IMPROVEMENTS IN REDUCING METAL RODS, BARS, AND TUBES, AND IN APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH.
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hesketh Hughes, of Homerton, in the County
of Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
REDUCING METAL RODS, BARS, AND TUBES, AND IN APPARATUS IN CONNECTION
THEREWITH.
"
Scaled the 24th September 1870, and dated the 29th March 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hesketh Hughes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th March 1870.
I, ESKETH HUGHES, of Homerton, in the County of Middlesex,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IM-
PROVEMENTS IN REDUCING METAL RODS, BARS, AND TUBES, AND IN APPAratus
IN CONNECTION THEREWITH," to be as follows :—
My Invention consists in reducing metal rods, bars, and tubes to a
regular, a tapered, or other circular shape, by means of dies or tools
fitted to apparatus, hereafter referred to, having a peculiar up-and-down

page_text: and backward and forward motion imparted to it or them by cams or
similar appliances arranged in the interior of such apparatus, or in
connection therewith, and also a lateral to-and-fro motion by the action
of cranks, eccentrics, or other apparatus, as found convenient. The
dies or tools may have designs or devices engraved or otherwise formed
on the surface so as to impart a corresponding impression upon the
metal while the reduction is taking place. The length of metal under
operation may be cut off or not, as found most convenient. The tools
may be in one, two, or more sections, and each section may have an
independent motion imparted to it, so as to reduce the metal to the
required size at that part where the sections are situated.
The metal to be operated upon is placed between the tools or dies
while they are open, and as they come together they compress the metal
between them down to the required size, and as the tools or dies are
travelling to and fro in their bearings at the same time a rotatory
motion is given to the metal whereby it is kept circular.
In cases where I use lengths of metal greater than the breadth of
the dies or tools, I first operate upon a given length and then push the
metal further in, so that the dices or tools act upon a fresh portion of
the metal, and this may be repeated until the wholo length of metal
has been operated upon.
When long lengths of metal are under operation they are acted upon
by an adjustable plate, smooth or roughened to remove the scale, or to
polish it as it leaves the dies or tools. The to-and-fro motion which is
imparted to the metal causes the plate to act upon it to effect the
desired object.
The dies or tools can be easily fitted or removed by screws, keys, or
other appliances..
The apparatus before referred to is a kind of box into which the tools
are fitted and in which the cams rotate.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Hesketh Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 29th September 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HESKETH
HUGHES, of Homerton, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by ler
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Hesketh Hughes, Her special licence, that
I, the said Hesketh Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said Hesketh Hughes, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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 REDUCING METAL RODS,
BARS, AND TUBES, AND IN APPARATUS IN CONNECTION THEREWITH,"
upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Hesketh Hughes, my
executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, 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
Scal Patent Office within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Hesketh Hughes, 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 here-
unto annexed, that is to say :-
My Invention consists in reducing metal rods, bars, and tubes to a
regular, a tapered, or other circular shape by means of dies or tools
fitted to apparatus hereafter referred to having a peculiar up-and-down
and backward-and-forward motion imparted to it or them by cams or
similar appliances arranged in the interior of such apparatus or in con-
nection therewith, and also a lateral to-and-fro motion by the action of

page_text: cranks, excentrics, or other apparatus as found convenient. The dies
or tools may have designs or devices engraved or otherwise formed on
the surfaces so as to impart a corresponding impression upon the metal.
while the reduction is taking place. The length of metal under
The tools
operation may be cut off or not as found most convenient.
may be in one, two, or more sections, and cach section may have an
independent motion imparted to it so as to reduce the metal to the
required size at that part where the sections are situated.
The metal to be operated upon is placed between the tools or dies
while they are open, and as they come together they compress the metal
between them down to the required size; and as the tools or dies are
travelling to and fro in their bearings at the same time a rotatory motion
is given to the metal, whereby it is kept circular.
In cases where I use lengths of metal greater than the breadth of
the dies or tools I first operate upon a given length, and then push the
metal further in, so that the dies or tools act upon a fresh portion of
the metal, and this may be repeated until the whole length of metal has
been operated upon.
When long lengths of metal are under operation they are acted
upon by an adjustable plate, smooth or roughened, to remove the scale
or to polish it as it leaves the dies or tools; the to-and-fro motion
which is imparted to the metal causes the plate to act upon it to effect
the desired object.
The apparatus before referred to is a kind of box to which the tools
are fitted, and in which the cams rotate.
The dies or tools can be easily fitted or removed by screws, keys, or
other appliances.
One way of carrying my Invention into effect is exemplified in the
annexed Sheet of Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a front view of a
machine or apparatus in its complete form for reducing heated or cold
metal rods, bars, and tubes; and Figure 2 is a sectional view of the
reducing parts with a rivet or headed pin partly reduced to the required
diameter by the action of the dies or tools upon it, as before described;
and Figure 3 is the upper portion of the view shown in Figure 2, with
the rivet head in a complete form as finished in the apparatus.
a, a, are the dies or tools, each of which is supported or fixed to one
face of a box or holder b, which a cam or excentric c, c, on a shaft d, d,

page_text: causes to move in a to-and-fro manner as the cams rotate by the
rotatory motion imparted to them by the shafts d, d, which pass through
the boxes. As the cams rotate the boxes are made to approach towards
and to recede from each other at each revolution of the shaft d, and
also to move towards the front and back of the frame; by this means
cach box receives a peculiar roundabout motion without altering the
position of their faces. The boxes are so arranged that when in an
open position the dies or tools are easily accessible for the purpose of
removal or renewal. I prefer that the working faces of the boxes be
grooved or chamfered, so that projections on the backs of dies or
tools can be slid into them when they can be secured by tightening
screws, cottars, or other appliances, to prevent them shifting during the
working of them. The dies or tools on cach box may be composed of
one piece of metal of a suitable nature to withstand the pressure put
upon them in the reduction, or they may be made up of separate pieces,
that is to say, the flat or tapered face, if tapered articles are to be made,
may be of one piece, while the piece to form the head, bead, lump, or
other prejection on the end may be of another piece of the same or of a
different metal, and this would be essential when such articles as
rivets or headed pins, such as I have shewn, are being made, as the flat
or tapered faces of the dies or tools would then reduce the stem g to the
required diameter, and the projecting lump to form the head which
has been forced over the edges of the tools a, a, by the rolling and
pressing process combined can be shaped by the separate end pieces i, i,
which may be sct to cut sufficiently close to sever the stem of the
previous made rivet from the rounded portion of the head of the next
successive one; or they may be so arranged that they hold on to one
another by a small thickness at the ends; by this means a length of
rivets or other articles can be made which can be afterwards treated or
) operated upon in any manner which it may be necessary to perform
before they are ready for use. For instance, should there be any scale
or roughness on the rivets after leaving the dies or tools they may be
caused to pass through or between smoothing rollers or plates in any
suitable manner for removing such scale or roughness before they are
5 separated one from the other. The boxes with the dies or tools on them
are also caused to travel up and down in opposite directions to one
another as they approach to and recede from each other by means of the
connecting rods j, j, being attached to the crank shaft k, which in the
plan shewn in the Drawing is the main driving shaft fitted with fast and

page_text: loose pulleys, m, so that it can be driven by a belt from any prime
mover; this shaft is supported in bearings n, n, on the frame, as shown,
and it carries on its free end a pinion o in gear with a wheel p on an
intermediate shaft q, so that the necessary rotatory speed or motion of
the cams within the boxes can be obtained through the bevil pinion »
and wheels on one of the cam shafts. This shaft has at its lower
end a spur wheel gearing into a corresponding wheel 2 on the other
cam shaft by this means the required rotation on both cams is
established.
In thus describing my Invention I do not desire to adhere rigidly to
the arrangement of the driving mechanism which I have above referred
to and shown, as other arrangements can be adopted for effecting the
same object, namely, that of causing cams to rotate to move dies or
tools to and from each other for reducing metal rods, bars, and tubes;
but what I have shown is the best with which I am acquainted, neither
do I confine myself to employing cranks for producing an up-and-down
or to-and-fro movement of the boxes, as excentrics or other contrivances
may be employed in lieu thereof.
Of course it is not necessary that the metal to be reduced should
be passed into and between the dies or tools from the front towards the
back, or from the back towards the front of the supporting frame, as it
may be passed upwards or downwards to suit the locality in which
such apparatus is intended to be fitted.
I have in the foregoing description mentioned that the faces of the
dics or tools are of a flat or tapered character; but this is not essential
as the faces may be of any undulating form, and may have hollows or
projections on them to suit the design or pattern which it is intended
that the article should bear. These hollows or projections may be
cast or otherwise produced on the faces of the dies as found most
convenient.
In some cases the cams may be composed of several pieces on each
shaft as well as the dies or tools of each of the boxes, so that as the cams
rotate they cause the dies or tools to act upon the metal in sections,
and thus reduce the rod, bar, or tube to different diameters to suit the
purpose for which it is intended.
I do not in all cases make the boxes with four or other number of
sides of a form to shut in the cams from view, as they may be skeleton

page_text: boxes, in which case every facility will be given to the workmen to get
at the cams for their proper adjustment.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
Invention, reducing metal rods, bars, and tubes by an apparatus con-
taining or holding dies or tools, to which an up-and-down movement and a
circular movement are imparted by cams, cranks, excentrics, or other
appliances, substantially in the manner as herein-before described, and
represented in the annexed Drawings, whether such articles made in the
apparatus are intended to be of a plain or ornamental character.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hesketh Hughes, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Twenty-ninth day of September,
One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
HESKETH HUGHES. (L.S.)