Improvements in the Manufacture of the Links of Chain Conveyors.
Year: 1897

page_text: Date of Application, 16th Oct., 1897
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of the Links of Chain Conveyors.
We, JABEZ LONES and EDWARD HOLDEN, trading as Lones, Vernon and Holden,
of Sandwell Iron and Axle Works, Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturers, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention has reference to the manufacture of the blanks from which the
lugged or bossed links of chain conveyors are made, that is to say, those links
of chain conveyors which are provided on one of their vertical faces and near each
end with crossing lugs or bosses through which the rivets are passed for rivetting
the said links to the platform plates of the chain conveyors.
These blanks are ordinarily made by stamping.
Our invention consists in making the said conveyor link blanks by rolling and
sawing operations conducted in the manner hereinafter described.
In making the lugged links to be used with the ordinary plain links of the
double links of the chain conveyor, we take a heated billet of wrought iron or
steel and pass it in succession through the grooves of a pair or pairs of collared
rolls so as to break down the said billet and produce on one of the faces of the
plate two parallel longitudinal ribs, one rib being situated near one edge of the
plate and the other rib near the other edge of the plate.
In conducting the rolling operation we first pass the heated billet through a
pair of rolls having grooves of such configuration that parallel longitudinal ribs
are made on each face of the plate; next through grooves whereby the size of
the ribs on both faces is diminished; next through a pair of rolls, one of which
is cylindrical, by the action of which the ribs on one face are obliterated and the
ribs on the other face diminished; and finally through a pair of nearly similar
rolls for perfecting the shape of the ribs. We do not however limit ourselves to
the number of grooves in the rolls for fashioning the ribbed plate.
The long ribbed plate thus made is sawn transversely into link blanks the
said link blanks consisting of oblong bars flat on one face and having short
parallel ribs on the other face, the said ribs constituting the bosses or lugs of
the finished links. These solid bosses or lugs are pierced or drilled with holes
through which the rivets are passed for rivetting the links to the platform plates
of the chain conveyor; and the ends of the blanks are rounded and pierced with
holes near their ends for receiving the joint pins of the chain conveyor. But
the means described for converting the link blanks into links constitute no part
of our invention.
Lugged blanks for making single links of chain conveyors are manufactured
according to our invention by the process or combination of processes herein-
before described with respect to the lugged blanks for the double links of the said
chain conveyors, excepting that the ends of the link blauks near their lugs or
ribs are strengthened for strengthening the finished links at their jointed ends.
Dated this Sixteenth day of October 1897.

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of the Links of Chain Conveyors.
We, JABEZ LONES and EDWARD HOLDEN, trading as Lones, Vernon and folden,
of Sandwell Iron and Axle Works, Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturers, do hereby declare the nature of our invention and in what manner
the same is to be performed to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement:-
Our invention has reference to the manufacture of the blanks from which the
lugged or bossed links of chain conveyors are made, that is to say, those links
of chain conveyors which are provided on one of their vertical faces and near each
end with crossing lugs or bosses through which the rivets are passed for rivetting
the said links to the platform plates of the chain conveyors.
These blanks are ordinarily made by stamping.
Our invention consists in making the said conveyor link blanks by rolling and
sawing or shearing operations conducted in the manner hereinafter described.
In making the lugged links to be used with the ordinary plain links of the
double links of the chain conveyor, we take a heated billet of wrought iron or
steel and pass it in succession through the grooves of a pair or pairs of collared
rolls so as to break down the said billet and produce on one of the faces of the
plate two parallel longitudinal ribs, one rib being situated near one edge of the
plate and the other rib near the other edge of the plate.
In conducting the rolling operation we first pass the hented billet through a
pair of rolls having grooves of such configuration that parallel longitudinal ribs
are made on each face of the plate; next through grooves whereby the size of
the ribs on both faces is diminished; next through a pair of rolls one of which
is cylindrical by the action of which the ribs ou one face are obliterated and the
ribs on the other face diminished, and finally through a pair of nearly similar
rolls for perfecting the shape of the ribs.
We do not however limit ourselves to the number of grooves in the rolls for
fashioning the ribbed plate.
The long ribbed plate thus made is sawn or sheared transversely into link blanks
the said link blanks consisting of oblong bars flat on one face and having short
parallel ribs on the other face, the said ribs constituting the bosses or lugs of
the finished links. These solid bosses or lugs are pierced or drilled with holes
through which the rivets are passed for riveting the links to the platform plates
of the chain conveyor and the ends of the blanks are rounded and pierced with
holes near their ends for receiving the joint pins of the chain conveyor.
the means described for converting the link blanks into links constitute no part
of our invention.
But
Lugged blanks for making single links of chain conveyors are manufactured
according to our invention by the process or combination of processes herein-
before described with respect to the lugged blanks for the double links of the said
chain conveyors, excepting that the ends of the link blanks near their lugs or
ribs, are strengthened for strengthening the finished links at their jointed ends.
We will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings
the manner in which our invention is to be performed.
1
Figure represents in side elevation and plan, a lugged link for a chain con-
veyor manufactured by rolling and sawing or shearing operations according to
our invention, the said lugged link being used in combination with the plain
link represented in Figure 2, the said plain link Figure 2 being placed at the
flat back of and jointed to the ends of the lugged link Figure 1. The lugs or

page_text: bosses of the rolled link Figure 1 are marked a, a. These lugs or bosses are
pierced or drilled with holes through which the rivets are passed for rivetting
the links to the platform plates of the chain conveyor, and the ends of the lugged
links are pierced with holes b, b for receiving the joint pins of the chain con-
veyor as is well understood.
Figure 3 represents in side elevation partly in longitudinal section and Figure 4
in end elevation the pair of collared preparing rolls and Figure 5 represents in
side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, the pair of collared finishing rolls
which we employ in the manufacture of the ribbed plate from which ribbed links
of the kind represented in Figure 1 are made.
In rolling the ribbed plate from which the link blanks are to be made we
take a heated billet of wrought iron or steel and pass it through the first groove c
of the rolls Figure 3 so as to break down the billet and produce a long plate
having the sectional form shown in cross section and plan in Figure 6, that is
to say a plate having parallel longitudinal ribs made on each of its faces and near
each edge. By further rolling operations effected in the grooves d and e of the
rolls Figure 3 the plate Figure 6 is first converted into the plate Figure 7 and
next into the plate Figure S. The plate Figure 8 is next taken to the finishing
pair of rolls Figure 5 and passed first through the groove f so as to produce the
plate Figure 9 and afterwards through the groove g so as to produce the plate
Figure 10. By the operation of the finishing rolls Figure 5 the ribs on one face
of the plate are obliterated and the ribs on the other face reduced in size and
perfected in form. The long plate Figure 10 thus rolled has on one of its faces
two parallel longitudinal ribs marked a, a, one rib being situated near one edge
of the plate and the other rib near the other edge of the plate.
The ribbed plate Figure 10 is sawn or sheared transversely at the dotted lines
into link blanks consisting of oblong bars flat on one face and having short
parallel ribs on the other face, the said ribs constituting the solid bosses or lugs
of the finished links. These solid bosses or lugs are perforated with holes and
the ends of the said bars are rounded and pierced with holes concentric with their
rounded ends as represented in the finished chain conveyor link represented in
Figure 1. The finishing of the link blanks cut from the rolled plate Figure 10
is effected in the ordinary way.
Figure 11 represents a lugged single link of a chain conveyor made according
to our invention, that is, a link used alone instead of being backed by an additional
plain link. In the said Figure 11 the pierced bosses or lugs through which the
rivets are passed for rivetting the links to the platform plates of the chain
conveyor are marked a, and the strengthened jointed ends of the link
marked a
are
Figures 12 and 13 represent the pairs of collared rolls employed in the rolling
of the long plate from which the blanks are cut.
In rolling the ribbed plates with strengthened ends for the production of link
blanks of the kind last described we pass the heated billet in succession through
the grooves, and k of the preparing rolls Figure 12, and then through the
grooves and m of the finishing rolls Figure 13. There is thus produced first
the rolled plate Figure 14, next the rolled plates Figures 15, 16 and 17 and
finally the finished plate Figure 18 which plate Figure 18 is afterwards cut
transversely into ribbed bars or link blanks and finished links of the kind repre-
sented in Figure 11 made therefrom substantially as before described with respect
to the manufacture of the ribbed link Figure 1 of the double or compound link
of the chain conveyor.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that we claim as our
invention of "Improvements in the manufacture of the links of chain con-
veyors":
Manufacturing the blanks from which the links of chain conveyors are to be

page_text: made from rolled plates of wrought iron or steel having on one of their faces
and near their edges two parallel longitudinal ribs or two parallel longitudinal
ribs with thickening or strengthening parts near the said ribs and sawing or
shearing the said rolled ribbed plates transversely into short oblong bars or link
blanks, the ribs on one face of the blanks constituting the cross bosses or lugs
of the finished links for rivetting the said links to the platform plates of the
chain conveyor the several rolling operations for the production of the ribbed
plates being effected in the manner and preferably by the use of the rolls here-
inbefore described and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the Twenty-sixth day of May 1898.