Improvements in BENDING ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Wilson, of Banner Cross, Sheffield, in
the County of York, for the Invention of “ Improvements in BENDING
ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Sealed the 18th March 1873, and dated tho 21st January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Wilson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on tho
21st January 1873.
I, GEORGE WILSON, of Banner Cross, Sheffield, in the County of York,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
BENDING ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT PURPOSE," to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the bending of armour plates intended for
turrets or other structures having a convex exterior. In bending plates
for such purposes it is desirable that that surface of the plate which has
been uppermost in the furnace should be the surface exposed to
the impact of shot, on account of the greater resisting power thus

page_text: obtained. Plates have been already bent so as to make convex the
surface which was uppermost in the furnace, and a Patent was obtained
by Thomas English and the said George Wilson, dated 1st June, 1871;
No. 1405, for bending plates in this manner, and for apparatus whereby
plates were turned over, so as to allow of their being bent in the required
direction. By the present Invention such turning over of the plates is
rendered unnecessary, and their bending is effected with case and rapidity.
For this purpose I provide a truck, having its upper surface convex to
the required curvature. I place the flat plate as it comes from the rolls
upon this truck, having that side uppermost which was uppermost in the
furnace. I then run the truck and plate between a set of upright
bars connecting a strong top frame with a bottom frame, on which the
body of the truck is supported without resting on its wheels. Cross
bars suspended from the top frame are then lowered till they rest on the
plate, and are forced down by means of wedges or screws until the plate 1
is bent over the curved surface of the truck, the upper surface of the
plate being thus rendered convex.
Instead of employing wedges or screws for forcing down cross bars, as
above described, a hydraulic press may be mounted on the top framing,
with its ram projecting downwards, and having attached to it a concave 2
mould to the required curvature. The plate in this case, instead of being
run in on a truck, may be placed on a convex mould fixed immediately
under the hydraulic cylinder, and when so placed the ram is made to
descend and bend the plate between the upper and lower moulds, its
upper surface being thus rendered convex.
2
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by tho said George Wilson in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 16th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
WILSON, of Banner Cross, Sheffield, in the County of York, send 3
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Lotters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in

page_text: the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said George Wilson, Her
special license that I, the said George Wilson, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Wilson, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agroc
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 vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
" IMPROVEMENTS IN BENDING ARMOUR PLATES, AND IN APPARATUS FOR THAT
PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said George
Wilson, my executors or administrators, by an instrument 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 Scal Patent Offico within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said George Wilson, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, reference being had to the accompanying
Sheet of Drawings and to the figures and letters marked thereon, that is
to say :-
This Invention relates to the bending of armour plates intended for
turrets or other structures having a convex exterior. In bending plates
for such purposes it is desirable that that surface of the plate which has
been uppermost in the furnace should be the surface exposed to the
impact of shot, on account of the greater resisting power thus obtained.
Plates have been already bent so as to make convex the surface which
was uppermost in the furnace, and a Patent was obtained by Thomas
English and the said George Wilson, dated 1st June 1871, No. 1465, for
bending plates in this manner, and for apparatus whereby plates were
turned over so as to allow of their being bent in the required direction.
By the present Invention such turning over of the plates is rendered
unnecessary, and their bending is effected with case and rapidity. For
this purpose I provide a truck having its upper surface convex to the
required curvature. I place the flat plate as it comes from the rolls
upon this truck, having that side uppermost which was uppermost in the

page_text: furnaco. I then run the truck and plate between a set of upright bars
connecting a strong top frame with a bottom frame, on which the body
of the truck is supported, without resting on its wheels. Cross bars
suspended from the top frame are then lowered till they rest on the
plate, and are forced down by means of wedges or screws until the plate 5
is bent over the curved surface of the truck, the upper surface of the
plate being thus rendered convex.
Instead of employing wedges or screws for forcing down cross bars, as
above described, a hydraulic press may be mounted on the top framing,
with its ram projecting downwards, and having attached to it a concave
mould to the required curvature. The plate in this case, instead of being
run in on a truck, may be placed on a convex mould fixed immediately
under the hydraulic cylinder, and when so placed the ram is made to
descend and bend the plate between the upper and lower moulds, its
upper surface being thus rendered convex.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Fig. 1 shews a side view, and Fig. 2 a transverse section of the appa-
ratus for bending the plates by means of wedges. A is the truck framed
with longitudinal bars a, a, having their upper surfaces curved to the
required shape. The truck, with the plate B laid upon it as it is brought 2
from the rolls without being turned over, is run in on rails between
uprights C, C, securely fixed under the floor, and tied together at top by
stretching bolts or strong framing. Hollows D, D, are formed in the
rails, so that the truck wheels drop into them, and the longitudinal
bars a, a, are thereby permitted to rest on the bed or floor while the 2
bending of the plate is effected. Transverse bars E, E, passing through
slotted holes in the uprights C, C, are held up till tho plate is brought
under them, and these bars are then forced down by driving wedges F, F,
above them, thus bending the plate to the profile of the truck bars.
When the plate has been bent the wedges F, F, are driven back, the a
bars E, E, are raised, and the truck with the bent plate on it is run out
from between the uprights C, C.
Fig. 3 represents an end view of the apparatus for bending plates by
hydraulic pressure. G is the ram of the hydraulic press, which is fixed
to a strong framing. The ram G has attached to it the concave mould H, 3
hollowed to the desired curvature. The plate may be run in under the
mould on a truck in the manner described above, or the lower convex

page_text: mould K may be fixed, as shewn in Fig. 3, and the plate L swung by a
crane or otherwise, so as to be slid over the mould K step by step, the
ram G and upper mould I being forced down to bend the part of the
plate inserted between the moulds, and raised to allow a fresh portion to
be slid in and to be bent in its turn, and so on until the whole plate is
bent.
It is obvious that the ram of the hydraulic press might be arranged
below the mould K, to press it and the plate upwards, the upper mould H
being in this case fixed.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I claim,--
First. The method of bending armour plates by taking them from the
rolls and placing them, without turning them over, on a curved truck,
which is run in under bars that are forced down by wedges so as to
bend the plate, making that surface convex which was uppermost in
the furnace, substantially as herein described in reference to Figs. 1
and 2.
Second. The method of bending armour plates by bringing them from
the rolls without inversion over a convex mould, and under a concavo
mould, one of these moulds being worked by a hydraulic press so as to
bend the plate, making that surface convex which was uppermost in the
furnace, substantially as herein described in reference to Fig. 3.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Wilson, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of July, in the year of our
Lord Ono thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.