Improvements relating to the Restoration of Old Railway Rails and the like by Rolling.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 25th July, 1899--Accepted, 6th Jan., 1900
[Communicated from abroad by JAMES EDWIN YORK, of 27, William Street, in
the Borough of Manhattan, City, County and State of New York, United
States of America, Steel Manufacturer.]
Improvements relating to the Restoration of Old Railway Rails and
the like by Rolling.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
45, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the
nature of this invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
The present invention relates to a method of re-rolling old rails, by which
I am able to restore them to a desired standard section, and in a condition
that permits of their re-use to the same extent as original rails. Although my
invention may be employed in the rolling of various forms of flanged sections, I.
will describe it with particular reference to steel railroad rails.
In addition to the distortion and wear of railroad rails in an uneven manner
and the flattening of the ends of the rail sections rendering them unserviceable,
an equally serious trouble arises from the cracking of the rail due to the com-
pression to which, during service, it is subjected. This cracking of the rail
is believed to be largely due to the uneven strains put upon it during the
rolling operation. In the rolling of steel rails by the method in general practice
the web and head always run much longer than the flange owing to the greater
surface speeds at which the rolls which form such parts travel. The unusual
strains thus imparted remaining to impair, to a very great extent, the efficiency
of the rail.
In prior methods of re-rolling old rails all portions of the rail have commonly
been subjected to a reducing operation not excepting the width of the flange.
As the width of the flange to a large extent determines the life of the rail, and
its capacity for carrying weight, I re-roll the rail so as to restore it to a perfect
section with a very slight reduction in cross-sectional area, but maintain the
original width of the flange. By reducing all dimensions except the width of
the flange I am enabled to approximate a standard cross-section so closely that
my re-rolled rail may be used therefor.
The object of my invention is not only to remove the inequalities in the
surface wear of the rail, but by re-rolling to remove the strains which render
it liable to fracture.
To effect a removal of the strains due to the original method of rolling, while
at the same time removing external inequalities, I propose to pass the rail
between a set of upper and lower and side rolls driven at the same surface speed.
By rolling in this manner the several parts of the rail are rolled to substantially
the same length, and no part is subjected to any undue strain.
In the drawings I have shown part of an apparatus designed to effect the
object of the present invention. Referring to said drawings, A. A represent
upper and lower horizontal rolls, respectively, adjustably mounted on shafts a, a',

page_text: Journalled in the housing B B¹ are vertical rolls C C¹ which are also adjustably
mounted. The rolls A A¹ are provided in connection with the two vertical rolls
with two passes D D', the pass D operates upon all parts of the head and web
of the rail, and pass D is one in which half of the section of the head and web
is formed in each of the rolls. The parts 1 and 2 are in contact and the parts 3
and 4 are in contact while it will be seen that the pass D¹ has no parts corre-
sponding to the parts 3-4 of the pass 1. In addition to the rolls being mounted
so as to be adjustable from and toward each other I also connect them in such
manner that they are driven at the same surface speeds, so that all parts of the
rail section are fed at a uniform rate.
The operation is as follows:-A worn rail is heated in a suitable furnace to
about a red heat, when it is passed between the rolls through the first pass 1),
the vertical roll exercising its rolling action upon the base of the flange without
any action tending to narrow the flange. The rail is then run through the
pass where the finishing process takes place. By these means it will be seen
that the head and web portion of the rail are subjected to a slight reducing
action in all directions, while the flange is only subjected to an action which
thins it down without any reduction in its width. The decrease in cross-
sectional area and the reduction of weight for a given length of section is very
small, and the rail for all practical purposes may be used under the same
conditions as an original rail. By driving the rolls at the same surface speed
the quality of the steel is improved and the permanent strains already referred
to wholly removed, and the rail emerges from the last pass in a substantially
equal length of web, head and flange.
Although I have illustrated rolls adapted to railroad rails, it is to be under-
stood that my invention is applicable to all forms of flanged sections, the rolls
being made with passes to suit the particular form undergoing treatment.
Indeed by the term rails as used herein I mean railroad rails, I and T beams,
channels and other forms of structural iron, as my method permits the reduction
of the web and the general width of a beam or bar without narrowing its flange.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, I declare that what I claim is: -
1. The process of re-rolling rails, which consists in subjecting the same to
the action of heat, then reducing the section in all directions, except laterally
across the flange, substantially as specified.
2. The process of re-rolling rails which consists in subjecting the same to
the action of heat, then reducing the section in all directions except laterally
across the flange, and during the process subjecting all parts of the rail to a
practically uniform surface feed, substantially as described.
Dated this 25th day of July 1800
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London W.C., Agents for the Applicant.