IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND STRAIGHTENING CYLINDRICAL METALLIC RODS AND TUBES
Year: 1866

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Frederick Collier Bakewell, of No. 6, Haverstock
Terrace, Hampstead, in the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND STRAIGHTENING CYLINDRICAL
METALLIC RODS AND TUBES."-A communication from abroad by Joseph
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Frederick Collier Bake-
well at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 17th March 1866.
I, FREDERICK COLLIER BAKEWELL, of No. 6, Haverstock Terrace, Hamp-
stead, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND STRAIGHTENING
CYLINDRICAL METALLIC RODS AND TUBES," communicated to me from abroad by
Joseph Sidney Seaman, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, North America, to be
as follows:
This Invention consists in the use of a pair of cylindrical grooved rollers
geared to revolve in the same direction without touching, through which the
rods are made to pass in an oblique direction by means of a guttered guide

page_text: box attached to the fore plate of the lower roller at an angle to its axis. By
this means the rods instead of being pinched at tangential points in passing
through the rollers, have a more extended bearing on their surfaces, and a
rotary motion is given to the rods as they are rolled. The advantages
obtained by this process are that the bars are exactly cylindrical and quite 5
straight, and a twisted grain is given to the metal which increases its tensile
strength.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Frederick Collier Bakewell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 1st September 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FREDERICK
COLLIER BAKEWELL, of No. 6, Haverstock Terrace, Hampstead, in the County
of Middlesex, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth, day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six, in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself,. Her heirs and successors, give and graut unto me,
the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, Her special licence that I, the said
Frederick Collier Bakewell, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or
such others as I, the Frederick Collier Bakewell, my executors, adminis
:trators, and 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 MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND STRAIGHTENING
*CYLINDRICAL METALLIC RODS AND TUBES," a communication to me 'from abroad
by Joseph Sidney Seaman, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, North America,
upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Frederick Collier
Bakewell, 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 Frederick Collier Bakewell, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement :-
This Invention consists in the application and use of a pair of cylindrical
grooved rollers geared so as to revolve in the same direction without touching,
through which rollers the metallic rods or tubes are made to pass obliquely by
means of a guttered guide box, or other equivalent device, attached to the
fore plate of the lower roller. The guide box is so arranged relatively to the
grooves in the rollers as to cause the metallic rods or tubes to pass between
the rollers at such an angle to the axes of the rollers as to present a straight
bearing surface to the rods or tubes passing through them. By these means the
metallic rods passed through the rollers are rolled, straightened, and compressed.
A second object of the Invention is to give to cylindrical rods or bars
of iron or steel a twisted grain by causing them to revolve on their axes
while being rolled under compression in the manner substantially as herein-
after described. The ordinary mode of rolling iron or steel rods is to pass
them between cylindrical rollers in a line at right angles to the vertical plano
passing through the axes of the rollers. If the bars are to be rolled a
cylindrical shape, the rollers are grooved, each one having a semircircular
groove on its surface. The bars thus operated on are not rolled exactly
cylindrical, and as the bearing surface of each roller on the bar is a tangential
point or line the metal is pinched instead of being compressed, and the bars
or rods are more or less bent in consequence, and require to be straightened
by a subsequent process. By this Invention the metallic rods or bars are
compressed between two straight surfaces, and at the same time they are
caused to revolve on their axes, by the action of the rollers, so that they are
not only reduced and shaped, but they are compressed and straightened by one
operation: Another important advantage of this mode of rolling iron or steel
rods or bars is that the grain of the metal forms into spiral lines, while the
surface of the rods is rendered truly cylindrical. This action of the rollers,
called by the Inventor "twist rolling," renders the iron or steel stronger and
more compact, and by this Invention ingots of steel may be successfully. welded
by rolling, which cannot be done-by the ordinary process of straight rolling.
. I will now proceed to describe the manner in which the Invention is to be
performed, referring in so doing to the accompanying Drawing, in which
Figure 1 is a front view of a pair of rollers constructed and arranged according
to this improvement; Figure 2 is a transverse sectional elevation of the
rollers through the line ×
x in Figure 1; Figure 3 is a plan or
top view of the lower roller, showing the position and arrangement of the
guttered guide boxes; Figure 4 is a section through one of the rollers through

page_text: the line x
x in Figure 3; the plane of section passing through
the centre of the guttered guide boxes in the direction in which the metallic
bars or tubes are passed through the rollers. In the several Figures like
Jetters of reference indicate similar parts. The two rollers a and b are set in
the usual manner in suitable bearings c, c, their axes being in the same vertical
plane. The rollers do not quite touch, and each one is geared by means of a
cog wheel d, d, with an idler e placed at g. The gearing wheels d, d, e, may
be placed outside the bearings, as shown in Figure 1. By means of this
gearing the two rollers a and b revolve in the same direction, and not in the
directions relatively to each other, in which they would move if they were to
rotate in contact. The two rollers are of the same diameter, and each one
has similar and corresponding groove or grooves h, h, the shape of the grooves
being an arc of a circle extending round each roller. A rod of iron or steel
on going through the "pass," formed by the grooves of a pair of rollers such
as described, in a horizontal line, at right angles to the vertical plane passing
through their axes, would touch each roller only at tangential points or lines,
but if the direction of the rods be changed so as to form any other horizontal
angle to the axial plane of the rollers, the length of the bearing on the surface
of each roller will be increased, and at a certain angle the bearing surface
will be a right line. This is shown in Figure 4, which is a cross section
through one of the rollers, the plane of section being at an angle of 45 degrees
to the axis of the roller and intersecting its axis where the groove is deepest.
The lines x, y, on the upper and lower surface of the roller within the groove
are perfectly straight and represent the bearing surfaces of the rollers on the
rods or tubes subjected to their action. By taking advantage of the increased
length and straightness of the bearing surface thus attainable, and by
causing the rods or tubes to be presented to and passed between the rollers
at such an angle as will secure the greatest length of bearing surface in a
right line, the rods or tubes are caused to rotate on their axes while they are
straightened by compression between two rectilinear bearing surfaces. "In
order to secure this result there is attached to the fore plate i of the lower
roller b a guttered box or guide f, which is set horizontally at the proper
angle to the axial plane of the rollers; the lowest point of the channel ór
gutter in the guide box f being on the same level as the lowest point of the
groove h¹ in the lower roller b. This guide box approaches the surface of the
lower roller-b so as nearly to touch it, and after being intercepted by the roller
is continued on the other side at the same level and angle as shown at f¹.
When the rod or bar to be rolled is inserted between the rollers it is laid in
the gutter of the guide box f on the front side of the rollers and it is passed

page_text: forward into the groove. The motion of the rollers in the same direction
causes the rod to rotate on its own axis as it is drawn forward. When the bar
to be rolled is of small diameter it will be necessary to connect the rollers
by gearing, as before described, so as to ensure the uniform revolution of both
rollers, and the consequent rotation of the rod or tube on its own axis; but
when the bar is of large diameter, the application of power to one of the
rollers only will be sufficient.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, as communicated
to me, and the manner in which it is to be performed, I claim and wish to
secure by Letters Patent,-
First, the application and use of a pair of rollers caused to revolve in the
same direction, without touching, each one having a groove or grooves of the
shape of an arc of a circle in combination with a guide box or equivalent
device for guiding the rods or tubes to be rolled, placed at such an angle as
will give a rectilinear bearing surface on each roller for the purpose of rolling
and straightening cylindrical metallic rods, bars, or tubes, substantially as
herein set forth.
Second, the method, snbstantially as herein described, of giving a twist
to the grain of cylindrical rods or bars of iron or steel while being rolled.
Third, the compression of metallic rods or bars between parallel revolving
bearing surfaces, of greater length than the tangential bearing surfaces, by
causing them to pass between grooved cylindrical rollers at an angle other
than a right angle to their axial plane, substantially in the manner herein-
before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Frederick Collier Bakewell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this First day of September, in the year of our
FRED. COLLIER BAKEWELL. (L.S.)