IMPROVED MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN AND IMPROVED MODES OF MANUFACTURING HOOPS, RAILS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CAST STEEL
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Ramsbottom, of Crewe, in the County of Chester,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY AND APPARATUS TO
BE EMPLOYED IN AND IMPROVED MODES OF MANUFACTURING HOOPS, RAILS,
AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CAST STEEL."
Sealed the 22nd April 1864, and dated the 7th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Ramsbottom at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
January 1864.
I, JOHN RAMSBOTTOM, of Crewe, in the County of Chester, Engineer, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY AND
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN AND IMPROVED MODES OF MANUFACTURING HOOPS,
RAILS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CAST STEEL," to be as follows:-
The first part of my Invention is applicable generally in the manufacture
of articles of cast steel, and it consists in a hood or shield made of iron lined
▸ with fire-brick or other equivalent, or made of fire-clay alone, which is placed
over the hot ingot to retain the heat, and also to prevent injury by unequal
cooling, or the ingots may be placed in a metal box on wheels or otherwise,
which is then filled with sand or non-conducting substances to retain the heat,
while the ingots are conveyed from one part of the works to another.
Secondly, in the application of a revolving cutter or rasp for removing the
external portion of the ingot when porous or when otherwise required.
My improved modes of manufacturing hoops, rails, and other articles of

page_text: cast steel are particularly adapted for the tires of railway wheels, but they
may be partly applied for various other purposes.
In manufacturing tires, I cast ingots of steel of a cylindrical or other form
approaching thereto, of sufficient weight and depth to produce any convenient
number of tires; the ingot is divided into dises by means of a large circular
saw, or band saw, or otherwise. Each disc is of the requisite depth and weight
to produce a tire, and should first be hammered circumferentially and on the
flat sides to condense the metal; a recess is 'then punched into the centre on
each side of the disc by means of blunt punches, and the small portion of steel
left between the recesses is afterwards punched out, thus converting the solid
disc into a thick hoop. If the centre portion of the ingot is found, in cutting,
to be defective, the discs must be cut off of an additional thickness to compensate
for the removal of the central defective part by a hollow punch. In order to
expand this hoop to the requisite diameter, a conical mandril is inserted into
the hole; this mandril is forced into the hoop by a steam hammer or other-
wise, and at the same time the exterior of the hoop is struck by the ordinary
or a duplex steam hammer. After this operation has been continued for a
certain time, the hoop is taken off the mandrill, and reduced in thickness by
hammering on the flat surfaces; these operations are repeated as often as is found
requisite, or the hoop may be expanded and reduced in thickness by placing
it on a mandrill, and submitting it to the action of squeezers acting upon the
face and the edge. The hoop, when sufficiently extended, is taken to the
rolling mill, by which it is completed in the usual manner. In some cases an
ingot of the size requisite to produce a single tire may be operated upon in
the manner, above described.
In manufacturing rails and plates or other articles, according to my
improvements, I propose to cast an ingot sufficiently large to make any con-
venient number of the articles required, and to cut the ingot into the desired
number of parts by saws or otherwise.
SPECIFICATION. in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed 30
by the said John Ramsbottom in the Great Seal. Patent Office, on the
6th July 1864.
2
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRÉSENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN.
RAMBBOTTOM, of Crewe, in the County of Chester, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters 36
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of January, 'in' the year of our Lord One

page_text: thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
John Ramsbottom, Her special license that I, the said John Ramsbottom, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Ramsbottom, 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 "IMPROVED, MACHINERY AND
APPARATUS TO BE EMPLOYED IN AND IMPROVED MODES OF MANUFACTURING HOOPS,
RAILS, AND OTHER ARTICLES OF CAST STEEL," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the. said John Ramsbottom, 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 John Ramsbottom, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
j
7
.,The first part of my Invention consists in a hood or shield which is placed
over the hot ingot of steel to retain the heat, and also to prevent injury by.
unequal cooling, or in placing the ingots in a metal box on wheels or other-
wise, which box is then filled, and the ingots covered with sand or other non-
conducting substances to retain the heat while they are conveyed from one
part of the works to another.
☐ Secondly, in the application of a revolving cutter or rasp for removing the
external portion of the ingót when porous, or when otherwise requisite.
-7
And, thirdly, in improved modes of, and the machinery or apparatus for
manufacturing the tires of railway wheels and other articles of cast steel.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to describe
the manner of performing the same, reference being had to the accompanying
two Sheets of Drawings.
:
On Sheet 1, Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the hood or shield, and'
Figure 2 is a modification of the same, also in section...:
a is the cast steel ingot; b, the sheet-iron casing of the hood or shield;
which is strengthened, with angle iron, and c is the lining made of fire-brick:
or fire-clay, or other non-conducting substance, or the outer casing may be.

page_text: made of cast iron, or the entire hood may be made of fire-clay or other
equivalent. These hoods are provided with a bridle or loop d for the con-
venience of lifting them, and when put over the hot ingots, they serve to
retain the heat, and prevent the injury caused by unequal cooling when the
ingots are exposed to the atmosphere, thus enabling the heated ingots to be
conveyed from one part of the works to another; or I place the ingots in a
metal box mounted on wheels or otherwise, and cover them with sand,
pulverised fire-bricks, or other non-conducting substances, the object being to
retain the original heat of the ingot, so that the whole or greater part of it
may be cut into discs or other forms by the machinery, hereiu-after described,
without re-heating.
Figures 3 and 4 are two views of the revolving cutter or rasp for removing
the external portion of the ingot. Figure 3 is an end view, and Figure 4 &
side view of the rasp with bearings and driving pulley. The cutter or rasp
consists of the drum e, in which are slots for the knives or blades e¹, the cir-
cumference of which projects slightly above the plate e, which is made, by
preference, level with the floor of the workshop in which the apparatus is
fixed. The cutter is turned rapidly round by steam or other power, and when
rotating the ingot is passed over it; by this means the porous or external part
of the ingot is removed, or the weight of the ingot or portion of the ingot can
be adjusted.
I will now proceed to describe my improved modes of, and machinery or
apparatus for, manufacturing the tires of railway wheels and other articles of
cast steel; but in order to avoid useless repetitions, I shall only refer to the
manufacture of railway tires.
Figures 5 and 6 represent a side view and front elevation of a sawing
apparatus for dividing the crude solid ingot a into discs; this ingot is cast of
steel in the usual manner, and it is made either cylindrical, as shewn, or of
other form approaching thereto. I prefer to cast the ingot of the requisite
depth and weight to produce six or other convenient number of dises. This
ingot, when circular, is laid upon the rollers f, supported in the plate f¹,
which is mounted on the platform fs, supported on wheels for the purpose of
traversing the ingot towards and over the large circular saw f¹ revolving
through a slit in the platform f³, and in front of one end of the plate f¹.
The ingot is taken forward until it arrives about over the centre of the saw, as
shewn in Figure 6; it is in this position cut about half through, and in order
to complete the cut, the ingot is caused to revolve on its axis, thus cutting off
a disc of the requisite weight and depth to produce a tire, the exact weight
being afterwards adjusted, if requisite, by the rasp shewn in Figures 3 and 4.

page_text: "This operation is repeated until about half the ingot has been cut into discs,
or until the ingot is too short to be supported on the rollers f; the remainder
of the ingot may be cut up into discs by the apparatus shewn in Figures 7, 8,
and 9. In this apparatus the remainder of the ingot a is supported by the
shouldered studs g10, and held between the three jaws g, which are hinged to
arms projecting from the spiridle g'; this spindle passes through the hollow
spindle g, supported in the headstock g³, which is traversed along the plate o
by the pinion g gearing into the rack 9°. To the end of the hollow spindle g³
is cast or forged the face plate 9', from which project the shouldered studs 91,
supporting the ingot, and at the end of the spindle g¹ is a screw provided with
a nut g; by turning this nut round the jaws 9 are tightened upon the cir-
cumference of the ingot, and hold it against the shouldered studs g10, so as to
support it without the aid of rollers, as in Figures 5 and 6, or a pair of rollers
may be used to support the remainder of the ingot when cut off. When this
apparatus is at work the ingot is traversed towards the circular
before described, and then turned gradually round by means of the spokes g
fixed to the end of the hollow spindle 9³ to present each part of the circum-
ference of the ingot to the circular saw f³. The object of the pinion g³ is to
adjust the distance of the headstock 9³ from the saw f³, and thus to regulate
the thickness of the disc to be cut, or a screw may be substituted for the rack
and pinion shewn.
:
saw fƒ³, as
"
In cutting polygonal ingots, the ingot will be placed on the platform f³,
and after having been cut half way through, it will be turned over to complete
the cut, or a saw may be made sufficiently large to cut the disc off at one
operation, or the ingots may be cut by a band saw. Each disc so cut off from
the ingot must now be hammered circumferentially and on the flat sides to
condense the metal, either by a steam hammer of the ordinary construction-or-
otherwise, or by a duplex steam hammer, as shewn in Figures 10, 11, and 12,
in which views a is the disc supported on a spindle h, fitting in a vertical
socket h¹, which is mounted on wheels; i, i, are the hammer heads fitting in
the hammer blocks i¹, which run on wheels, as described in the Specification
of Letters Patent granted to me on the Thirteenth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three, Number 924.
.
To the hammer blocks i are suspended the swages i", which are recessed to
suit the diameter of the disc, which is turned slowly round by the workman
during the operation to subject every portion of the circumference to the
action of the hammers. When the circumference of the disc has been suffi.
ciently hammered, the flat surfaces are hammered in a similar manner, as
shewn in Figure 13.

page_text: When the metal has been condensed both circumferentially and on the
face; a conical recess is punched into the centre of the disc from each side by
means of the blunt punches i, see Figure 13, which are suspended to the
hammer heads i, the object being to consolidate the metal in the centre part
of the disc, and at the same time to remove as little of it as possible; the
dise a, during this operation, 'is 'supported on the rollers k, mounted on the
plate, see Figures 18 and 14, or in any other convenient manner; the small
portion of steel left between the recesses is afterwards punched out to convert
the solid disc into a thick hoop. If the centre portion of the ingot is found in
sawing to be defective, as shewn in Figures 2 and 8, the disc must be cut off
of an additional thickness to compensate for the removal of the central defective
part by a hollow punch, as shewn in Figure 15.
:.. In order to expand the thick hoops produced in the manner above described,
I make use of the conical mandril 7, see Figure 16. The hoop a is placed on
a hollow stand ', and the mandrill is forced into the hoop by a steam hammer
or otherwise; and after: each successive blow of the vertical hammer to insert
the mandril, 'the circumference of the hoop is struck by the swages i* sus-
pended to the heads of a duplex steam hammer, or by other suitable
machinery. During the operation the hoop is turned slowly round by. the
workman: so as to subject the whole of the circumference to the action
of the swages, which have grooves corresponding to the size of the flange
required on the tire, in order' that a low flange may be formed on one
edge of the hoop as its surface is subjected to the blows of the hammer.
When the mandril 7 has been inserted to a certain distance, it is desirable to
remove the hoop and reduce it in thickness by hammering on the flat sides,
and then to repeat or continue the insertion of the conical mandril; these
operations are performed alternately until the tire is sufficiently enlarged to
be taken to the rolling mill.
In Figures 17 and 18 of Sheet 2. I have shewn a front elevation and side
view of a radial steam hammer, which is peculiarly adapted for expanding the
hoops a, shewn in Figure 16 of Sheet 1. The conical mandril l'is secured by
a'key or otherwise to the piston rod m, the piston of which is moved up and
down in the cylinder m¹ by steam entering through the pipe m²; the exhaust
steam is blown off through the pipe m³. The cylinder m³ is supported in the
swivel frame n, and the pipes m³ and m³ pass through the trunnions n² of
the swivel frame. The force of the blow of the mandril is regulated by
the lever m* and valve connected therewith, as in steam hammers of the
ordinary construction: When the mandrill has been forced into the hoop a
to the required depth, the swivel frame is moved to one side of the centre of

page_text: the hoop; the mandril is then taken off, and a larger one put in its place!
The operation of expanding the hole is continued until the hoop is largë
enough to be placed on an ordinary tire rolling machine, by which the tire is
completed in the ordinary manner; or in lieu of, or in addition to the mode
of expanding the hoops, above described; they may be expanded by the
machinery shewn in Figures 19, 20, and 21, the construction-and-mode-of
operation of which is as follows:-c is a double frame connected to the foun²
dation block p, which supports the anvil p; between the tivo sides of the
frame are fixed the horizontal hydraulic cylinder q, and the vertical-cylinder r
to the ram of the former is connected the segmental swage q', which acts on
the circumference of the hoop a; and to the ram of the latter is attached the
flat swager, which is fork-shaped, acting on two portions of the flat surface
of the hoop: The anvil p¹. has a hole in its centre to receive the end of the
mandrils, passing through the hoop a. The upper end of the mandril s. is
supported by the struts, which fits in the bracket's, bolted between the two
sides of the framing; the object of this mandril and strut is to resist the
lateral pressure of the swage q' against the circumference of the hoop. When
the machine is in operation the swages q¹ and act alternately on the hoop
to which a slow rotary motion is given, the rams to which the swages are
attached being forced out of the cylinders 'q and by a reciprocating plunger,
and the range of the ram being regulated in the manner described in the
Specification of Letters Patent granted to. Henry, Bessimer.. on the Fifth day
of January, One thousand-eight hundred and sixty-three, Number 37. The
successive strokes or compressions of the swages gradually.. reduce the thick-
ness and depth of the hoop, and increase its diameter. When the operations
have proceeded a certain time it becomes necessary to employ a mandril of
larger diameter or more nearly corresponding to the internal. diameter-of-thé
hoop. In some cases an ingot of the size requisite to produce a single tire
may be operated upon in the manner above described..
In manufacturing rails and plates or other articles according to my improve-
ments, I propose to cast an ingot sufficiently large to make any convenient
number of the articles required, and when requisite to retain the original heat
of the ingot by the use of the shields described, so that the ingot may be cut
into the desired number of parts, by saws or otherwise, as far as practicable,
without reheating. By thus operating upon the crude ingot the internal
defects of the mass become apparent, and defective parts may be rejected at
the first stage of manufacture.
Having thus stated the nature of my Invention, and described the manner
of performing the same, I wish it to be understood that, excepting for the

page_text: purposes herein specified, I make no claim to any of the machinery and
apparatus described; I also wish it to be understood that I do not limit myself
to the details given, as they may be considerably varied or modified; but what
I do claim is,
First, the hood or shield, shewn in Figures 1 and 2, and the other means
described for retaining the heat of ingots when removing them from one part
of the works to another.
3'
Secondly, the application of a revolving cutter or rasp, for removing the
external portion of the ingot, or for adjusting its weight, as shewn and
described in reference to Figures 3 and 4.
Thirdly, in manufacturing hoops, rails, and other articles of cast steel, I
claim casting solid ingots of the requisite shape, and of sufficient weight and
depth to produce by cutting up the crude ingot any convenient number of the
articles required.
Fourthly, the machinery described, or any modification of machinery, for
cutting solid crude ingots into discs or other suitable forms.
Fifthly, the machinery described, or any modification of machinery for
punching holes or recesses into or through solid discs, and for expanding hoops
to make tires.
And, lastly, the improved modes described for manufacturing hoops, rails,
and other articles of cast steel.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Ramsbottom, have hereto set
my hand and seal, this Fourth day of July One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
SPOTTOM