IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR HARDENING AND TEMPERING STEEL WIRE
Year: 1880

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Scholes, of Liversedge, near Leeds, in the County
of York, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS
EMPLOYED FOR HARDENING AND TEMPERING STEEL WIRE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Scholes at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 18th May 1880.
WILLIAM SCHOLES, of Liversedge, near Leeds, in the County of York.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR HARDENING AND
TEMPERING STEEL WIRE."
My Invention has for its object the hardening and tempering of steel wire, such
as is used for setting in "cards" and other purposes.
The mode of operation is as follows:-.
I pass the wire to be operated upon through a bed of asbestos, slag wool, wire
scale, sand, or other silica or charcoal, either separately or in combination with
the other materials, or through a tube heated to the required temperature; then
it is passed without exposure to the atmosphere through a small tube made
of any thin material which will act as a good heat conductor. This small tube is
fixed inside another, sufficiently large to allow a stream of water or other cold
liquid to flow between it and the inner tube; or it may be immersed in water or
other liquid of such a temperature as to barden or stiffen the wire, and if after
this process the wire is found too hard it may be tempered by passing it through
another bed of asbestos, slag wool, wire scale, sand, or other silica or charcoal, or a
tube of a lower temperature than the first mentioned beds or tube.
The process of tempering is more easily and correctly effected by providing
means, which may be of ordinary construction, for regulating or adjusting the heat
giving medium.
The material for the operation is taken direct from an ordinary wire reel.
•

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Scholes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 18th
November 1880.
85
+
WILLIAM SCHOLES, of Liversedge, near Leeds, in the County of York.
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MEANS AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR HARDENING AND
TEMPERING STEEL WIRE."
My Invention, has for its object the hardening and tempering of steel wire, such
as is used for setting in "cards" and other purposes.
The mode of operation is as follows:-
3
I pass the wire to be operated upon through a bed of asbestos, slag wool, wire
scale, sand, or other silica or heated charcoal, either separately or in combination
with the other materials, or a tube heated to the required temperature; then it is
passed without exposure to the atmosphere through a small tube made of any thin
material which will act as a good heat conductor. This small tube is fixed inside
another, sufficiently large to allow a stream of water or other cold liquid to flow
between it and the inner tube; or it may be immersed in water or other liquid
of such a temperature as to harden or stiffen the wire, and if after this process_the
wire is found too hard it may be tempered by passing it through another bed of
asbestos, slag wool, wire scale, sand, or other silica, or charcoal, or a tube of a
lower temperature than the first mentioned beds or tube.
The process of tempering is more easily and correctly effected by providing
means, which may be of ordinary construction, for regulating or adjusting the heat
giving medium.
The material for the operation is taken direct from an ordinary wire reel.
And in order that my Invention may be more completely understood, reference
is given to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings and to the letters and marks
Fig. 1 is a front elevation; Fig. 2 is a longitudinal section; Fig. 3, a back
elevation; Fig. 4, a plan looking at the top; and Fig. 5, an enlarged longitudinal
section of part of apparatus..
The wire is taken from an ordinary reel a through the pan b, which may be of
any required dimensions; this pan b is supplied with granulated matter, preferably
sand, which is heated by ordinary means, such as a fire placed under it at c, or by
any equivalent means. I provide holes d at the front end of the pan b, which may
be of any required number. At the back end of the pan b I substitute the nicks or
slots e for the holes & so that the wire can be lifted up at pleasure. After passing
through the heated matter in the pan b it is conducted through a small tube f
which is shewn enlarged at Fig. 5, this tube being immersed in water or other
cold body kept at a suitable temperature for hardening or stiffening the wire. If
after the wire has passed through this process it is found to be too hard or
stiff, it may be tempered by conducting it through another bed of heated granulated
material or by other convenient means. The above operations are effected' without
scaleing or other damage to the wire.
In some cases when preferred I pass the small tube ƒ through a larger tube g,
through which cold water or other cold liquid may be run for the hardening or
stiffening operation, but generally speaking this is not necessary, the trough h
supplied with any cold liquid or body being sufficient.
For small wire the feed thereof may be continuous, but as strong wire may
require more time for heating and cooling to have the desired effect I let it remain

page_text: longer in the heating and cooling chambers, and to attain this end I impart an
intermittent rotary motion to the block, winder, or reel onto which the wire is
wound, such motion being capable of adjustment to suit the various thickness
of wire and to produce a regular temper or stiffness throughout.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and described by the
aid of Drawings how the same may be carried into practice, I would have it
understood that I do not limit myself to the precise details or configuration of the
parts I have described and shewn, as the same may be varied or modified without
departing from the nature or principle. of my Invention, but what I claim and
desire to be secured to me by Letters Patent is,-
The passing of wire through heated granulated materials and afterwards
submitting it to a cooling operation respectively for the purposes of heating and
tempering or stiffening the same, substantially as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Scholes, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and eighty.
W SCHOLES. (L.S.)