IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF STRAIGHTENING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER WIRE, AND IN COATING SUCH WIRE WITH METALS OR LIQUIDS, AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MACHINERY FOR THESE PURPOSES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Cocker, of Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, Gentleman,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE METHOD OF STRAIGHTENING IRON,
STEEL, AND OTHER WIRE, AND IN COATING SUCH WIRE WITH METALS OR
LIQUIDS, AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE MACHINERY FOR THESE PURPOSES."
A communication from abroad by William Henry Paine, of the City of
Brooklyn, State of New York, United States of America, Civil Engineer.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Cocker at the Office
of the Cominissioners of Patents on the 9th December 1876.
"
SAMUEL COCKER, of Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, Gentleman. IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF STRAIGHTENING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER WIRE, AND IN COATING
SUCH WIRE WITH METALS OR LIQUIDS, AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE
MACHINERY FOR THESE PURPOSES."
This Invention of improvements in the method of straightening iron, steel, and
other wire, and in coating such wire with metals or liquids, and in the arrangement
of the machinery for these purposes, consists in so straightening the wire of what-
ever section, coating it with metals or liquids, such as oil, and coiling it up in such
diameters that it shall retain its natural elastic limit unimpaired.
Wire is now straightened from continuous lengths manufactured and set in
permanent curve on the winding block by means of machines operating only by
force through mechanical devices. This treatment disturbs the original clastic
limit of the wire and impairs its ultimate strength and its value.
The object of this Invention is to coat wire in continuous lengths with zinc, lead,
tin, copper, or any other metal used to coat the surface of or wire with oil or any
similar liquid, and at the same time and in part by means employed in that
process to produce wire which in addition to its having a coating as described shall
be straight and still retain its natural elastic limit unimpaired. The wire to be so
treated may be that which is coiled in rings and takes the form of spiral curves
when set free; or it may be that which is already made straight by some process
or treatment.
When coated and treated in the manner now customary both of these kinds of
wire result in a finished product which is coiled and set in the form of spiral curves,

page_text: but when treated according to this Invention the result in both cases is a product
having the qualities previously ascribed to the Invention.
The mechanical part of the Invention consists in placing the guide roller and
winding drum so far from the coating bath that the wire between them or between
the guide roller and winding drum and some point within the coating material shall
become set while still in a straight line between them, and. in making the winding
sufficiently large to draw the wire from the swift through the acid bath, the
coating bath, and winding it upon the drum without resetting it thereby in spiral
curves.
As wire is now coated even if previously straightened it becomes again fixed or
set in spiral curves after being subjected to the coating process. The same result
follows the treatment of wire not previously straightened. Consequently after wire
has been coated it is now subjected to treatment by straightening machines operating
by force applied only through mechanical devices, whereby it is injured, as previously
described. The wire is taken from the usual swifts, thence to the usual acid bath,
thence to the coating bath, thence either from a guide located in the coating
material in the bath or to the guide rollers at considerable distance, by which means
the wire has time to cool; or in this and the after process to be described it may
be aided by a blast of cold air from a fan or other appliances, from thence having
been cooled and set it passes to the winding drum.
The guide rollers are elevated so that the wire may extend from the guide within
The drums are
the bath to the tops of the rollers in a continuous straight line.
placed lower than the guide rollers, requiring the wire to be bent over the latter in
order to reach and be wound upon the former in the usual manner.
The location of the guide rollers and drums is variable, according to the size of
the wire, in any given temperature, and must be such that the wire will be
sufficiently set while held in a straight line not to receive a new set from either of
them.
The wire need not pass in a straight line through the coating bath, and it will
effect the object fairly well if it be held in a straight line only from the last guide
on the pan to the guide roller; but the hest results are obtained by extending the
straight line of the continuous wire from a guide located within the coating
material, and at about the centre of the pan to the guide roller.
The wiping mechanism and process to remove the surplus coating material and
give a small surface to the wire may be located at the outlet of the coating bath.
The winding drum operates the wire, and being resisted by sufficient friction
applied in any known manner to the swift, or to the wire at any point anterior to
the straight line extension thereof, creates sufficient tension to remove any curves
or kinks, and to hold the wire straight. The wire may however be supported at
points along the straight line extension or along its whole length. The operation
of straightening by tension may be assisted by employing pins placed either in the
coating material or near the end of the coating bath toward the winding drum,
between which the wire may be drawn after it is sufficiently heated and softened
in the bath so as to be in part straightened thereby. The wire passes from the
swifts through the bath and coating bath, being carried below the surface of the
fluid contents of each by the guides located therein, as usual for that purpose, and
thereafter to the guide roller and drum, either through the air of an ordinary or
artificially lowered temperature or through any liquid cooling medium, to hasten the
settling of the particles of the wire by simply lowering its temperature, or if desired
through any wiping or drying medium.
The material in the coating bath may be molten zinc, lead, tin, copper, or any
other metal used to coat the surface of wire, or oil, or any similar liquid.
In some instances it is considered desirable to coat only a part of the article to be
coated, leaving the rest uncoated, and by the use of similar means the whole of
the wire may be passed through the coating material and yet be left uncoated;
this means consists in omitting the treatment given in the acid bath. I contemplate
the use of the Invention under such circumstances so as to straighten the wire

page_text: thereby, although the usual means be employed to prevent the coating material
from adhering to the wire in whole or in part. The winding drum is operated in
the usual way and at the usual speed.
For No. 8 wire, and in an average temperature acting upon the straight extension
of the wire, the drum is four and a half feet in diameter, and the guide roller and
winding drum is located eighty feet from the coating bath.
For No. 14 wire the drum is two and a half feet in diameter, and the distance
from the coating bath fifty feet.
For other sizes of wire, sizes and distances in proportion.
These distances of the guide roller and winding drum from the coating bath may
be diminished by interposing in any ordinary manner an artificial cooling medium
of a temperature less than the average atmospheric temperature, and this diminish-
ment may be made in proportion as this cooling medium is lowered in its tem-
perature.
The swift, the guide roller, and winding drum, with the intervening acid bath
and coating bath, may be arranged for three or any desired number of wires to pass
at one time.
The article produced by these combined processes has the following qualities :-
First. The wire is provided with a coating, except when the coating is not caused
to adhere, as described.
Second. The natural limit of elasticity of coated wire is retained unimpaired.
Third. It is in continuous lengths.
And, Fourth. It is straight.
In using the term "natural limit of elasticity," I do not refer to any limit of elas-
ticity existing in the wire at any time previous to the treatment herein described.
In passing through the coating bath such previous limit may be disturbed. I refer
instead to the resulting limit of elasticity produced jointly by the heating of the
coating bath and the cooling and setting of the wire while straight; since I pass
the wire subsequently, and while too cold to be permanently bent thereby, over the
guide roller, and wind it upon a drum sufficiently large, this natural limit of elas.
ticity is retained.
When the wire is left uncoated, as above described, the first quality mentioned is
of course wanting, but the other qualities remain.
Each metal or liquid employed in the coating bath having its own characteristic
temperature when in the proper fluid condition to produce the intended effects, the
wire in passing through it may be acted upon in a manner also characteristic,
resulting in a more or less characteristic limit of elasticity in any given kind of
wire. A similar result may be found in any given kind of wire when it has received
the other parts of the treatment described, but has not been passed through the acid
bath, and when it is not desired to coat the wire.
In straightening some qualities of steel wire required, the process is modified by
passing the wire in continuous lengths through a furnace or any other heating
device, and continuing the wire in a straight line from the heating device or from
some guide near to the same in the deflection or extension to which the wire shall
not have its limit of elasticity disturbed by partial cooling and subsequent bending
to the guide roller and winding drum placed at a sufficient distance to allow the
wire to become set while in a straight line between them, both of which latter shall
be sufficiently large not to reset the wire wound thereon in spiral curves; also in
the combination of the process of tempering and the process of straightening round
steel wire in continuous lengths in one continuous process, consisting in passing the
wire continuously through the heating device, thence to and through the tempering
bath, thence in a straight line to the guide roller and drum, these latter placed so
far from the hardening or tempering bath that the wire shall be cooled and set
before reaching them, and then winding it upon the drum, made of such a size
(according to the size of the wire) that it shall not be permanently reset thereby.
The wire to be so treated may be that which is coiled in rings and takes the form of

page_text: spiral curves when set free, or it may be that which is already made straight by some
process or treatment.
When hardened or when tempered in the manner now customary, both of these
kinds of wire result in a finished product, which is coiled and set in the form of
spiral curves by the guide roller and winding drum as employed; but when hardened
or when tempered according to this Invention, the result in both cases is a product
having the qualities previously ascribed to the improved article of manufacture.
In the process of manufacture, and also whenever submitted to any secondary
heating process in continuous lengths, as in the hardening, coating, &c., round steel
wire as hitherto made has always received the form of rings, which shape themselves
in spiral curves when set free.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Samuel Cocker in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 9th June
1877.
SAMUEL COCKER, of Tuxford, Nottinghamshire, Gentleman. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE METHOD OF STRAIGHTENING IRON, STEEL, AND OTHER WIRE, AND IN COATING
SUCH WIRE WITH METALS OR LIQUIDS, AND IN THE ARRANGEMENT OF THE
MACHINERY FOR THESE PURPOSES." A communication from abroad by William
Henry Paine, of the City of Brooklyn, State of New York, United States of
America, Civil Engineer.
This Invention of improvements in the method of straightening iron, steel, and
other wire, and in coating such wire with metals or liquids, and in the arrangement
of the machinery for these purposes consists in so straightening the wire of what-
ever section, coating it with metals or liquids, such as oil, and coiling it up in such
diameters that it shall retain its natural elastic limit unimpaired.
Wire is now straightened from continuous lengths, manufactured, and set in
permanent curves on the winding block by means of machines operating only by
force through mechanical devices. This treatment disturbs the original elastic limit
of the wire, and impairs its ultimate strength and its value.
The object of this Invention is to straighten wire, and also when required to
coat it in continuous lengths with zinc, lend, tin, copper, or any other metal used to
coat the surface of the wire, or with oil or any similar liquid, and at the same
time and in part by the means employed in the process to produce wire, which, in
addition to its having a coating as described, shall be straight and still retain its
natural elastic limit unimpaired. The wire to be so treated may be that which is
coiled in rings and takes the form of spiral curves when set free, or it may be that
which is already made straight by some process or treatment.
When coated and treated in the manner now customary, both of these kinds of
wire result in a finished product, which is coiled and set in the form of spiral curves;
but when treated according to this Invention the result in both cases is a product
having the qualities previously ascribed to the Invention, and an entirely new
article of manufacture.
The mechanical part of the Invention consists in placing the guide roller aud
winding drum so far from the coating bath that the wire between them or between
the guide roller and winding drum and some point within the coating material
shall become set while still in a straight line between them, and in making the
winding drum sufficiently large to draw the wire from the swift through the acid
bath, the coating bath, and winding it upon the drum without resetting it thereby
in spiral curves.
•
As wire is now coated, even if previously straightened, it becomes again fixed or
set in spiral curves after being subjected to the coating process. The same result

page_text: follows the treatinent of wire not previously straightened; consequently after wire.
has been coated it is now subjected to treatment by straightening machines operating
by force applied only through mechanical devices whereby it is injured, as pre-
viously described. The wire is taken from the usual swift, thence to the usual
acid bath, thence to the coating bath, thence either from a guide located in the
body of the coating material in the bath or to the guide rollers at a considerable
distance, by which means the wire has time to cool, or in this and in the after
process to be described it may be aided by a blast of cold air from a fan or other
appliances, from thence having been cooled and set it passes to the winding
drum.
Figure 1 shows one plan of carrying out the Invention in top view, and Figure 2 in
longitudinal sectional view on line x, x. R, R, are the usual swifts upon which the rings
of wire to be coated and straightened are placed; B, the usual acid bath employed
in the process of coating; P, the coating bath placed over the furnace F provided
with the chimney C, and in which the coating material is located; R¹, R¹, the guide
rollers which first receive the wire W, W, from the bath in a straight line therefrom,
or from a guide G located within the body of coating material in the bath P; R², R²,
the winding drums upon which the wire is finally wound after it has become cooled
and set while in a straight line..
The guide rollers are elevated so that the wire may extend from the guide G
within the bath P to the tops of the rollers in a continuous straight line. The drums
R2, R2, are placed lower than the guide rollers, requiring the wire to be bent over
the lattor in order to reach and be wound upon the former in the usual manner.
The location of the guide rollers and druins is variable, according to the size of
the wire in any given temperature, and must be such that the wire will be
sufficiently set while held in a straight line not to receive a new set from either of
them.
The wire need not pass in a straight line through the coating bath, and it will
effect the object fairly well if it be held in a straight line only from the last guide
on the pan to the guide roller, but the best results are obtained by extending the
straight line of the continuous wire from a guide located within the coating material,
and at about the centre of the pan to the guide roller R¹.
The wiping mechanism and process move the surplus coating material, and give
a smooth surface to the wire, may be located at the outlet of the coating bath.
The winding drum operates the wire, and being resisted by sufficient friction
applied in any known manner to the swift R, or to the wire at any point anterior
to the straight line, extension thereof creates sufficient tension to remove any curves
or kinks, and to hold the wire straight. The wire may however be supported at
points along the straight lines extension, or along its whole length. The operation of
straightening by tension may be assisted by employing pins placed either in the
coating material or near the end of the coating bath toward the winding drum,
between which the wire may be drawn after it is sufficiently heated and softened
in the bath, so as to be in part straightened thereby. The wire passes from the
swifts through the bath B and coating bath P, being carried below the surface of
the fluid contents of each by the guides located therein, as usual for that purpose,
and thereafter to the guide roller and drum either through the air of an ordinary
or artificially lowered temperature, or through any liquid cooling medium, to
hasten the setting of the particles of the wire by simply lowering its temperature,
or if desired through any wiping or drying medium.
The material in the coating bath may be molten zinc, lead, tin, copper, or any
other metal used to cut the surface of wire, or oil, or any similar liquid.
In some instances it is considered desirable to coat only a part of the article
to be coated, leaving the rest uncoated, and by the use of similar means the whole
of the wire may be passed through the coating material, and yet be left uncoated.
This means consists in omitting the treatment given in the acid bath. I contem-
plate the use of the Invention under such circumstances so as to straighten the
wire thereby, although the usual means be employed to prevent the coating

page_text: material from adhering to the wire in whole or in part. The winding drum is
operated in the usual way (not shown in the Drawing), and at the usual speed.
For No. 8 wire, and in an average temperature acting upon the straight extension
of the wire the drum is four and a half feet in diameter, and the guide roller and
winding drum is located eighty feet from the coating bath.
For No. 14 wire the drum is 'two and a half feet in diameter, the distance from
the coating bath fifty-feet.
For other sizes of wire, sizes and distances in proportion.
These distances of the guide roller and winding drum from the coating bath may
be diminished by interposing in any ordinary manner an artificial cooling medium of
temperature less than the average atmospheric temperature, and this diminishment
may be made in proportion as this cooling medium is lowered in its temperature.
The swift, the guide roller, and winding drum, with the intervening acid bath
and counting bath may be arranged for three or any desired number of wires to
pass at one time.
I have represented in the Drawing three systems consisting of a swift, a guide
roller, and a winding drum, with the intervening acid bath and coating bath, through
which latter the three wires upon each system may pass or be passing at one and
the same time. These systems may be increased to the usual extent.
The article produced by these combined processes has the following qualities:—
First. The wire is provided with a coating, except when the coating not caused
to adhere as described.
Second. The natural limit of elasticity of coated wire is retained unimpaired.
Third. It is in continuous lengths.
And, Fourth. It is straight.
In using the term "natural limit of elasticity," I do not refer to any limit of
elasticity existing in the wire at any time previous to the treatment herein described.
In passing through the coating bath such previous limit may be disturbed. I
refer instead to the resulting limit of elasticity produced jointly by the heating of
the coating bath, and the cooling and setting of the wire while straight. Since I
pass the wire subsequently and while too cold to be permanently bent thereby
over the guide roller, and wind it upon a drum sufficiently large, this natural limit
of elasticity is retained.
When the wire is left uncoated, as above described, the first quality mentioned
is of course wanting, but the other qualities remain.
Each metal or liquid employed in the coating bath having its own characteristic
temperature when in the proper fluid condition to produce the intended effects, the
wire in passing through it may be acted upon in a manner also characteristic,
resulting in a more or less characteristic limit of elasticity in any given kind of
"wire. A similar result may be found in any given kind of wire, when it has
received the other parts of the treatment described but has not been passed through
the acid bath, and when it is not desired to coat the wire.
In straightening some qualities of steel wire required the process is modified by
passing the wire in continuous lengths through a furnace or any other heating
device, and continuing the wire in a straight line from the heating device or from
some guide near to the same in the deflection or extension to which the wire shall
not have its limit of elasticity disturbed by partial cooling and subsequent bending
to the guide roller and winding drum placed at a sufficient distance to allow the
wire to become set while in a straight line between them, both of which latter
shall be sufficiently large not to reset the wire wound thereon in spiral curves;
also in the combination of the process of tempering and the process of straightening
round steel wire in continuous lengths in one continuous process, consisting in
passing the wire continuously through the heating device, thence to and through the
tempering bath, thence in a straight line to the guide roller and drum; these latter
placed so far from the hardening or tempering bath that the wire shall be cooled
and set before reaching them, and then winding it upon the drum made of such a
size (according to the size of the wire) that it shall not be permanently reset

page_text: thereby. The wire to be so treated may be that which is coiled in rings and takes
the form of spiral curves when set free, or it may be that which is already made
straight by some process or treatment.
When hardened or when tempered in the manner now customary both of these
kinds of wire result in a finished product, which is coiled and set in the form of
spiral curves by the guide roller and winding drum as employed; but when
hardened or when tempered, according to this Invention, the result in both cases
is a product having the qualities previously ascribed to the improved article of
manufacture.
In the process of manufacture and also whenever submitted to any secondary
heating process in continuous lengths, as in hardening, cooling, &c., round steel wire
as hitherto made has always received the form of rings which shape themselves in
spiral curves when set free. To remove this objection the operation of straightening
by machinery while cold has been practiced in a great variety of ways, but with
the invariable result of the disturbance of the elastic limit of the wire and other
injury thereto. In a machine contrived and used by the communicator this cold
straightening process is made to consist of only the necessary correcting flexure
required to make the wire straight; but in some machines the bendings received by
the wire for this purpose are numerous, while in a large class of thein a device is
employed which with the wire in charge revolves rapidly, in some instances having
as high as eight hundred revolutions per minute, and requiring five horse power
to drive them. In these machines the wire is bent and twisted incessantly until in
some instances its limit of elasticity is nearly if not entirely destroyed and its
strength dimished materially.
The principle governing this operation may be approximately stated as follows:-
Given cast steel wire, 'No. 8, 14 feet per pound, and 165" diameter, capable of
sustaining a strain of 3,401 pounds or 160,000 pounds per square inch, and of a
modulus of elasticity of 28,000,000 and assumed limit of elasticity of 80,000 pounds
per square inch, which usually takes a natural curve when released by twenty-four
inches radius in the form of a spiral. Reverse this curve by bending cold until the
radius of the reverse curve is nine and one-half inches. Then release the wire and
it will be straight. It may be assumed that the extension and compression in each
case are equal. Measurement and calculation show that the outer surface is com-
pressed, and the inner surface is extended during the operation, each to the amount
of about one and two-tenths per cent. resulting in a permanent compression, and
extension of about one-third of one per cent., which causes the wire to naturally
take the position of a straight line when set free. Assuming that the neutral axis
passes through the centre of the wire, I find that 3487 of the area of the cross
section has been strained over 80,000 pounds in extension and the same in
compression. This amounts in the aggregate to 6974 of the whole area.
Further it is found, comparing the stretch with results obtained from the tests of
long lengths, that about fifty per cent. has been subjected to strains of over 130,000
pounds, and above thirty-seven per cent. to strains of over 140,000 pounds per
square inch. When the wire has been thus strained beyond the limit of elasticity
it has received an injury and also a permanent compression and extension in pro-
portion to the area of its cross section, which has in any given case been subjected
to strain beyond its limit of elasticity. In addition to the effects produced in 6974
of the arca of the cross section, the remainder of the whole area, while it has not
been carried beyond the limit of elasticity, has been subjected to a strain which now
becomes a constant and internal strain operating by compression and extension each
in opposition to the other.
When steel wire is treated in this manner to straighten it in quantities for
practical use it is really impossible to ascertain to what strains it has been sub-
jected or what injury it may have received. These defects of the steel wire now
inanufactured, which is required to be straight and is cold straightened, is avoided
in the straight steel wire manufactured according to this method.
Steel wire treated in the manner of this Invention is fixed, and its particles are

page_text: fixed or set in continuous lengths, while the wire is still kept straight, and when
unrolled from the ring it naturally extends in a straight line and free from curves.
It retains its elastic limit and also its original tensile strength unimpaired. No
bending or straightening process while cold and while its particles are subject to
strains and incipient rupture is required.
The limit of the strain to which it is to be subjected in any structure having
been ascertained, the quantity necessary for absolute safety and certainty or to keep
the strain within the limit of elasticity may be ascertained and employed. Since
no cold compression and extension having occured from bending and straightening
my straight steel wire, unlike wire as now made, retains its natural limit of elasticity
and its strength unimpaired to be employed in the structure.
Practical comparative tests have been made of the coiled steel wire set in curves
as previously described direct from the coil or ring without straightening, and of my
round straight steel wire of the size, weight, and quality previously named with
results as follows:-Taking a given length of each, and subjecting it to a strain of
800 pounds to take out all slight curves or kinks, and to obtain an assumed zero
point at which the wire might be treated as straight, and beyond which any gain
in length might be treated as extension, 400 pounds was taken off, leaving still on
400 pounds; adding thereto 500 pounds weight on each, a resulting stretch or
extension in the coiled wire was found of 00088, and in the straight of 00085, taking
off the 500 pounds, and leaving on only the 400 pounds, again it was found that the
former had a permanent increase of length of 00002, and in the latter no perceptible
increase whatever, but instead a return to zero; adding next 600 lbs. to each, the first
result was extension 00109 and 001031/, respectively, and taking it off, a permanent
extension remained of 00003 in the coiled, while the straight returned to zero again.
Continuing the increase by 100 pounds each time, an increasing stretch was found in
each at each stage, less in the straight than in the coiled, and without any apparent
permanent extension in the straight until the strain was 1,400 pounds total when a
visible extension first appeared. At 1,500 pounds a permanent extension of 0001
appeared in the straight against 00019 in the coiled. From this point the ex-
tension in the coiled increased much faster than in the straight, until at 2,400
pounds total it was 00600 and 00370 respectively with corresponding permanent
extension in each.
The result of these tests was approximately as follows:-In the coiled wire,
ultimate strength per square inch equal to 125,290 pounds modulas of elasticity
undiscoverable; and in the straight wire, ultimate strength per square inch equal to
127,446 pounds modulas of elasticity equal to 28,944,011 pounds limit of elasticity,
equal to fifty per cent.
The arrangement of the machinery is very similar to that already described.
There is the usual swift to receive the coil to be treated, from whence it passes to
the furnace in which the wire is operated upon by heat in direct contact, its function
being to render the particles of the wire mobile so as to facilitate the straightening
of the wire without violence to them in case the wire is previously curved or kinked,
and so to relieve or revolve any constant internal strains received in drawing, or
otherwise in case the wire is already straight. This furnace should be made of such
a width and construction as to receive side by side any desired number of wires for
treatment.
The furnace may be supplied with fuel of any usual kind, or instead thereof a gas
combustion chamber or any other heating device may be employed. In these
devices the heat is applied directly to the wire. I also contemplate the use of
heating devices wherein the heat acts indirectly or through some intermediate body
in contact with the wire, and capable of transmitting sufficient heat thereto for the
purposes named, that is, it may pass through a hardening or tempering bath
intended to contain water in the one case, and oil or any other usual liquid for
hardening or for tempering, and so elevated as to receive the wire in a straight line
from the furnace through an aperture in the end of the bath into the liquid therein,.
and pass it out in the same manner in a straight line toward the guide roller

page_text: and winding drum. These apertures may have any suitable packing to prevent
leakage.
The bath may be placed on a level with the furnace, and the wire be depressed
as it passes from the furnace under a guide in the bath so as to carry it beneath the
surface of the liquid therein, and extend thence in a straight line to the guide roller;
but in that case the bath should be so near the furnace and also the guide therein
under which it is depressed that the particles of the wire shall not set nor materially
begin to set while it is thus being bent out of a straight line. On the contrary, in
order to secure the best results it is necessary that the gradual and the completed
setting of the particle should take place while the wire is held in a straight line in
order that the finished wire may be as free as possible from curves, from tendency
to curve, and from all internal strains, whether of extension, compression; or
otherwise.
The temperature of the liquid contents of the bath may be high, low, or inter-
mediate, as may be required, to produce wire of any particular desired kind or
quality.
Where neither hardening nor tempering is desired the bath may be omitted or
put one side, and the wire extended directly from the furnace to the guide roller
through the air of an average or of an artificially lowered or elevated temperature
within the limits suitable for setting the wire.
A modification of an average temperature either in the bath contents or in the
air requires a corresponding modification of the distance required between the
furnace and the guide roller to produce the desired result.
As the temperature is
lowered the length of the straight line extension between them may be diminished,
and as it is elevated it must be increased in operating upon any given size of wire.
In other words, the distance of the guide roller and the drum from the furnace is
variable, and regulated both by the size of the wire and the temperature of the
intervening medium, the principle being that the particles must have time to set or
become fixed while the wire is yet held in a straight line, and before it is bent by
the guide roller and drum out of a straight line; 50, 80, or 100 feet will sometimes
be necessary.
The wire may be supported at intervals.
The sizes of the guide roller and the drum must be such for any given size and
quality of wire that they shall not give the wire sufficient flexure to reset the wire
in the form of spiral curves when bent over or around the same.
.
For No. 8 wire, and in an average temperature acting upon the straight line
extension of the wire, the drum is about four and one-half feet in diameter, and the
guide roller and winding drum is located about eighty feet from the heating
apparatus.
For No. 14 wire the drum is about two and one-half feet diameter, and the
distance from the heating apparatus about fifty feet.
For other sizes of wire I make these sizes and distances in proportion. In case
of wire that is hard and of a spring temper a small guide roller, a smaller drum, and
a greater flexure in leading from one to the other may be used, and when the wire
is softer and of a lower temper the roller and drum must be sufficiently large, and
the amount of flexure from one to the other should be less than it may in the other
case. As the round steel wire comes from the draw plate it has a variety of
unascertainable and fixed or constant internal strains due to its severe mechanical
treatment in the process of drawing. These strains may be supposed to be disposed
irregularly throughout the body of the wire. There is however one fixed and
characteristic element present which to a greater or lesser extent controls or
modifies these inherent strains, this is the form of the wire which is round, and its
right angle cross section has the contour of a circle which is divided by a line
coincident with the neutral axis into two half circles.
In using the term "natural limit of elasticity" I do not refer to any limit of
elasticity existing in the wire at any time previous to the treatment herein described.
In passing through the furnace any such previous limit will be disturbed. I refer
instead to the resulting limit of elasticity produced.in each case by the processes or

page_text: combinations of processes described herein, when the wire is allowed to cool, harden,
or temper, and set while straight. This natural limit of elasticity is retained when
the wire is not permanently bent or set by passing over the guide roller and around
the drum.
Practice shows that the amount of heat used in galvanizing is quite sufficient to
straighten any wire if a moderate tension is kept on it while passing through the
bath. Hence it is not alway necessary in the wire which is galvanized to depart
from the usual methods of drawing or tempering. It is only necessary to arrange
the bath and the guide pulleys at such a distance so as to cool the wire
before going around the pulley as not to become permanently bent. If the wire is
not required to be galvanized it can be straightened by running it through the hot
bath without previously running it through the acid, when the zinc will not adhere,
of course the proper tension being given, as described. This is preferable often to
'any attempt to draw the wire straight through the dies, as that requires careful
adjustment, when also the wire is so strained in being drawn that it has not got its
full strength. The heat of the bath accommodates the strains quickly, and from this
'there is sometimes a gain in strength of 5 to 7%.
The gain in strength over the usual revolving straightening machines has some-
times reached as high as 33%
Wire can also be manufactured straight at once and kept straight if the distance
between the wordle or draw plate, and the drum or block shall be such that the
heat generated by the passage of the wire through the plate shall have cooled down
whilst the wire is in a straight line between them, and then be wound upon a drum
or block much larger in diameter than has been used heretofore, by which means
the-wire will not be set in spiral curves, but will have its elastic limit unimpaired.
The distance between the wordle or draw plate and drum or block has been
approximately indicated in a previous part of the Specification.
Having now described and particularly set forth the nature of the said Invention,
and the manner of carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that
what I claim is,-
First. The combination of the process of coating and the process of straightening
iron and steel wire in continuous lengths in one continuous process, consisting in
passing the wire continuously from the swift through the acid bath, thence to and
through the coating bath, thence in a straight line to the guide roller and drum,
these latter being placed so far from the coating bath that the wire shall be cooled
and set before reaching them, and then winding it upon the drum made of such
a size, according to the size of the wire, that it shall not be permanently set
thereby.
Second. The combination of the molton and liquid bath P and the winding
drum R2 and guide roller R¹, the two latter being placed so far from the former that
the wire between them becomes cooled and set while extended in a straight line,
the winding drum R² and guide roller R¹ being so proportioned that the wire shall
not be reset in spiral curves upon its being wound or bent thereon.
Third. As an improved article of manufacture, straight coated wire in continuous
lengths with its natural limit of elasticity unimpaired.
Fourth. As an improved article of manufacture, straight wire in continuous
lengths with the limit of elasticity naturally imparted by the coating bath
unimpaired.
Fifth. As a new article of manufacture, round straight steel wire in continuous
lengths with the natural limit of elasticity imparted by the heating device and
subsequent cooling unimpaired.
Sixth. As a new article of manufacture, round straight tempered steel wire in
continuous lengths, with the limit of elasticity imparted by the heating device and
subsequent tempering bath and cooling unimpaired.
Seventh. The process of straightening round steel wire of various sizes in con-
tinuous lengths, consisting of passing the wire through the heating device, and
thence in a straight line to the roller guide and drum, placed so far from the heating

page_text: apparatus that the wire shall be permanently set between them, and then wound on
a drum of such diameter as shall not reset in the form of spiral coils.
Eighth. The combination of the process of tempering and the process of straight-
ening round steel wire in continuous lengths in one continuous process, consisting
in passing the wire continuously through the heating device, thence to and through
the tempering bath, thence in a straight line to the guide roller and drum, the latter
placed so far from the tempering bath that the wire shall be cooled and set before
reaching them, and then winding it upon the drum made of such a size, according
to the size of the wire, that it shall not be permanently bent thereby.
Ninth. The combination of the heating device, the hardening and tempering
bath, and the winding drum and guide roller, the two latter being placed at the
relative distance from the tempering bath so that the wire shall be cooled and set
while extended in a straight line between them, and the winding drum and the
guide roller being constructed of diameters proportioned to the size of the wire, as
set forth, whereby the resetting of the wire in spiral coils upon its being wound or
bent thereon is prevented, substantially as described.
Tenth. The method indicated in the paragraph before the first claim, whereby
straight wire can be made at once and kept straight, so as not to set in spiral
curves.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Cocker, have hereunto set my hand and
seal, this Seventh day of June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight
bundred and seventy-seven.
SAMUEL COCKER. (L.S.)