IMPROVEMENTS IN HAR- DENING AND TEMPERING STEEL, AND IN GRINDING, GLAZING, AND BRUSHING STEEL AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES."
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Chesterman, of Sheffield, in the County
of York, Machinist, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAR-
DENING AND TEMPERING STEEL, AND IN GRINDING, GLAZING,
AND BRUSHING STEEL AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES."
BUFFING
Sealed the 13th April 1854, and dated the 1st November 1853.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Chesterman
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st November 1853.
I, JAMES CHESTERMAN, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Machi-
nist, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN HARDENING AND TEMPERING STEEL, AND IN GRINDING, GLAZING,
BUFFING AND BRUSHING STEEL AND OTHER METALLIC ARTICLES," to be as
follows:-
I harden steel by placing it in strips or lengths in a circular cast iron
case or box, which I place in a furnace, and allow it to get hot. In the
side of the iron case or box is an aperture, through which a small piece
of the steel is made to protrude. When the case is sufficiently hot it
is removed from the furnace, a workman seizes the protruding end of
[Price 8d.1

page_text: the steel, and draws it through cold steel. or metal dies, when the steel
will be hardened. After the strip or length of steel has passed through
the dies, it is removed to a stretching table, where one end is made fast
while a gentle strain is applied to the opposite end. The steel is then
oiled or greased, and heat applied from a flexible gas pipe or other
suitable source, whereby a fine spring temper will be imparted to the
article operated upon. In order to grind, glaze, buff, and brush steel
and other metal articles, I submit them to an apparatus constructed
as follows: For the purpose of grinding, I fix upon a central tube or
axis a grindstone in the form of a roller, and make this stone plain or
indented according to the shape of the article to be ground, and over
'the grindstone roller I mount a similar roller. Upon rotary motion
being imparted to the rollers, and the end of the article to be ground
being inserted between them, they will draw it through, and grind it in
its passage.
Or the article may be pushed by the workman in a con-
trary direction to the rotation of the rollers. The sides of the rollers are
also provided with collars formed of grindstone, whereby the edges as
well as the sides of the metal article may be ground where requisite at
the same operation. I provide the means of adjusting these rollers to
suit the thickness of the articles to be ground, and also of adjusting
the stones on the central tube or axis. To glaze, buff, and brush blades
of steel and other metal articles, I use two similar rollers; but instead
of grindstone I form them of buff leather or bristles, or partly of buff
and partly of bristles, or I make them with surfaces similar to those
ordinarily employed for glazing, buffing, and brushing.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Chesterman in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, J.,
JAMES CHESTERMAN, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Machinist,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of November in the year of

page_text: our Lord One. thousand eight hundred and fifty-three; in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Chesterman, Her special licence that
I, the said James Chesterman, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said James Chesterman, my executors, admi-
nistrators, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN HAR-
DENING AND TEMPERING STEEL, AND IN GRINDING, GLAZING, BUFFING, AND
BRUSHING STEEL AND OTHER METALLIC "ARTICLES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said James Chesterman, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Chesterman, 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 thereof, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say: "
.II
Firstly, my Invention consists of a mode or modes of hardening and
tempering steel, applicable principally to thin steel, such as my patent
steel tapes or rules, thin saw blades, &c. I harden the steel tapes or
strips in the following manner :-I take a strip or length, say from ten
to thirty feet long, and wind it into a circular cast iron case or box of
about the same depth as the width of the steel. In the side of the case
or box is a gate or aperture, through which a small portion of the outer
coil of the steel is made to protrude. I then put a cast metal lid on the
top of the case or box so as to cover the whole of the steel, and I place
the case or box in a furnace, and allow it to get hot. When the case
is red hot it is removed from the furnace by one man, and another
workman seizes hold of the protruding end of the steel, and draws it

page_text: through a pair of cold steel, metal, or stone dies or plates, when the
steel will be hardened and come out flat.
kept cold by having
hollow
.
The dies or plates are to be
cold watch applied to them; or they may be made
a stream, of water may be caused to flow through them.
I harden shorter and stronger lengths, such as steel saw blades, &c.,
by placing them in a furnace, and allowing them to get red hot, and
then quickly introducing them and subjecting them to pressure between
two dies or plates mounted in a frame, so as to form a press, by which
means they are both hardened and prevented from warping or buckling.
Care must be taken to keep the dies or plates, whether of metal or
stone, cold by the application of water as before directed. I temper these
articles in the ordinary manner, and the tapes or strips as follows:-
After the strip or length of steel has passed through the dies or plates, it
is removed to a stretching table where one end is made fast between
screw clamps or otherwise, while the other end is clipped between
another pair of screw clamps attached to a leather strap which is
"fastened to a drum or roller turning in bearings and furnished with a
lever or arm which is weighted so as to produce a gentle strain on the
steel. The steel is then oiled or greased, and heat applied from a
portable furnace or gas light attached to a flexible tube, or from any
'other source, so as to blaze off the oil or grease, whereby a fine spring
temper will be imparted to the article operated on, and it will be left
flat and straight. Or I employ a fixed gas furnace, and cause the
steel to be drawn from the hardening dies or plates direct through the
gas furnace,. thus hardening and tempering the steel at one continuous
operation.
!
!
Secondly, my Invention relates to the grinding, glazing, buffing, and
brushing of steel and other metal articles. For the purpose of grinding
both sides of a flat article, or the entire periphery of a circular or
similarly shaped article, I fix upon a central tube or axis a grindstone
in the form of a roller or cylinder, and I make this stone plain or
indented with semi-circular or other grooves, according to the shape
of the article to be ground, and over this grindstone roller I mount
another similar roller. Upon rotary motion being imparted to the
rollers, and the end of the article to be ground being inserted between

page_text: them, they will draw it through, but without grinding it. The article is
then to be drawn or pushed by the workman in a contrary direction
to the rotation of the rollers, and the grinding will then take place in
its passage between them. The sides of one of the rollers when the
articles to be ground are flat are also provided with collars formed of
grindstone, and of a larger diameter than that of the rollers, whereby
the edges as well as the sides of the metal article may be ground, where
requisite, at the same operation. I provide the means of adjusting
these rollers to suit the thickness of the articles to be ground, and also
of adjusting the stones on the central tube or axis.
For the purpose
of grinding one side only of a steel or metal article at a time, I sub-
stitute a plain wooden roller for one of the grindstone rollers, and I
combine with this arrangement guide rollers for cross grinding. My
improvements in grinding will be found of especial advantage in the
case of saw grinders, who as a body are subject to severe disease of
the chest and lungs, called the grinder's complaint, caused by their
standing or sitting over the stone. To such an extent is this complaint
prevalent, that it is no uncommon thing for grinders to become incapa
citated from following their occupation at a comparatively early age.
By my improvements this evil will be in a great measure obviated, as
the men will be enabled to grind articles at a considerable distance from
the stone, and in front of it, instead of leaning over it as is the common
practice. Another important consideration is, that in the event of a
grindstone flying to pieces, by no means an uncommon occurrence, the
men will be much less likely to be injured or perhaps killed while
standing at a distance from the stone than if they were over it, as they
would be under the ordinary system. To glaze, buff, and brush blades
of steel and other metal articles, I usc two similar rollers; but instead
of grindstone I form them of soft wood, with emery on the surface, or
of buff leather or bristles, or partly of buff and partly of bristles, or I
make them with surfaces similarly to those ordinarily employed for
glazing, buffing and brushing.
Figure 1, of the Drawings annexed is a front view of a machine for
grinding flat surfaces, constructed according to my improvements.
A, A, is the framing; B, B, the grindstones; and C, C, their axes,

page_text: which turn in bearings in slots formed in the rend standards of the
framing; D, D, are springs, and E, E, set screws by which the pressure
of the rollers against an article introduced between them is regulated;
F, F, are pulleys to receive the straps by which the grindstones are
driven; G, G, are collars of grindstone for operating on the edges of
the articles. Figure 2, represents a pair of grooved rollers for grinding
tubes and other articles of circular section. These rollers are mounted
and worked in the same manner as the rollers B, B, in Figure 1.
Figure 3, is a side elevation, and Figure 4, a vertical section of a
grinding machine for operating on one side only of a flat article.
A, A,
is the frame in which the grindstone is supported; B, is the grindstone;
C, the axis on which it is mounted; and D, the pulley by which it is
driven; E, is a wooden roller revolving in contact with it; and F, G,
springs and set screws by which the pressure of E against the grind-
stone is regulated; H, is one of a pair of friction rollers fitted on
either side of the grindstone for the purpose of giving support to articles
requiring to be cross ground, and holding them in contact with the
stone. Brushes, buff rollers, and glazers of the descriptions herein-
before mentioned may be substituted for the grindstone rollers in
Figure 1.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I claim
as my Invention is,―
First, the mode or modes of hardening thin strip or sheet steel by
bringing the same while at a red heat, or nearly so, between metal or
stone dies or plates placed in or pressed into contact with each other,
and kept cold by the application of water or otherwise, as herein-
before described.
Second, the mode of tempering thin strip or sheet steel by the
application of heat thereto while in a state of tension, as herein-before
described.
Third, the continuous process of hardening and tempering thin strip
or sheet steel by drawing the same at a red heat, or nearly so, between
cold metal or stone dies or plates, and then direct through a gas furnace
or other heating apparatus, as herein-before described.

page_text: Fourth, the mode or modes of grinding two sides of the entire
periphery of a flat or circular steel or metal article simultaneously,
by the employment of two plain or indented grindstone rollers or
cylinders revolving in contact with each other, or nearly so, as herein-
before described.
Fifth, the mode of grinding the sides and edges of flat steel or metal
articles simultaneously by combining with two plain grindstone rollers
revolving in contact with each other, or nearly so, a grindstone collar
or collars of larger diameter than the grindstone rollers, as herein-before
described.
Sixth, the employment, in substitution of one of the grindstone rollers
used in grinding flat surfaces, of a pressing roller for the purpose of
holding the article to be ground against the grindstone, as herein-before
described; also, the combination with, such arrangement of guide
rollers for cross grinding, as herein-before described.
And, last, the mode or modes of glazing, buffing, and brushing steel
and metal articles by the employment of two glazing, buffing, or brushing
rollers revolving in contact with each other, or nearly so, as herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Chesterman, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of April, One thousand
eight hundred and fifty-four.
JAMES CHESTERMAN. (L.S.)