Process of Leaving Malleable or Soft Portions of Steel Articles in Hardening and Tempering.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 26th May, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 24th Feb., 1894-Accepted, 31st Mar., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
A Process of Leaving Malleable or Soft Portions of Steel Articles in
Hardening and Tempering.
I, OLIVER GRIFFITHS GOODMAN, of Caroline Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as
follows:-
This invention relates to a means for leaving malleable or soft, portions of steel
articles in hardening and tempering, and my said invention is particularly applicable
to pins, fish hooks, ribs and stretchers of umbrellas and parasols, cycle wheel spokes
and other small articles requiring to have portions or end portions of the same
headed, upset, flattened out, pierced or otherwise operated upon.
The ordinary method of rendering portions of small articles soft or malleable is,
by first subjecting the whole of the metal composing an article to the action of
heat, and then hardening the same all over by immersing the said article in oil or
other hardening material.
This said hardened metal article is then tempered down to the required degree
by again heating the whole of it to a determinate temperature.
Or the metallic article is heated to a given degree, which will both harden and
temper at the same time, on immersion in a suitable liquid.
Portions of these articles which require to be left soft are subjected to the action
of heat, and then allowed to gradually cool.
Now this subsequent softening down of the hardened and tempered metal so
deteriorates the physical constitution of the metal that a subsequent upsetting or
heading of the said softened parts is fraught with difficulties, and as a whole, is not
perfectly successful in its operation.
Now, by my invention, that part or parts of the metal which is or are to be left
soft or malleable is or are not brought under the direct influence of the heat
employed, in either the hardening or in the tempering processes, but is isolated as
much as possible from the said heat employed.
Thus, my process consists in making gas or flame jets, with or without a blast,
play upon those parts only of the articles requiring to be hardened and tempered,
or hardened only, whilst leaving those parts requiring to be left soft in the natural
condition of the metal, and this I accomplish (in connection with pins or the like)
in the following manner :—
I take a series of the said articles, and place the same in a suitable hopper,
whose mouth and feed outlet comes upon, or is presented to the periphery of a
cross channelled wheel or drum, which, when rotated, carries forward a series of
the articles under treatment.
The ends, or those portions of the articles requiring to be left in the natural
condition of the metal, that is, soft, are hooded over or protected by a continuous
band or strip of metal, or some other conducting material of such proportions that
the heat conveyed to the parts to be left soft, may be transmitted away from the
Baid parts by conduction.
Thus, assuming only one end of each of the said articles is to be left soft, then
that part is supported by the edge of the wheel or drum, and is also hooded-over
and screened by the circumferential band strip coming at a short distance from the
edge of the periphery of the wheel. Flame jets are then made to play upon the
overhanging body portions of the articles, or the whole of the unscreened portions
of the articles, hence the heating of those portions, and the leaving intact, or
mearly so. of the screened portions.

page_text: Then, as the wheel or drum rotates, the partially heated articles are pushed off
by coming against a stop within their path, when the same drop into the hardening
liquid.
It will be understood that some portion of the heat transmitted to articles must
necessarily be conveyed to the part or parts to be left intact, but the quantity is so
immaterial that the structural character of the metal practically remains
unchanged.
The screen or hood may, if necessary, be boxed in at the off side.
The said articles may then be scoured in the usual way before heading, and
after the said scouring process has been performed, the heading or upsetting is then
conducted.
In umbrella ribs, the metal requires to be left soft or intact to admit of the same
being drilled, pierced or otherwise operated upon, whilst in some other articles, the
parts left intact are flattened or spread out.
Dated this 25th day of May 1893.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
A Process of Leaving Malleable or Soft Portions of Steel Articles in
Hardening and Tempering.
I, OLIVER GRIFFITHS GOODMAN, of Caroline Street, in the City of
Birmingham, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a means for leaving malleable or soft, portions of steel
articles during the process of hardening and tempering, and my said invention is
particularly applicable to pins, fish hooks, ribs and stretchers of umbrellas and
parasols, cycle wheel spokes and other small articles requiring to have portions or
end portions of the same headed, upset, flattened out, pierced or otherwise
operated upon.
The ordinary method of rendering portions of small articles soft or malleable is,
by first subjecting the whole of the metal composing an article to the action of heat,
and then hardening the same all over by immersing the said article in oil or other
hardening material.
.
This said hardened metal article is then tempered down to the required degree
by again heating the whole of it to a determinate temperature.
Or the metallic article is heated to a given degree, which will both harden and
temper at the same time, on immersion in a suitable liquid.
Portions of these articles which require to be left soft are subjected to the action
of heat, and then allowed to gradually cool.
Now this subsequent softening down of the hardened and tempered metal so
deteriorates the physical constitution of the said metal that a subsequent upsetting
or heading of the said softened parts is fraught with difficulties, and as a whole, is
not perfectly successful in its operation.
Now by my invention that part or parts of the metal which is or are to be left
soft or malleable is or are protected from, or not brought under the direct influence
of the heat employed in the hardening process, but is or are isolated as much as
possible from the said heat employed.
Thus, my process consists in making gas or flame jets, with or without a blast,
play upon those parts only of the articles requiring to be hardened and tempered,
or hardened only, whilst leaving those parts requiring to be left soft in the natural
1

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Of the metal and this i accomplisn (in connection with pins or the like)
in the following manner :-
I take a series of the said articles, and place the same in a suitable hopper,
whose mouth and feed outlet comes upon, or is presented to the periphery of a cross
channelled wheel or drum, which, when rotated, carries forward a series of the articles
under treatment.
The ends, or those portions of the articles requiring to be left in the natural
condition of the metal, that is, soft, may be kept upon the periphery of the carrier
drum by a band or strip of metal, and the said portions resting upon the said
periphery are protected from the action of the flame.
Thus, assuming only one end of each of the said articles is to be left soft, then
that part is supported by the edge of the wheel or drum, and may also if desired
be hooded-over or screened by a circumferential holding or retaining band or strip.
Flame jets are then made to play upon the overhanging body portions of the
articles, or the whole of the unprotected portions of the articles, hence the heating
of those portions, and the leaving intact, or nearly so, of the protected portions.
Then, as the partially heated articles traverse with the drum they are pushed off
or fall at a certain time into a tank of whale oil or like hardening medium.
It will be understood that some portion of the heat transmitted to articles must
necessarily be conveyed to the part or parts to be left intact, but the quantity is
so immaterial that the structural character of the metal practically remains
unchanged.
The said articles may then be tempered and scoured in the usual way before
heading, piercing or being otherwise operated upon and after this said scouring
process has been performed, the heading, upsetting or other operation is then
conducted.
In umbrella ribs, the metal requires to be left soft or intact to admit of the same
being drilled, pierced or otherwise operated upon, whilst in some other articles, the
parts left intact are flattened or spread out.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in longitudinal vertical
section, with parts in elevation, a machine constructed according to my invention
and employed in hardening and leaving soft parts of small steel and iron articles.
Figure 2 represents, upon an enlarged scale, a topside plan of a portion of a cross-
channelled carrying wheel, with the articles, less one, shown in the positions which
they take when under the influence of heat, whilst the one article is shown
crossing the wheel and in the position which it takes when first fed from the
hopper.
Figure 3 represents a section upon the dotted lines A B Figure 2, whilst
Figure 4 represents a plan of the whole of the machine in elevation.
Figure 5 is a section of a portion of the carrier disc, showing how the periphery
overhangs the body of the same.
a is a carrier wheel or disc having cross grooves or channels a², sunken within
the periphery a', of it, and with the same made fast to and carried by an axis a',
working within bearings a', and having a ratchet toothed wheel as, made fast to it,
which wheel as, is rotated through the medium of a lift arm b, turning loosely upon
the axis a', at its inner end, and provided at its outer part with a drop pawl c,
jointed at c¹, to the said lift arm b, and with its hooked end c, engaging with the
teeth of the ratchet wheel a'. This said lift arm has its end bearing upon one
end of a rocking lever d, fulcrumed at d', and with its outer end d³, operated by
a cam e, made fast upon a main shaft e¹, carried within bearings e³, and having its
motion regulated by a fly-wheel e carried at its one end. The other end of the
main shaft carries a face cam f, having a swell, upon its outer side, upon which a
roller g³, carried by the end 91, of a horizontally rocking lever g, fulcrumed at g³,
and having a long end 9*, bears. The rollered end of this lever g, is kept up to the
face of the cam f, by a spring h, whilst the lifter arm b is kept up to the end d³, of
the lever d, by a spring i. is a pusher or means for placing the article in an
overhanging position upon the periphery of the wheel or disc, and which is operated

page_text: by the lever g and the cam f. Thus the pusher consists of a rod j, adjustably
connected at, to the slotted end 9, and the stem of the same works within a
guide, whilst the extreme end j, lies without the range of the article to be pushed
when the parts are in the positions represented in Figure 4.
Partly surrounding the periphery of the carrier wheel, is a holding band k, the
one end, of which may be made fast to the hopper m, (or it may be connected to
a separate support) and the other end ³, connected to and supported by the pin k*,
made fast to the upright bracket k*. m is the bracket carrying the hopper,
supported by the bed m³, of a frame m³, whilst n is a tank containing whale oil or
other material and located immediately under the carrier wheel or disc a, and into
which the articles under treatment drop from off the wheel or carrier disc by
gravity.
The band is under slight tension and presses upon the articles under treatment,
and thereby holds aud keeps the said articles upon the carrier wheel.
Located upon the offside of the wheel or disc, and immediately under the
overhanging parts of the articles under treatment, is a burner o, carried by the
bed m³, through a bracket o¹, and being provided with a gas supply or inlet o*.
a. o are fast and loose pulleys upon the end of the shaft e¹.
Assuming that a number of small steel or iron articles, such as pins as represented,
are placed within the hopper m, in a soft state, and that one of their ends only
require to be left soft for heading, motion is communicated through the fast
pulley g, to the shaft el when the came, depresses the end d³, of the lever d and
raises the end d', which latter then raises the lifting arm b, and through it, the
pawl c, when the hooked end c³, of the said pawl lays hold of a tooth of the ratchet
wheel a, and turns the same, and with it, the shaft a³ and carrier wheel a, round to
an extent equal to the space between two adjacent notches or cross grooves in the
said carrier wheel or disc, hence the feed.
As the periphery of the wheel rotates under the outlet to the hopper, so
articles p, fall across the periphery of the carrier as represented in Figure 2, that
is, the said articles fall across the wheel at about their middles, and are pushed into
the positions of the pins p', by the pusher j, which works in unison with the feed
part of the mechanism.
Thus assuming that the first cross groove under the mouth of the hopper receives
an article, then the wheel or disc is rotated to a distance as aforesaid and comes
cross lignable with the pusher, when the swell upon the cam f, is now timed to
operate the lever g, and the said pusher rod j, forces the article, which has now
come under and is pressed upon by the band k, into an overhanging position p², so
as to admit of the flame jets emitted from the burner o, playing upon the said
exposed and overhanging parts, hence the heating of the said parts, whilst the ends
lying across the periphery of the carrier wheel are shielded or protected from the
heat of the said flame jets, hence the leaving of those parts which are shielded or
not brought under the direct action of the flame, soft.
During the continued movement of the carrier wheel or disc, the pusher rod
retires out of the range of the articles delivered crosswise and as the said articles
are carried forward and pass from under the holding-on band k, they immediately
fall through the gap m, in the frame m³, into the cooling tank n, located below,
and these movements are repeated intermittently and the articles within the hopper
are fed and operated upon in a continuous manner.
Instead of the pusher j, being moved forward for placing the articles in position,
the said articles may come against a fixed inclined plane carried by the framing,
which transposes the said articles into position in the same way.
If parts of the articles require to be left soft in the middle, then no pusher is
required and in such a case, the flame jets are disposed upon both sides of the
carrier wheel and made to play upon the overhanging parts of the articles. It is

page_text: also understood that two or more parts may be left soft. Both the carrier wheel
and its axle may if necessary be made hollow and water may be passed therethrough
to keep the parts cool, and further in consequence of the carrier wheel being a
conductor of heat part of the heat transmitted by conduction to the parts to be left
soft is carried away by the said wheel.
The articles after being hardened are then tempered either in bulk or by being
passed through a second machine.
The application of my invention for operating upon other small articles differs in
no essential respect from its application to the leaving soft of the ends of pins as
herein described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
First. The process of leaving soft or malleable a part or parts of hardened or
tempered small steel and iron articles during the process of hardening by shielding,
isolating or hooding the part or parts to be left soft and allowing flame or heat
to play or be directed only upon those parts to be hardened, which process is
conducted substantially in the manner and by the ways as described and set forth.
Secondly. The improvements in the means employed in the process of leaving
soft a part or parts of hardened or tempered small steel and iron articles,
substantially as described and set forth.
Thirdly. In the machinery employed in the process of leaving soft a part or
parts of hardened or tempered small steel articles, employing in connection with
the said machinery, a cross-grooved carrier wheel or disc, fitted with a keeping-on
band or equivalent, substantially as and for the purpose as described and set
forth.
Fourthly. In the machinery employed in the process of leaving soft portions
of small hardened and tempered steel and iron articles, the general construction,
arrangement and combination of the carrier and feed parts thereof, substantially
as described and set forth.
Fifthly. In the machinery employed in the process of leaving soft portions of
hardened and tempered small steel and iron articles, the general construction,
arrangement and combination of the parts for setting the articles in position for
being operating upon, substantially as described and set forth.
Sixthly. The general construction, arrangement and combination of the parts
of the machinery employed in the process of leaving soft portions of hardened
and tempered small steel and iron articles, substantially as described and set forth.
Dated the 23rd day of February 1894.
OLIVER GRIFFITHS GOODMAN,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicant.