AN IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLING METALS."
Year: 1852

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dable, of Birmingham, Carpenter, and
William Wells, of Birmingham, Carpenter, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLING METALS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dable and
William Wells at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents,
with their Petition, on the 2nd December 1852.
We, JOHN DABLE, of Birmingham, Carpenter, and WILLIAM WELLS,
of Birmingham, Carpenter,, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLING METALS" to be as follows:-
Our Invention consists of the use of a reciprocating slide made to
operate upon the axle of the upper roll of a pair of rolls. An anti-
friction roller is placed upon the upper half of the journal in which each
end of the roll axle works, and immediately above the said anti-friction,
rollers are others affixed to the set screws. Between the said two.
pairs of anti-friction rollers the said slide works; a toothed wheel on.
the end of the axle of one of the rolls gears into a pinion on the end of
a screw, which said screw enters the end of the reciprocating slide, and,

page_text: by the rotation of the said rolls the said slide is made to advance, and
the form of the said slide permits the upper roll to rise more or less.
Thus, if the slide have parallel sides, the said upper roll is kept con-
stantly at the same distance from the lower roll; if it have a similar
wedge-like form at both ends, the upper roll will be permitted to rise
to an extent progressively increasing or decreasing; if it have parallel
sides, but varies in thickness at various parts, the upper roll will be
permitted to rise through different distances, and with sudden transition
from one to the other. In the first case, parallel plates of metal will be
rolled of the same thickness throughout; in the second case, taper
plates; and in the third case, plates with parallel sides, but of different.
thicknesses in different parts. Mechanism of the ordinary kind is
attached, to throw the said slide into and out of gear.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Dable and William Wells in the Great
Seal Patent Office, on the 1st June 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
JOHN DABLE, of Birmingham, Carpenter, and WILLIAM WELLS, of
Birmingham, Carpenter, send greeting.
year
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of December, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, in the six-
teenth of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Jolin Dable and William Wells,
Her special licence that we, the said John Dable and William Wells,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said John Dable and William Wells, our 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 vend, within the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands,
and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN ROLLING

page_text: METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Dable and William Wells, or one of us, by an instrument in writing
under our hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said John Dable and William
Wells, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly de-
scribed and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof,
reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
figures and letters marked thereon, that is to say:
Our Invention consists in operating upon one or both rolls of a pair
of rolls in the manner herein-after particularly described, whereby the
separation of the said rolls is so regulated as to produce any desired
thickness or transition from one, thickness to another in the metal rolled.
Figure 1, represents a pair of rolls to which our Invention is applied;
all the parts in the said figure, excepting the rolls, being represented in
vertical section, the said section being taken in the plane in which the
axes of the rolls are situated. Figure 2, represents the same in hori-
zontal section, the said horizontal section being taken through the line a,
Figure 1; b, c, are the rolls; d, e, are anti-friction rollers, placed on the
upper half of the journals in which the top roll b, works. Immediately
over the said anti-friction rollers d, e, are other anti-friction rollers f, g,
on the blocks h, i, against which the set screws k, l, bear. Between
the two pairs d, f, and e, g, of anti-friction rollers, is a slide m, which
said slide is made to advance between the anti-friction rollers d, f,
and e, g, during the working of the rolls b, c, and the said slide m, by
its figure, determines the distance to which the rolls b, c, can separate,
and consequently the thickness to which the metal is rolled between the
said rolls b, c. For example, if the slide m, were of uniform thickness
throughout, it would not, by advancing between the rollers d, f, and e, g,
separate the said rollers to any greater or less distance, and the metal
rolled by the rolls b, c, would be of uniform thickness; if the said slide

page_text: m, had a similar wedge-like form at each end, it would permit the
upper roll b, progressively to rise or fall as it (the said slide) advanced
between the rollers d, f, and e, g, by giving the slide m, the: form re-
presented in Figure'l; the metal produced by the rolls b, c, would be of
uniformi thickness, until by the advance of the slide m, the parts n, n, of
the said slide arrived between the rollers d, f, and ie, g, when the roll b,
would suddenly be permitted to rise to an extent equal to the difference
between the thickness of the said parts n, n, of the slide, and the other
parts of the said slide, and the metal rolled by the rolls b, c, would be
thicker to the same extent: the figure of the metal rolled by the rolls
b, c, may thus be determined at pleasure, by giving a suitable fornito
the slide m. The said slide m, is made to advance during the revolu-
tion of the rolls b, c, in the following manner :-o, is a toothed wheel,
fixed on the axle of the roll 6; the said toothed.wheel o; engages in the
pinion p, working loosely on the shaft q; the end of the shaft q, carries
a screw r, which takes into the female screw on the end of the slide m;
s, is a clutch box, keyed by a sliding key to the axis q, and rotating
with the said axis; by the lever t, the clutch box s, may be thrown into
gear with the pinion p, when the rotatory motion of the roll b, iş trans-
mitted through the toothed wheel o; pinion p, and clutch box s, to the
axis q, and screw r, and the said screw made to advance or recede
in the female screw on the end of the slide m, and the said slide to
advance or recede between the rollers d, f, and e, g. When it is wished
to withdraw the slide.m, preparatory to rolling a second sheet of metal;
the clutch box s, is disengaged from the pinion. p, and the screw,
turned by the hand wheel u, until the slide m, is in a fit position to be
geared again to the roll b, or the motion of the slide. m, may be
altogether effected by the hand wheel u.
Our Invention is applicable, among other things, to the rolling of
metal for making the tubes for locomotive and marine engine boilers,
steel for coach springs, iron for making boat and ships knees, and
generally where metal is required of varying thickness.
Having now described the nature of our said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be under-
stood that we do not limit ourselves to the precise manner of carrying

page_text: our Invention into effect herein described and represented in the
accompanying Drawing, as the same may be varied without departing
from the nature of our said Invention; for example, instead of applying
our Invention to the upper roll of a pair of rolls, our said Invention
may be applied to the lower roll of a pair of rolls, or our said Invention
may be applied both to the upper and lower roll of a pair of rolls; and
although we have described the method which we prefer of working the
slide, which constitutes the essence of our Invention, that is to say, by
gearing it to one of the rolls, yet other means may be adopted of working
the said slide; but we claim the use of a slide made to act upon the
journal of one or both the rolls of a pair of rolls, so as to determine
the distance to which the said rolls may separate from one to another;
the figure of the said slide being such as to determine the required
thickness in the different parts of the metal being rolled by the several
portions of the said slide acting in succession on the journals of the roll
or rolls, as herein described and represented in the accompanying
Drawing.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Dable and William Wells,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this 28th day of May,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
three.
10
5
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN DABLE. (L.S.)
W. WELLS.
(L.S.)