CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Herbert Allman, of 10, Ampthill Square, in the
County of Middlesex,- Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Herbert Allman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
1st June 1865.
I, HERBERT ALLMAN, of 10, Ampthill Square, in the County of Middlesex,
Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "CERTAIN
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN APPARATUS
CONNECTED THEREWITH," to be as follows:-
I draw the hot iron from the pig or first rolls through holes or blocks
of metal, after the manner of wire, for the purpose of giving a fibre toughness
and form to the hot bars of metal so drawn. As an improvement in the
apparatus I use dies which may open or alter their position during the
passage of the bar, thereby giving a varied form. As a further improvement
in the apparatus I give a rotary motion by means of cog wheels or otherwise to
the draw plates or dies during the process of drawing, so as not only to give

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Herbert Allman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
1st December 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HERBERT
ALLMAN, of 10, Ampthill Square, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Herbert Allman, Her special licence that I, the said Herbert
Allman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, 'the said Herbert Allman, my 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
"CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL, AND IN
APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH," upon the condition (amongst others) that
I, the said Herbert Allman, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their 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 I, the said Herbert Allman,, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, 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):―
In the ordinary manufacture of wrought iron and steel from raw material
or pig iron it is well understood to consist in the repeated hammering or
rolling of the iron or steel, while hot, more particularly by rolling, which con-
tinually extends the metal in the same direction, and so produces a fibre
therein of greater or less toughness and power to resist tensile strain according

page_text: to the greater or less working the iron or steel may receive. It is further,
well known that wire possesses a much finer fibre and is capable of resisting
much greater strain than rolled iron, which arises from the fact of its being
repeatedly drawn through draw plates having holes of a constantly reducing size,
by which the original rod is reduced in diameter at each drawing operation,
and extended in its length the same as in rolling.
Now my Invention of improvements in the manufacture of iron-and steel
consists in the substitution of a drawing process in reducing and laminating
iron or steel for the rolling process as in ordinary. By this means the fibre or
laminæ become much more condensed, tiner, and of much greater toughness
than those of rolled iron. In manufacturing iron and steel I do not simply
apply the process of drawing as in the manufacture of wire, which is usually
drawn in a cold state, as I for the most part draw iron and steel while it is hot,
much the same as in the process of rolling, and indeed it is preferable in the
first operation to roll or reduce the metal to rods or bars by rolling in the
ordinary way. After imparting sufficient tenacity to the bar by rolling to enable
it to withstand the strain of drawing I then pass it through a series of holes
in a draw plate or plates, and reduce it by repeated passages through the holes,
which are in such graduations as may be suitable, and according to the strain
the metal will resist in the operation of drawing. Having reduced the bar or
rod nearly the required size it may be beneficial to draw it once or twice while
cold or nearly so. The draw plates used for the purpose must be made in two
halves and so as to open and close in order to the introduction and passage of
the first end of the bar, which is seized by the drawing nippers and pulled
through, as well understood in drawing metals. The appliances for opening
and closing the halves of the draw plate or dies should be rapid in their action;
in order to prevent loss of time and the cooling of the iron screws are usually
employed for this purpose, but which are rather slow in operating; it may
therefore be convenient to adopt the action of an eccentric, which will effect
the object by a simple lever motion, the eccentric moving the movable die
quickly, and at same time providing a rigid resistance or abutment when the
dies or halves of the draw plate are closed. The dies may further be made to
open or alter their position during the passage of the bar, and thereby impart
a varied form to it. Moreover I sometimes impart a rotary motion to the
draw plates or dies during the process of, drawing, so as not only to produce
the fibre longitudinally, but also to twist such fibre together in the bar, which
results in the greatest degree of toughness of fibre and perfection of form.
Instead of rotating the dies the drawing nippers may be rotated while in the
act of holding and drawing the iron or steel, which.will produce the same effect

page_text: of twisting the fibres. Instead of using dies or draw plates in two parts to open,
fixed or solid draw plates may be employed and the ends of the bars reduced
before entering through the dies.
Having described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as my Invention of improvements in
the manufacture of iron and steel to be protected by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is, the drawing and reducing bar or rod iron and steel
while in a heated state, as herein-before described.
I also claim the application of drawing apparatus for the manufacture of
iron and steel as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Herbert Allman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of November, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
HERBERT ALLMAN. (L.s.)