IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING IRON AND OTHER METALS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the Firm of Haseltine,
Lake, & Co., Patent Agents, Southampton Buildings, London, for
the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING IRON AND
OTHER METALS, AND IN APPARATUS CONNECTED THEREWITH."-A com-
munication from abroad by the Rhode Island Horse-shoc Company
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 29th December 1873, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the Firm of Haseltine, Lake, & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, London, send greeting.

page_text: CONNECTED THEREWITH," and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant
unto me, my executors, administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters
Patent for the same, and have made solemn Declaration that it has
been communicated to me from abroad by the "Rhode Island Horse-
shoe Company" (Incorporated), of Rhode Island, United States of
America.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings forming
a part of this Specification :-
The first division of this Invention relates to an improved box guide
used in rolling merchantable bar iron, and it is adapted for use with any
description of rolling mill, but it is of especial value in those mills.
which employ a series of sets of rollers combined by intermediate
twisted guides to turn the iron partially around its axis while passing
from one set of rolls to the next.
Figure 1 is a side elevation of a pair of rolls with a box guide combined
therewith.
Figure 2 is an interior face view of one of the halves of an improved
box guide to which the present Invention relates. It also exhibits an
end view of both parts of the said guide.
Figure 3 exhibits in side and end view a slight modification of the
said improved guide.
Before this Invention box guides for rolling mills have been con-
structed in such manner that the bar of iron to be rolled will fill the
guide, and be sustained and held in position on all sides by the walls of
the box. It is very necessary that the iron to be rolled should be held
firmly in the proper position to be seized by the rolls, otherwise the
rolling operation will be improperly performed.
From the fact that the character of the guides heretofore used has
been such as described it very often happened that the bar would stick
in the guide before its end was brought within the gripe of the rolls and
unless the operative could succeed in forcing it through the guide, as he
.usually attempted to do by crooking the bar and striking it on the
"

page_text: bend with his tongs, the bar must be withdrawn, and was fit only to be
cut into scrap.
To furnish a guide which will enable the bar to be rolled to pass
freely through it, while at the same time the bar will be held in
proper relation to the rolls, is the object of this part of the said
Invention.
A, A', represent a pair of rolls for rolling iron bars mounted in
suitable housings, and which require no further description; B represents
the guide box shown in Figures 2 and 3, arranged in proper relation to
the rolls. The said guide box B is provided with a channel C through
its longitudinal axis (Figure 2). The figure of which formed, when the
two halves of the guide box are bolted together, will be as shown in the
cnd view, Figure 2.
The superficial area of the cross section of the channel or guide C
for the passage of the iron bar to be rolled is considerably larger than the
arca of the cross section of the bar, but such excess of area is occasioned
by the fact that the lower section a of the guide is made larger than the
corresponding section of the rod or bar to be rolled.
The upper
section of the guide is of the proper form to sustain the rod in a
position which will enable it to be correctly presented to the rolls, and its
area is the same as the area of the corresponding section of the bar. Thus
the guide channel a, b, in the guide box B is as a whole so much larger
than the bar that the latter will pass freely through the former, reliance
being had for the correct presentation of the bar to the rolls upon the
walls b.
It will be observed that the dotted linc c, d, Figure 3, indicates the
borizontal plane connecting the base of the walls b, b, and coincides with
the centre line of draft of the rolls, so that the bar is sure to be between
the guiding walls when it is seized by and as it is passing through the
rolls.
A further improvement consists in the application of springs D, D, to
the two halves of the box guide B, shown in Figure 2, the tendency of
which springs is to cause the two parts of the guide to separate when
the clamp bolts are slackened, whereby an adjustment of the guide to
varying sizes of bars can be conveniently made.
The next division of this Invention relates to those rolling mills
which employ a series of sets of rolls combined by intermediate twisted

page_text: guides, to turn the iron partially around its axis while passing from
one set of rolls to the next.
Figure 4 is a side elevation of my improved machinc.
Figure 5 is a top view; Figure 6 is a vertical section on the
line X, X, of Figure 5.
Figure 7 shows the means for securing the rolls to their shafts.
In rolling mills of the class above referred to it is intended that cach
subsequent pair of rolls in the serics shall have a greater surface speed
than the preceding pair, and the relative speeds of the rolls ought to be
so proportioned that each succeeding pair will allow the increased
length of the bar being rolled to be run through them in the same time
that its equivalent in weight is passing through the next preceding pair
of rolls. From various causes it will unavoidably happen that the iron
after it has passed through one pair of rolls will not be promptly "taken
care of" by the next pair, and consequently there is a liability to an
intermediate "piling" of the bar, the effect of which is to cause the
metal to jam in the guides. To provide a remedy for this difficulty in
the practical operation of such rolling mills is the object of this part of
the said Invention.
A, A, in the above Figures of the Drawing represent pairs of rolls for
rolling metal, and which are mounted in housings in the usual manner.
There may bc any preferred number of such pairs of rolls in the series,
and the iron in passing from one pair to the next in the scries is
conducted through twisting guides B', for the purpose of turning the
bar partially on its axis to effect changes in its presentation to the
several sets of rolls. B represents a box guide, the details of which are
shown in Figures 2 and 3, and which constitutes the subject of the first
division of my Invention.
For the purpose of removing the difficulty above mentioned as existing
in the use of this class of rolling mills, I introduce a relief guide D
between the first and second pairs of rollers, and between any other
pairs in the series, though in practice it will be found that the necessity
for this provision occurs mainly between the last two sets of rolls of the
series. In this instance, the guide is composed of a bottom plate a, two
side pieces b, b', hinged at the exit end of the guide, as shown at c, and
a hinged and weighed lid or cover,d. The side picces b', ', are furnished

page_text: with springs e, which tend to keep them parallel with each other, but
which in case the bar of metal piles up in the guide will permit the sides
to open outward from each other, as indicated by dotted lines at
Figure 4. If it happens that the bar of metal is delivered from the first
pair of rolls A, A', faster than it is taken away by the second pair of
rolls, it will pile up in an irregular coil between the side pieces ¹, b', of
the relief guide D, which side pieces in the way shown or by other
equivalent construction are enabled to yield to accomodate the mass
until it can be drawn through the next pair of rolls. Thus, the device
which I have denominated a relief guide performs the office of a simple
guide to give passage for the bar from the twisting guides B' to the box
guide B, and in addition the office of a receptacle for the bar, in caso
from any cause its regular passage through the rolling mill becomes
interrupted.
While I prefer to construct the relief guide D with yielding sides b, b,
and a hinged lid d, it is apparent that a good effect will result from the
employment of a guide whose side walls are not expansible, but which is
open at the top or has a hinged lid, so that the jamming of the bar of
iron will be prevented. By the employment of the relief guide above
described, rolling mills having a system of several sets of rolls can be
used with greater advantage than has been heretofore possible.
In Figure 7 is shewn an improved means for securing the rolls to
their shafts in place of the ordinary spline and groove. E is the shaft,
and A. the roll. Transversely across the end of the shaft and through
its centre I cut a parallel sided groove f, and coincident therewith I cut
corresponding recesses y in the face of the roll. The end of the shaft
and the roll are then covered with a cap F, which upon its inner facc
has a tongue that fits the groove and recesses before mentioned.
cap is secured to the shaft by a bolt and nut or by a screw k.
This
Another improvement consists in means for cutting off the rolled bars
to uniform lengths. A², A³, represent two wheels or drums which may
be mounted in a separate frame from that upon which the rolls arc
mounted, so that wheels of different diameters may, according to the
length of bar to be cut, be brought into combination with the rolling.
mill. The lower wheel has cut in its face a groove m, Figure 6, into
which the bar as it leaves the final pair of rolls of the mill is to be
inserted through a guide B*.

page_text: A stationary knife H is set transversely to the groove, its edge being
at the same distance from the centre of the axle of the wheel, measured
radially as the periphery of the wheel. The knife consequently forms a
partition across the groove. The surface of the periphery of the upper
wheel is that of a plain drum or cylinder, and the office of the said 5
wheel is that of a revolving bed. If the circumference of the lower
roller, measured on the bottom of the groove, be eighteen feet, it is clear
that the iron bars coming from the rolls will be cut into pieces of that
length, from the fact that the lower grooved roller as it is made to
revolve will necessarily cause its knife H to cut through the bar 1
whenever the radius in which the knife stands is at right angles with the
longitudinal axis of the bar passing through the machine.
The next division of this Invention relates to the employment of a
guide of peculiar construction in combination with the rolls of a rolling
mill, the said guide being so constructed that the rolled bar passing from 1
the rolls shall cause the guide to hug closely between its walls the
portion of the bar just entering the scores in the rolls.

page_text: of the levers D', D', projecting above the pivot pins c³, c², will causo
their lower ends to compress the guide B, B². The front arm E¹ stands
directly over the score between the two rolls, so that the bar of iron as
it issues from the rolls will press upward against the end of the arm E¹
as the iron runs over the receiving platform F and cause the wedge
projection e to spread apart the upper end of the tongs D¹, D'. The
shape of the end of the arm E' should conform to the shape of the
rolled bar, and it may be provided with friction rollers if preferred. It
is preferable to cause the bent lever or arm E, E¹, to be operated by
means of the bar of iron rolled so as to cause the guide B, B', to com-
press the iron entering the rolls, but it is evident that the compression of
the guide may be effected by means of a treadle connected with the arm
or by other well-known mechanical means under the control of the
operator.
Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents, and the manner of performing the
same, I wish it understood that I claim,—
First. A box guide for a rolling mill having an inwardly projecting
guiding surface on each side thereof, both of which guiding surfaces are
practically in the same plane, and extend longitudinally therein, sub-
stantially as and for the purposes specified.
Second. The combination with the rolls A, A¹, of the box guide B,
which is provided with inwardly projecting guiding surfaces, substantially
as and for the purposes specified.
Third. In combination with a box guide for rolling mills the springs
D', D', substantially as described for the purposes specified.
Fourth. The relief guide D constructed with side walls b¹, b¹, made
yielding to internal pressure, substantially in the manner described.
Fifth. In combination with any two consecutive sets of rolls A, A¹, in
a rolling mill, a relief guide D, substantially as described.
Sixth. The combination of two consecutive sets of rolls A, A, twisting
guides B', relief guide D, and box guide B, substantially as described.
Seventh. Securing a roll to its shaft by the combination of the tongued
cap F, with the shaft E and roll A respectively. grooved and recessed,
substantially as described.

page_text: :
Eighth. In combination with a rolling mill, the revolving grooved
wlicel A³, the knife H, and revolving bed A, substantially as described.
Ninth. In combination with the rolls A, A³, of a rolling mill, the
compress guide B, B', the tongs D¹, D', and wedge e, substantially as
described.
Tenth. The combination of the compress guide B, B', the tongs D³, D',
the wedge e, and its operating lever E, E', so arranged that a bar passing
through the guide will, by contact with the wedge operating lever, com-
press the rod within the guide, substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have here- ]
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of December,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
three.
Witness,
H. J. NOONE,
8, Southampton Buildings,
London.
W“. ROB™. LAKE. (L.S.)