AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BENDING, CURVING, STRAIGHTENING, AND FLATTENING METALLIC SHEETS, PLATES, OR BANDS, AND ALSO ROUND, FLAT, SQUARE, ANGULAR, AND OTHER BARS OF IRON OR OTHER METALS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Tall, of Falstaff Yard, in the Borough of
Southwark, Engineer, and Alfred Williams, of Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BENDING, CURVING, STRAIGHTENING, AND
FLATTENING METALLIC SHEETS, PLATES, OR BANDS, AND ALSO ROUND, FLAT,
SQUARE, ANGULAR, AND OTHER BARS OF IRON OR OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 2nd November 1869, and dated the 4th May 1869.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Tall and Alfred
Williams at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 4th May 1869.
We, JOSEPH TALL, of Falstaff Yard, in the Borough of South-
wark, Engineer, and ALFRED WILLIAMS, of Great George Street,
Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR BENDING,
CURVING, STRAIGHTENING, AND FLATTENING METALLIC SHEETS, PLATES, OR BANDS,

page_text: AND ALSO ROUND, FLAT, SQUARE, ANGULAR, AND OTHER BARS OF IRON OR OTHER
METALS," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to straighten, flatten, or bring into
any desired true form sheets, plates, or bars of iron or other metal of
various sections, and although the apparatus required for operating
upon different forms will necessarily vary in the arrangement of parts
the principle of construction will always be the same.
To flatten a sheet of metal or straighten a crooked or bent bar of iron
is an operation requiring some skill and a considerable amount of labour.
Our improved method of effecting the intended object is based upon
the fact that metals contract very considerably on cooling after being
submitted to a high temperature, and can be carried on by unskilled
labour.
Our Invention consists in first heating a sheet, bar, or other piece
of metal (intended to be operated upon) in a suitable furnace until it
is red hot. When in this state it is to be removed from the furnace
to our apparatus, in which the sheet or bar is to be rigidly held at each
end by means of strong clamps or other analogous device. The article
is then allowed to cool or partially cool, and in so doing will contract
and be strained tightly between the clamps, so that any cockles, dents,
or inequalities in a sheet, or any bends or other irregularities in a bar
will be taken out, and the article will be rendered perfectly straight
and flat. If it be desired to give a permanent set on a curve or bend
to a bar the latter must be placed over a template of the desired curve,
or bent over fixed points, and (in cooling) the bar will assume the
curved or bent form of the template or other equivalent device. In this
way floor or roofing joists or girders for floors, or for constructing bridges
may be brought. to the desired camber or curve with facility and with
a very slight expenditure of labour.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 3
filed by the said Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams in the Great Scal
Patent Office on the 4th November 1869.

page_text: ALFRED WILLIAMS, of Great George Street, Westminster, Civil Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams,
Her special licence that we, the said Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams,
our executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the
said Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams, our executors, 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 IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS
FOR BENDING, CURVING, STRAIGHTENING, AND FLATTENING METALLIC SHEETS,
PLATES, OR BANDS, AND ALSO ROUND, FLAT, SQUARE, ANGULAR, AND OTHER BARS
OF IRON OR OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst others) that we,
the said Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams, our executors or adminis-
trators, by an instrument in writing under our, or their, or one of their
hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams,
do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascer-
tained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked
thereon (that is to say):-
The object of this Invention is to straighten, flatten, or bring into
any desired true form sheets, plates, or bars of iron, or other metal of
various sections, and although the apparatus required for operating upon
different forms will necessarily vary somewhat in the arrangement of
parts, the principle of construction will always be the same.

page_text: To flatten a sheet of metal or straighten a crooked or bent bar of iron
is an operation which (as now effected) requires some skill and a con-
siderable amount of labour.
The improved method of effecting the intended object is based upon
the fact that metals after being heated contract very considerably on
cooling, and the operation of flattening, straightening, or bending
metallic sheets or bars can with the assistance of our apparatus be
carried on by unskilled labour.
The Invention consists in first heating a sheet, bar, or other piece of
metal (intended to be operated upon) in a suitable furnace until it is
red hot, in the case of iron and steel, or to a suitable heat in the case
of copper, brass, and other metals. When in this state it is to be
removed from the heating furnace and placed in the apparatus shewn
in the accompanying Drawings, in which Fig. 1, Sheet I., is a side
elevation of a machine intended for straightening flat sheets, bars, or
rods; Fig. 2 is an end elevation, and Fig. 3 is a plan view of the same.
The machine or apparatus is composed mainly of two pairs of strong
cross heads a, a, the lower ones of which rest upon two longitudinal
rails a', a'. Each pair of cross heads is connected by strong vertical
bolts b, b, which also serve as guides to a moveable clamp or jaw c
which is capable of vertical movement and is provided at its central
part with a ball and socket joint c in which is secured the clamping
screwd whereby the jaw c is moved up and down on its guides by
means of the lever d¹. The two pairs of cross heads are connected
together by the long screwed rods e, e. One pair of cross heads at
the one end of the machine may be fixed and the other pair at the
opposite end made moveable and capable of adjustment to any distance
along the screwed part of the rods e, as shewn in Figures 1 and 3.
A set of moveable frames f, f, provided with antifriction rollers f, f¹,
are placed on the lower screwed rods e, e, for the purpose of supporting
the metal plate, bar, or rod (to be operated upon) as when in a red-
hot state such metal plate, bar, or iron would bend of its own weight
and would be inconvenient to manage in the machine unless supported
upon a table or some equivalent device. These roller frames f, f
simply rest upon the rods e, e, and may be placed thereon or lifted off
with facility. The sheet or bar (to be operated upon) is when placed
in the machine rigidly held at both ends by means of the strong

page_text: clamps c, c, which are screwed down very tightly on to the sheet or
bar by means of the lever and screws d, d, at each end so as to nip
it well between the moveable clamp c and the cross head a. The article
is then allowed to cool or partially cool and in so doing will contract
and be strained tightly between the clamps c, c, at each end so that
any cockles, dents, or inequalities in a sheet or any bends or other
irregularities in a bar will be taken out and the article will be rendered
perfectly straight. The machine as above described is adapted for.
straightening or flattening flat sheets, plates, bars, bands, or rods, but
if it be required to straighten round or half round rods, angle iron or
other bars of irregular section, then the moveable clamps or bars c, c,
and the lower cross heads a, a, must be provided with removeable dies
to fit the bars that are to be operated upon, as shewn at h, h', in
Fig. 2.
Figures 4 and 5 represent in side and end elevation the dies required
for clamping a piece of angle iron as at g. The lower die / in which
the angle iron is placed is grooved on its under side to fit on the top
of the lower cross head a. The upper die h¹ is suspended from the
moveable clamping bar c by means of cottars, pins, or screws 1, 1.
Upon bringing down the upper die ¹ on to the heated angle iron, the
end will be nipped and held tightly between the dies h and has in
the former instanco until it has become cold, and in cooling the bar
will contract and will thereby be straightened.
If it be desired to give a permanent set on a curve or bend to a plate
or bar the latter must be placed over a template or table of the desired
curve, as shown in Fig. 6, Sheet II. The clamping devices for holding
the ends of the plate or bar are similar to those already described.
The template or table i, i, is corrugated or grooved on its face to
prevent it from unequally cooling the metal that is to be operated
upon, The bar in cooling will assume the curved or bent form of the
template or other equivalent device. In this way floor or roofing joists
or girders for floors or for constructing bridges may be brought to the
desired camber or curve with facility and with a very slight expenditure
of labour.
Having now described our Invention, and the manner of carrying
the same into effect, we claim as the Invention secured to us by Letters
Patent as aforesaid, straightening, flattening, bending, or curving

page_text: metallic sheets, plates, bands, bars, or rods by first heating them and
then while in this state clamping or securely holding them by the ends
in a machine or apparatus in which they are gradually allowed to cool.
In witness whereof, we, the said Joseph Tall and Alfred Williams,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, the Fourth day of
November in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and sixty-nine.
JOSEPH TALL.
(L.S.)
ALFRED WILLIAMS. (L.S.)