IMPROVEMENTS IN HARDENING AND TEMPERING WIRE AND CRINOLINE STEEL
Year: 1862

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman, both of
Attercliffe, in the Borough of Sheffield and County of York, Wire
Drawers and. Manufacturers, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN:
Sealed the 12th September 1862, and dated the 19th March 1862.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Hadfield and
Jabez Shipman at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
their Petition, on the 19th March 1862.
We, ROBERT HADFIELD and JABEZ SHIPMAN, both of Attercliffe, in the
Borough of Sheffield and County of York, Wire Drawers and Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HARDENING AND TEMPERING WIRE AND CRINOLINE STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object the simplification of the mode of effectually.
hardening and tempering wire and crinoline steel. For, these purposes the
furnace is constructed with one or more cavities built of fire-clay covers,
through which the wire or steel passes in an unlimited number of strips.
Immediately on quitting such cavity the steel or wire passes underneath
the bottom of a cistern or pan of cold water, which cistern of cold water is kept
suspended within' another cistern (for.the purpose of keeping the contents cool)
containing a fluid composition, the component parts of which are, in the
following proportions, viz.: gn. of oil, 1 lb. of tallow, and 1 lb. of rosin.
The steel or wire consequently passes into and through this oil composition
underneath the water cistern, thereby chilling and hardening the same; the
second cistern containing the oil composition is also enveloped in an outer
cistern of cold water, which is kept continually 'flowing. The steel or wire
'

page_text: being then tempered, it is openly conveyed to an uncovered vessel containing
molten lead heated by a furnace to a proper temperature, and after passing
through the lead, it is drawn by steam power through revolving rollers, so
constructed as to be regulated to roll steel or wire of any size or thickness.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the. Letters. Patent, filed
by the said Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 19th September 1862:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ROBERT
HADFIELD and JABEZ SHIPMAN, both of Attercliffe, in the, Borough of Sheffield
and County of York, Wire Drawers and Manufacturers, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-two, in the twenty-fifth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman, Her. special licence that we, the
said Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Hadfield and Jabez
Shipman, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
HARDENING AND TEMPERING WIRE AND CRINOLINE STEEL," upon the condition
(amongst others) that we, the said Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman, by
an instrument in writing under our hands and seals, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, 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 Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being.had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures of reference marked thereon, that is
to say:
Our Invention comprises the combination of an improved furnace with other

page_text: appliances for effectually hardening and tempering wire and crinoline steel.
The furnace is constructed with fire-clay tiles or slabs, or metalic slabs having
holes or longitudinal channels through which the wire or steel is drawn ; these
slabs, made of such sizes, and with as many holes or. channels as may be
required, form the covering of the fire-places; the heat passes from beneath
them through apertures in each angle of, the furnace along the top surface.to
the central outlet flue, through which its passage is regulated by a damper in
the usual manner., In close proximity to the outlet end of the furnace is placed
an open cold water trough partially immersed in a vessel containing a hardening
composition of tallow, resin, and whale.or other suitable oil mixed in the pro-
portion of about. one pound of tallow and one pound of resin to one gallon of
oil. The vessel containing the hardening composition is immersed wholly.in
another vessel, into which water from each end of the open trough is continually
flowing, the waste water passing off through outlets in the angles. The steel
is drawn beneath the cold water trough through the hardening fluid, and thence
through clips between leather.or. other material to remove partially the. oil, &c.
adhering to it; being thus hardened it is tempered by being drawn beneath a
roller through, molten lead heated. to the proper temperature in an open vessel.
The rolls which regulate the motion of; the steel, and draw it, through the
furnace and troughs are adapted for drawing as many strings or strips of steel
or wire, as may be required of different widths, thicknesses, or guages; the
lower roll is in one length, but for each string there is an independent upper
roll, which can. be. adjusted by springs and screws to the size of the steel
passing beneath it. Before being wound on the swift or reel which receives
the steel on completion of the process of hardening and tempering a considerable
length is exposed to the action of the atmosphere, in order that the necessary
cooling, and consequent contraction of each string may take place.
t
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawing is a horizontal section of a furnace
constructed in accordance with our Invention for the purpose of heating steel
or wire, and Figure 2 is a vertical longitudinal section of the same; Figure 3
is a plan of the hardening trough, and Figure 4 a vertical longitudinal section
thereof; Figure 5 is a plan, and Figure 6, a vertical section of the tempering
trough and rolls; Figures 7. and 7 are transverse sections of the heating slabs ;
Figures 8 and 8 shew the supply reels, and Figures 9 and 9¹, the winding
reels or "swifts."
A, A, is the brickwork of the furnace, and B, the heating slabs. The heat
generated in the firing places C, C, pursues the course indicated by the arrows
passing through the apertures a, a, into the top flue 6, 6, and thence into the
chimney. The box :D contains the hardening composition herein-before

page_text: described, and into this composition the steel or wire c is 'depressed beneath
the trough E, into which a stream of cold water regulated by taps in the
supply pipes d, d, is continuously flowing during the process of hardening; the
water from the trough E passes through the overflow pipes e, e, into the box F
and-surrounds the box D, which is suspended-therein, the waste or heated
water passes off by the pipes f,f; 9, 9, Figures 3 and 4, shew the clips
embracing leather or other material for the partial removal of the oil, &c.
adhering to the steel drawn between them. G, G, is an open trough containing
molten lead, which may be kept at the proper temperature by'a fire of charcoal
or other combustible material; n, n, is a roller, by which the steel is depressed
in passing into the lead. 'The rollers H draw the 'steel from the reels J on
which it is first coiled through the holes or channels i, i, in the heating slabs,
and through the hardening and tempering troughs D and G; the lower roll k
is in one length, but the upper rolls are in as many lengths as it may be
designed to draw strings of steel or wire, and having one length or independent
roll for each; these rolls are susceptible of differential adjustments to suit the
size or guage of the various strips or strings. -
Having now 'described the nature of our said Invention and the manner in
which the same is or may be carried into effect, we wish it to be understood,
and declare that what we claim as our Invention, and desire to have secured
to us by the above in part recited Letters Patent, is,-
First, the heating slabs or tiles adapted to a furnace for the purposes herein-
before set forth, and in 'the manner delineated in the accompanying Drawing.
Second, the form and arrangement of the cold water trough in combination
with the other appliances for hardening steel or wire.
Third, the peculiar form of trough with roller for tempering.
And, fourth, the adjustable rolls.
In witness whereof, we, the said Robert Hadfield and Jabez Shipman,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Seventeenth day of
September,, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and
sixty-two:
Witness,
T. F. CASHIN.
ROBERT HADFIELD. (L.S.)
JABEZ SHIPMAN.
(L.S..)