Im- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE METALLIC WEBS APPLICABLE FOR USE IN CONVEYING OR CARRYING MATERIALS, OR FOR WINDOW SHUTTERS OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Rowat, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, Wire Worker, for the Invention of "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE METALLIC WEBS APPLICABLE
FOR USE IN CONVEYING OR CARRYING MATERIALS, OR FOR WINDOW SHUTTERS
OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES."
Sealed the 19th November 1872, and dated the 23rd May 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Rowat at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
23rd May 1872.
I, ROBERT ROWAT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North
Britain, Wire Worker, do hereby declare the nature of the said In-
vention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF FLEXIBLE METALLIC
WEBS APPLICABLE FOR USE IN CONVEYING OR CARRYING MATERIALS, OR FOR
WINDOW SHUTTERS OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," to be as follows, that is to
say:―
This Invention relates to the making of flexible metallic webs in an
improved simple, economical, strong, and durable manner.

page_text: The improved web has been designed to be used as an endless band or
apron for carrying moist granular or other materials into or through a
drying stove, but it is also applicable for other purposes where flexible
webbing is used, and amongst others in making rolling or revolving
window shutters in place of the flexible or jointed metallic appliances
hitherto employed for that purpose.
In making the improved metallic web wire of any suitable metal is
first wound into the form of flattened helical coils, and these coils are
then jointed one upon the other successively to make up the required
length. In making each joint the convolutions of one coil are inserted
severally between the convolutions of the next coil, and a rod or stout
wire is then passed the long way of the coils so as to interlace with the
interpenetrating parts of both coils. Heads are formed or fixed on the
ends of the joint rods or wires to prevent them from coming out, each
pair of such rods or wires being by preference connected at the ends by
being fixed to one head. Flat bars or strips of metal are by preference
inserted through some of the helical coils to impart stiffness and prevent
distortion, and such bars or strips are inserted through all the coils when
the web would otherwise be too open for the materials which it is
intended to carry.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Robert Rowat in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 22nd November 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
ROWAT, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, Wire
Worker, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellen Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-fifth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Robert Rowat, Her special licence that I, the
said Robert Rowat, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said Robert Rowat, my executors, administrators, and

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
5 Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
FLEXIBLE METALLIC WEBS APPLICABLE FOR USE IN CONVEYING OR CARRYING
MATERIALS, OR FOR WINDOW SHUTTERS OR OTHER SIMILAR PURPOSES," upon the
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Robert Rowat, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or
) one of their hands and scals, 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 Robert Rowat, 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say :-
My said Invention relates to the making of flexible metallic webs in
an improved simple, economical, strong, and durable manner.
My improved web has been designed, in the first instance, to be used
in the form of an endless band or apron for carrying granular or other
materials into or through a drying stove, but it is also applicable for
other purposes wherefor flexible webbing is used, and, amongst others,
for making rolling or "revolving" window shutters, instead of the
flexible or jointed metallic appliances hitherto sometimes employed for
that purpose.
I may also here mention, by way of further example, that my
O improved metallic webbing may be advantageously used for making
belts or bands for driving heavy machinery, for acting as elevators with
buckets and scoops attached, and for hoisting or raising loads.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing
the same may be properly understood I hereunto append a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings to be herein-after referred to, and representing

page_text: modifications of my improved webbing, together with examples of its
application.
In these Drawings the same reference numerals are used to mark the
same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
In making my improved metallic web wire of any suitable metal is
first wound into the form of flattened helical coils, such as the one
shown in side view in Figure 1, and in end view in Figure 2, and coils
of this kind are then jointed one upon the other successively to make
up the required length, as shown in Figures 3 and 4. In making each
joint the convolutions of one coil are inserted severally between the
convolutions of the next coil, and a rod or stout wire 1 is then passed
the long way of the coils so as to interlace with the interpenetrating
parts of both coils. Heads 2 are formed or fixed on the ends of the
joint rods or wires 1 to prevent them from coming out, each pair of
such rods or wires 1 being connected at the ends by being fixed to one
head 2. These heads may be applied at the ends of alternate coils as
at 2, 2, or there may be heads 3 shaped to fit or joint together at the
ends of every coil, and in some cases these heads or end links may be
formed with holes 4 to gear upon pins or teeth on the wheels or rollers
which move the metallic web. Flat bars or strips of metal are by
preference inserted through some of the coils, as shown at 5 in Figure 4,
to impart stiffness and prevent distortion, and such bars or strips are
inserted through every coil when the web would otherwise be too open
for materials which it is intended to carry.
Figure 5 is a sectional side elevation showing the application of my
improved metallic webbing as an endless apron 6 for conveying moist
granular matters through a drying stove, the heat of which is in this
example supplied by means of a set of horizontal steam pipes 7. The
endless apron 6 passes round large rollers 8, 9, at the ends, and is sup-
ported by intermediate smaller rollers 10. One of the end rollers 8 is
driven in any suitable manner to impart the desired movement to the
apron, and the other end roller 9 has its bearings 11 fitted in horizontal
guides, and screws 12 are applied to these bearings, whereby the endless
apron can be sufficiently stretched.
Figures 6 and 7, which are vertical sections at right angles to each
other, show the application of the webbing 6 as a window shutter. I
prefer to lead the shutter webbing over a guide roller 13 to the roller 14

page_text: to which the upper end of it is attached, and upon which it is wound.
The webbing is easily attached to the roller 14 by screws entered
between the convolutions of the end coil, and through a bar or strip of
metal (5) inserted in that coil. The roller 14 has fast on it a spur
wheel 15, which is in gear with a pinion 16 loose on the journal of the
guide roller 13, but having fast to it a chain gearing pulley 17. The
pulley 17 is turned by means of an endless chain 18 passing round guide
pulleys 19 to a pulley or barrel 20, to which a handle 21 is fixed or can
be applied.
Different arrangements of the pulleys 19, 20, are shown in Figures 6
and 7, that in Figure 6 being adapted for being worked inside of a shop,
whilst that in Figure 7 can be worked either from the inside or outside,
the handle 21 being in the latter case inserted through a hole which can
be covered by a locked plate. The guide pulleys 19 are shown as fitted
with ratchets so as to be capable of turning only when the shutter
webbing 6 is being raised, which is done in order that the friction of
the chain passing round the pulleys when the shutter webbing is being
let down will prevent its too rapid descent.
When applying my improved metallic webbing as belts for elevators,
the buckets or scoops may be attached to it by means of screws or bolts
passed through metal bars (5) inserted in the coils, the convolutions
being slightly opened if necessary where the screws or bolts have to pass
through.
The helical coil may be easily made by winding the wire upon a flat
bar in a kind of lathe, the wire being applied to the revolving bar by a
guide having a suitable motion along the bar imparted to it by gearing
such as is used in screw-cutting lathes. The bar with the wire wound
on it is removed from the lathe, and is passed between a pair of rollers
which flattens the convolutions of the wire, and in doing so frees the
bar so that it can be easily drawn out.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner
of performing the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to
the precise details herein described or delineated, but that what I believe
to be novel and original and claim as the Invention secured to me by
the herein-before in part recited Letters Patent is,―
1. The constructing of flexible metallic webs of helical coils of wire
jointed together substantially as herein-before described.

page_text: 2. The applying of flexible metallic webs substantially such as are
herein-before described as window shutters.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Rowat, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
ROBERT ROWAT. (L.S.)