FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET IRON
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, AUGUSTE
EDOUARD, LORADOUX BELLFORD, of 16, Castle Street, Holborn, in the County
of Middlesex,.send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-ninth day of July, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-two, did, for Herself, Her heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford,
Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my exors, adñiors, and assigns, and such
others as I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, my exors, adñiors,
and assigns, should at .any.time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times during the term of years therein expressed, should and law-
fully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, within the Islands of Jersey, Guernsey,
Alderney, 'Sark, and Man, and also within all Her Majesty's Colonies and
Plantations abroad,, the Invention communicated to me by a Foreigner
residing abroad, "FOR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET
IRON;" in which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso obliging
me, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, by an instrument in
writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's High Court
of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately after the date

page_text: of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the same, reference
being thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, do hereby declare that the nature of
my said Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are
described and ascertained by the following statement thereof, that is to say :-
"This is Invention consists of new and useful improvements in the manu-
facture of sheet iron to produce such qualities of it as will be similar to that
which is known by the name of Russia sheet iron. The manufacture of the
improved sheet iron consists of various operations. To prepare a mass of
iron to make it into sheets, it is first forged into a flat oblong piece. 1st. This
mass of iron, which should be of good quality, is then passed three times
through or between heavy rolls for rolling iron, in a manner well known to
all iron manufacturers. After which operation it is cut by any of the
machinery used for that purpose into pieces or lengths of from one foot wide
to three feet long, or of any width and length proper and suitable to the
maker. A piece weighing about fourteen pounds is very suitable for the pur-
pose. Each piece is named a "larget." 2nd. A larget is then to be heated
and passed fourteen times through rolls about fourteen inches in length, and
thus reduced to sheets in the known way of rolling metal. 3rd. Four of these
rolled sheets are then rolled together through rolls of great size and weight,
and all irregular projections are cut off. 4th. After this the sheets are heated
and passed nine times through or between the rolls. When the sheets by these
processes are reduced to the proper size, which size is about twenty-eight by
fifty-six, 28 x 56, inches, they are again heated and rolled, which con-
cludes the operations of rolling, which are preparatory operations of the metal.
After this the sheets are hammered.
Hammering. The hammers for operating on the sheets are of two sizes,
the smallest is oblong on the face, six inches wide, and eighteen inches
long, and weighs about two hundred and fifty pounds.
The largest
hammer is twelve inches square on the face, and weighs about nine hundred
pounds. The anvils for these hammers to operate on are solid and wedged
into cast-iron cases which rest upon solid foundations. Six men are generally
required for each hammer. The sheets already described as having been
made by the former rolling operations are now heated in a furnace
appropriately constructed. A number of sheets are packed together and
enveloped in outside sheets of iron to obstruct as much as possible the
access of air and gases. When they have attained to about a cherry-red heat
they are withdrawn from the furnace, and about twenty of them are laid

page_text: together with fine powdered charcoal sprinkled between each pair on both
sides, and they are then operated on by the small hammer described. They
are hammered in a proper manner, the hammer being made to act upon every
part of the upper sheet, and producing an effect upon every part of the
surface of every sheet in the pile or batch of sheets. After the operation of
the small hammer described, the bundle of sheets is opened, and a new bundle
of such prepared sheets is formed. This bundle is in number about from
forty to sixty sheets, and one hot and one cold sheet is laid alternately the one
on the top of the other without any charcoal between them.
In this arranged
manner and in this condition they are passed under the large hammer
described and well hammered until the surface is smooth. The sheets aro
now ready for annealing. They are annealed in the common mode of anneal-
ing iron, after which processs the sheets are cut and trimmed, and are then
completely finished. Boiler-plate iron may be made of a greatly improved
character by running it between rolls with fine charcoal between the plates.
Any of the common kinds of sheet iron is greatly improved by running the
sheets in a heated state between rolls with fine charcoal dust between them.
The principal features of this Invention arc,-
1st, the manufacture of sheet iron by hammering or rolling the sheets in a
heated state in a pile with fine charcoal powder between them, as described.
2nd, the hammering or rolling of sheets of metal in a pile, one sheet being
hot and another cold, and laid thus in the pile alternately for the purpose of
producing a planishing effect on the surface of the sheets, as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Auguste Edouard Loradoux Bellford, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Twenty-seventh day of January, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
AUGU
RD (L.S.) LARADOUX BELLFORD.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-seventh day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1853, the aforesaid Auguste Edouard Loradoux
Bellford came before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknow-
ledged the Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained
and specified in form above written. And also the Specification aforesaid
was stamped according to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.