IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR ROLLING METALS
Year: 1884

page_text: I, DUNCAN STEWART, of London Road Iron Works, Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR ROLLING METALS" to be as follows:-
My said Invention has for its object to improve the construction of mills for
rolling metals, and more particularly to provide means for determining the
maximum pressure applied in the rolling operation, and for allowing the parts to
yield and avoid breakage when through accident or otherwise any plate or bar or
other mass of metal that is being passed through the rolls offers resistance greater
than such maximum pressure.
In carrying out my Invention the rolls are held in end frames or housings which
are to a certain extent of the usual kind, and the upper roll is pressed downwards
by means of screw spindles acting on the bearings of the roll; but the screw
spindles, which do not rotate, are fixed to or formed in the same pieces with rais
or pistons of inverted hydraulic cylinders, and the pressure is applied by admitting
water or other suitable liquid into the upper ends of the cylinders. The water or
liquid is pumped into an accumulator of the usual kind, such accumulator being
loaded to correspond with the maximum pressure intended to be applied to the
rolls, and the accumulator being in communication with the hydraulic cylinders by
pipes the water in these cylinders has the same pressure as in the accumulator
and is forced back into the accumulator when any thing passing between the rolls
offers a resistance producing an upward or back pressure on the rams greater than
that of the water or liquid. A safety valve may be fitted in connection with the
hydraulic cylinders either in addition to or instead of the accumulator. The
bydraulic cylinders are by preference held down upon the housings by long bolts
or tie rods passing down to the bottoms of the housings or to the bottom of the
foundation so as to bind the framing together; and the cylinders are by preference
fitted with top covers to give convenient access to their interiors.
'
On each of the screw spindles there is a massive nut or internally screwed ring
which is adjusted to limit the descent of the upper roll to suit the thickness of
the plate or other piece that is being rolled, these nuts coming to rest on bearing
surfaces on the tops of the housings. The nuts may be turned to adjust them by
means of ratchet levers; or they may be formed with worm wheel teeth to be
acted on by worms on a shaft carried so as to move with the nuts and turned
by means of handwheels at the ends.
If preferred the arrangement of the hydraulic cylinders may be. inverted, the
cylinders being placed at the bottoms of the housings so as to raise up the lower
roll instead of pressing down the upper one.
1100A
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.

page_text: I, DUNCAN STEWART, of London Road Iron Works, Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my said
invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR ROLLING METALS" and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement that is to say :-
My said Invention has for its object to improve the construction of mills for
rolling metals, and more particularly to provide means for determining the
maximum pressure applied in the rolling operation, and for allowing the parts to
yield and avoid breakage when through accident or otherwise any plate or bar,
or other mass of metal that is being passed through the rolls offers resistance
greater than such maximum pressure.
In carrying out my Invention the rolls are held in end frames or housings which
are to a certain extent of the usual kind, and the upper roll is pressed downwards
by means of screw spindles or hollow screws acting on the bearings of the rod ;
but the screw spindles or hollow screws which do not rotate, are fixed to or
formed in the same pieces with rams or pistons of inverted hydraulic cylinders,
and-the-pressure-is-applied-by-admitting water or other suitable liquid into the
upper ends of the cylinders. The water or liquid is pumped into an accumulator
of the usual kind, such accumulator being loaded to correspond with the maximum
pressure intended to be applied to the rolls, and the accumulator being in commu-
nication with the hydraulic cylinders by pipes the water in these cylinders has tho
same pressure as in the accumulator and is forced back into the accumulator when
any thing passing between the rolls offers a resistance producing an upward or back
pressure on the rams greater than that of the water or liquid. A safety valve
may be fitted in connection with the hydraulic cylinders either in addition to or
instead of the accumulator. The hydraulic cylinders are by preference held down
upon the housings by long bolts or tie rods passing down to the bottoms of the
housings or to the bottom of the foundation so as to bind the framing together;
and the cylinders are by preference fitted with top covers to give convenient access
to their interiors.
On the accompanying sheet of explanatory drawings one modification of my
improved apparatus is shown in figures, 1, and 2, which represent one of the
bousings or end frames of a metal-rolling mill, figure, 1, being a sectional inner-
face elevation and figure, 2, a side elevation. In this modification the hydraulic
cylinder, 4, is placed upon the top of the housing, 5, and is represented as secured
by long bolts or tie rods, 6, passing down to the base or foundation;-if preferred,
however, the cylinder, 4, may be fixed by short bolts to lugs or flanges formed
upon the upper part of the housing. The hydraulic cylinder, 4, is made with a
top cover, 7, to give convenient access to its interior; and the piston, 8, is made
with a hollow internally screwed ram, 9, which works in a guide trunk, 10, fitted
to the bottom end of the cylinder and into a seat or aperture formed for it in the
housing. In the internally screwed ram, 9, there is fitted a screw spindle, 11, the
lower end of which bears upon the top bearing block, 12, of the journal, 13, of the
upper roller, this screw spindle, 11, being also fitted for raising the bearing block, 12,
by means of a collar, 14, fixed on the lower end of the screw spindle, within a slot
in the block into which slot the spindle is entered down through the top of the
block. A worm wheel, 15, is fixed on the screw spindle, 11, and has gearing with
it a worm on a shaft, 16, having handwheels, 17, on its ends; and by means of

page_text: these parts the screw spindle, 11, can be adjusted in the ram, 9, so as to determine
the distance between the rolls, 13 and 18, when the ram, 9, is in its lowest position,
and thereby fix the thickness to which the plate that is being passed through the
rolls can be reduced. The arrangement of the bearings and other parts of the mill,
excepting as herein before described, may be as in existing rolling mills.
If preferred the arrangement of the hydraulic cylinders may be inverted, the
cylinders being placed at the bottoms of the housings so as to raise up the lower
roll instead of pressing down the upper one. In this modification, which is shown
in sectional inner-face elevation in figure, 3, whilst the hydraulic cylinder, 4, is
placed at the bottom of the housing, 5, and arranged for bearing up the lower
roll, 18, I retain the adjusting screw spindle, 11, in its position above the top
bearing block, 12, of the upper roll, 13, the screw spindle being tapped through the
top of the housing (or through an internally screwed bush fixed in the top of the
housing) and having a hand wheel, 19, fixed on its upper end.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is;.
The combination of adjusting screws with hydraulic cylinders connected to a
suitably loaded accumulator for applying pressure in a mill for rolling metals the
parts being arranged and operating substantially as hereinbefore described.
Dated this fifth day of January 1885
EDMUND HUNT,
Applicant's Agent.