IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BENDING KAILS OR BARS FOR RAILWAYS On OTHER PURPOSES
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Easton Spooner, of Bron-y-Garth, Port
Madoc, in the County of Carnarvon, Engineer, for the Invention
of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BENDING KAILS OR BARS FOR RAILWAYS On
OTHER PURPOSES."
Sealed the 22nd December 1869, and dated the 5th October 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Easton Spooner
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 5th October 1869..
I, CHARLES EASTON SPOONER, of Bron-y-Garth, Port Madoc, in the
County of Carnarvon, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the
said Invention for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BENDING RAILS OR BARS FOR
RAILWAYS OR OTHER PURPOSES," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to bend railway and other bars to any
desired curve with accuracy and facility. To this end a system of three
bending rollers is employed. The first and third are the supporting
rollers on which the bar to be bent is placed, and their bearings are
stationary, the rollers merely being allowed to turn therein for the

page_text: purpose of carrying the bar forward, and to facilitate this object alt
the rollers are geared together so as to rotate simultaneously at the same
speed. The second roller is the bending roller, and is capable of being
raised and lowered by means of a screw and hand lever. The sup-
porting rollers may be grooved to fit the flanges of the bar, and the
requisite curve is given to the latter by depressing and forcing down the
middle or bending roller by means of its screw. Upon actuating the
rollers by suitable gear the bar will be drawn through the machine, and
in so doing will be passed under the centre roller, whereby the desired
curve will be imparted to it. The whole machine may for convenience
of transport be mounted on flanged running wheels set to the gauge.
of the railway on which it is to be used.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters. Patent,
filed by the said Charles Easton Spooner in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 5th April 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
EASTON SPOONER, of Bron-y-Garth, Port Madoc, in the County of
Carnarvon, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of October, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Charles Easton Spooner, Her special licence
that I, the said Charles Easton Spooner, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Charles Easton Spooner, 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 FOR BENDING RAILS OR BARS FOR RAILWAYS OR OTHER
PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Charles
Easton Spooner, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should par-.
ticularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and

page_text: 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 Charles Easton Spooner, 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, reference being had to the Drawing
hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
The machine which forms the subject of the present Invention has
for its object to bend rails to any required curve with accuracy, facility,
and economy. The machine consists mainly of three rollers mounted
in bearings in cast or wrought iron side supports or frames which are
provided with running wheels suited to the gauge of the railway upon
which it runs.
In the accompanying Drawing Fig. 1 is a side view of the machine;
Fig. 2 is a similar view of the opposite side; Fig. 3 is a plan view of
the same; and Fig. 4 is an end view.
The two upper rollers a, a, are mounted in the same horizontal plane
and about twelve inches or more apart. The centre roller 6 is placed
at a lower level, so that the top of this roller is brought within close
proximity to the level of the under periphery of the upper rollers a, a,
leaving sufficient room for the insertion of the bar or rail which is to be
acted upon by passing through the machine between the top rollers a, a,
and the under one b, the axle of the under roller is mounted in moveable
bearings or axle boxes which are capable of sliding vertically in the
framing. This lower or moveable roller is acted upon by a powerful
screw c and handle c', which raises or depresses the under roller as may
be required, and brings it against the rail or bar that requires to be
bent. By this means the force or strain is governed and the rail is
bent to the required radius. The soles and flanges of the rollers a, a,
and 6 are tyred with steel and are made to the shape or form of the
rails or bars that require to be bent whether double-headed or -flat
bottomed rails, &c. The rollers a, a, may be called the carrying rollers
as by their rotation they carry the rail or bar through the machine, and
b is the bending roller. It will be seen that on one end of the axles
of the rollers a, a, are mounted the toothed wheels a', a', which are
geared together by an intermediate wheel a³. On the other end of the

page_text: axle of one of the rollers a is mounted a worm wheel d which is actuated
by a screw or worm e' on the shaft e. On the opposite end of this shaft e
is keyed the bevil wheel e³, which is driven by a similar wheel f¹ on a
shaft fprovided with square ends to receive handles whereby it may be
turned. It will now be understood that when the rail or bar g, Fig. 2,
is placed in the machine between the top and bottom rollers, and a slow.
motion is imparted to the former by means of the gearing a, a³, a³,
e, e¹, e², and f the bar will be carried slowly through the machine by
the rollers a, a, and by raising the lower roller by means of the screw c
the rail or bar may be curved. By raising the roller b still more the
curvature may be increased to any required extent. It will be evident
that the same effect may be produced by making the lower roller 6 the
carrying roller and causing the upper rollers a, a, to be lowered. The
machine may be worked either by steam power or by hand labor
applied to handles on the shaft f.
Having now described my Invention of "Improved Machinery for
Bending Rails or Bars for Railways or other Purposes," and having
explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid, the machine or
apparatus herein set forth for bending rails or bars or any mere modi-
fication thereof, consisting of a combination of rollers so arranged that
while one or more of the rollers supports the bar or rail to be operated
upon the other roller or rollers will be made to bear against the bar
or rail and force it back until the required curve is give to the same.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Easton Spooner, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, the Second day of April, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
Witness to signature,
J. S. HUGHES.
O. E. SPOONER. (L.S.)