Improvements in Guides for Rolls.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 22nd July, 1899-Accepted, 2nd Sept.,
1899
[Communicated from abroad by William Garrett and JOHN CROMWELL, both
of Cleveland, in the County of Cuyahoga, State of Ohio, one of the United
States of America, Mechanical Engineers.]
Improvements in Guides for Rolls.
I, WILLIAM BURGELAND JOHNSON, of 4, Clayton Square, Liverpool, in the County
of Lancaster, 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, reference being had to the accom-
panying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which:-
Fig. 1 shows in front elevation a rolling mill having guides constructed in
accordance with my invention. Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line II-II
on Figure 1.
The object of my invention is to make it practicable to roll metal of round
cross-section and of large diameter, such for example as is used for shafting, etc.,
in the same way and with the same facility as is used in rolling bars of small
section. Heretofore, the work of rolling such large bars has been done by what is
known as rolling by hand, that is, the rolls have been provided with round
grooves, and in entering the piece from one pass to the other, the bar had to be
turned each time at a right angle in order that at each pass a fin formed at the
preceding pass might be effaced. It was further necessary in such operation
for the workmen to hold the piece during its passage through the rolls in proper
position in order to prevent it from turning down as is apt to occur owing to
the roundness of the groove.
Round bars of less diameter than two inches have generally been rolled "by
guides," in which the operator enters the piece between perfectly fitting guides,
and after it has been inserted in the guides he may release it as the guides them-
selves will hold it in position.
It is evident that if a round bar say six inches diameter were required, that
this method could not be followed because of the closeness of the guides and the
difficulty of introducing the heavy metal thereinto, although it dispenses with a
good deal of unnecessary labour owing to the weight of the section and the in-
tense heat given off by the bar.
It is also well known that in rolling round bars by hand there is a limit to the
length of the bar to be rolled owing to the difficulty there is in holding the piece
up in its proper shape while passing through the round grooves without guides,
while in rolling by guides there is practically no limit to the length that can be
obtained. For instance, in rolling rods a round rod can be rolled over two thou-
sand feet long, whereas in rolling by hand it is rarely that bars are rolled to
exceed thirty feet long.
My invention makes the use of guides with their attendant advantages appli-
cable in the manufacture of round bars of large section, thus rendering their
manipulation easier and cheaper and less laborious and thus increasing the output.
In order to explain this clearly, I will suppose that I have a reversing rolling

page_text: mill, upon which I desire to roll say round bars about six inches in diameter;
I may with my improvement take an ingot that will weigh about 5000 pounds more
or less, reduce it down to a square about 63 inches in cross-section, enter it into
an oval-shaped groove, then from that oval-shaped groove into a round groove,
through which it is finished, between a pair of guides.
Instead of using stationary guides as heretofore, I employ guides one of which
at least is movable towards and from the other, and I use a freely movable wedge
acting on the movable guide, and actuating mechanism under the control of the
operator whereby the wedge may be moved freely in either direction and the
guide closed at will upon the metal piece or freed therefrom. When the piece
is introduced, I open the guides to permit its introduction by hand or by use of
suitable feeding appliances, and when the piece has been introduced the guides
are closed upon it in order to hold it in proper position.
In the drawings, 2,2 represent the rolls of a two-high mill, and 3 are guides
which are set opposite the pass of said rolls. Both of these guides may be mov-
able but as shown in the drawing the guide 3 is fixed and the guide 4 is movable
horizontally toward and away from it. This motion is effected by suitable
mechanism, which may be a hand-lever or a motor, such as the cylinder 5 having
an appropriate controlling valve, the piston of the cylinder being connected with
the guide by wedge 6 bearing at one side against the guide and
the other side against a stationary frame or box 7. When the wedge
is raised, the guides are brought together; when the wedge is lowered
the guides are free to be separated. It will be understood that the inclination
of the wedge may be reversed if desirable, or instead of a wedge, other devices
for connecting the motor with the guide may be employed, the only requisite
being that there shall be a device, such as a motor or lever, by which the motion
of the guide may be positively effected.
The guides may be employed not only with a two-high mill as shown in the
drawings, but on a continuously rotating three-high mill.
When the bar is to be introduced into the rolls, the guides are opened, and by
means of the feed-rollers or other mechanism, the piece is introduced thereinto.
Where the rolls are stationary, the piece is brought into contact with the rolls,
the guides then closed and the rolls started; but where, as in a three-high mill,
the rolls are rotated continuously, the piece after being turned up is introduced
by the feed-rollers through the guides, and as soon as it touches the rolls the
guides are closed.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is:
.
A guide for rolls, said guide being made in parts, one of which at least is
movable to and from the other, a freely movable wedge acting on the movable
guide, and actuating mechanism connected with said wedge and under the con-
trol of the operator, whereby the wedge may be moved freely in one direction to
close the guide upon the metal piece or moved in the reverse direction to free
the guide; substantially as described.
Dated 1