An Improved Manufacture of Steel Rails for Railways.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Oct.. 1893
Complete Specification Left. 17th July, 1894-Accepted, 18th Aug., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by THE HARVEY STEEL COMPANY, of 52, Wall
Street, New York, United States of America.]
An Improved Manufacture of Steel Rails for Railways.
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 to be as follows:-
-
The object of this invention is to economically produce steel rails which shall
possess such toughness as will enable them to successfully withstand breaking
stresses, and shall also possess such hardness of surface upon their heads as will
prevent them from rapid wear in use.
The desired result is secured by the production of a steel rail, the upper portions
of the head of which contains five tenths of one per cent. or more of carbon, while
the remainder of the head and the shank contains from two and a half tenths of
one per cent. to four tenths of one per cent. of carbon, and the flange contains less
than two tenths of one per cent. of carbon.
The economical, production of such a rail is effected by rolling it from a bloom
which has been suitably supercarburized upon the side which is ultimately intended
to form the head of the rail, and has been suitably decarburized upon the side
which is intended to ultimately form the flange of the rail.
The bloom is made in the ordinary way from steel, preferably containing not
less than two and one half tenths of one per cent. of carbon and not more than
four tenths of one per cent. of carbon. The prescribed supercarburization and
decarburization of the bloom may be effected by subjecting the bloom to intense
heat while embedded in a mass of granular materials arranged in three superposed
strata, and deposited in a suitable receptacle contained within a chamber of the
furnace.
The side of the bloom which is to be decarburized is embedded to the depth, say,
of one inch more or less in a granular stratum composed of sand and fine iron ore.
The side of the bloom which is to be supercarburized is embedded to the depth of
an inch more or less in a stratum of granular carbonaceous material which is firmly
compressed against the bloom, while the middle portion of the bloom is surrounded
by a stratum of sand which intervenes between the stratum of carbonaceous
material and the stratum of mixed sand and iron ore.
ui
This mode of treating the bloom involves the employment of a process analogous
to that described in the Specification of prior Letters Patent dated 10th, January
1888, No. 401 with the modification herein set forth adapting the said process to
the present purpose.
The bloom, having been subjected to intense heat under the conditions stated
for the desired length of time, is removed from the mass of granular material
in which it has been embedded and is rolled into a rail in the ordinary way with
the result that the supercarburized portion is elongated and spread thinly over the
surface of the head of the rail, while the decarburized portion is formed into the
flange of the rail.
וי
The percentage of carbon present in the upper portion of the head of the rail
produced in the mauner herein described, will be greatest at the surface, and will
gradually diminish from the surface inward. By so conducting the process as to
make the added portion of carbon large, the stratum of metal upon the top of the
head, that is, the part of the rail commonly called the tread, will by the mere act

page_text: of rolling and finishing the rail be made to acquire a condition of excessive
hardness. The remainder of the head and the shank will be only moderately hard,
while the flange will be quite soft.
It will be seen that considerable range is permissible in the percentage of carbon
which may be employed in that portion of the metal forming the tread of the rail,
and similarly, that a wide range is permissible in the percentage of carbon which
may be employed in the main portion of the head and in the shank, and also that
a considerable range is permissible in the quantity of carbon which may be
employed in the flange of the rail, without in either case departing from the
invention, the salient features of which are exhibited by a rail having an excessively
hard tread, with the main portion of the head and the shank moderately hard, and
having a soft flange.
In carrying out the invention, a homogeneous bloom is first made in the ordinary
way out of steel containing preferably not less than two and one half tenths of
one per cent. of carbon, and preferably not more than four tenths of one per cent. of
carbon the object being to have a sufficient quantity of carbon to make the metal
which is to ultimately constitute the shank and main portion of the head of the
rail moderately hard without having so much carbon in it as to be brittle.
;
For the required supercarburization of one side, and the decarburization of the
other side of the bloom, there is employed a furnace within which is a treating
chamber, for containing the stratum of granular carbonaceous material, a stratum
of fine clay, and the stratum of mixed sand and iron ore, in which the bloom is to
'be embedded. Preferably, the granular carbonaceous material is placed at the
bottom of the treating chamber, so that the weight of the bloom resting directly
upon the carbonaceous material will insure a close contact under compression of
the granular carbonaceous material with the side of the bloom which is to be
supercarburized.
The stratum of granular material immediately above the carbonaceous bed may
be composed of clay or of any other substance which will not have any material
effect in decarburizing the metal of the bloom with which it is in contact.
The upper stratum of granular material is composed of sand or of a mixture of
sand and fine iron ore, by means of which the upper side of the bloom will be
partially decarburized during the subsequent heating process. The bloom having
been thus embedded in the strata of granular material contained in the treating
chamber is subjected to intense heat for such length of time as may be required in
order to supercarburize the lower side of it to the depth of three quarters of an
inch, more or less, and to decarburize the upper side of it to a similar depth.
There are a great variety of existing furnaces in which the process can be
conducted. Such furnaces, of course, vary in their efficiency, but a few trials by
an operator skilled in the use of any particular form of furnace and in the use of
any particular kind of fuel will suffice for the determination of the time required
for successfully producing the desired results in such form of furnace and with
such fuel.
The bloom, having been treated for the desired length of time, is then removed
from the treating chamber and subjected to the action of successive roll passes by
which it is transformed into a rail.
The bloom is so presented to the various roll passes that the metal in the super-
carburized side, is ultimately distributed upon the surface of the head of the rail,
while the metal of the decarburized portion is so distributed as to form the lower
portion of the flange of the rail.
The web of the rail is formed from the portion of the bloom which has not been
materially affected by the treating process and hence has the same or nearly the
same percentage of carbon as that originally present in the entire bloom.
Dated this 17th day of October 1802
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: An Improved Manufacture of Steel Rails for Railways.
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 object of this invention is to economically produce steel rails which shall
possess such toughness as will enable them to successfully withstand breaking.
stresses, and shall also possess such hardness of surface upon their heads as will
prevent them from rapid wear or deterioration by use.
The desired result is secured by the production of a steel rail, the upper portion
of the head of which contains five tenths of one per cent., or more of carbon, while
the remainder of the head and the shank contain from two and a half tenths of one
per cent., to four tenths of one per cent., of carbon, and the flange contains less than
two tenths of one per cent., of carbon.
The economical production of such a rail is effected by rolling it from a bloom
which has been suitably supercarburized upon the side which is intended to
ultimately form the head of the rail, and has been suitably decarburized upon the
side which is intended to ultimately form the flange of the rail.
The bloom is made from steel, preferably containing not less than two and one
half tenths of one per cent. of carbon and not more than four tenths of one per cent.
of carbon. The prescribed super-carburization and decarburization of the bloom
may be effected by subjecting the bloom to intense heat while embedded in a mass
of granular materials arranged in three superposed strata, and deposited in a
suitable receptacle contained within a chamber of the furnace.
The side of the bloom which is to be decarburized is embedded to the depth, say,
of one inch more or less in a granular stratum composed of sand and fine iron ore.
The side of the bloom which is to be supercarburized is embedded to the depth of
an inch, more or less, in a stratum of granular carbonaceous material which is
firmly compressed against the bloom, while the middle portion of the bloom is
surrounded by a stratum of sand which intervenes between the stratum
carbonaceous material and the stratum of mixed sand and iron ore.
of
This mode of treating the bloom involves the employment of a process analogous
to that described in the Specification of prior Letters Patent dated 10th January
1888, No. 401 with the modification herein set forth for adapting the said process
to the present purpose.
The bloom, having been subjected to inteuse heat under the conditions stated
for the desired length of time, is removed from the mass of granular material
in which it has been embedded and is rolled into a rail in the ordinary way with
the result that the supercarburized portion is elongated and spread thinly over the
surface of the head of the rail, while the decarburized portion is formed into the
flange of the rail.
The percentage of carbon present in the upper portion of the head of the rail
produced in the manner herein described will be greatest at the surface and will
gradually diminish from the surface inward. By so conducting the process as to
make the added portion of carbon large, the stratum of metal upon the top of the
head, that is, the part of the rail commonly called the tread, will by the mere act
of rolling and finishing the rail be made to acquire a condition of excessive
hardness. The remainder of the head and the shank will be only moderately hard,
while the flange will be quite soft.
It will be seen that considerable variation is permissible in the percentages

page_text: of carbon in the different parts of the rail, without departing from the said
invention, the salient features of which are exhibited by a rail having an
excessively hard tread, a moderately hard main portion of the head and shank and
a soft flange.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a transverse section of a furnace-chamber and the receptacle
containing the granular materials in which the billet or bloom is embedded for
treatment, as herein described.
Figure 2 is a transverse section of the billet after treatment, in which the
different percentages of carbon in different parts of the billet are symbolically
indicated by differently spaced section lines.
Figure 3 is a transverse section of a flanged T-rail made in accordance with the
said invention in which the different percentages of carbon present in different
parts of the rail are also symbolically indicated by differently spaced section
lines.
In carrying the said invention into practice a homogeneous bloom is first made in
the ordinary way, of steel containing preferably not less than two and one half
tenths of one per cent. of carbon, and preferably not more than four tenths of
one per cent. of carbon the object being to have a sufficient quantity of carbon to
make the metal which is to ultimately constitute the shank and main portion of the
head of the rail moderately hard but not sufficient to make it brittle.
For the required supercarburization of one side, and the decarburization of the
other side of the bloom, there is employed a furnace A within which is a chamber B,
for containing a stratum of granular carbonaceous material C, a stratum of fine
clay D, and a stratum of mixed sand and iron ore E, in which the bloom F is to
be embedded. Preferably, the granular carbonaceous material is placed at the
bottom of the said chamber, so that the weight of the bloom resting directly upon
the carbonaceous material will insure a close contact under compression of
the granular carbonaceous material with the side of the bloom which is to be
supercarburized.
The stratum of granular material immediately above the carbonaceous bed
may be composed of clay or of other substance which will not have any material
effect in decarburizing the metal of the bloom with which it is in contact.
The upper stratum E, of granular material is composed of sand or of a mixture
of sand and fine iron ore, by means of which the upper side f', of the bloom will
be partially decarburized during the subsequent heating process.
The bloom
having been thus embedded in the strata of granular material contained in the
treating chamber is subjected to intense heat for such length of time as may be
required in order to supercarburize the lower side of it to the depth of three
quarters of an inch, more or less, and to decarburize the upper side of it to a
similar depth.
There are existing furnaces in which the process can be conducted. Such
furnaces, of course, vary in their efficiency, but a few trials by an operator skilled
in the use of any particular form of furnace and in the use of any particular kind
of fuel will suffice for the determination of the time required for successfully
producing the desired results in such form of furnace and with such fuel.
The bloom having been treated for the desired length of time is then removed
from the aforesaid chamber and subjected to the action of rolls by which it is
transformed into a rail, as for example, the rail G, having the form in cross section
represented in Figure 3.
The bloom is so presented to the various roll passes that the metal in the
supercarburized sidef, is ultimately distributed upon the surface of the head 9, of
the rail, while the metal of the decarburized portion f¹, is so distributed as to form
the lower portion of the flange g' of the rail.
.
The web g², of the rail is formed from the portion of the bloom which has not
been materially affected by the treating process and hence has the same or nearly
the same percentage of carbon as that originally present throughout the entire

page_text: bloom. The highly carburized surface of the rail is, or can be, chilled by spraying
it with water or otherwise when desirable or necessary.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by
my foreign correspondents, I declare that what claim is :-
1. In the manufacture of a steel rail the method of treating the billet or bloom,
substantially as herein described for the purpose specified.
2. A steel rail, manufactured as above set forth, from a bloom which has carbon
distributed throughout the same in the proportions specified, so that the finished
rail will have its "tread " very hard, the main portion of its head and its web
less hard and its flange comparatively soft.
3. A rolled steel rail, of which the upper portion of the head, the remainder of
the head and the web, and the lower portion of the flange contain different
percentages of carbon as hereinabove specified for the purposes set forth.
Dated this 17th day of July 1894.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C., Agents for the Applicant.