IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHAINS
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Dangerfield, of West Bromwich, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF CHAINS."
Sealed the 24th April 1857, and dated the 27th January 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Dangerfield at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
27th January 1857.
I, JOHN DANGERFIELD, of West Bromwich, in .the County of Stafford,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CHAINS," to be as follows:-
A
I propose forming the links for chains ready for shutting or welding by
means of apparatus or machinery (herein-after described) in the rolling mill
without reheating; and in order to accomplish this, as soon as the bar is
rolled it is to be coiled round a mandril twice the size of the link required, of
this shape
until the whole bar is wrapped round, after which a
saw is to be passed up the slit (A), and the whole bar will become links ready
for scarfing, which process may be carried out ready for welding by a press; or
the bar may be coiled round a mandril, as before, but the mandril being the
D
exact size of the link required with a partial slit in it, thus
; then pass
the saw along the slit and the coil will be cut into links, each of which links

page_text: will be ready for shutting or welding in what is commonly termed a "jump
shut." The slit may be made in the narrow way of the mandril, if preferred,
so that the link may be shut or welded on the side instead of the end of the
link.
Another mode of carrying out my Invention is to bring the bar from the
rolls and coil it round'a mandril so constructed that the bars shall be coiled as
fast as they are rolled; each coil is to be rapidly released from the mandril as
it is formed, and the whole coiled bar is then removed to a press, in which it
is pressed through one end of each bend in an oblique direction, forming a
scarf; the links will then be ready for the smith to take up and weld. The
bar, after being coiled, may be pressed through the side of the bend, so that
the weld should take place at the side instead of the end of the link, if
preferred.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John. Dangerfield in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th July 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
DANGERFIELD, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her-Letters
"Patent, bearing date the Twenty-seventh day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand-eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth.year of Her
reign, did,' for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, .the
said John 'Dangerfield, "Her special license that I, the said John Dangerfield,
'my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Dangerfield, my executors, administrators, or 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN 'THE
MANUFACTURE OF CHAINS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Dangerfield, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said John Dangerfield, 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say:
T
The object of my improvements is to effect. a saving in the manufacture, of
the links, for chain cables and other iron chains, by making, bending, and
scarfing the lengths of iron required for each link, or a length sufficient to
produce several links, during the operation of rolling the iron into chain bars
out of the puddled bar, thus avoiding one unnecessary beating of the iron.
And in order to render this my Specification more explicit, I shall first proceed
to state the operations through which the iron passes before it is formed into
chain links, by the processes of manufacture hitherto employed. These are,
firstly, the rolling of the iron into what are termed puddled bars, then cutting
up, these puddled bars into short lengths and faggotting them together; they
are, reheated and rolled again into round bars or rods; these rods are again
heated, cut into the requisite lengths, each length to form a link, and after-
wards bent, another heating being of course necessary to render them capable
of being welded; or in some cases the bars are cut up, cold into link lengths
and then heated for bending. Each of these heatings scales the iron,
deteriorates the fibre, and causes a certain degree of waste both in the metal
itself and the fuel employed for the purpose. To save a portion of this waste
is the object of my present Invention, and this I effect in the following
manner After I have produced a round bar or rod from the puddled bar in
the manner above described, before the iron gets cold, that is to say, at the
same heating at which the round bar was produced, I immediately proceed to
bend it up into links, either cutting off each link length separately and bending
it and scarfing it if necessary, or. bending sufficient length of bar to form many
links into one spiral coil, and afterwards severing each ring of such coil by
any of the plans herein-after described, sufficient heat always remaining in the
bar to admit of this. The bending I effect by coiling the bar round a mandril,
as seen in (section, Figure 1,) and (side elevation, Figure 2,) of the accom-
panying Drawings and after the entire rod has been coiled I pass a saw up
the slit (A) and sever the bar, as seen at (Figure 1). Each ring of the coil
thus forms a link, which I then heat and weld; the link shewn in (Figure 1)
would be welded in what is termed a butt joint. The same form of link is
seen in front and side elevation at (Figures 3 and 4). (Figure 5) shews the
form of mandril employed when I desire to make the joint on the side instead
of the bend of the link; and (Figure 6), the section of a mandril, by the em

page_text: ployment of which I can make two links at once. The iron is coiled round
this mandril in the same manner as in the process last described, but it is cut
through at the points (b, 6), so that each ring of the coil forms two link
lengths ready for welding.
Figures 7 and 8 shew front and end élevations of a link cut through in an
oblique direction to form what is termed a scarf joint. This is also produced
by coiling the bar as it comes from the rolls upon a mandril, then stripping
the entire coil off the mandril it is removed to a press and each ring is
pressed through in an oblique direction ready for welding in a scarf joint.
opens
can be
the two
Figures 9, 10, and 11 shewa plan, side elevation, and end elevation of a
machine adapted for the rapid coiling of the bar as it comes from the rolls.
(A. A,) are holsters supporting a mandril B, which is formed in two parts,
held together at one end by a collar; at the opposite end a cavity is sunk
to receive a conical plug (C), mounted in a stock D, and capable of being
removed from the mandril by the lever (E), by which the stock (D).
lowered into the position seen in the red lines; the plug (C)
parts of the mandril, as seen in the side elevation (Figure 10), making the
sides of the mandril parallel. The other extremity of the mandril is mounted
in a clutch box, furnished with springs (F) to maintain its position, and which
clutch box is secured to a shaft (G), driven by steam power. Above the
mandril and in an oblique position the holsters (A, A,) support also a grooved
roller H, employed for the purpose of guiding the coil in a regular spiral with
the necessary intervals between each ring. The bar of iron in the heated
state in which it comes from the rolls is brought to this machine, and one end
of the bar is placed between the mandril and the stud (I), which clips it.
The revolution of the mandril causes the bar to meet one of the grooves in
the roller II, and a motion is thereby imparted to the roller H in a direction
contrary to that of the mandril. The operation proceeds until the whole bar
is coiled round the mandril, when the machine is thrown out of gear, and the
plug (C) withdrawn from the mandril, allowing it to collapse, and as it then
assumes à tapered form the coil is readily slipped off and removed to a préss
or saw, where each ring of the coil is pressed or sawn through obliquely and
formed into links ready for welding in a scarf joint.
I have before stated that I sometimes prefer to cut the chain bar, as it is
rolled and before it is bent, into lengths each sufficient for only one link; this
is to be done whilst the bar retains sufficient heat from the rolling process to
enable me to bend up, and, if necessary, to scarf each link length preparatory
to welding. It may be necessary to submit these link lengths before bending
to the action of an annealing furnace, but should such be the case it must be

page_text: done before the lengths are allowed to get cool, or even to attain the state
termned in the trade black-hot. By this means I also avoid the second scaling
of the bar, and the waste incurred thereby under the old process.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do not claim
the coiling of the iron round a mandril and afterwards slitting it with a saw
into lengths for chain links, excepting in the manner herein described), as I
am aware that chain links have been before made by reheating the bar and
coiling aud cutting it up, as before named; but that which I claim, and desire
to have secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent, is,
the several improvements described in the manufacture of chains, by bending
the iron and cutting and scarfing the requisite lengths for the links in the
rolling mill; or under the same heat, by which the rolled bar is produced
without allowing the iron to attain the point of coolness termed black-hot.
Secondly, I claim the improvements in the manufacture of chains, by cutting
the bar into lengths for the links under the same heating, by which the rolled
bar is produced, and afterwards annealing such lengths before the iron
becomes cool, or "black hot," in order to bend, and, if necessary, to scarf such
link lengths.
Thirdly, I claim the several forms of mandrils, together with the apparatus
or machinery for coiling or twisting the bar, or any mere modification of the
same, as described and shewn in the Drawings.
And, fourthly, I claim the cutting or severing and scarfing of each ring of a
coiled bar of iron into links for chains by the operation of pressing, as herein
more fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Dangerfield, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JOHN (L.S.) DANGERFIELD.