Improvements in Machines for Rolling and Condensing Bars of Metal.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 10th Sept., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 11th May, 1891-Accepted, 27th June, 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by ROBERT DAELEN, of Berlin, Prussia, Engineer.]
Improvements in Machines for Rolling and Condensing Bars of
Metal.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The subject of this invention consists in a rolling machine for producing and con-
densing bars of metal having round, polygonal or certain other sectional forms and
being lengthwise of uniform or of varying thickness.
The machine is composed in the first place of a pair of rolls having grooves
corresponding to the sectional and longitudinal form to be given to the bars, and
provided with breaks or gaps which permit the bars to be drawn back to their
starting point after each passage between the operative roll-portions.
The bar to be rolled or condensed is supported at its ends by means of spindles
carried by two cross-heads and movable therein respectively lengthwise and
rotatively. These cross-heads are connected together and arranged to move lengtlı-
wise to the said bar and the spindles between suitable guides. Moreover, the
longitudinally-movable spindle is furnished with a spring which allows it to yield in
the measure as the bar becomes longer by the rolling operation. The other spindle
is provided with a mechanism for turning it together with the bar by a certain
angle at the time the cross-heads and the parts carried thereby are drawn back.
This mechanism consists firstly in a boss having studs on its periphery and placed
on and locked to the spindle, while being rotatively connected to the corresponding
cross-head, and secondly in a hollow cylinder mounted on the frame of the machine
and having on its inner periphery one or more oblique ribs that engage in the spaces
between the said studs, the said ribs having such incline and length that, every time
the cross-heads are drawn back, the ribs will cause the boss, the spindle and the bar
to turn by the desired angle. In view, however, of preventing the spindle and the
bar from being rotated backward again during their longitudinal forward motion,
the hollow cylinder is mounted rotatively in the machine-frame, and it is kept in
its normal position by a stop and a spring. The studs of the boss will thus, when
the latter inores forward, only operate to turn the cylinder, which is thereupon
thrown back to its normal position by the said spring. At the next retrograde
motion of the cross-heads the oblique ribs come into engagement with the following
studs, the spindle and the bar being thereby rotated another step.
The cross-heads are moved backward by means of a lever connected to one of
them and operated by an arm which is fixed to the axle of one of the rolls. After
every passage of the bar the bearings of the rolls are adjusted closer together by
wedges in combination with screws and ratchet-mechanisins actuated by a tappet
on one of the said axles.
Dhe 10th day of Sontember 1890

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION
Improvements in Machines for Rolling and Condensing Bars of
Metal.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent
Agents, 45 Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby
declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
This invention relates to a machine for rolling and condensing bars of metal
having round, polygonal or other similar sectional forms and being lengthwise of
uniform or varying thickness: the said machine consisting mainly in a pair of rolls,
the operative surfaces whereof, being peripherally of the same length as the bar to
be rolled, occupy but a part of the circumference of the rolls, while the remaining
parts of the rolls are of smaller radius than the latter, so that between the two ends
of the operative surfaces a break or gap is formed, which permits the bars to be
drawn back after each pass to their starting point without stoppage of the rolls.
The improvements consist in means for causing the bars to be drawn back and
to be rotated by a part of a revolution after every pass, for adjusting the rolls closer
together after every operation on the bar, and for allowing the bar to expand freely
in one direction without prejudice to its being securely guided.
The bar to be rolled and condensed is supported at its ends by means of two
spindles carried by two cross-heads. These cross-heads are connected together to
form a frame and they move lengthwise to the said bar between guides. One of
the spindles works with serew-threads in a tube which is longitudinally movable in
the crosshead carrying the spindle, and the tube is neted up by a spring or other
equivalent pressing-device (such as a weight, or a piston movable in a cylinder
supplied with a fluid under pressure) whereby the spindle is pressed against the bar,
so that the latter is kept securely supported between the two spindles, while besides
this the said spring or pressing device allows the spindle to recede when the bar
becomes longer by the rolling-operation. The other spindle is provided with a
mechanism for rotating it by a certain angle at the time the eros-heads and the
parts carried thereby are drawn back. This mechanism consists firstly in a boss
having studs on its periphery and rotatively connected to the corresponding cross-
head, while it is provided with a central bore through which the spindle is passed
and wherein it is locked by any suitable means, and secondly, in a hollow cylinder
mounted on the frame of the machine and having inside one or more oblique ribs
that engage in the spaces between the said studs, the ribs having such incline and
length that, every time the cross-heads are drawn back, the ribs will cause the
boss, the bar and the spindle to turn by the desired angle. In order, however, to
prevent the spindle and the har from being rotated backward again during their
forward longitudinal motion, the hollow cylinder is mounted rotatively in the
machine-frame, and it is kept in its normal position by a stop and a spring. The
studs of the boss will thus, when the latter moves forward, only operate to turn
the cylinder, which is thereupon thrown back to its normal position by the said
spring. At the next retrograde motion of the cross-heads the oblique ribs come
into engagement with the following studs, the spindle and the bar being thereby
rotated another step.
The frame comprising the two cross-heads is moved backward by means of a
lever connected to one of the latter and operated by an arm, which is fixed to the
shaft of one of the rolls. After every pass of the bar the bearings of the rolls are
adjusted closer together by wedges in combination with screws and a ratchet-
mechanism, actuated by a tappet on one of the said shafts.
A rolling machine comprising these improvements is represented in the annexed
drawings.

page_text: Fig. is an end-view of the same and rig. <a Section Side elevation MRCH VAI
line 1-1,
Fig.
1.
Figs. 3 and 4 show in sectional elevation and in sectional plan the lower guides
for the cross-heads and parts connected therewith, drawn to a larger_scale.
Figs. 5 to 9 show certain parts in detail drawn to a still larger scale.
Figs. 10 and 11 represent in elevation and sectional plan a modification of the
pressing device.
F and F are the two rolls, half the peripheries whereof, being in Fig. 2 on the
right hand side, form the operative portions, while the opposite halves of the
peripheries of the rolls, made with a smaller radius, constitute the gaps through
which the bars to be rolled are drawn backward. The said rolls are integral with
the respective shafts E E' journalled in the bearings D D', which are mounted in
the standards A B so as to be vertically adjustable therein. The shafts E E' are
connected together by means of the spur-wheels PQ, and the lower shaft, E', is
driven by the spur-wheels N N', shaft M and pulley L.
6
To the standards A B are secured at U and U' two pairs of horizontal guides a a²
and aa, cach pair comprising a lower part, respectively a and a, and an upper
part, respectively a and as the latter parts being omitted in Figs. 3 and 4.
Between these guides slide the blocks or cross-heads re', connected together by
rods d so as to constitute a frame. In the cross-head c¹ is mounted the spindle,
Figs. 3, 4, and in the cross-head the spindle k, in line with the former, each spindle
having at its inner end a recess, into which recesses are inserted the ends of the
work-piece or bar S, formed to correspond thereto. The spindle k is screwed into
a tube capable of sliding in the middle part of the cross-head e', forming a sleeve,
and both, the tube and the spindle, are pressed towards the bar S by a spring l
bearing at its outer end against a plate m, which is connected to the cross-head c
by rods d. This spring serves on one hand to keep the bar S securely supported
between the two spindles &, while on the other hand it allows the spindle ³ to be
pushed outward in the measure as the bar is stretched by the rolling process.
Moreover, the spindle may be adjusted to the length of the bar S by being screwed
further into or out of the tube i. The other spindle, k, is passed through the middle
tubular portion of the cross-head c, and it is detachably secured in the boss e, which
is mounted rotatively on the end of the said tubular portion of the cross-head in the
manner represented in section by Figs. 4 and 8. The means shown in the drawing
for securing or locking the spindle in the boss e consist in a stud o, Fig. 4, screwed
into the spindle, and in a kind of bayonet-groove o¹, Fig. 8, cut into the boss e and
having such form that, after the spindle has been introduced into the cross-head,
and the stud o has slipped into the groove o¹, the spindle may be turued by a quarter
of a circle and then drawn backward again so that the stud o passes into the receding
portion of the groove, the spring thereupon keeping the stud o engaged in the
said receding portion (provided the bar S be in its place), and further rotation of
the spindle relatively to the boss e being prevented, whereas the spindle is free to
rotate together with the boss. Any other means for locking the spindle to the boss
may, however, be employed. The said boss has on its periphery studs f, Figs. 3
to 6 and 8, 9, whereof two at a time engage in the slots of the guides a a² during
the greater part of the rolling operation (see Fig. 9 which is a transverse section
through the guides a a" with the boss e in position between the same) the rotation
of the bosse being then prevented. But, when the boss e is near the end of its
backward course, it passes into the hollow cylinder g, mounted rotatively in the
bearing h, integral with the guide a a², the said cylinder being provided on its inner
surface with the oblique or helical ribs g¹ g³, Figs. 3, 4, 5, 7. This cylinder is
normally kept in a determinate position by means of two pins x, y and a spring s
(see especially Fig. 5), the said pins being fixed respectively to the cylinder and its
bearing h, so that the pin y forms a stop for the pin .r, while the springs, attached
with its ends to a standard t and to the said pin, draws the latter against the pin y
and thus tends to maintain the cylinder in its normal position, whereas it allows the
same to rotate by a certain amount in the direction of arrow 2, Figs. 1 and 5.

page_text: Now, if the bosse has passed into the cylinder g, as indicated by dotted lines in
Fig. 7, the studs having been engaged in the slots at, strike against the helical
ribs g'g', one of those studs being then in the position marked 3 in Fig. 7. As the
boss e recedes further, this stud will slide upward on the rib g', the cylinder being
prevented from yielding to the pressure of the stud by the pinsey, and when the
boss is at the end of its course, the said stud will be in the position marked 4. By
these means the boss is rotated through a certain angle together with the spindle k,
and this rotation is transmitted to the mr S by the end of the bar and the recess
in the end of the spindle being made square. When the aforesaid stud has
attained the position 4, the stud next below it will be in the position 5, which,
through a suitable arrangement of the rib g', is such that the latter stud is then
in a line with the guiding-slot a. When thereupon the frame carrying the bar S
and the bosse moves forward again, the stand being in position 3, presses from below
against the rib g', and as the spring s allows the cylinder gto yield to such pressure,
the stud moves forward in a straight line and passes, in its turn, into the guiding-
slot a. As soon as the stud leaves the rib g', the spring a returns the cylinder g to
its normal position. The co-operation of the studs with the rib y of course corre-
sponds to that described. The bar S is thus rotated, every time it is at the end of
its receding course, by an angle corresponding to the distance between two neigh-
bouring studs, whereas during its forward course, ie at the time it is being drawn
forward and acted upon by the rolls, it is not rotated.
Provided the recess in the end of spindle and the end of the bar S to be
inserted thereinto, are made square, in like manner as the recess of spindle k and
the other end of the bar, the rotation of the bar will be transmitted to the spindle &,
and if, moreover, the screw-threads on the spindle and in tube i he arranged with
the proper direction of incline, the said rotation will have the effect of gradually
screwing the spindle further into the tube while the bar is being stretched. Under
these conditions the spring has only to compensate any difference between the
stretching of the bar and the receding motion of the spindle in the tube.
The frame formed by the cross-heads and rods d, is moved backward when
the gaps of the rolls are opposite to the bar S, by means of a bifurcated lever 7,
engaging by its slotted ends q with pins on the cross-head r, the said lever being
keyed on an axle o, carrying another lever-arm, p, which is acted upon by a pin a¹
on an arm a fixed to the roll-shaft E.
The mechanism for automatically adjusting the rolls closer together after every
pass of the bar S, consists in four wedges Ginserted between the hearings of the
rolls and the frames A B; two screw-spindles H H journalled in the blocks () ()'
and working with right and left-hand screw threads in the opposite wedges (i;
ratchet-wheels keyed on the spindles III: pawls engaging with the said ratchet-
wheels and pivoted to the levers II, the latter being connected together by the
rod K, and a tappet K', fixed to the shaft. E and operating on the lever 1. It is
however, ordinarily sufficient to employ but two wedges G in combination with
one of the spindles or H' and one ratched mechanism.
The bar to be rolled or condensed on the machine is introduced through the bore
of the boss e and the cross-hend after the spindle has been removed, the spindle
being thereupon put into its place again, while the ends of the bar, suitably shaped
beforehand, are inserted into the recesses of the two spindles &. in the measure
as the bar is stretched by the rolling process, the spindle & will be pushed outward
against the force of the spring 1, or screwed back in tube i, or both, as described.
The stretching consequently becomes apparent only at one end of the bar, while
the other end is always returned, at the commencement of each pass, to the same
position relatively to the grooves of the rolls. The machine thus affords the means
for rolling not only cylindrical and prismatic bars, but also such as are tapered or
partly tapered and partly of uniform thickness and perfectly alike to each other in
their sectional dimensions.
The modified pressing-device shown in Figs. 10 and 11, consists in a cylinder g
fixed to the sleeve of the cross-head r², a piston el fitting in said cylimler and

page_text: integral with the tube i into which the spindle is screwed, and a pipe v²
attached to cylinder and serving for the supply of steam, water, or air under
pressure, the said pipe having such flexibility as to allow of the cylinder moving
to and fro with cross-head c. The widened portion of sleeve has at c³ an
aperture for the escape of any operative liquid leaking past the piston v¹, and
through which air may enter.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of this inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent I declare that what I claim is :
In a machine for rolling and condensing bars of metal :
1. The combination of two rolls having operative portions and gaps, a movable
frame conducted by guides and provided with spindles for carrying the bar to
be rolled, means for moving the frame backward while the gaps of the rolls are
opposite to the bar, and means for rotating the bar by a part of a revolution
on its backward course, and for gradually adjusting the rolls closer together,
substantially as specified.
2. In the machine defined in the first claim, the combination with a movable
frame comprising the cross-heads e c', of a spindle mounted in cross-head c¹
so as to be susceptible of longitudinal motion therein, and having a recess for
receiving one end of the bar to be rolled, a spindle in cross-head c for sup
porting the other end of said bar, and a spring or other equivalent pressing-
device, acting lengthwise on spindle and serving to press the same against
the bar, substantially as described.
C
3. In the machine defined in the first claim and comprising the frame c c d
and the spindles kk, the mechanism whereby the spindle k is rotated stepwise and
which consists in the perforated boss e rotatively connected to the frame cc¹ d
and carrying on its periphery studs '; means for locking the spindle k to the
boss e; the hollow cylinder y mounted rotatively in the machine and having a
helical rib or ribs g₁ g² co-operating with the studs f, and a stop and spring
whereby the cylinder is normally kept in a determinate position and its motion
is controlled, substantially as specified.
9.
4. In the machine defined in the first claim, the mechanism for automatically
adjusting the bearings of the rolls, or of one of them, which consists in two
wedges inserted between the adjustable bearings and the standards of the
machine, a screw-spindle connected to the standards and working with its threads
in the wedges; a ratchet-mechanism in connection with the screw-spindle, and
a tappet on one of the rolls whereby the ratchet-mechanism is operated to turn
the spindle, substantially as specified.
Dated this 11th day of May 1891.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.