An Improved Process of Making All Kinds of Rolled Iron.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 30th Sept., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 17th Jure, 1891-Accepted, 18th July 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Making All Kinds of Rolled Iron.
We, GEORGES ALFRED DECOSSE, Manager of the Champigneulles Ironworks,
Champigneulles, (Meurthe et Moselle) and VICTOR DE LESPINATS, Mining
Engineer, of Neuves-Maisons (Meurthe et Moselle) France, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention relates to an improved process of making all kinds of rolled
iron such as merchant bar, rods, angle and other sections, hoop iron, etc.
The present process of rolling iron comprises a series of operations of which the
chief are-
1. Shingling or blooming the puddled ball under the hammer or squeezer;
2. Rolling the shingled bloom in the forge train or puddling rolls into puddled
bars having the form of flats obtained by a series of passes constituting a complete
rolling;
3. Cutting up and piling the puddled bars obtained in the preceding operation;
4. Reheating the pile to welding heat;
5. Passing the reheated pile through the several grooves of the mill train to weld
together the constituent bars of the pile and thereby produce the merchant iron
rods bars or sections, etc., required;
In the selection of the pig irons used and of the fluxes added, such as sodium and
other carbonates, fluor-spar, sea-salt, and various ferro-compounds, regard has
heretofore been directed only to the amelioration of the quality of the product.
Now, we have been led, by a series of experiments, to the conclusion that several
of the five operations, above referred to, as constituting the rolling operation,
might be dispensed with by a rational system of conducting the operation from the
commencement, that is to say from the selection and charging of the pig iron into
the puddling furnace.
With this view, we proceed in the following way-We select ordinary pig iron
of good quality (white or mottled white) the operation of puddling is performed
with care, the temperature being kept as high as possible and the addition of
fluxes or ferro-compounds is made with a view, not to improve the quality, but to
favor the expulsion of the tap cinder or slag and to facilitate the simplified rolling
operation about to be described.
From the moment of taking the puddled ball from the furnace it is necessary to
conduct the operation as rapidly as possible in order that the slag shall not have
time to become set in the metal by rapid cooling. The puddled ball is therefore
quickly shingled and passed directly to the rolling mill train which converts it, by
a single heat and by a single train, into bars or sections of any kind or form
without passing through the puddling rolls or forge train or the cropping and
piling of puddled bars. For the purpose of this direct rolling operation, we may,
according to circumstances, either employ the forge train modified by the addition
of a finishing roll housing, or one of the sets of rolls of the mill train by modifying
the roughing rolls.
By this means rolled iron of all sections may be obtained at the same cost as
puddled bars. The crop ends and scrap being utilized as puddled bar iron, the
difference of cost between puddled bar and rolled iron is altogether saved by the
mode of manufacture which constitutes our invention.
In certain cases and from various causes, such as poor quality of the pig iron,
insufficient plant to deal quickly enough with the output of the puddling furnace,
the shingled and squared bloom sometimes reaches the mill train at such a lowered

page_text: temperature as would cause too great a proportion of scrap or a common product of
less satisfactory aspect. Although serap, in this operation, being of the same value
as puddled bar, is not a cause of loss, or even a serious inconvenience, it is desirable
to avoid it, and for this purpose a puddling furnace is converted into a reheating
furnace or a reheating furnace-is-erected in proximity to the hammer in which the
bloom, after being shingled and squared, is placed for a few minutes in order to
bring it up to the welding heat. The operation is then continued as above
described, that is to say the bloom is converted directly into finished rolled bars of
all sections without passing through the state of puddled bar in the forge train and
without cropping nor piling and in a single heat through a single train ot rolls, and
without a material increase of cost, the cost of fuel being balanced by the superior
quality and increased product.
The above described process is capable of a double application according to the
desired quality of the product to be obtained, and in any case it permits of saving
of the passage of the bloom through the puddling rolls and the cost of converting
it into puddled bars and of cropping piling and completely re-heating it. The
operation is effected by the use of a single train at a single heat and in a single
operation, with this difference only that according to the quality of the rolled iron
and the quantity to be made the shingled and squared bloom may or may not
receive during a few minutes in a special fiirnace a simple restoration of tempera-
ture. It should be observed that the existing arrangement of plant might be
partly utilized' by so combining it as to enable the conversion of the puddled ball
into any form of rolled iron to be performed at a single operation without pre-
liminary rolling in puddled bars, and one of the trains now in use may be modified,
either by the addition of roll housings or by a change of form, so as to admit of the
operation being performed with one train only and a single equipment.
Dated September 30th 1890.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
An Improved Process of Making All Kinds of Rolled Iron.
We, GEORGES ALFRED DECOSSE, Manager of the Champigneulles Ironworks,
Champigneulles (Meurthe et Moselle) and VICTOR DE LESPINATS, Mining
Engineer, of Neuves-Maisons (Meurthe et Moselle) France, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to an improved process of making all kinds of rolled
iron, such as merchant bar, rods, angle and other' sections, hoop'irön, etc.
The process of rolling iron, as at présent practised, comprises a series' of
operations of which the chief are;
1. Shingling or blooming the puddled ball under the hammer or squeezer;
2. Rolling the shingled bloom in the forge train or puddling rolls into puddled
bars having the form of flats obtained by a series' of passes constituting a complète
rolling;
3. Cutting up and piling the puddled bars obtained in the preceding operation;
4: Reheating the pile to welding heat;
5. Passing the reheated pile through the several grooves of the mill train to weld
together the constituent bars of the pile and thereby produce the merchant irön‘
rods bars or sections, etc., required.
In the selection of the pig irons used and of the fluxes added, such as sodium
and other carbonates, fluor-spar, sea-salt, and various ferro-compounds, regard

page_text: has heretofore been directed only to the amelioration of the quality of the
product.
Now, we have been led, by a series of experiments, to the conclusion that
several of the five operations above referred to as constituting the present rolling
operation, might be dispensed with by a rational system of conducting the
operation from the commencement, that is to say from the selection and charging
of the pig iron into the puddling furnace.
With this view, we proceed in the following way;- We select refined pig iron of
good quality (white or mottled white) and perform the operation of puddling
with care, keeping the temperature as high as possible and adding fluxes or
ferro-compounds with a view, not to improve the quality, but to favor the expulsion
of the tap cinder or slag and to facilitate the simplified rolling operation about to
be described.
From the moment of taking the puddled ball from the furnace it is necessary to
conduct the operation as rapidly as possible, in order that the slag shall not have
time to become set in the metal by rapid cooling. The puddled ball is therefore
quickly shingled and passed directly to the rolling mill train, which converts it, by
a single heat and by a single train, into bars or sections of any kind or form,
without passing through the puddling rolls or forge train or the operation of
cropping and piling of puddled bars. For the purpose of this direct rolling
operation we may, according to circumstances, either employ the forge train
modified by the addition of finishing rolls, or one of the sets of rolls of the mill
train by modifying the roughing rolls.
By this means, rolled iron of all sections may be obtained at the same cost as
puddled bars. The crop ends and scrap being utilized as puddled bar iron, the
difference of cost between puddled bar and rolled iron is altogether saved by the
mode of manufacture which constitutes our invention.
In certain cases and from various causes, such as the poor quality of the pig
iron or insufficient plant to deal quickly enough with the output of the puddling
furnace, the shingled and squared bloom sometimes reaches the mill train at such
a lowered temperature as would produce too great a proportion of scrap or a
common product of less satisfactory aspect. Although scrap, in this operation,
being of the same value as puddled bar, is not a cause of loss, or even a serious
inconvenience, it is desirable to avoid it, and for this purpose a puddling furnace is
converted into a reheating furnace, or a reheating furnace is erected in proximity
to the hammer in which the bloom, after being shingled and squared, is placed for
a few minutes, in order to bring it up to the welding heat. The operation is then
continued as above described, that is to say the bloom is converted directly into
finished rolled bars of all sections without passing through the state of puddled bar
in the forge train and without cropping nor piling and in a single heat through a
single train or rolls and without a material increase of cost, the cost of fuel being
balanced by the superior quality and increased product.
The above described process is thus capable of a double application, according to
the desired quality of the product to be obtained, and, in any case, it permits of
saving the passage of the bloom through the puddling rolls and the cost of
converting it into puddled bars and of cropping, piling, and completely reheating
it. The operation is effected by the use of a single train, at a single heat, and in a
single operation, with this difference only that, according to the quality of the
rolled iron and the quantity to be made, the shingled and squared bloom may, or
may not, receive during a few minutes in a special furnace a simple restoration of
temperature. It should be observed that the existing arrangement of plant might
be partly utilized by so combining it as to enable the conversion of the puddled
ball into any form of rolled iron to be performed at a single operation without
preliminary rolling in puddled bars, and one of the trains now in use may be
modified, either by the addition of roll-housings, or by a change of form, so
as to admit of the operation being performed with one train only and a single
equipment.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what
we claim is ;
The herein described improved and simplified process of making merchant bar
angle, and other rolled iron (without passing through the puddling rolls or forge
train or undergoing cropping and piling or other intermediate transformation) by
passing the shingled ball, which has been puddled with, or without, the addition of
fluxes or oxidizing agents, as described, directly in a single heat, or after being
reheated, to the rolling mill train, whereby it is at once converted into merchant
bar, rods, hoop iron, angle, and other sections required, substantially as specified.
Dated this 17th day of June 1891.
G. A. DECOSSE.
V. DE LESPINATS.
By A. M. & Wm. Clark,
53, Chancery Lane, London, Patent Agents.