One, Two, and Three are drawn to a scale of one-tenth
the usual size, and Sheet Four of one-hundredth.
Much difficulty has been experienced in manufacturing plate or sheet iron
by means of triple rolls, and those attempted to be worked by means of
pressing screws under the lower roll, or by other analagous means, have not
answered. It is proposed by means of a modified mode of pressuro hereafter
described to remedy the defects in previous systems, and manufacture plate
and sheet iron successfully and economically with triple rolls.
By this Invention the lower pressing screws (before mentioned) are dis-
pensed with, and iron wedges are substituted in their place, leaving nothing
more to be desired in the working of the rolls, both in preciseness and quality
of manufacture. The pressure by means of wedges consists in adapting two
fixed wedges (perfectly identical and well planed), placed against the cushions
of the rolls, and of two similar travelling wedges, which work together with
the two first in order to give the desired pressure. The fixed wedges form
therefore inclined planes, up and down which the travelling wedges work.
In order to apply pressure by means of wedges to the lower roll, the sets of

page_text: rolls are cast so as to leave at the bottom of each standard an opening P, to
receive the two travelling wedges perpendicularly to the roll underneath the
pivots. The two travelling wedges might be welded end to end, moving
underneath the lower roll in the same way as is practised in the old mills in
respect to the top or upper roll, at least as regards sheet iron which is not
required to be of any great length, but for boiler plates and plate iron of
commerce, the other (non-welded) method is preferable, for the reason that it
admits of giving the whole desired travelling distance to the travelling wedges
in front of the plate at the bottom: At the base of each set of rolls a small
plate of iron A is fixed (well planed in order to obviate the friction on the
base of the set of rolls, and to make the wedges slide with greater facility
than on the cast-iron. The travelling wedges therefore traverse the two
uprights of the sets of rolls resting on this iron plate: Then the two cast iron
wedges B (also well planed) carrying the two brass cushions (or bearers) are
placed on the travelling wedges C, carrying the lower roll on its pivots.
Two cast-iron guides B', furnished with well planed slot holes, are fixed at
the sides of the sets of rolls in order to receive the two fixed wedges B, which
go up and down resembling a slide in the slot holes of the guides, the travelling
wedges working backward and forward under the fixed wedges in order to
produce the pressure required. In order to lift and bring close the lower roll
to the middle one, and to impart the desired pressure, the travelling wedges
are moved forward underneath the fixed ones, which carry the pivots in their
cushions (or bearers) and which the levers nearly balance. For this purpose
the two travelling wedges are furnished with two iron racks by the side of the
hindermost mill-man. In order to make the two travelling wedges move
backwards and forwards a horizontal shaft of square iron of 2 and to 3 and
iuches is fitted, which passes from one set of rolls to the other, resting on two
small boxes placed at the bottom of the set of rolls and at the entrance of 'the
opening for the travelling wedges: This shaft has two small iron pinions
which tooth with the racks, the latter being moved backwards and forwards
by the hindmost mill-man with the aid of a small fly-wheel D, fixed on one of
the ends of the shaft and furnished with handle, as shewn Figure 1, when the
front mill-man has inserted the plate (or sheet) between the bottom rollers he
is at liberty and can work the upper pressing screw; also, when the hindér-
most mill-man has inserted the plate within the upper rollers he can work the
under pressure before the front mill-man inserts the sheet or plate between
the bottom rolls. In order exactly to follow up the desired pressure (before
described), an indicating scale of the pressure is fixed at the front and back
of the standards of the framing, and is raised and lowered:by the press screwa

page_text: on the one part, and by the pressure of the wedges on the other part, indicating
by means of a needle the pressure given. It will be seen that the lower roll
rests on its cushions (or bearings) as in the two-roll system, and that it is
lifted towards the middle roll (on its cushions.) by means of the travelling
wedges only, which rest always on the base of the rolls. The rolling of sheet
iron by means of triple rolls becomes as easy as with two rolls, considering
that it can be worked on both sides as if it were by the two-roller system.
The manufacture of sheet iron with triple rolls is not less advantageous than
the preceding, with this difference, that for sheet iron the upper roller rolls on
the middle roller as in the two-roller system, and that the under one serves
only for an instant to reduce the sheet so as to profit by the first heat, until
the sheet shall have only about the twelfth part of an inch of thickness then
to be finished by the upper rollers. Having reached this point the plate
merely passes through the bottom rolls (without pressure), so that the bottom
roller in this manufacture serves only in conjunction with the middle roller in
the first rolling as if they were isolated in a set of two rolls, and after having
profited by the first heat to reduce the sheet to the point desired, it is finished
*by the operation of the upper rollers only.
The second part of this Invention consists in annexing vertical rolls to the
plate-iron rolls for the manufacture of plate and sheet iron (without cuttings)
(waste), of the greatest widths at present in use. Several rolling mills work
with vertical 'rolls, producing bridge girder plates of 2 and inches in width
with sharp edges and of great length. It is known also that these vertical
rolls placed at the exit of the faggots from the horizontal rolls work the iron
on its edges better than on the collars of grooved rolls, and that in this manner
very broad bars with sharp well-defined edges are obtained. I would however
here observe that horizontal rolls without collars, like the plate rolls, admit of
but very feeble pressure on the faggots at welding heat and even afterwards,
without running the risk of crushing them and putting them out of shape,
and that thus these rolls are much less profitable than those with wide grooves,
inasmuch as they require so much more rolling to reduce the faggot to the
thickness required, which occasions a great loss of time, augmenting the waste
considerably on the faggots, as well as the consumption of fuel in the furnaces.
But if the vertical rolls are found less advantageous than rolls, with wide
grooves for the reason indicated, they prove however very servicable in the
manufacture of plate iron, by placing them at the exit end of the plate rolls,
in order to confine and press slightly the edges of the plates, in this manner
.producing plates. with fine sharp edges, without cuttings or waste, as will
presently be shewn. It will be seen that if the vertical rolls were at a

page_text: distance of inches,, instead of 24 inches (or thereabout), the bars would.
still have sharp edges; and for the same. reason, if they were at a distance of
one yard from each other, or the width of the plates and faggots intended
for them, the iron would still have sharp edges.. The vertical rolls are-
moreover of so. much greater advantage for this manufacture, inasmuch as.
they can be moved backwards and forwards at will by means of a screw, in
order to produce all the widths required. Independantly of these verticals
rolls for plate iron annexed to the plate rolls, it is well. worth adding to the
train triple rolls for blocks of hammered iron for preparing (carroyer) first
roll the once heated faggots, which are thence conveyed to the vertical rolls to
be finished into plates or sheets at the same heat. For this reason my triple-
hammered. block. rolls are also on the lever system, and. provided with tightening.
wedges. under the lower roll as with plate rolls, and they work in the same.
manner. Four sets of triple hammered block rolls contain the series of
grooves required. for the manufacture of sheet iron, from the thickness of tin.
to the heaviest dimensions. The faggots. upon coming out of the heating
furnaco are rolled at these grooves to any thickness required by passing them.
twice or at most four times, and are from thence remitted to the plate rolls
which. finish, them. These triple "brame" hammered iron. rollers form
therefore the basis for manufacturing plate or sheet iron direct from. the
faggots,, as they serve to prepare them for the production of the latter at the
same heating, and this peculiarity. constitutes a part of this Invention.. These-
triple rolls are supplied. with levers like those for bar iron of great widths ;:
they require only a single groove for every, width,, which is rolled like plate
iron and passed each time between the same rolls to be finished.. It therefore.
follows that by this system, which is applicable to rolling great widths,, a great
number of rolls are saved when compared with the old method of many
grooves and separate roughing rolls employed for the manufacture of wide
bars. But it must be understood that to manufacture prepared (once heated,
once rolled) iron, and wide merchant iron with clean cut edges with a single-
groove, care must be taken to form the faggots with bars that are not ragged,.
and which are of equal width with the groove, because these rolls admit not.
of "on edge" grooves to work the faggots on their sides..
Another part of this Invention consists in the disposition of the two-sheet
iron trains, and in the manner of working the furnaces of the rolling mill, a
disposition which will be found to produce double the work of ordinary trains,
and to reduce the consumption of coal and the waste of iron in the beating
furnaces to their minimum, or to less than half that which is lost under the
present method. The plate or sheet iron are placed. side by side, with an,

page_text: intermediate space of five or six yards between their extreme ends. They
each consist of three sets of rolls, of which two are triple vertical rolls for
plate or sheet iron, and one of triple rolls for hammered blocks (brames)
placed between the two others to serve them, turn and turn, in such wise that
each of my trains equal two ordinary ones. It should be observed that plate
or sheet iron trains require only one set of hammered block rolls, "brames,"
which first receives the faggots in order to weld them and form them into.
lengths and thicknesses before delivering them to the plate rolls, which finish
them either as boiler plates or sheet iron of commerce. By this process only
two faggots at a time are taken out of the furnace for the two sets of block
rolls from whence they are taken to the plate or sheet rolls to be finished, but
they are quickly followed by two others, for the block rolls require only to
roll the iron twice for boiler plates, and four times for the plate or sheet iron
of commerce, to deliver the faggots to the plate rolls which finish them at the
same heat, so that the two sets of "brames," block rollers serve the four
sets of plate or sheet iron rolls at the same time, which doubles the production
of each train. The duration of the discharge of each furnace will be found to
be reduced by one quarter in time, which is decidedly also a considerable.
advantage in this manufacture, and at the same time the waste of iron in the
furnace is reduced to its minimum. It will be evident that the method above
described applies equally to the manufacture of steel.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ephraim Sabel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EPHRAIM
SABEL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Gentleman, send
greeting..
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself; Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Ephraim Sabel, Her special licence that I, the said Ephraim Sabel, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Ephraim
Sabel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLATE OR SHEET IRON AND STEEL," (a com-
munication to me from abroad by Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil Engineer,
of Saint Servais, near Namur, Belgium,) upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Ephraim Sabel, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and imine-:
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ephraim Sabel, do hereby declare-
the nature of tho said Invention, and in what manner. the same is to be
performed; to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the follow-
ing statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheets of Drawings,.
forming part of this Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference.
placed thereon:-
of
This Invention consists in a' new arrangement of trains with triple rolls for
rolling sheet iron or steel plates, with pressure obtained by wedges, also with
triple slab "brame" rolls, (rolls with long grooves and with vertical rolls,
by which means sheet iron is manufactured without cuttings directly from the
faggots at a single heat from the greatest thickness to that of less than
an inch, such trains producing more than twice as much as ordinary trains.
while reducing the consumption of fuel to its minimum, and the waste of iron
in the heating furnaces by more than one half as compared with the loss
experienced in mills working in the ordinary manner. Instead of using tho
ordinary press screws I obtain pressure by means of wedges under the lower
roll, which method of working presents no difficulty or complications affecting
the precision of good workmanship any more than that practised in old
flatting mills, rolling thin sheet iron where wedges are used at the upper roll.
To apply wedge pressure to the lower roll I cast my cages; pillars, or frames
which carry the sets of rolls with a passage or opening at the foot of each
upright, these openings being intended to receive two travelling wedges per-
pendicularly to the roll under its spindles: These two travelling wedges.
might also be soldered or welded end to end, and travel under the lower roll
as they do at the upper roll in the old flatting mills, at least for thin sheet iron,
which does not necessitate a long journey, but for boiler plates and the plate
iron of commerce the other means is preferable, because it permits the
travelling wedges to accomplish any desired journey in front of the table in

page_text: which the cages are placed, while if they were placed under the lower roll
they could only travel a distance equal to the distance from one cage to
another, which would often be insufficient for large sheets, On the bottom of
each cage or frame I lodge a well planed iron plate A, (see Figure 1, Sheet 1)
on which the travelling wedges journey in order to avoid wear of the bottom
or table of the cage, and to be able to make the wedges slide with greater
facility on this plate than on the casting. The two travelling wedges therefore
traverse the two uprights or pillars of the frames or cages and rest on this
iron plate. Then two cast-iron wedges B, also well planed, and carrying two
bronze bearings, place themselves under the travelling wedges C, and carry the
lower roll by its spindles. Two cast-iron guides B₁ furnished with planed
grooves are fixed on the sides of the cages to receive the two fixed wedges B,
which rise and fall, guided in these grooves in the same manner as a slide rod
when the travelling wedges advance or retire under the fixed wedges, to give
the desired pressures. It is therefore evident that here the two spindles of
the lower roll rest always on their bearings, and these on the travelling wedges,
the whole resting on the bottom of the cage or frame in the usual manner.
Further, the balance levers support the lower roll with its fixed wedges and
bearings nearly equilibrizing them without however causing them to leave the
foot of the frame or cage. Now to lift and bring the lower roll nearer to the
middle one, and give the desired pressures, I have but to cause the two
travelling wedges to advance under the two fixed wedges which carry the
spindles in their bearings, and which the balance levers nearly counterpoise.
For this purpose my two travelling wedges are furnished with two iron racks
on the side where the back mill-man is stationed. To cause the two travelling
wedges to advance and retire at will I use a horizontal shaft of square iron of
from 2 to 3 inches, which passes from one pillar or frame to the other, resting
on two small sockets or boxes placed on the feet of the frames at the entrance
of the passages in which the travelling wedges are lodged. This shaft carries
to small iron pinions which tooth into the racks, and these latter are
advanced and retired by the back mill-man by the aid of a small fly D,
furnished with handles, and which is fixed on one of the ends of this shaft as shewn
in all the Figures. As soon as the front mill-man has inserted the sheet or plate
between the bottom rolls he is free and can work the top press screw, and in
like manner when the back mill-man has inserted the plate between the upper
rolls he is free to work the underneath pressure before the front millman
inserts the sheet of iron between the lower rolls. And in order to follow exactly
the requisite pressures, which are fixed beforehand, a scale indicating these
pressures is placed front and back against the uprights or pillars of the cages,

page_text: and is raised and lowered by the press screws on the one side, and by the
wedge pressure on the other, indicating by means of a needle the pressure >
which is given. It will be seen that here the lower roll rests always on its
bearings as in the two-roll system, and that it advances towards the middle,
roll always on its bearings, but by means of the travelling wedges which rest
always on the bottom of the frames or cages. All the difficulties inherent to
the ordinary system of press screws under the lower roll are thus overcome by
the aid of pressure by wedges under the lower, roll, and rolling with three
rolls becomes as easy as with two inasmuch that the work may be carried
on on each side as if there were only the two-roll system fronting one at each
pass.
The manufacture of thin sheet iron or steel with the threo rolls is not less.
advantageous than the preceding, with this difference, that for the thin sheets
the upper roll rolls on the middle one, as in the two-roll system, and that the
under one serves but for an instant to rough roll the sheet iron in order to
profit by the first heat until it has arrived at a thickness of about of an
inch to be finished between the upper rolls. Arrived at this point it only
repasses without any pressure between the bottom rolls, so that the lower rolli
in this manufacture only acts with the middle rod in the first passes as if they
were isolated in a two-roll cage, and after having profited by the first heat to
rough roll to the desired extent the work is carried on with the upper rolls to
finish the sheet iron as if the two-roll system were being used.
The second part of this Invention consists in the addition of vertical rolls:
to the sheet-iron rolls to manufacture the largest plates without parings or
waste. It is known that several mills make at what is called a vertical train
girders such as form the sides of bridges, "longerons" having 23 inches in
breadth with sharp edges and of great length. It is also known that these
vertical rolls, placed where the faggot issues from the horizontal rolls, works the
iron at the sides better than do the collars of the grooved rolls, and that thus.
very largo bars are obtained with sharp edges. But I must here remark that
the horizontal rolls without collars like the sheet-iron rolls only permit very
slight pressures on the faggots at welding heat, and even afterwards without
danger of crushing, and rendering them mishapen, and that thus these rolls.
are much less advantageous than those with large grooves, inasmuch that they
exact a greater number of passes than these latter in order to rough roll or
reduce the faggot to the required thickness which occasions a great loss of
time, thus considerably increasing the waste on the faggots as well as the-
consumption, of fuel in the furnaces. But if the vertical rolls are less.
advantageous than those with largo grooves from the causes above set forth.

page_text: they are nevertheless called upon to render great service in the manufacture-
of sheet iron by being placed where the plate issues from the flatting rolls to
meet and slightly press the sides of the plates, and by this means make plates
or sheets with sharp edges, or without shreds or parings as I will demonstrate
in very few words. It is evident that if the vertical rolls were placed 27
inches apart instead of 23, the bars would also have sharp edges, and by the
same reasoning if they were 39 inches apart, or the breadth of the plates and'
of the faggots intended for them, the iron produced would none the less be
with sharp edges, and would be termed sharp-edged plates instead of bridge
girders, of which there cannot be the least doubt. These vertical rolls or
cylinders are further all the more advantageous in this manufacture in that
they approach or recede from each other at pleasure by means of a screw to
permit the manufacture of every required size. But independently of these
vertical cylinders or rolls annexed to the plate rolls it is also requisite to add
to this train the triple slab, or "brame" rolls (large grooved rolls) shewn
detached, Figure 3, (Sheet 2,) and in the train at B, Figure 4, (Sheet 3,) to
weld and work ("corroyer") the faggots which go from thence to be finished
into plates or sheets at the vertical rolls at the same heating. With this
object my triple rolls are also balanced and provided with wedge pressure
under the lower roll, as for the plate rolls, and they work in the same manner.
Four triplets or sets of these triple slab rolls contain the entire series of
grooves necessary to the manufacture of every size of sheet iron from the thinnest
tinned sheet up to the thickest plates. The faggots on leaving the heating
furnace are rolled at these grooves to the regulated thickness in 2 or 4
passes at most, and are then passed to the plate or sheet rolls which finish
them. These triple slab or "brame" rolls are therefore the basis of the
manufacture of sheets or plates directly from the faggots because they serve to.
rough roll and prepare them to be manufactured into plates or sheets without
reheating, and they constitute one of the parts of this Invention. These
triple rolls being balanced like those for large sized bars only need a single
groove for each width, which is rolled like the sheet, repassing each time
between the same rolls to be finished. It follows, therefore, that by this
system applicable to great widths many rolls are saved which by the old
method using several grooves and separate roughing rolls would be necessarily
used in the manufacture of wide bars.
The fourth part of this Invention consists in the arrangement of the two-
plate or sheet rolling trains, and in the method of working resulting therefrom
at the furnaces and flatting or rolling mills (see Figure 4, Sheet 3), an
arrangement and method of working which gives twice the production of

page_text: ordinary trains, while reducing the consumption of fuel and the waste of iron'
in the heating furnaces to their minimum, or by more than one-half of that
experienced by existing mills. My sheet or plate iron trains are placed side
by sido with a space of from 16 to 20 feet between their ends; they are each '
composed of 3 cages or frames, two of which contain triple sheet 'rolls,
with vertical rolls, and one triple slab rolls, these latter being placed between
the two others to serve them turn and turn about, so that each of my trains
is equal to two ordinary trains. The manufacture of sheet or plate iron
differs naturally from that of other iron, of which every size is manufactured
at a single frame or cage (set of rolls) without separate roughing rolls. In
fact the work is carried on at the plate or sheet iron train with but one single
cage or set of slab rolls which should first receive the faggots to weld and make
them of a certain length and thickness before delivering them to the sheet'
iron rolls which finish them into boiler plates or the plates of commerce."
This method of working can therefore only permit the withdrawal from the
furnace of 2 faggots at a time for the two sets of slab rolls, from whence
they go to the two sets of plate rolls to be finished; but they are soon
followed by two others, because the two slab rolls require but two passes for
boiler plates and four for the ordinary plates of commerce to deliver the
faggots to the plate rolls, which finish them without re-heating, so that the
two frames or sets of slab rolls serve 4 frames or sets of plate rolls at the
same time, which also doubles the production of this manufacture at each train.
The time of clearing or discharging each batch out of the furnace is therefore
reduced by nearly, which is assuredly a considerable advantage in this
manufacture, the production of which is doubled at the same time that the
consumption of fuel and the waste of iron are reduced to their minimium.
But independently of this arrangement of my contiguous trains and of the
method of working resulting therefrom, the manufacture of sheet iron is
about to be reduced to the greatest simplicity by this improved system which
permits the production of boiler and other plates at the same price as rails, as
I will demonstrate. For the better comparison of the ordinary system with
this improved method, and the better comprehension of the superiority and
advantages of my process, I will commence by briefly describing the old
method. It is known that to manufacture boiler plates slabs ("brames")
first beaten with the hammer are used, and that the plates of commerce are
also commenced by making slabs and iron rolled into bars, which are cut into
pieces of the desired length for the manufacture of plates; and when the
boiler or other plates are of great weight, passing beyond ordinary dimensions,
their slabs, require two and even three heatings. Now I will first establish the

page_text: cost of these slabs, and of these cuttings, to be enabled afterwards.to compose.
the results of this old and ruinous system with the improved one resulting
from this Invention, and I will afterwards compare the quality on one side and
the other. I say that to make a boiler plate of 220 lbs. weight for example,
by the method of preliminarily made slates ("brames") the manufacturer
must use a slab of 275 lbs., calculating upon a waste of 10 per cent. in the
furnace. Deducting this waste from 275 lbs. there remains 248 lbs. which
gives on an average 28 lbs. of parings or shreds and 220 lbs. of sheet iron. To
obtain a slab of 275 lbs. he must put into the furnace a faggot of at least
308 lbs. calculating again upon an average waste of 10 per cent., and for slabs
twice heated he must further add 6 or 7 per cent. for the waste of the second
heating, which brings it to a faggot of 330 lbs. Add to these wastes the
consumption of fuel, and then the double labour, without taking into considera-
tion all the other expences of manufacture, and we have a base of comparison.
The manufacture of the ordinary plates of commerce and of very thin: sheets
is commenced, as I have before stated, by making slabs ("brames.") and. bars
of "corroye," or once heated once rolled iron, which are cut into pieces of
the desired lengths, and which are obtained from faggots composed of 5. or 6
bars of puddled iron, and as it is only to make once-rolled bars (herein-after
termed No. 1 iron) as many pieces and crop ends or cuttings from the
shears are put in as it will permit, as also in the faggots for slabs beaten by
the hammer. To obtain 220 lbs. of sheet iron of commerce, the manufacturer
must use 297 lbs. of puddled iron in faggots calculating upon an average.
waste of 10 per cent. in the heating furnace, which will give on its exit from
the furnace 267 lbs. of bars to be cut into pieces; and as there is further
3 per cent. of ends from the shears there will be nearly 9 lbs. of ends and
258 lbs. of cuttings, which being heated in the plate iron furnaces' will
produce, after a waste of about 3 per cent., 30 lbs. of parings and 220. lbs. of
sheet iron. We have now the iron which serves to make boiler plates and
the sheet iron of commerce; but there is further in these cut bars as much
as 10 per cent, of pieces too short, because no trouble is taken to calculate the
weight of the faggots to produce the exact number of cuttings or cut bars,
the consequence being that it becomes necessary to consume a great portion of
these pieces in the faggots of puddled iron, because they are not of dimensions
suited to the pattern or section to be produced. These slabs and these cuttings
are therefore nothing but once heated once rolled or hammered iron, but the
manufacturer is mistaken if he supposes that these slabs, and these cut bars
experience the same effect over again when they are re-heated and rolled into
plates, because it is only the first heating in faggot which properly prepares

page_text: the iron by purifying the puddled iron in the furnace, and kneading it as it
were at white welding heat under the hammer and at the rolls so as to press
out the dross in reducing it to the desired thickness, whereas at the second
heating the cut bars are no longer carried beyond a red heat in the non-
welding furnaces to be rolled into plate or sheet iron. The slabs and the cut
bars are, it is truc, No. 1 iron, but the plates which they produce by the
second heating are nothing better in quality than those obtained from the
puddled bar faggots by this improved system, which makes them into slabs
and cuttings and then into plates or sheets at a single heat. I further assert
that the quality of my plate or sheet iron is superior to the other, because in
my faggots only proved puddled bar iron is used suitable and without pieces,
knowing that they are to produce sheet iron direct, whereas for the hammered
slabs the faggots are made of any iron. On the other hand, when boiler plates
of superior quality are required by this method, it is only necessary to make the
faggot of No. 1 iron only, and plates are thus obtained which still cost less
than those obtained from hammered slabs and are of a superior quality,
because there is here a second heating and rolling ("corroyage") entirely as
at the first heat. It is not even necessary to make these faggots of No. 1 iron
only as it is sufficient to put two covers of this iron with proved puddled iron
within to have plates of first quality, taking care only to use suitable iron.
In order to make myself still better understood on this point I will further
allude to the bar of once heated once rolled iron for cuttings as it leaves the
rolls, when it is still at a red and almost white heat, notwithstanding its length
of 16 to 20 feet. It is cut at this heat in many mills into pieces, which are
thrown on to the ground to be used as required in the manufacture of thin
sheet iron and the plates of commerce. These cooled cuttings are then
replaced in furnaces, where they scarcely reattain the heat at which they
were when cut, and are afterwards made into sheet iron. Now can this
cutting bave gained anything in quality by having been allowed to cool on
the ground before again entering the furnace (in which it scarcely regains
the heat which it had on leaving the first rolls), in order to be rolled into
sheet iron? This question answers itself when put to a competent person.
But what is not so easily understood is, that thin sheet iron and the plates of
commerce may be made otherwise than with cut bars. Nevertheless, con-
sidering that theso cut bars come from a faggot, and that they are left on the
ground at a heat greater than that which is afterwards given to them for their
manufacture into sheets, it is easy to understand that the faggot may just.as
well at once become a plate as remain a cutting from the moment that it-can
be finished at the ordinary heat. Now for this purpose it is only requisite that

page_text: the faggots should be made of the desired weight for the sheets, instead of
making them for bars of 16 to 20 feet for cuttings. And in fact, why not
make at once faggots of the weight of a single cutting above all, if this latter
is to weigh at least 16 lbs. ? because faggots are obtained of this weight by
employing 5 bars of puddled iron of 4 inches in breadth by an inch thick
and 6 inches in length, which is very suitable for a small faggot intended for
grooved rolls where it will be kneaded and rough-rolled to go from thence and
be finished like the cutting and without re-heating by the plate rolls.
Therefore, whatever may be the size of the sheet or plate nothing is altered in
the rolling, for two small faggots rough-rolled and laminated together in the
grooves form two cuttings, as before, to be rolled two by two in the usual
way at the plate rolls; and further, if it is for sheets of 4 lbs. to 6 lbs.,
these faggots, rolled two together, as is customary, are reduced as thin as
usual, then doubled or welded into plates, and replaced in the furnace to be
finished to the requisite dimensions absolutely, as by the system of preliminary
cuttings. The question as regards thin sheet iron and the sheets or plates of
commerce made directly from the faggots is thus explained and solved.
Now as regards the manufacture of sheets of greater weight, and of boiler
plates, it will doubtless be understood that it is still more easy to form similar
faggots from which to make plates at a single heat, commencing by passing
them to the slab rolls to give them the first rolling, and bring them to proper
size to go and be finished at the plate rolls. And in fact the faggot made for
a boiler plate is botter and less hard on leaving the heating furnace than the
slabs beaten by the hammer. Further, only such thickness should be given
to it as will permit it to receive a sufficient rough rolling in 2 or 4 passes,
according to the dimensions, as too great a thickness necessitates more passes
at the rolls, resulting in a loss of time, which it is desirable to avoid, to save
the waste in the furnace as well as the consumption of fuel. Now this faggot
only needs to be passed twice, namely, to come and go through the grooved
triple rolls to be rough rolled and reduced to the requisite dimensions before
rolling it into a plate, so that on issuing from the slab rolls it is still hotter
for rolling than the hammered slabs after they have been brought to the
width of the plate required, a width that they only attain when they have
arrived at the same thickness as the faggot, which has cost them many more
passes at the plate rolls than were required on the faggot at the grooved rolls.
Let us at the same time compare the difference existing between the slab of,
say, 11 inches in breadth by 5 inches in thickness, which is to be lengthened
to 4 feet 1 inch, and which is pressed in the middle of rolls 4 feet 11 inches,
long or more, compare-this slab with the faggot which has received this

page_text: lengthening or rolling out at the grooved rolls by the thickness which is to be
given to the slab. The faggot is pressed on its entire length of 4 feet 1 inch
in entering the plate rolls. Nor is it easy to understand that the rolls of 4 feet
11 inches or more which press the slab of 11 inches by 5 inches in their
middle are much more exposed to breakage than when they press on the
length of the faggot of 4 feet 1 inch. And in fact it is the press screws which
act at the ends of the rolls, and it is the slab which is the resistance in the
middle. Now, how do we break a stick across the knee? By pulling at its
two ends. Here the rolls are the sticks to be broken, and the hammered
slabs are gonerally the cause of the numerous ruptures which occur in the
middle of the rolls when there is much pressure, a result which never occurs
with the faggots, because the action is on their entire length, which avoids
any danger of breaking the rolls in the middle. I therefore obtain by my
process a plate directly from a faggot, while by the ordinary method the
faggot first produces only a slab, which costs quite as much with the exception
of the parings as the plato obtained from my faggot. I would further add,
that it is much casier to guarrantee the good quality of plates made directly
from the faggots than those made from hammered slabs. And in fact,
admitting even (which is not practically the case) that in the faggots for
slabs only picked and suitable bars of first quality are used, as in the faggots
for plates or sheets it is certain that if the slab faggot has been badly heated
or burnt, as sometimes happens, because these faggots, usually very large,
require greater heat it will produce a plate of bad quality. There is therefore
an additional chance of bad quality with the slab than with the faggot for
plate, because, besides this latter being composed of proved bars of the desired
quality, it is further easier to heat than the faggot for slabs from its being
more regular and of less height, and there not being an indefinite number of
weldings to be effected as for the other, so that its quality in plates may
always be guarranteed, inasmuch that if when a faggot.comes out of the
furnace badly heated or burnt the mill-man is instructed to roll it into bars at
the slab a large grooved roll, where it must pass instead of finishing it into a
plate, a guarrantee which is not presented by the slab coming from the
hammer. It is therefore very erroneously that some manufacturers believe
that sheets obtained from hammered slabs are better than those coming
directly from the faggots, it being quite the contrary, because hammering is
much slower and consequently less efficient to effect the welding of all the
parts of a faggot than rolling, which requires but two seconds to weld it in
its entire length and in every part with suitable pressure at the first and at
the second groove. The rolling therefore presses out all the still fluid dross

page_text: at once, and consequently more rapidly than the hammer, which acts only on
one place at a time, while the dross is congealing or settling in the others
inside the faggot, from whence it cannot afterwards issue. And in fact the
first condition of a perfect welding is the elimination of the dross or scoria
which is between the bars, in order that iron may adhere to iron. Now this
dross can only be driven out when it is still fluid and the iron at white
welding heat, and it is evident that rolling is more prompt and consequently
more efficient than the hammer to press the dross out of the faggots and effect
a perfect welding, so that if the welding is perfect the faggot may be con-
sidered as if it were only of one piece. Therefore unwelded plates are less to
be feared from faggots than from slabs from this reason, and because these
latter are generally composed of an infinite number of different qualities.
The sheets of commerce and the tinned iron sheets manufactured from cut
bars or cuttings obtained from rolled faggots attest this fact in a conclusive
manner, because in manufacturing with them unwelded sheets are never met
shewing the pressure by means of wedges under the lower roll. A, plate of
well planed iron or steel on which the travelling wedge works; B, cast-iron
wedge supporting the lower roll with its bearing; B', well planed cast-iron
guides; C, well planed iron travelling wedge with rack beneath; C, bearing
carrying the cylinder; D, fly wheel for working the travelling wedges;
E, support for iron beam, supporting the vertical rolls with their cast-iron
table.
Figure 2 (Sheet 2) side view of same set of three-plate rolls as at Figure 1.
a, iron shaft, having two small pinions which tooth with the rack of the
travelling wedges. P, the opening for the travelling wedges; D, fly wheel
of the two travelling wedges; A, B, centre of top roll; C, D, centre of middle
roll; and E, F, centre of lower roll, and also in Figure 3, where similar
letters denote similar parts.
Figure 3 (Sheet 2) shews a set of large grooved rolls for welding and rolling
the faggots to the required thickness to be finished at the plate rolls; these
rolls are set for receiving and rolling the faggots flatwise at the first bottom.
groove, then at the upper one without the necessity of working the wedge
pressure beneath or the screw pressure above for making boiler plates; these
faggots only require to be passed twice (go and come) to be welded and
reduced to the requisite thickness to be finished at the plate rolls. For thin

page_text: sheet iron the faggots are made less high and the rolls brought nearer to each
other, then the faggots are weliled and rolled to. the desired thickness in 4.
passes, and it is only for the second pass,. top and bottom, that the bottom.
wedge and the top screw must be worked to give the desired thicknesses to
the faggots,. which are finished at the plate rolls without reheating up to of
an.inch..
Figure 4 (Sheet 3) shews my new arrangement of trains with sets of triple-
rolls for rolling plate iron with vertical rolls, and with triple rolls with wide.
grooves working with pressure by means of wedges under the lower rolls..
A,. large grooved or slab rolls; B, plate rolls; C, vertical rolls.. The four
furnaces which are served by these trains are also shewn on this Sheet.
Having now described. the nature of the said Invention, and: the means by
which it is carried into practical effect,. I would here observe that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein. given, as such may be modified:
without departure from this Invention, nor do I bind myself to the cor-
rectness of the several calculations. herein given, any error in which does
not affect the principle of the improvements the subject of. this Invention ;. and.
I claim,
Firstly, the exclusive use of pressure by wedges. under the lower roll of
9-roll traius for manufacturing sheet iron or steel..
Secondly, the application of vertical rolls to the horizontal plate rolls of
3-roll trains for manufacturing sheet iron or steel without shreds or parings..
Thirdly, the exclusive use of the large grooved or slab rolls for rolling the
faggot direct from the furnace and. passing it to the plate rolls to-be finished:
at a single heat..
Fourthly, the improved arrangement of the plate-rolling trains, as shewn at
Sheet 3 of the annexed Drawings, by which arrangement 1 am enable to
manufacture in the manner herein-before set forth, the whole substantially
s herein-before described and illustrated on the annexed Drawings..
In witness whereof, I, the said Ephraim Sabel, have hereunto set my
band and seal,. this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six..
EPHRAIM SABEL. (L.S.)