IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON BEAMS AND GIRDERS, AND IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING THE SAME
Year: 1855

page_text: application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Talbot Pitman at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
November 1855.-A communication.
I, JOHN TALBOT PITMAN, of the American & European Patent Offices, 67,
Gracechurch Street, in the City of London, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF IRON BEAMS AND
GIRDERS, AND IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING THE SAME," a communication from a
foreigner residing abroad, to be as follows:-
The improved beam or girder is formed of a single bar or strip of sheet or
wrought iron, brought to the required form by a series of consecutive swaging
operations, performed by the improved machinery herein-after referred to. The
side elevation of the beam is a parallelogram, and its cross section shews a pair
of flanges at bottom, from which rise the closed sides of the beam surmounted
by a tubular arch. The flanges are intended to rest at the ends of the beam,
upon the walls of the building, and to form throughout their length abutments
for the support of an arched fireproof flooring & ceiling.
The machine for making this improved beam or girder consists of a series
of pairs of rolls or revolving swages and dies, arranged to act consecutively and
automatically upon the plate or sheet of iron, which is introduced endwise in
a heated state between the first pair of rolls, whence it passes between seven

page_text: other pairs of rolls of different forms, which gradually bend and fashion it, at
what may be called a single operation, into a beam or girder of the form first
above described. The first five pairs of rolls and the eighth pair have
horizontal axes, & the sixth & seventh pair have vertical axes.
All are
geared together so as to have a simultaneous movement when in operation.
The first five pairs have different degrees of concavity & convexity, and grooves
of various shapes, and by them the plate is swaged or bent into the shape of
the letter U. The sides of the third & fourth pairs have turning edges, for
forming the flanges. The sixth & seventh pairs are flat, with rounded corners,
and bring the sides of the beam together, but so as to leave an arched tube at
the top. Above the sixth & seventh pairs are placed friction rollers, which
serve to guide the beam while passing through the rolls, and to flatten the
flanges and make them true and straight. The lower one of the eighth pair
of rolls is grooved sufficiently to receive the beam as it comes from the seventh
pair, and the face of the upper one is flat. On the sides of this pair are placed
circular cutters or shears, which trim the flanges. Behind this pair is placed
a pair of friction rollers, which act upon the sides of the beam to guide &
hold it firmly in a vertical position, while being acted upon by the cutters. A
furnace or oven should be erected conveniently near the bead of the machine,
for the purpose of heating the plates preparatory to their passage through
the rolls.
The practical details of the Invention will be given in my final Specification,
& in the Drawings which will accompany it.