AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MANUFACTURING RAILWAY WHEEL TYRES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF STEEL
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michael Henry, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of
London, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF
MANUFACTURING RAILWAY WHEEL TYRES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF STEEL."
A communication from abroad by Pierre Sabatier and Nicolas Theophile
Deyeux, of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris.
Sealed the 16th April 1861, and dated the 29th October 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michael Henry at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 29th
October 1860.
.I, MICHAEL HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent
Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF MANUFACTURING RAILWAY WHEEL TYRES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF
STEEL," (communicated to me from abroad by Pierre Sabatier and Nicolas
Theophile Deyeux, of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris,) to be as
follows:-
According to this Invention it is proposed to manufacture tyres or other
articles by melting the metal, of which they are to be composed, in a crucible
or melting pot, the internal shape of which is the same as or corresponds to
the intended shape of the tyre or article to be produced; which crucible is

page_text: placed in a furnace, and the metal melted into shape and cooled down therein.
The crucible is broken to remove therefrom the tyre or article so produced.
This crucible thus serves not only as a melting pot, but also as a mould.
Although I say that its shape and that of the tyre or article correspond, yet
in the case of tyres, and where it is thought desirable to subject an article to
subsequent hammering and rolling, the dimensions are not quite the same, but
allow of the tyre or article produced in the crucible being hammered and
rolled to the exact size required. For tyres and certain other articles annular
crucibles are employed.
For carrying the Invention into effect various descriptions of furnaces may
be used. In the arrangements preferred for performing the Invention a fur-
nace is used, in which a chamber for receiving the crucible is placed between
two or three furnaces or chambers kept during the process full of fuel, fed in
at top and falling on to fire-bars where it burns, and whence the products of
combustion pass to the crucible chamber, the fuel being thus kept from
contact with the crucible; there are removeable covers to the chambers, and
a gallery for clearing the bars and admitting air to maintain combustion,
though air may sometimes be forced in beneath the bars; the combustion only
extending to a certain level the charge is kept cool at top, while the heat not
being interrupted gradually attains an elevated degree, the continuous feed
allowing of inferior fuel being used; and coal may be added to the coke, coke
being on the side nearer the crucible chamber, and coal on that farther from
it; the crucible can be annealed in this furnace.
The crucible is of refractory clay or refractory earth. Its cover is remove-
able, and preferably has small openings, each with a lid.
In one mode of performing the Invention, the crucible having been annealed
by surrounding it with small coke and brought to cherry-red heat, is conveyed
by wheeled tongs to the melting furnace (previously heated to nascent white
heat,) in which it is rested on blocks. The crucible is charged with pieces of
metal mixed with flux or not; the products of combustion circulate all round
and about the crucible and escape into a chimney with a valve at top. When
the contents of the crucible are sufficiently fluid the fire is stopped by closing
this valve, and they are left in the crucible in the furnace to cool down. For
heavy articles, metal elsewhere melted may be added to the fluid matter through
a crucible perforated at bottom. Among the advantages of our process is this,
that it substitutes mechanical means for the manual labors performed under
severe heat according to the old method; also the crucible only serving once
and being apart from the fuel is preserved from scoria, and the enamel or
vitrified coating left is so thin that it and the scoriform metallic film can be

page_text: removed by a grindstone or revolving metal hoop, and the material of the
crucible, after being pounded and mixed with a little crude clay or plastic
earth, may be used over again and again for manufacturing fresh crucibles,
the successive torrefactions allowing of their being coated with improving
substances, such as oxide of manganese. The details described for performing
the Invention may be varied.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Michel Henry in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 29th
April 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHAEL
HENRY, of 84, Fleet Street, in the City of London, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Michael Henry, Her special licence that I, the said Michael Henry,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Michael Henry, my executors, administrators, and assigns; should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and 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
MANUFACTURING RAILWAY WHEEL TYRES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF STEEL," com-
municated to me from abroad by Pierre Sabatier and Nicolas Theophile
Deyeux, of 33, Boulevard Saint Martin, Paris, upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Michael Henry, my executors or administrators, by
an instrument in writing under my, 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 performed, 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 I, the said Michael Henry, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following

page_text: statement thereof, as communicated to me, reference being had to the accom-
panying Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is
to say:-
According to this Invention, tyres and other articles are manufactured by
melting the metal of which they are to be composed in a crucible or melting
pot, the internal shape of which is the same as or corresponds to the intended
shape of the tyre or article to be produced, and this crucible is placed in a
furnace and the metal melted into shape and cooled down therein. The cru-
cible is broken, in order to remove therefrom the tyre or article so produced.
The crucible thus serves not only as a melting pot but also as a mould.
Although I say that its shape and that of the tyre or article correspond, yet
in the case of tyres, and where it is thought desirable to subject an article to
subsequent hammering and rolling, the dimensions are not quite the same, but
are such as to allow of the tyre or article produced in the crucible being ham-
mered and rolled to the exact size required. For tyres and other articles of
annular shape annular crucibles are employed.
For carrying the Invention into effect various descriptions of furnaces may
be used, but in the arrangement of furnace preferred for the purpose, which
arrangement is represented in the accompanying Drawings, a chamber for re-
ceiving the crucible is placed between two or three furnaces or chambers kept
during the process full of fuel, which is fed in at top and falls on to fire-bars
where it burns, and whence the products of combustion pass to the crucible
chamber, by which means the fuel is kept from contact with the crucible.
There are removeable covers to the chambers, and a gallery for clearing
the fire-bars and admitting air to maintain combustion, though air may some-
times be forced in beneath the bars; the combustion in the fire chambers only
extending to a certain level therein; the charge of fuel is kept cool at top
while the heat not being interrupted gradually attains an elevated degree; the
continuous feed allows of inferior fuel being used, and coal may be added to
the coke; the coke being on the side nearer the crucible chamber, and the
enal on that farther from it. The crucible can be annealed in this furnace.
The crucible is of refractory clay or refractory earth. Its cover is remove-
able, and preferably has small openings, each with a lid.
The foregoing arrangement of furnace is represented in the accompanying
Drawings, of which Figure 1 is a vertical section on the line T, V, of Figure 3;
Figure 2, vertical section on line a, b, of Figures 1, 3, and 4; Figure 3, hori-
zontal section on line Y, X, of Figures 1 and 2; Figure 4, horizontal section
on line 3, 4, of Figure 2.

page_text: A, A, are furnaces or chambers, called herein the "fire chambers," into which
the fuel is charged, and in which it is burnt for the production of heat for
melting the metal. These chambers are furnished with grates or fire-bars J
supported on brackets, and they communicate by means of flues, passages, or
openings B, B, with a chamber D situated between them; in this chamber D,
which I call the melting chamber, the crucible C is placed; the flames and
hot gases or acriform products of combustion pass from the fire chambers A
through the openings B into the melting chamber D, and there circulate all
around and about the crucible and melt or fuse its contents.
For melting
metal for tyres and other articles of heavy weight, and in certain exceptional
cases, a third fire chamber A is used, situated at A', opposite the draft open-
ing E on the same plane with the other two, its mouth being level with theirs.
Fuel is charged into the fire chambers through their mouths R, which are
flush with the floor of the foundry. The fire chambers are kept constantly
full of fuel from their fire-bars up to their mouths the whole time the furnace
is in operation, and their mouths are closed by moveable cast-iron plates L,
which are removed when required. Although the fire chambers are kept filled
with fuel, combustion only actually takes place in the space between the grate
J, and the line 1, 2, (or thereabouts), above which line up to the mouth R the
heat of the fuel gradually decreases, and the charge therefore remains cool at
top. In descending the space from R to the line 1, 2, the fuel becomes gra-
dually heated as combustion goes on, so that it has only acquired such heat as
may have prevailed in the space it has passed through when it reaches the
part where combustion is taking place, where also it is not cooled down by
the admission of the fresh fuel notwithstanding that the chamber is kept full, so
that the fire may be continuously fed; the temperature being thus kept up
uninterruptedly gradually rises to a very high point, and by these means
superior products of fusion are obtained.
In this arrangement of furnace the crucible C is kept from direct contact
with the fuel, and is thus preserved from being injured thereby. Amongst
other advantages derivable from the use of this furnace are these, that the
feed of fuel to the fire being continuous, a very high temperature can be
attained even with middling or inferior fuel, and instead of using coke alone,
coal may be added thereto, as before stated, the coke being so charged into A
as to lie nearest the melting or crucible chamber D, while the coal lies farthest
from it, so that the volatile products of distillation given off from the coal
pass through the contiguous incandescent mass of coke and acquire a high
temperature, while at the same time the coke ignited thereby does its part of

page_text: the work. Moreover, there is no need of exercising any particular caution in
clearing the fire-bars, as the crucible is kept away from them; and the
charging of the fuel demands no special exertion as in the case of ordinary
furnaces that have to be charged at intervals. The crucible may be annealed
in this furnace instead of using a special annealing furnace for that purpose.
E is the escape flue leading from the melting chamber into a chimney N ; this
chimney has a register or damper O at top, and may be from 55 to 60 feet
high, or even higher, according to the class of fuel used. F, F, are brick sup-
ports, all of one height, placed on the sole of the melting chamber for supporting
the crucible, and raising it from off the sole; any number of these supports F
may be used.
C, shewn in vertical section Figure 1, and plan Figure 3, is the crucible,
composed wholly of refractory earth, and here represented as of an annular shape,
constructed for the production of a tyre. The internal capacity or form of the
crucible corresponds to the intended configuration of the tyre, allowing in respect
of breadth, thickness, and diameter, for the tyres being afterwards hammered
and rolled to the exact required dimensions; the flange being provided for by
the small recess, as shewn. The crucible is of course of proportionate thick-
ness to the weight of tyre to be produced. indicates the thickness of the
sides and bottom; c is the crucible cover constructed in three pieces, each with
a small opening closed by a lid d, by moving which lids 'd (by an iron bar, for
example) the interior of the crucible can be examined without having to take
off the main covers c for the purpose. The pieces forming the cover e have
projecting lugs, for convenience of grasping them with the tongs. The crucible
being raised on the supports F, a space is left between it and the melting
chamber floor, so that the heat and flames can get under it and surround it on
all sides; and the crucible being of annular configuration, the flames can of
course get into the central space or part of the melting chamber which it
encircles, so as to come in contact with and act upon all parts of the external
surface of the crucible. G, G, are ash-pits; H, space under the melting
chamber, its object being to concentrate the heat; I, opening at the level of
the sole of the melting chamber, through which an instrument can be intro-
duced to lift up the crucible when it has to be removed; this opening should
be kept carefully closed by a movable double wall or door while the melting is
going on. K is a removeable cover of earth or clay hooped with iron for closing
the mouth of the chamber D; P, gallery for getting at and clearing the fire-
bars; through this gallery also the atmospheric air enters to keep up combus-
tion in ordinary cases, that is to say, when there is no need to force in air for

page_text: the purpose;
but in extraordinary cases, as for example, when the fuel is very
inferior and condensed air is required to get the requisite heat from it, or
otherwise, when desirable, air may be forced through tubes into the ash-pits G
under each set of fire-bars, in which case the ash-pit is closed at front by sheet-
iron doors. Qis a cover over the gallery level with the foundry floor, furnished
with iron supports.
R', shewn in vertical section, Figure 5, is a separate annealing furnace,
which may be used for annealing the crucible instead of performing that opera-
ration in the melting furnace, whenever it is desirable not to use the latter for
the purpose, either for want of time or otherwise.
I now proceed more particularly to describe in what manner the Invention
may be performed.
The crucible is placed in the furnace R¹, where it is surrounded with small
coke and heated slowly and gradually till it attains a cherry red heat; it is
conveyed thence by wheeled or travelling tongs to the melting furnace, and
lowered by other tongs into the chamber D, the melting furnace having been
previously brought to a nascent or incipient white heat. The crucible is rested on
the supports F in the chamber, so as to stand as evenly as possible; the cover
K is then closed down and the temperature gradually raised till the crucible
attains the required heat, whereupon the workman opens the cover K, takes
the tongs and removes the crucible cover c, and charges the crucible with the
metal material through a conical funnel.
The metal, before being thrown into the crucible, is broken into small frag-
ments, and may be mixed with flux or not; of course there is an excess of
metal supplied to the crucible to allow for loss in the fusion and in the sub-
sequent mechanical operations. Care is taken before replacing the crucible
cover to distribute or level down the metal with a hooked bar, to prevent
pieces protruding above the edge, which would keep the cover from fitting
on properly. When the crucible is charged, its cover replaced, and the
cover K closed, the chambers A are kept charged full of fuel, and the melting
of the contents of the crucible goes on; the hot gases from the chamber A
pass through the openings B into the chamber D, surround the crucible on all
sides, and escape through the flue E into the chimney N. I may here mention
that one man or two boys would suffice for keeping several such furnaces
charged when this improved method is employed, on account of their not being
subjected to intense heat, and a single attendant can manage to keep the fire-
bars of a number of these furnaces in order, and ascertain if the metal be
sufficiently fused, for he would have merely to move the cover K and the lids d

page_text: a little aside, and to plunge an iron bar into the crucible, when, if he find the
contents sufficiently fused, he reduces the fire by closing the damper O and
stopping the feed of fuel. The crucible with its molten contents is left in the
melting chamber to cool down, for it is believed that the crystallization result
ing from the slow and gradual cooling down of the fused metal sheltered from
contact with air is the most certain guarantee for obtaining products of
superior quality and resistance. As soon as the temperature of the melting
chamber is reduced to the required point, the crucible still containing the tyre
is removed therefrom by strong hooked tongs, or grasping instruments, or
otherwise, and the furnace is then ready for a fresh operation to be proceeded
with as before. The crucible has to be broken to remove the tyre from it,
and the tyre can be brought to the required dimensions and finished off by
hammering and rolling, or as required.
When heavy articles have to be produced, it would be too long and trouble-
some an operation if the whole of the metal required had to be fused in the
crucible, therefore, in such a case, metal melted in other furnaces is added to
the fluid metal in the crucible through another crucible; for this purpose a
common crucible perforated at bottom is taken, and after having been heated,
is so placed that its lower opening may come directly upon one of the openings
in the crucible cover c, and its top opening or mouth project a little higher
than, the top of the melting chamber, and the contents of other crucibles
melted in another furnace are then poured through it into the crucible in the
chamber D; but this is only done when the contents of the latter crucible are
fluid. When sufficient metal has been thus poured in, the crucible C is allowed
to cool down, as before explained.
By the means proposed in this Specification, the main difficulty in the manu-
facture of cast-steel tyres is overcome, namely, the absence of sufficient fluidity
of metal to enable it to assume a required shape, and an uninterrupted homo-
geneousness of product are obtained, whereas in the ordinary mode of casting
from the crucible into ingot moulds, the tyre is liable to break under the
hammer when the stream of metal happens to be disproportionate at parts to
the breadth of mould.
The improved method of manufacture herein described is cheap, and by its
adoption the workmen avoid the severe labor of removing the crucibles con-
taining fluid steel from the furnace to the ingot moulds and casting their
contents therein; the work is rendered far lighter, because the crucible is
lowered into the furnace and charged with metal before the furnace has
reached its maximum heat, and need not be removed therefrom till it has sunk

page_text: to a dull red heat, or even lower. Among other advantages of the process is
this, that it allows of mechanical means being substituted for the manual ope-
rations performed under intense heat in the ordinary methods.
Each crucible in this improved method serves only once, but even this is an
economy in the end, for its material will serve again and again, when, as in
the arrangements I have described, the crucible is kept froin contact with the
fuel and is preserved from the adherence of scoria; and as only a single cast-
ing takes place in each crucible, the enamel or vitreous film produced on its
surfaces is very thin. Thus, the thin enamel or film formed on the outer sur-
face of the crucible and the scoriform metallic pellicle formed on its inner
surface may be removed by grindstones or revolving steel or cast-iron hoops or
rings, (which old men, women, or children might do,) far more completely and
cheaply than hitherto. The broken material, after being cleaned as described,
can be crushed and mixed with a very small proportion of raw plastic earth or
clay, and used again and again for the manufacture of fresh crucibles, the suc-
cessive and intense torrefactions or firings to which the material is subjected,
impart to it advantageous properties, adapting the crucible for supporting an
almost immediate rapid drying and firing, and (when used for small articles
and in case of need) for being charged with steel in a cold state outside the
furnace without danger of breaking, and also for resisting sudden changes of
temperature more than ordinary crucibles; and as the crucible is not disturbed
when hot or shaken about, its being thus subjected to repeated torrefactions
allows of its being lined with some substance calculated for improving its pro-
perties, such as oxide of manganese, which prevents the fluid metal from
coming in direct contact with the refractory earth forming the crucible. The
cost and trouble of continual fresh supplies of clay, of experiments with mate-
rials, of a protracted desiccation, and a partial annealing after melting, are thus
avoided in our improved plan. The annealing or firing in the furnace prevents
the fragments or sherds of crucible from becoming brittle, and allows of the
film being removed, as explained. The crucibles are in other respects manu-
factured in the usual manner, that is, in the first instance, the best refractory
materials are taken, crushed, and sifted through wire cloth, and mixed with
water into a binding and homogeneous paste, which is kneaded on a turntable
or revolving platform, and shaped with moulds and cores (gabarets) or by
hand with a few tools, or with metal moulds and mandrils in the usual manner;
the crucible is then dried and annealed.
Although I have herein described a particular form of melting furnace, I
wish it to be understood that I do not restrict myself thereto in carrying out

page_text: the Invention, and I do not restrict myself to the mere details described for
performing the Invention, which may be varied, so only that the general
nature or character thereof as herein set forth be retained.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same may be performed, I declare that what I claim as new in
respect of the herein-before described method of manufacturing tyres and other
articles of steel is as follows:-
First, I claim the manufacture of tyres and other articles of steel by melting
the material of which they are to be composed in crucibles or melting vessels
which at the same time act as moulds, the metal being removed therefrom in
the shape or form of the tyre or other article, as required.
Second, I claim the employment of crucibles or melting vessels of or corre-
sponding to the shape or form of the article to be produced, whereby the
melting of the metal and moulding of the article may be performed in the same
vessel; and I especially claim the employment of annular crucibles for the
production of railway wheel tyres and other annular articles.
Third, I claim the employment of the arrangement and combination of
melting furnace herein-before described and represented in the Drawings, for
and as applied to the manufacture of tyres and other articles of steel by means
of crucibles, which also act as moulds.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michael Henry, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-one.
Witness,
S. E. A. NEWSOME.
M. HENRY. (L.S.)