IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGING, ROLLING, AND SHAPING IRON, AND OTHER METALS, AND IN TOOLS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas William Plum, of King William Street, in
the City of London, Ironmaster, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
FORGING, ROLLING, AND SHAPING IRON, AND OTHER METALS, AND IN TOOLS
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Sealed the 12th July 1864, and dated the 14th January 1864.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas William Plum
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
14th January 1864.
I, THOMAS WILLIAM PLUM, of King William Street, in the City of
London, Ironmaster, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN FORGING, ROLLING, AND SHAPING IRON AND OTHER METALS,
AND IN TOOLS EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
The first part of this Invention consists in making and using an improved
section or form of bar of iron or other metals, hereafter described, in making
solid or weldless tyres, bosses, guns, and other ring-shaped, cylindrical, or
perforated forgings. I make such bars slightly convex or obtusely angular on
one or both of their sides, or of such form wholly or partially curved, wholly
or partially angular, or a combination of curve and angle, of curve, angle, and
flat, of curve and flat, or of angle and flat, and in such degree as may be pre-
ferred or found most suitable for attaining the object, viz., of bringing the
inner edges or some point (the centre preferred) between the inner and outer

page_text: edges of the coil or pile into welding contact before one or both edges are
closed.
The second part of this Invention consists in the manufacture and use of
an improved section or form of bar hereafter described for circular piles for
tyres, bosses, guns, and other ring-shaped, cylindrical, or perforated forgings.
I make such bar with a groove on one side and a tongue on the other, or with
corresponding curve or angle or other interlocking section.
The third part of the said Invention consists of an improved circular
pile for tyres, bosses, guns, and rings, also for cylinders and other circular or
perforated forgings, for these purposes the iron is prepared by first coiling bars
upon a mandril in the usual manner, then cutting through the coil either
square or at any preferred angle, converting it into separate rings, which are
then (welded or not as may be preferred), brought to an uniform size
and shape, so that they may be piled evenly and truly, taking care in piling
the rings that they break joint properly.
The fourth part of this Invention consists of an improved mode of pre-
paring the iron or other metal for tyres and other rings, that is, by hammering
or rolling the material in the usual manner, and when brought to a suitable
shape I cause it to be scarfed in such manner that the centre of the joint
shall be brought into welding contact on the parts being brought together
before the edges thereof, it is next welded, and then rolled to the required
size and section.
The fifth part of this Invention consists of an improved mode of casting
ingots for wheel tyres and other solid rings of cast steel, Bressemer steel,
Bessemer iron or other metals. Instead of casting such ingots or moulds
of the usual form I cast them in the form of cylindrical rings of at least
twice the width of the finished size of the article, and proportionably small in
diameter, so that the requisite amount of work may be put upon them in the
hammering and rolling.
The sixth part of this Invention consists of an improved hammer and
hammer block or tup for making solid tyre blooms, bosses, and other ring-
shaped or perforated forgings of iron or steel. The hammer block or tup
is suspended, from the piston rod by a cross head and slings, or other
similar contrivance, instead of being connected in the usual manner in.
order that it may have through its centre vertically a well or hole to admit
a guide rod or gauge to serve as a "mandril" for forming the internal
diameter or shape of the forgings, the hammer also having a hole for the
said guide rod, gauge, or mandril. The guide rod or gauge is of a shape and
size adapted to the work required, tapered at the lower end, and is dropped

page_text: through the centre of the pile when placed upon the anvil, the hammer is
then put to work upon the pile and when finished or requiring to be removed,
the guide rod or gauge is lifted out by a key or latch
key or latch through the hammer
block, or by any other ordinary contrivance. The guide rod or mandril may
be either solid or hollow.
The seventh part of this Invention consists in forging or rolling improved
forms of ribs, or fixing pieces, and plates for armour of ships and batteries.
I form such ribs or fixing pieces and plates so that the contraction and
expansion of the plates and the fixing bolts (in extremes of climate) are
compensated. The ribs or fixing pieces protect the bolts, the plates are not
weakened by bolt holes, any damage to the plates or fixing ribs can be easily
repaired, and by means of the ribs ventilation can be provided for, I form
one or more grooves or channels in the fixing ribs and corresponding channels
or perforations at intervals through the backing and inner skin, I also fortn
transverse grooves or channels on the face of the backing behind the plating,
and openings for admission and exit of air.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas William Plum in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 14th July 1864.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
WILLIAM PLUM, of Cannon Street, in the City of London, Ironmaster, send.
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters.
Patent, bearing date the Fourteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight bundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-seventh year:
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas William Plum, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
William Plum, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,.
the said Thomas William Plum, my executors, administrators, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN FORGING, ROLLING, AND SHAPING IRON AND OTHER METALS AND IN
TOOLS EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas William Plum, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my, or their, or one of their bands and seals, should'

page_text: 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 Thomas William Plum, do hereby
declare the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say :-
This Invention consists of improvements in forging, rolling, and shaping
iron and other metals, in and for the manufacture of tyres for railway and
other wheels, of bosses, guns, rings, and other like metal work, and in tools
employed therein, and in forging or rolling ribs or stringers for fixing armour
plates upon ships or batteries, all as herein-after fully set forth.
First, in making solid or weldless tyres for railway and other wheels by
means of coils of iron or other metal as described in a Patent granted to
Charles Cowper, dated 23rd May, 1850, instead of using bars of the form
therein described I use oue or other of the form or section of bar shewn in
Drawing. Figures 1, 2, 3, 6, and 7, such bars or other similar bars being so
shaped before coiling as to be when coiled either slightly convex or obtusely
angular on one or both of their sides, or of such form wholly or partially
curved, wholly or partially angular, or a combination of curve and angle, of
curve, angle, and flat, of curve and flat, or angle and flat, as may be preferred
or found most suitable for attaining the object of having the inner edges or
some point (the centre preferred) between the inner and outer edges in welding
contact before one or both edges are closed. I do not confine myself to any
particular angle or curve, nor to any precise combination of the forms
described. In using such bars, in the manner described, they may be freed from
scale more completely before being heated for welding than the bars ordinarily
used for the purpose, and the welding is more perfect, the same is applicable
to the making of guns, bosses, and other ring-shaped, cylindrical, or open
forgings. I also use bars with a groove on one side and a tongue on the
other, or with corresponding curve or angle or other similar interlocking
section to Figures 4 and 5.
Secondly, I manufacture and use one or other of the forms of bar herein-
before described, Figures 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, for making circular piles as herein-
after described, for forging circular blooms for solid tyres, bosses, guns, and
other similiar forgings, Figures 6 and 7 show how materials of different
qualities are combined in the same pile.

page_text: Thirdly, in the manufacture of railway and other wheel tyres, also of rings,
cylinders, bosses, rolls, rollers, collars, guns, and other circular, oval, or similar
forgings, for subsequent rolling or otherwise, I form a circular or oval pile of
bars of one or other of the forms or sections herein-before described, or any
other suitable sections, by coiling such bars round a mandril in the usual
manner, the coil is then cut through by a saw or by any other means, either
square or at any desired angle, as shewn at Figure 8, thereby converting the
coil into separate rings, the rings are flattened and the joints closed by a
hammer or pressure and a die for bringing them to an uniform gauge in
external diameter, if preferred the joints of the rings may be welded before
piling. In piling, whether the rings are welded or not, the joints are "broken"
so that two joints are never laid directly one over the other. A pile of such
rings of the required weight is heated and welded by hammer or pressure in
the usual manner with suitable tools for reducing it to the required dimensions
and shape. In using such bars and rings different qualities of material may
be used in the same piece of work. In iron tyres, for instance, tough iron
may be used for the flange and outer rim, and hard iron in the centre or tread
of the tyre, so also in the coinpound rings, as Figures 6, 7, hard and tough
qualities may be combined, Figure 8 shews .a coil and how cut, Figure 9
shews a pile of rings.
Fourthly, in casting rings or ingots for wheel tyres and other solid ring-
shaped castings of steel, Bessemer steel, Bessemer. iron, or other metals, I cast
the same much thicker, generally twice the thickness of the intended finished
ring, and as much wider as will admit of the requsite amount of reduction by
bammering or pressure to make sound work and without a flange (for
tyres) which I form by hammering or pressure, because when cast with a
flange the hammering is limited by it and is not so effectively done.
Fifthly, for the purpose of fixing armour plates to ships and batteries I
forge and roll ribs or stringers of such forms that the contraction and expansion
of the plates and the bolts under different temperatures are more or less
mutually compensated, Figure 11 shews the forms of ribs or stringers, and
Figure 10 the vertical fixing pieces, the space left at the back of the rib will
admit of its being drawn closer to or driven farther from the surface to which
the plating is fixed when acted upon by expansion or contraction of the plates
and bolts (which I prefer should be square), for ventilation holes are made
through the body of the structure between the bolts, so that air may traverse
the channels under or behind the stringers and vertical fixing ribs.
Sixthly, for the manufacture of solid tyre blooms, bosses, and other ring-
shaped or open forgings, I use an improved hammer of my Invention, the

page_text: hammer block or tup is prepared with a well hole vertically through it to
admit a guide rod to serve as a "mandril" of any suitable shape for forming
the internal diameter or shape of such forgings, which mandril (passing also
through the hammer) tapered at its lower end is allowed to drop on to the
anvil through the heated pile or bloom. The hammer is then put to work and
when the pile or bloom requires to be removed, or when finished, the mandril
is lifted out by the action of the hammer to which it is for that purpose
secured by a pin or latch or by any ordinary contrivance. The mandril may
be either hollow or solid, the hammer block must be fixed to the piston rod
by a cross head and slings or otherwise so as to admit of the use of the
mandril.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim,-
First, shaping metal bars in manner first herein-before described and
forming therewith helical coils in manner and for the purpose described.
Second, the employment of such bars for circular piles when separate rings
are used for such purpose.
Third, shaping rings for circular, oval, and other similar open piles in
manner herein-before described.
Fourth, shaping and forging rings of cast metal for the manufacture of
tyres and other rings as herein-before described.
Fifth, forging, rolling, and shaping ribs or stringers for armour plates in
manner herein-before described.
And sixth, constructing hammers with a movable mandril substantially as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas William Plum, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of July, One thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four.
THOS. W. PLUM. (L.S.)