IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BLOOMING IRON
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Abbot the younger, of Bilston, in the County
of Stafford, Millwright and Pattern Maker, Richard Handley Thomas,
of Kidsgrove, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, John Young, of
Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Roll Turner, and James Edward
Hunt, of Highfields, near Bilston, in the same County, Agent, for the
Invention of "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BLOOMING IRON."
Sealed the 20th November 1857, and dated the 20th May 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Abbot, Richard
Handley Thomas, John Young, and James Edward Hunt at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents, with their Petition, on the 20th May
1857.
We, JAMES ABвот the younger, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford,
Millwright and Pattern Maker, RICHARD HANDLEY THOMAS, of Kidsgrove,
in the County of Stafford, Engineer, JOHN YOUNG, of Bilston, in the County
of Stafford, Roll Turner, and JAMES EDWARD HUNT, of Highfields, near Bilston,
in the same County, Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BLOOMING IRON," to be as follows:-
Our Invention of improved machinery for blooming iron combines various
improvements in the machinery employed in such operations, and consists of
a combination of two or more rollers or cylinders with concave beds or cases,
such rollers being made to rotate in their concave beds either in the same
or in opposite directions. The puddle ball is put in at or near the top of the
machine, the several parts of which are so arranged that the puddle ball is

page_text: carried down by its own gravity to the exit aperture of the machine. The
concave beds may be made of separate segments, and provided with set screws
or other contrivances, whereby they may be adjusted with accuracy, so as to
regulate the position of the concave bed, and the size or dimensions of the
bloom that is intended to be produced. The puddle ball may be put into
the machine either by hand, as is usually the case, or it may be introduced
by mechanical means. One plan of effecting this operation by mechanical
means consists in mounting a cradle or cage (to receive the puddle ball) on
a pin, stud, or pivot at the upper end of a rod or bar, provided at its lower
end with a piston, which works in a cylinder. Upon introducing steam, air,
gas, or water into the cylinder below the piston, and causing the same to act
on the latter, it will be elevated in the cylinder, and the cradle with the puddle
ball in it will be raised up to the mouth of the machine. A trip lever may
be adapted to the cradle or cage, so that the latter may be tripped at the
proper time and the puddle ball rolled into the machine. In order to make
the ends of the bloom solid, upsetting arms or levers are hinged to the sides
of the machine, and by means of strong springs or other suitable mechanical
contrivances are made to press or bear against the ends of the bloom as it is
worked through the machine. Another means of lifting or elevating the
puddle ball into the machine is by means of vibrating arms or levers, to the
ends of which the cage or cradle containing the puddle ball is attached by
joints or hinges. Trip levers or catches are adapted to the cradle or to the
vibrating arms in such a manner as to hold the cradle down while it is empty,
but when a puddle ball is deposited in the cradle the weight of such ball
will act on the trip levers or catches and open them, so as to release the
cradle, which will then be raised up by the rotation of one of the cylinders
or rollers, and caused to deposit the puddle ball between the roller and the
concave casing. The cradle- is then released by striking against a fixed pin,.
and descends to its former position for another ball, the whole of this operation
being effected automatically.
Another mode of reducing puddle balls consists in the employment of a
vibrating lever provided with a segmental head or block, which works in a
casing having a concave bed. The puddle ball is deposited at the top, and
the lever commences vibrating and rubs or works the ball against the segmental
bed, and thereby reduces it little by little at every stroke until the bloom
works out at bottom. A slight vibrating movement is communicated at the
proper time to the concave bed to prevent the ball from riding up when the
lever rises.
Another improvement relates to a novel mode of constructing the "upsets"

page_text: for solidifying the ends of the blooms. The improvement consists in inclining
the upsets inwards, which will prevent the ball from rising, and will allow of
expansion.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Abbot, Richard Handley Thomas, John Young, and
James Edward Hunt in the Great, Seal Patent Office on the 20th
November 1857.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JAMES
АBBOT the younger, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Millwright and
Pattern Maker, RICHARD HANDLEY THOMAS, of Kidsgrove, in the County of
Stafford, Engineer, JOHN YOUNG, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Roll
Turner, and JAMES EDWARD HUNT, of Highfields, near Bilston, in the same
County, Agent, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twentieth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the said
James Abbot, Richard Handley Thomas, John Young, and James Edward
Hunt, Her special license that we, the said James Abbot, Richard Handley
Thomas, John Young, and James Edward Hunt, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said James Abbot, Richard Handley
Thomas, John Young, and James Edward Hunt, our 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 "IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR BLOOMING IRON," upon the condition (amongst
others) that we, the said James Abbot, Richard Handley Thomas, John'
Young, and James Edward Hunt, by an instrument in writing under our
hands and seals, or under the hand and seal of one of us, 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 James Abbot, on behalf of myself and
of the said Richard Handley Thomas, John Young, and James Edward Hunt,'

page_text: do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say) :-
Our Invention of "Improved Machinery for Blooming Iron" combines
various improvements in the machinery employed in such operations, with the
view of rendering such machinery more efficient in its action than heretofore,
by facilitating the delivery of the ball into the machine, its passage through
the machine, and the discharge of the scale and refuse matters from the
concave beds.
In Sheet I. of the accompanying Drawings, Fig. 1 shews, in side elevation,
an arrangement of machinery for rolling blooms, forming the first part of our
Invention; Fig. 2 is a plan view, and Fig. 3 is an end view of the same.
It consists mainly of two ribbed rollers A, A', mounted in concave excentric
cases, having adjustable beds B, B, the excentricity of which may be regulated
by means of set screws or cams a, mounted on horizontal axles, carried by the
main framing, and actuated by means of hand wheels, through the medium of
worms and worm wheels, as shewn in the Drawing. The rollers A, A¹, are
capable of a vertical and lateral adjustment (so that their relative positions
may be regulated) by means of screws b, b, and they are geared together by.
spur wheels C, and cause to rotate in opposite directions. The beds B, B,
are ribbed to prevent the bloom from slipping under the pressure of the rollers,
and the sides B¹, B¹, are hung upon hinges, and pressed inwards by springs,
in order to present a further impediment to the slipping of the bloom from
under the pressure of the rollers. The puddle ball is fed into the machine at
the upper part thereof, and carried down by its own gravity to the exit aper-
ture below. The moveable part of the concave boxes must be adjusted with
accuracy to suit the size or dimensions of the bloom that is intended to be
produced. The puddle ball may be put into the machine either by hand, as
is usually the case, or it may be introduced by mechanical means. A plan of
effecting this operation by mechanical means is shewn in Sheet I. of the
Drawings. It consists in mounting a cradle or cage D (to receive the puddle
ball) on studs or pivots c, carried by a sliding frame E, to which is attached
the upper end of a rod ar bar F, provided at its lower end with a piston which
works in a fixed cylinder G. Upon introducing steam, air, gas, or water into
this cylinder below the piston, the rod with its frame (which latter slides in fixed
guides H) will be elevated, and the cradle with the puddle ball in it will be
raised up to the mouth of the machine. A trip lever d is adapted to the
cradle or cage, so that when the cage has risen to the proper elevation to be

page_text: tipped at the proper time it will strike against a stop e standing up from the
frame of the machine, and the cradle will be caused to rock on its pivots and
roll the puddle ball into the machine. The hinged sides B¹ of the boxes B
having a tendency to move inwards, will bear against the ends of the blooms
and act as upsetting arms or levers while the bloom is being worked through
the machine. When the bloom has undergone the action of the roller A it
will pass immediately from the upper concave box into the lower box, and
undergo a second and more intimate rolling. After undergoing the action of
the second roller A¹, the bloom will be discharged in a finished state on to an
endless chain I, furnished with hooks, which will lift it to any required elevation
ready for the workman to carry it away. By this arrangement of machinery
it will be seen that not only will the rolling be effected in a rapid and efficient
manner, but that there will be no lodgement in the machine for the refuse
matters worked out of the puddle ball; the difficulty, therefore, hitherto
experienced in keeping the machine clean will be entirely removed.
In Sheet II. of the Drawings the improvement forming the second head of
our Invention is shewn in several views; Fig. 4 being a plan view of a rolling
mill with the improvement applied; Fig. 5, a section, taken in the line 1, 2, of
Fig. 4; and Fig. 6, a section, in the line 3, 4, of the same Figure. This
improvement relates to a novel mode of constructing the "
upsets" for
solidifying the ends of the blooms, and consists in inclining the upsets inwards,
which will prevent the ball from rising, and will allow of the lateral expansion
of the bloom. K and L are the upsetting pieces, which project within
the space between the rollers M, M, allowed for the passage downwards of
the puddle ball.
These rollers, it will be seen, are mounted abreast of each other, according
to a well-known arrangement, and. they are driven in opposite directions by
means of a pinion N gearing into spur wheels O, O, on the axles of the rollers.
The upsetting piece K is a fixed plate, bolted securely to the main framing,
but the upsetting piece L is moveable, it being provided with a guide arm L*,
which slides in a fixed guide P, and is connected by means of a rod Q with a
weighted bell crank lever R. This bell-crank lever is governed by means of
a hand lever S, which the workman attending the machine operates to draw
back the upsetting piece L when it is required to admit the puddle ball into
the machine. When the ball has passed below the projecting edge of the
piece L the workman lets go the hand lever, and the weight of the bell crank
then presses the upsetting piece forward into contact with the ball, and thus
prevents it from rising when the pressure of the rollers M comes upon it. A

page_text: shield K* attached to the piece K is provided to prevent the ball falling over
it if thrown carelessly on to the machine.
Having now set forth the nature of our Invention of "Improved Machinery
for Blooming Iron," and explained the manner of carrying the same into effect,
we wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited Letters Patent
we claim,-
First, the novel arrangement of machinery for rolling puddle balls, as
described with reference to Sheet I. of the Drawings, and also the means
employed for elevating and discharging the same into the rolling mill.
Secondly, we claim setting the upsetting pieces at an inclination instead of 1
upright, as heretofore, for the purpose specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Abbot, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Nineteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven.
JAMES ABBOT. (L.S.)