IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING PUDDLED BALLS OR BLOOMS OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Menelaus, of Dowlais Iron Works, in the
County of Glamorgan, Manager, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING PUDDLED BALLS OR BLOOMS OF IRON AND
STEEL."
Sealed the 15th September 1865, and dated the 20th March 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Menelaus at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 20th
March 1865.
I, WILLIAM MENELAUS, of Dowlais Iron Works, in the County of
Glamorgan, Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING PUDDLED BALLS OR BLOOMS OP
IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
My machinery is mainly intended for working balls or blooms of iron as
they come from the puddling furnace or ingot mould; it is composed of three
cylindrical rolls made to revolve in the same direction; the two bottom rolls
are so placed that the third shall revolve above and in a line between them,
and shall have an up-and-down motion imparted to it by steam or hydraulic
power. Though I prefer up-and-down motion to be imparted to the top roll,
yet either of them may be so moved. When the rough bloom or other mass
of iron or steel is placed in the machine, the upper roll is raised and is
gradually brought down by heavy pressure until the bloom is finished..

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Menelaus in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
20th September 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
MENELAUS, of Dowlais Iron Works, in the County of Glamorgan, Manager,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of March, 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 William Menelaus, Her special licence that I, the said William
Menelaus, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said William Menelaus, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR WORKING PUDDLED BALLS OR BLOOMS OF IRON AND
STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Menelaus,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 William Menelaus, 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 thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed,
that is to say:-
My machinery is mainly intended for working balls or blooms or ingots of
iron and steel as they come from the puddling furnace, balling furnace, or ingot
mould to prepare the iron or steel for being further operated upon. The
machinery is composed of three cylindrical rolls made to revolve in the same
direction; the two bottom rolls are so placed that the third shall revolve above
and in a line between them, and shall have an up-and-down motion imparted
to it by steam or hydraulic power. Though I prefer up-and-down motion

page_text: to be imparted to the top roll, yet either of them may be moved from and
towards the others.
Figure I. is a side view, and Figure II. is a plan of the machinery constructed
according to my Invention; Figure III. is an end view of the pinion standard,
shewing the arrangement of the four pinions; and Figure IV. is an end view
of the machinery, shewing the arrangement of the rolls, and the lever or
beam for raising and depressing the middle roll worked by a hydraulic
rain.
In Figure 1, A, A', are the rolls connected to the pinions B, B, B, in the
usual way by long spindles and boxes (which boxes to avoid confusion in the
Drawings are not shewn). The machine is driven by the leading spindle F
coupled to the middle pinion, which drives the three other pinions all in the
same direction.
In Figure II., A, A, A', are the rolls; B, B, B, the pinions; and C, C, the
levers or beams for raising and depressing the central roll; b, b, are two iron
or steel guides touching or nearly touching at their inner ends the roll A',
while the other ends of the pieces b, b, are fastened to a rest or bar c fixed in
the framing of the machine.
In Figure 4, A, A, A¹, are the rolls shewn in dotted lines, the middle roll at
its highest and lowest positions; a is a bloom or ingot finished; C, C, are
two levers or beams, the short ends of which are united through connecting
rods to bearings b', carrying the axes of the upper roll. The levers move upon
trunnions c', supported on bearings d in the frame. The long ends of the
levers C are united through a cross bar e and a connecting rod f to a ram D,
worked in a hydraulic cylinder E in the usual manner. The top of the ram
is guided in slides or by a parallel motion, which to avoid confusion is not
shewn in the Drawing. One of the bottom rolls A¹, as shewn at Figures 1,
2, and 4, is furnished with a thick and strong collar g, within which the other
two rolls work. This collar is for the purpose of upsetting the bloom or ingot
and for preventing it running out endwise.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-The water is allowed to escape
wholly or partially from under the ram D, the weight of which with that of
the long arms of the levers C, C, raises the middle roll to the required height
for admitting the rough ball, bloom, or ingot, which is placed between the two
bottom rolls. Water under pressure is then admitted under the ram D,
which raises the long arms of the levers C, C, and forcibly depresses the
middle roll; rotary motion is imparted to the rolls, and the pressure upon the
ram is continued until the bloom is rolled into a cylinder, the length of which

page_text: is measured by the distance between the collars of the roll A¹. When tho
ball or bloom bas been sufficiently compressed and rolled the water is allowed
to escape from under the ram D, when the top roll will be raised, and the
roll A¹ carries round the finished bloom in the direction of the arrow in
Figure 4, and the guides b, b, displace it from between the collars, when it
rolls out from the machine. The collars on the roll A' will be found con-
venient for upsetting puddled. balls, but for working blooms or ingots of steel
or iron they may be dispensed with.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim squeezing
or blooming iron and steel by three rolls running in the same direction, as I
am aware that three eccentric rolls have been used for the same purpose; but
I claim constructing machinery for working puddled balls or blooms of
iron and steel with three rolls, one of which is made to rise and to fall
under pressure, substantially in manner and for the purpose herein-before
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Menelaus, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five.
W. MENELAUS. (LS.)