Iы- PROVEMENTS IN ROLLING RAILS, BARS, ANGLES, BEAMS, GIRDERS, PLATES, AND OTHER LIKE ARTICLES OF IRON, STEEL, OR OTHER METALS
Year: 1871

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Richard Heber Radford at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd March 1871.
I, RICHARD HEBER RADFORD, of Sheffield, in the County of York,
Engincer, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention for "Iы-
PROVEMENTS IN ROLLING RAILS, BARS, ANGLES, BEAMS, GIRDERS, PLATES, AND
OTHER LIKE ARTICLES OF IRON, STEEL, OR OTHER METALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in applying two or more sets of rolls the gates
or grooves
of which are placed in continuous order one after the other
in the same line, commencing with number 1 set, or roughing down
rolls, followed by numbers 2, 3, 4, 5, or any requisite number of rolls,
which will reduce the material to the ultimate form required. By this
arrangement the ingot, bloom, or billet may be taken from the heating
furnace and passed through the first or roughing rolls, and thence
forward in one continuous onward passage through any number of
succeeding rolls until the finished rail or other article emerges from
the last or finishing set of rolls, thereby dispensing with any return
motion, the passing back of the article over the rolls, or the reversing

page_text: of the machinery. The rolls for this improved process may be placed
alternately or otherwise, either horizontally, vertically, or at any angle
which may be desirable, and are capable of being adjusted to run at
varying speeds or otherwise, so that a rail, for example, might pass from
number 1 to number 2 set of rolls before it shall be clear of the first
set, and from number 2 or number 1 and 2 to number 3 before it shall
be clear of number 2, or of both number 1 and number 2, and so on
until the end. Or the rolls may be so placed that the object shall fully
leave and be clear of one set of rolls before entering another set, in
which case an arrangement of delivering rollers and guides would be
applied between each set of rolls in order to assist the rail forward in
its progress from one set to another. The different sets of rolls may
sometimes be arranged so that they can be adjusted or shifted closer to
or further from each other to suit the various lengths of rails or other
objects to be rolled, and can be driven either by one engine or by a
series of engines, or by a separate engine for each set of rolls. The
actual rolls themselves may be provided with grooves or gates for one
or more sections, so that several sections of rails may be rolled in the
same mill at the same time without changing the rolls.
The advantages to be derived from this application are a saving of
time in the process of rolling, which will cause a saving in loss of heat
and a consequent saving in power, as the hotter a rail can be rolled the
less power the rolls will require to drive them; a saving in the waste
by ends and croppings, as by the process herein described much longer
rails may be rolled, and several rails may be cut out of one long length
with only the loss of two ends, all which tends to increase the production
and reduce the cost. Moreover a great improvement in the quality
of the material of which the rail or other object is composed will bo
effected by reason of the continuous rolling in one direction, as the
backward and forward rolling has a tendency to disturb the fibre or
structural formation of the material, which drawback is entirely removed
by the new process. A further improvement in the quality will also be
obtained from the rolling being accomplished before the heat is reduced
to a low temperature, which is unavoidable in the old system.