AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Bagnall and William Bagnall, of West
Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Iron Masters, for the Invention of
"AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
Sealed the 19th April 1859, and dated the 22nd October 1858.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Bagnall and William
Bagnall at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition,
on the 22nd October 1858.
We, JAMES BAGNALL and WILLIAM BAGNALL, of West Bromwich, in the
County of Stafford, Iron Masters, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," to be as
follows:-
Our Invention consists in forming the piles by first passing the iron between
rolls or cylinders with grooved surfaces or peripheries so that the slabs, masses,
or pieces of iron may be obtained with grooves on their surfaces; these being
superimposed their grooves will fit into one another, while by grooving one
roll only, the other being smooth, pieces grooved on one surface only may be
produced to form the top and bottom of the pile, and present flat outside
surfaces. By these means improved piles are formed, on submitting which to
the subsequent rolling operation a better distribution and superior texture or
quality of iron will be obtained.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Bagnall and William Bagnall in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 20th April 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
BAGNALL and WILLIAM BAGNALL, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford,
Iron Masters, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Iler Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-second day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-second year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
us, the said James Bagnall and William Bagnall, Her special licence that we,
the said James Bagnall and William Bagnall, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Bagnall and William
Bagnall, our exccutors, administrators, 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 "AN IMPROVEMENT IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the
said James Bagnall and William Bagnall, our executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under our, or their hands and seals, or under the
hand and seal of one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to bo
performed, and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said James Bagnall and William Bagnall,
do hereby declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :-
Hitherto, in producing box piles in the manufacture of iron, it has been the
practice to pass the blooms or inasses between rolls with smooth peripheries
so as to form slabs with smooth surfaces, which are piled together and then
submitted to the usual rolling processes. Now our Invention consists in
forming the piles by first passing the iron between rolls or cylinders with
grooved surfaces or peripheries so that slabs or pieces of iron may be obtained
with grooves on their surfaces, and these being superimposed or piled, their

page_text: grooves will fit into each other, while by using one grooved and one smooth
roll in conjunction, pieces grooved on one surface only will be produced to form
the top and bottom of the pile, and present flat outside surfaces. By these
means improved piles are formed, on submitting which to the usual subse-
quent rolling operation, better distribution and superior texture and quality of
iron will be obtained.
We now proceed with reference to the Drawings, to describe the best means
of carrying our Invention into effect.
A pair or series of pairs of grooved rolls or cylinders are mounted in a
suitable framework, as shewn, (for example,) in side elevation, Figure 1, in
which A is the upper, and B the lower roll, (formed with grooves on their
surfaces or peripheries, and supported in the uprights or frames C, C; one or
a portion of the series of the upper rolls is left with smooth or ungrooved
surface, as at D, for forming the top and bottom slabs. Rotary motion being
communicated to the rolls, as is usual, the iron fed in between the grooved
parts will be formed into slabs or pieces, with grooves on both the upper and
the under surfaces, as shewn in the plan of such a slab, a, a, Figure 2, and in
vertical section, Figure 3; b, b, are the grooves or channels formed by the
rolls. The iron submitted to the rolls as at D, where one is smooth and the
other grooved, will be formed into slabs c, c, as shewn in section, Figure 4,
having grooves b, b, on one surface only, and being flat on the other. Any
number of slabs a, a, with grooves on both surfaces may be superimposed or
formed into a pile fitting on to one another by their grooves, that is to say,
the projections of the one fitting into the recesses of the next above and below
it, and vice versa, thus forming a compact pile, while those slabs c, c, which
have grooves on one side only are employed, one to form the top and another
the bottom of the pile, their grooves being towards the body of the same, and
their smooth surfaces outward, or so that the pile may present superfices at top
and bottom, as shewn in the vertical section of such a pile complete, Figure 5.
(Figure 6 is a plan with the top piece removed. The piles may now be rolled
in the usual manner, and an improved iron will be the result.
And having now described the nature of our said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, we declare that we wish it to be under-
stood that we do not restrict ourselves to the precise form or configuration of
groove or shape of pile shewn, but what we claim is, the improved mode of
obtaining piles of iron herein-before described, that is to say, passing blooms or
masses of iron between grooved rolls to obtain slabs with grooves on both
surfaces, in order that when superimposed they may fit together by their

page_text: grooves and form the body of the pile, the top and bottom being formed of
slabs grooved on one surface only.
In witness whereof, we, the said James Bagnall and William Bagnall,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Twelveth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
Witness,
JOHN KENDRICK,
2, Bennett's Hill,
Birmingham.
JAMES
WM BAGNALL.
(L.B.)
(L..S.)