IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METAL WIRES, RODS, AND THE LIKE, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Hughes, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, Wire Roller, for an Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING
METAL WIRES, RODS, AND THE LIKE, AND IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED
THEREIN
,,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Hughes at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 27th January 1881.
ALFRED HUGHES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Wire
Roller. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METAL WIRES, RODS, AND THE LIKE, AND
IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN."
The said Invention relates to improvements in rolling metal wires, rods, and
the like, and in machinery to be employed therein, and has for its object to so
arrange and combine the rolls and other parts together that a compound machine
is produced wherein the rolling can be effected continuously from the bloom to
the finished article, and a great saving of manual labour is effected, the process
conducted more rapidly, and reheating between the various operations dispensed
with.
According to the said Invention an engine with double piston rods projecting
from both covers of the cylinder or cylinders is arranged so that the said rods
give motion to two shafts at each end of the machine, the one shaft carrying a fly
wheel and driving the rolls by which the bloom is first acted upon. The other
shaft through gearing drives a series of rolls (arranged opposite the first mentioned
rolls) placed in double pair side by side the reducing grooves in which series
of rolls gradually lessen, being preferably alternately such as to give square and
oval forms to the rod or bar, acted upon until the last pair of rolls is reached
which will of course have grooves of the requisite shape for finishing the wire
rod or the like. The bar, after it has passed through one pair of each double pair
of rolls, is automatically fed back through the other pair of each double pair of
rolls by a guide provided at each groove in each double pair of rolls, consisting
at bottom of a fixed bed or table level with the upper surface of the lower roll
of the first pair of rolls and with the upper surface of the upper roll of the other
pair of rolls of each double pair of rolls, and extending from roll to roll. The

page_text: upper part of the said guide consists of a hinged or pivotted part forming a lever
of the first order, the one end bearing against the upper roll of the one pair of
rolls level with the under part thereof by the weight of the other end, which is
curved round over and partly around the upper roller of the second pair of rolls
from which it is kept from rising too far by a screw capable of adjustment. At
the opening of this curved part of the said guide is another guide-piece curved
and level with the top of the lower roll of the second pair of rolls, and a table
at the other side of the roll is also level with the upper surface of the said roll
to receive the rod or bar as it issues from the second pair of rolls, the said rod or
bar, being directed in its course from above by a counterweighted lever whose one
The
end bears against the underside of the upper roll and is level therewith.
rolls of the various sets are preferably arranged so that each pair of the double
pairs of rolls are all in double line and upon two axes, one for all the corresponding
rolls of each pair. At the end of the series is a pair of rolls for giving the final
form to the wire rod or the like.
The bloom from the furnace is passed through the first mentioned rolls at the
one side of the machine, and the billet issuing therefrom is passed through the
first grooves in the first pair of rolls of the series of double pairs of rolls on
the opposite side of the machine, then back through the next grooves, and is then
automatically passed by the curved guide aforesaid between the next grooves
which are on the other pair of rolls of this double pair, then between the next
grooves which are on the first mentioned pair of rolls, and thence by the curved
guide between the other grooves which are on the second pair of rolls. The rod
or bar or the like is then passed in through the next two grooves which are in the
next double pair of the series, and thence through the remaining grooves, of which
there are preferably five, viz., two each in two double pairs, and the last in a pair
of finishing rolls. Curved guides, such as are herein before described, will be
arranged to guide the said rod, bar, or wire, or the like from the one pair of rolls to
the other pair of rolls of each double pair of rolls, or otherwise as may be desired, so
that the said rod, bar, or wire, or the like, will be delivered automatically from
the one pair to the other of each double pair of rolls of the series, and so back
to that side of the series of rolls at which it was fed in, and a man standing on
this side will receive the bar to pass it through the first rolls of each double
pair of rolls. Shears are combined with the machine to trim the billet, the said
shears being worked by gearing from one of the shafts of the engine.
In order to deliver the rod or bar from the last rolls at the same side at which the
other deliveries were made, a curved guide may be arranged to pass the said rod or
bar back under the pair of rolls through which it last passed (before passing to the
last. pair of finishing rolls), so as to deliver the rod or bar at the back of the rolls
for enabling it to be conveniently passed through the said finishing rolls for
delivery at the front side of the rolls.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Alfred Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd July
July 1881.
ALFRED HUGHES, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Wire
Roller. "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METAL WIRES, RODS, AND THE LIKE, AND
IN MACHINERY TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN."
My said Invention relates to improvements in rolling metal wires, rods, and the
like, and in machinery to be employed therein, and has for its object to so arrange
and combine the rolls and other parts together that a compound machine is pro-
duced wherein the rolling can be effected continuously from the bloom to the finished
article, whereby a great saving of manual labour is effected, the process is conducted.
more rapidly than hitherto, and re-heating between the various operations is
dispensed with.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I now proceed
more particularly to set forth the system, mode, or manner in or under which
the same is or may be used or practically carried into effect, reference being had
to the accompanying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that
is to say,-
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings represents, in plan, machinery or
apparatus arranged and combined according to my Invention.
A motive power
engine A of any suitable or convenient construction is provided, its cylinders a
having pistons with double piston rods b, c, projecting from both covers of the
cylinders, the said rods giving rotatory motion to two shafts B and C respectively
at either end or side of the machine. e are the eccentrics for actuating the slide valves
of the cylinders. The shaft B carries a fly wheel 62, and through gearing d drives
the rolls D of the "breaking-down train," which are the rolls by which the bloom
is first acted upon after leaving the furnace. These rolls are shewn in front elevation
separately in Figure 2. The other shaft C through gearing drives a series of rolls
arranged opposite the first mentioned rolls D, and placed in double pairs side by side
in the relative position shewn in plan in Figure 1, and in side elevation in Figure 3,
and numbered 1, 2, 3, and 4, the finishing rolls being marked 5; Figure 4 is a trans-
verse section taken between sets of these rolls, and Figure 5 is a transverse section
taken through a set of the same, both Figures being drawn to a larger scale and
taken from the point of view indicated by the arrow in Figure 1. The said series
of rolls constitute the "wire mill" or rolls by which the "billet " or rod after it
leaves the rolls D is continuously acted upon to produce the wire or finished
article, the reducing grooves in the said series of rolls gradually lessening from
the first groove in the first set of rolls 1 to the finishing rolls 5, being preferably
such as to give alternately square and oval forms to the rod or bar, acted upon
until the last pair of rolls is reached, which will of course have grooves of the
requisite shape for finishing the wire, rod, or other article. The bar being rolled
after it has passed through one pair of each double pair of rolls is automatically
fed back through the other pair of each double pair of rolls, by guiding appliances
provided at each groove in each double pair of rolls.
In Figure 5 this guiding appliance is illustrated in vertical section. It consists
at bottom of a fixed bed or table f level with the groove at the upper surface of
the lower roll x of the first pair of rolls, and with the groove at the upper surface
of the upper roll y of the other pair of rolls, the said table f extending from roll to
roll as shewn. Above this table f is a hinged or pivotted guide piece g centered.
at g2 to any suitable projection from a convenient part of the framing forming a
lever of the first order, the one end at g³ bearing against the upper roll w of the

page_text: one pair of rolls, about level with the groove at the under part thereof, by the
weight of the other end at g*, which is curved over, and partly around the upper
rolly of the second pair of rolls, from which it is kept from rising too far by a
screw capable of adjustment. The table and upper part g are shewn in
transverse section in Figure 6, and in side elevation in Figure 7, whereby it will
be seen that the two parts together form between them a passage of the requisite
shape to receive the rod as it issues from the groove of the one pair of rolls, and
guide it to the next pair. This shape is or may be a shape corresponding to the
groove of the roll, in conjunction with which the guiding appliance is used. At
the opening of the guide piece g at 94 is another curved guide piece i level with
the groove at the top of the lower roll z of the second pair of rolls, and a table j
at the other side of the roll is at the same level to receive the rod or bar as it
issues from the second pair of rolls, the said rod or bar being directed in its course
from above by a counterweighted lever / centered at 2, whose one end ³ bears
against the underside of the roll y about level with the groove therein.
table j and lever k may together form a guide of the shape of the rod as it leaves
the grooves of the rolls y, z.
This
As before stated the guiding appliances may be affixed to or carried by any
convenient part of the framing. In the arrangement of the upper guide shewn in
the Drawing, a slotted bar or carrier r extends from housing to housing, and is
adjustable vertically in slots in the said housings and fixed in position by nuts as
shewn in Figure 6, or by set screws or wedges, or otherwise. A box consisting of two
side plates s connected by the transverse piece 82 having wing pieces 8³ formed
thereon is carried by the bar r, bolts being passed through the said wing pieces and
the slot in the said bar r and fixed by nuts & in the horizontal position to which
the box has been adjusted on the bar r. The table f is supported in this box
resting upon the bottom s² thereof, a projection f keeping the said table fin place.
The pin g² which forms the centre for the lever g is carried by the sides s of the
box. The guides i and j are shewn as being carried by rods 12 and 2 adjustable
vertically in slots in the housings as described with regard to the upper guide, the
transverse adjustment being obtained by the said guides i and j being shifted to one
side or the other, and they may or may not be fixed in position by the nuts 2*
and engaging in slotted holes therein. The pin 2 upon which the lever k turns
may be carried by the cheeks or side plates of the guide or table j, or it may be a
bar extending from housing to housing, and adjustable and fixable in slots therein
as before described with regard to the other guides, and the box for the screw h
may be carried in a similar manner, but it is to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise arrangements herein before described for carrying and
adjusting these guiding appliances. The rolls of the various sets are preferably
arranged as shewn in Figures 1 and 3, so that each pair of the double pairs of
rolls 1, 2, 3, 4, are all in double line and upon two axes, one for all the corre-
sponding rolls of each pair. At the end of the series and upon axes common to the
rows of the rolls y, z, is the pair of rolls 5 for giving the final form to the wire rod
or the like. The rolls of the "wire mill" are driven by a driving wheel c² on the
shaft C gearing with a pinion on the shaft L, which forms an axis common to all
the lower rolls of the pairs of rolls y, z, the axis common to all the
rolls y
upper
being driven by gearing pinions at m. The rotation of the rolls of the other
pair w, x, of each double pair of rolls is obtained from the pinion 12 (see also
Figure 4) upon the shaft L gearing into the pinion n on the shaft N, which forms
an axis common to all the lower rolls x of the pairs of rolls w, x, the upper rolls w
of such pairs being driven by pinions as at p corresponding to those at m.
pinions and driving wheels are preferably formed with two concentric rings of
teeth, the teeth of which rings break bond with each other. Figure 8 represents
one of the pinions m or p. Its ends are preferably of the clutch like shape, shewn
also in end view in this Figure 8, engaging in similarly formed boxes in the shaft
to which they are thereby attached so as to give rotation thereto. The rolls may
be similarly connected together, but I do not limit myself to this mode of con-
Z
l
The

page_text: nection, as any suitable means may be employed for this purpose. In rolling metal
wires, rods, bars, or the like, the bloom from the furnace is passed through the rolls D
at the one side of the machine a number of times necessary to reduce it to a con-
venient size for treatment in the "wire mill" or rolls at the opposite side of the
machine, and issues from the said rolls D in the form of a "billet," which after its ends
have been sheared off is passed through the first grooves in the first or upper pair
of rolls of the double pair 1 of the series at the opposite side of the machine, then
back through the next grooves, and is then automatically passed by a curved guide
like that herein before described between the next grooves which are on the other
or lower pair of rolls of this double pair, then between the next grooves which are
on the first mentioned pair of rolls, and thence by a curved guide, like that herein-
before referred to, between the other grooves which are on the second pair of rolls.
The rod or bar or the like is then passed in through the next two grooves which
are in the next double pair of rolls 2, and thence through the remaining grooves,
of which there may be five, viz., two each in two double pairs of rolls (3 and 4 in.
the Drawing), and the last in the pair of finishing rolls 5, which may have a
guiding arrangement, like that shewn in Figure 9, to guide the rod or wire thereto.
The grooves and guiding appliances are for the sake of clearness omitted from
Figures 1 and 3. The guide, Figure 9, consists of a box t fixed in the housings by
wedges or any suitable means, and the guides are slidden therein to the proper
position in line with the grooves in the rolls, and fixed therein by screws t² passing
through screw holes in either end of the box to bear upon both sides of the guides
to hold them in position. Curved guides, such as are hereinbefore described with
reference to Figure 5, will be arranged in each double pair of rolls, similarly to the
said arrangement, Figure 5, to guide the rod, bar, or wire, or the like, from one pair
of rolls to the other pair of rolls of each double pair of rolls, the said pairs of rolls
being arranged in the relative positions shewn in Figure 5, so that the said rod,
bar, or wire, or the like, will be delivered automatically from the one pair to the
other of each double pair of rolls of the series and so back to that side of the series
of rolls at which it was fed in, and a man standing on this side will receive the bar
to pass it through the first rolls of each double pair of rolls. Shears similar to
those ordinarily employed are combined with the machine and driven by any
suitable mechanism from the engine to trim the billet.
The said shears are
indicated at q, in Figure 1.
I do not limit myself to the precise details hereinbefore described; for example,
the engine may have one or more than two cylinders, and may be of any convenient
construction or arrangement, and is provided with the usual or necessary adjuncts
of engines, and the gearing by which the motion of the said engine is transmitted
to the rolls may be arranged in any convenient manner. Neither do I limit myself
to the number of sets of rolls shewn in the Drawing, nor to the number of grooves
which there may be in each pair of rolls also; the guides may be arranged
essentially as before described, but so as to pass the rod, bar, or wire, or the like
through the rolls in any other desired direction; for example, in order to deliver
the rod, or bar, or wire, or the like from the last rolls (at 5) at the same side at
which the deliveries from the other rolls were made, a curved guide like the lever g
may be carried round beneath the lower roll of the last pair of rolls of the set 4, as
indicated by the dotted lines in Figure 5, so as to pass the said rod or bar back
under the pair of rolls through which it last passed (before passing it to the last
pair of finishing rolls 5), and deliver the said rod or bar at the back of the rolls for
enabling it to be conveniently passed through the finishing rolls for delivery at the
front side of the rolls. In Figure 1 the course of the rod, bar, or wire, or the like
through the rolls of the " wire mill" is indicated by dot and pick lines. It is
preferred to run the rolls of the upper sets wv, x, at about 240 revolutions to every
400 revolutions of the rolls of the lower sets y, z, but I do not limit myself to this
relative speed, the object being to cause the rolls y, z, to take up the slack
effectively.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of my said

page_text: Invention, and the system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or
may be used or practically carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that
what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as the Invention
secured to me by the hereinbefore in part recited Letters Patent is,--
-
- First. The hereinbefore described improvements in rolling metal wires, rods, and
the like, consisting in effecting the continuous rolling of the said wire, rod, or the
like from the bloom to the finished article, without reheating in a machine or
apparatus, arranged or combined essentially as hereinbefore described with reference
to the accompanying Drawings.
Second. The machinery or apparatus for rolling metal wires, rods, and the like
continuously or without reheating, consisting in the combination in one machine
of an engine (A) with the "breaking down train" or first rolls (D) in which the
billet is produced, and the "wire mill" or rolls in which the wire, or rod, or the
like is reduced to the desired size and shape, all essentially as hereinbefore described
with reference to the accompanying Drawings.
Third. The guiding appliances for conducting the wire, rod, or the like from one
set of rolls to the other, consisting of the combination of the table f and lever g, or
the guide and table i, j, and lever k with the rolls, all essentially as herein before
described with reference, more especially to Figure 5, of the accompanying
Drawings.
Fourth. The combination of the guiding appliances claimed in the preceding
claiming clause with double pairs of rolls, the individual pairs of which are
arranged in the relative positions shewn in and described with reference, more
especially to Figures 4 and 5, of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Hughes, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Twenty first day of July, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty one.