IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN ROLLING STEEL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Samuel Fox, of Stocksbridge Works, Deepcar,
near Sheffield, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO
BE USED IN ROLLING STEEL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE."
Sealed the 30th June 1874, and dated the 28th April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Samuel Fox at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
28th April 1874.
I, SAMUEL Fox, of Stocksbridge Works, Deepcar, near Sheffield,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS TO BE USED IN ROLLING STEEL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE," to be
as follows:
-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be
used in rolling steel for the manufacture of wire. For this purpose the
steel should be rolled down from an ingot three or four inches thick
down to a section no larger than a stout wire at a single heat. To effect
this it is necessary that the latter rolls of the train should run at high
speed, and at this speed they deliver a great length of rod.

page_text: Now the object of this Invention is to take up more conveniently than
heretofore the rod as it is produced and form it into a bundle, cither at
the end of the rolling operation or at an intermediate stage to retain
the heat in the metal whilst it is conveyed from one train of rolls to
another.
The arrangement of the apparatus is as follows:-By means of a small
donkey engine an horizontal shaft is driven, and this by bevilled gear
gives motion to an upright axis upon which is a disc forming the lower
flange of a winding drum. The body and the upper flange of the drum
form a separate piece, and are suspended by a rod from a piston in a
small steam cylinder, so that by admitting steam under the piston these
parts of the drum can be lifted away from the lower flange; this is for
the purpose of rapidly discharging the bundle as soon as the winding is
complete. When the barrel of the drum is lowered on to the disc which
forms its lower flange the parts clutch together, and the upper part is
driven by the lower. The end of the rod as it comes from the rolls is
inserted into an opening in the side of the barrel and so held, the engine
is then started and the rod wound up as it is produced, the speed being
controlled by mean of a brake lever, which tightens a brake band on a
brake drum on the horizontal crank shaft of the engine. When the
winding is complete the barrel of the drum is lifted by, opening a
steam cock, and the bundle which remains on the lower flange disc is
removed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Samuel Fox in the Great Seal Patent Office on 2
the 28th October 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
Fox, of Stocksbridge Works, Deepcar, near Sheffield, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year 3
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-
seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Samuel Fox, Her special license that I,
the said Samuel Fox, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such.
others as I, the said Samuel Fox, my executors, administrators, and 3

page_text: 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS TO BE USED IN
ROLLING STEEL FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Samuel Fox, 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 Samuel Fox, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say :-
This Invention has for its object improvements in apparatus to be
used in rolling steel for the manufacture of wire. For this purpose the
steel should be rolled down from an ingot three or four inches thick
down.to a section no larger than a stout wire at a single heat. To effect
this it is necessary that the latter rolls of the train should run at high
speed, and at this speed they deliver a great length of rod.
Now the object of this Invention is to take up more conveniently than
heretofore the rod as it is produced and form it into a bundle, either at
the end of the rolling operation or at an intermediate stage to retain
the heat in the metal whilst it is conveyed from one train of rolls
to another.
The arrangement of the apparatus is as follows:-By means of a small
donkey engine an horizontal shaft is driven, and this by bevilled gear
gives motion to an upright axis, upon which is a disc forming the lower
flange of a winding drum. The body and the upper flange of the drum.
form a separate piece, and are suspended by a rod from a piston in a.
small steam cylinder, so that by admitting steam under the piston these-
parts of the drum can be lifted away from the lower flange; this is for
the purpose of rapidly discharging the bundle as soon as the winding is
complete. When the barrel of the drum is lowered on to the disc which

page_text: forms its lower flange the parts clutch together, and the upper part is
driven by the lower. The end of the rod as it comes from the rolls is
inserted into an opening in the side of the barrel and so held, the engine
is then started and the rod wound up as it is produced, the speed being
controlled by means of a brake lever which tightens a brake band on a
brake drum on the horizontal crank shaft of the engine. When the
winding is complete the barrel of the drum is lifted by opening a
steam cock, and the bundle which remains on the lower flange disc is
removed
The Drawing shews a side view partly in section of the machine.
a, a, are the several parts of a small steam engine supplied with steam
by the pipe b, on which is the steam cock U¹. c is the engine shaft
carrying a bevilled wheel c', which drives a corresponding wheel d' on
the vertical axis d. This axis also carries the disc e, which serves as the
lower flange of the winding drum. The body e¹ of the drum is taper,
and is made in four sections of iron plate, which are bolted to the upper
flange e², and there are openings ex between the sections for the insertion
of the end of the rod which is required to be wound up. Lips are fixed
on either side of the openings ex on the inside, as is shewn at A, which
is an horizontal section of a small portion of the drum; e³ is a boss in
the centre of the drum; it is bolted to the upper flange e³, and the
axle passes through it. The parts e¹ and e² are able to turn upon this
axle and are suspended from it, so that when the axle is raised it carries
the parts e and e² with it. The boss es has projections on its under side
which enter corresponding holes in the face of the disc e, so that when
the parts are in the position shewn in the Drawing the disc e in rotating
carries the other parts of the winding drum round with it. The axle f
can be lifted by the steam cylinder g in which is a piston with a rod h.
i is a guide block through which the axle f is able to slide; the piston
rod is attached to it. is a branch steam pipe with a cock k¹ upon it
connected with the hand lever k². When the cock is opened steam enters
beneath the piston, and the piston is forced upwards. There is a coiled
steel spring in the upper part of the cylinder g to check the piston and

page_text: prevent a blow on the cylinder cover. An escape pipe is provided at the
lower part of the cylinder; it is regulated by a cock, so that the steam
can issue from it but slowly; it admits of the axle fand parts connected
therewith descending quietly when the steam cock is closed. is a
brake lever, by means of which a brake strap can be tightened around a
drum on the engine shaft to regulate the speed as may be required.
The machine is used in the following way :-The end of the red hot rod
issuing from the rolls, and which is to be collected into a bundle, is placed
in one of the openings e* in the side of the winding drum; the steam
cock is then opened and the engine started. As soon as the slack of
the rod has been wound up the engine is checked by the brake, and the
workman holding the brake lever in his hand readily adjusts the speed
of winding to the rate at which the rod is delivered from the rolls, so as
not to allow a strain to come on the rod. When the length is wound up
the engine is stopped, and the barrel of the drum is lifted, leaving the
bundle of wire on the lower disc e, from which it is removed by means
of tongs. This winding into bundles, as before mentioned, may take
place at the end of the rolling operation, or it may be intermediate
between two rolling processes, as described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to John Matthew Habershon, and dated the 12th August,
1870, No. 2243. The object in this case is to retain the heat in the wire
sufficiently long to allow a second rolling operation to be commenced
after the whole of the metal has been passed through the rolls of a first
set. When used in this way the drum should be enclosed in a casing to
lessen the loss of heat by radiation.
What I claim is the construction of apparatus to be used in rolling
steel for the manufacture of wire, substantantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Fox, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of October, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
SAM³. FOX. (L.S.)