Improvements in the Method or Means of Heating or Warming Rolls in Rolling Mills.
Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 17th July, 1886
Complete Left, 16th Apr., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 3rd June, 1887.
Improvements in the Method or Means of Heating or Warming Rolls
in Rolling Mills.
I, FRANKLIN HILTON, of Middlesbrough-on-Tees in the County of York,
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
This invention has reference to the method or means of heating or warming up the
rolls of rolling mills to a proper working temperature.
Heretofore it has been usual for this purpose to build coal or coke fires underneath
the rolls over-night or to place fires or red-hot ingots or masses of heated metal upon
the fore-plates of the rolls in close proximity thereto. These several means of heating
or warming up the rolls however are open to serious objection; they are liable to cause
unequal expansion owing to the heat being applied only locally. It results that with
these means of heating the rolls are frequently injured and in some cases owing to the
unequal expansion are caused to burst.
The object of my invention is to heat or warm up the rolls to a proper working
temperature or maintain them at such a temperature in a regular and uniform manner
which I effect by the application of gas jets caused to play upon the whole length of
the barrel portions of the rolls. In carrying out this invention two or more lines of
gas jets may be employed and the jets can be caused to play constantly whether rolling
is being effected or not, the rolls being kept rotating slowly but constantly during the
beating or warming process as usual. One or more lines of jets may be applied
midway between the pairs of rolls and be arranged in such a manner that the same can
be brought into use only after the usual week end stand for the purpose of getting up
Price &d

page_text: the temperature in readiness for the commencement of another week's work. In such
an arrangement these jets can be quickly connected or disconnected by any suitable
means such as a flexible tube.
The number of pipes and their position and arrangement will depend upon the
requirements of particular applications and may be varied within wide limits so long
as there be a slow and uniform application of heat by gas applied in such a manner
that the heat is caused to spread quickly over the entire surface or length of the rolls
thus obviating unequal expansion.

page_text: Improvements in the Method or Means of Heating or Warming Rolls
in Rolling Mills.
I, FRANKLIN HILTON, of Middlesborough on Tees, in the County of York,
Engineer, 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:-
This invention has reference to the method or means of heating or warming up the
rolls of rolling mills to a proper working temperature.
Heretofore it has been usual for this purpose to build coal or coke fires underneath
the rolls over-night or to place fires or red-hot ingots or masses of heated metal upon
the fore-plates of the rolls in close proximity thereto. The several means of heating
or warming up the rolls, however, are open to serious objection; they are liable to
cause unequal expansion owing to the heat being applied only locally. It results that
with these means of heating the rolls are frequently injured and in some cases owing
to the unequal expansion are caused to burst."
The object of my invention is to heat or warm up the rolls to a proper working
temperature or maintain them at such a temperature in a regular and uniform manner
which I effect by the application of gas jets caused to play upon the whole length of
the barrel portions of the rolls. In carrying out this invention two or more lines of
gas jets may be employed and the jets can be caused to play constantly whether
rolling is being effected or not, the rolls being kept rotating slowly but constantly
during the heating or warming process as usual. One or more lines of jets may be
applied midway between the pairs of rolls and be arranged in such a manner that the
same can be brought into use only after the usual week end stand for the purpose of
getting up the temperature in readiness for the commencement of another weeks work.
In such an arrangement these jets can be quickly connected or disconnected by any
suitable means such as a flexible tube.
The number of pipes and their position and arrangement will depend upon the
requirements of particular applications, and may be varied within wide limits, so long
as there be a slow and uniform application of heat by gas applied in such a manner
that the heat is caused to spread quickly over the entire surface or length of the rolls,
thus obviating unequal expansion.
Referring to the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is an elevation, and
Fig. 2 a transverse section of a rolling mill provided with apparatus according to
this invention for heating or warming up the rolls. a and b are the rolls carried in
standards or housings c in the usual manner. d, d, are gas pipes arranged longi-
tudinally of the rolls, and each provided with burners, nipples, or orifices d' d¹. These
pipes d, d, are supported at e, e, as shown, viz:-the pipe for top roll in hole through
top riders, and the bottom on the standards or housings c. f is a gas supply pipe in
connection with any suitable source of gas supply, and which conveys gas to pipes d, d.

page_text: When the apparatus is in use, gas jets from the burners, nipples, or orifices d¹, d¹,
play upon the rolls as indicated, throughout the whole length of their barrel portions.
is a similar pipe to d, d, with a row of gas burners, nipples, or orfices g¹ whence jets
can be directed between or near where the rolls meet or nearly meet; said pipe is
connected with the gas supply pipe h by a flexible tube i in such manner that may
be readily removed after the rolls have been sufficiently heated to allow rolling
operations to be conducted, whilst heating the rolls they should be slowly and
constantly rotated in order that heating and expansion thereof may take place
uniformly. There may be more pipes such as d and g if desired.
Figs. 3 and 4 illustrate a modification in which there are four pipes d, d, that is to
say, one at each side of each roll a and b, these pipes being arranged in or approxi-
mately in the same horizontal planes as the axes of the rolls. With this arrangement
rolling may take place without removing any of the pipes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention,
and in what manner it is to be performed, 1 declare that I do not claim broadly and
generally the employment of gas jets for heating the exteriors of rolls, but what I do
claim is:
The method or means substantially as hereinabove described with reference to the
drawings annexed of heating or warming rolls to a proper working temperature and
maintaining them at such a temperature in a regular and uniform manner by the
application of gas jets caused to play upon the whole length of the barrel portions of
the rolls as above set forth.