IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING PUDDLE BALLS OR OTHER MASSES OF IRON
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, 1, GERARD
RALSTON, of Tokenhouse Yard, in the City of London, Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-second day of February, in the third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Gerard Ralston, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Gerard Ralston, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Gerard Ralston, my executors, adminis-
trators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales,
and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROLLING PUDDLE BALLS OR OTHER MASSES OF IRON," being a communication from
a Foreigner residing abroad; in which said Letters Patent is contained a
proviso obliging me, the said Gerard Ralston, by an instrument in writing
under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of
the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and
to cause the same to be inrolled in Her Majesty's High Court of Chancery
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said

page_text: in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference being
thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Gerard Ralston, do hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being
had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon, that is to say:-
These Improvements in Rolling Puddle Balls or other Masses of Iron
consists in the employment of a peculiar construction of machine for the
purpose of compressing and rolling out red-hot balls or masses of puddle iron
into that state commonly called bloom, preparatory to the mass being rolled
down into bars or plates or operated upon by tilt hammers. In the accom-
panying Drawing Fig. 1 represents a side elevation of the machine; Fig. 2 is
a front elvation of the same; and Fig. 3 is a section taken vertically through
the rolling cylinder in the direction of Fig. 1. A, A, A, is the framework
supporting the machinery, which framework may be of cast iron or any other
suitable material. B, B, is the rolling cylinder turning upon an axle C, C,
supported by the side frames; and D, D, are toothed wheels affixed to the
ends of the cylinder. E is one of two pinions or small wheels upon a
shaft F, also mounted upon the framework, which pinions or wheels being
driven by any convenient power, and taking into the teeth of the wheels
D, D, cause the cylinder B to revolve. A segmental piece of iron G, G, is
firmly fixed to the framework, partially embracing the cylinder B, B, but in
an excentric position to the periphery of the cylinder, as shewn in the section,
Fig. 3. Between this segment piece and the cylinder the ball or mass of
red-hot puddle iron H is passed for the purpose of rolling and compressing
it. The large ball or mass of iron having been prepared in the puddling
furnace in the ordinary way, it is to be introduced into the machine, as shewn
at H. Rotary motion being given to the cylinder, as described, the mass of
iron will be carried forward between the cylinder B and the segment piece G,
by which it will be gradually compressed and reduced in its diameter, increas-
ing in length until it is ultimately delivered out at bottom in the form of a
roll or long cylindrical piece, ready to be taken to the tilt hammers to be
drawn out, or to the ordinary rollers, where it may be rolled into a bar
or sheet. It will be observed by reference to the Drawing Fig. 2, that the
mouth of the segment piece G is made nearly semicircular, which form it
partially retains for the purpose of compressing the mass on all sides during

page_text: one or two rotations of the ball, but that its groove thence gradually widens
out towards the end, which form is for the purpose of confining or upsetting
the ends of the mass of iron under operation.
Believing that the above description, with the accompanying Drawings,
sufficient to enable any person skilled in the art of manufacturing iron to
construct a machine for this improved process, I now proceed to claim what
I consider new, and therefore say that I claim the entire machine as above
arranged, for rolling or shaping puddle balls or other masses of iron prepara-
tory to being rolled or even drawn into a bar by the hammer; and would
here remark, that in consequence of the puddling furnaces being elevated
about twelve feet above the floor of the mill (being on a side hill), in which
the said machine was first put into operation, the balls were introduced at the
top of the machine, descending on an inclined plane to said machine, as
represented by the dotted lines M, Figs. 1 and 3, confining its operation to
about half the diameter of the revolving cylinder; whereas in works when
the furnaces are on a level with the machine, the outside casing G might be
brought further down in front of the machine, as represented by the dotted
line N, N, Fig. 3, which arrangement improves its operation, giving a greater
number of revolutions to the ball, consequently reducing it more gradually.
Secondly, I claim the plan of laying the above-named machine in a
horizontal position when found better adapted to the situation where it is
to be placed, and so altering it as to permit the upper flange or edge of the
segment piece to rise and fall to admit of a larger or smaller ball, the
weight of the said flange being so proportioned as to upset the ends of the
ball or bloom sufficiently.
Believing the above-described machine the first ever made which would
turn the ball and at the same time reduce it to the desired diameter, I claim
the same, whether it is effected by a cylinder revolving within a stationary
curved casing, as above described, or whether by a straight plate of iron held
stationary, in lieu of the above-described casing, while another shaped like a
wedge is confined at a suitable distance apart and moved by a crank, thus
rolling a ball into a bloom each revolution of the said crank, the principle
being one and the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Gerard Ralston, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of August, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and forty.
GERARD (L.S.) RALSTON.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Twenty-first day of August,
in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid Gerard Ralston came before
our Lady the Queen, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and all
and every thing therein contained, in form above written. And also the
Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute
in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the Twenty-second day of August, in the year above written.