IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR DRAWING WIRE
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Price, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Wire Drawer, and James Wilkins, of Birmingham,
aforesaid, Wire Drawer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DRAWING WIRE."
Sealed the 7th March 1873, and dated the 30th September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Price and James
Wilkins at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with their
Petition, on the 30th September 1872.
We, JOHN PRICE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Wire
Drawer, and JAMES WILKINS, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Wire Drawer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR DRAWING WIRE,” to be as follows :—
Our Invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the
parts of machinery for drawing wire herein-after described, whereby
wire may be drawn at one operation through two or more draw holes
made in the same draw plate, or in draw plates or dies situated
immediately over one another, and the reduction of the wire through

page_text: same wire.
Our Invention consists principally in constructing that part of the
said machinery called the draw block, that is, the rotating cylindrical
block to which the drawing power is applied, and on to which the wire
from the draw plate is wound, and thereby drawn through the holes in
the draw plate or dic.
We construct the said draw block and arrange the other parts of the
machinery connected therewith in the following manner :-The swift
or reel carrying the wire to be drawn is of the ordinary kind. From
the said swift or reel the wire passes through the largest hole, by
preference the bottom hole in the draw plate or dic, from which it
passes to the draw block. The wire does not however come in con-
tact directly with the said draw block, but passes around an elastic
grooved metallic ring situated upon the lower part of the said block.
This grooved metallic ring is divided on one side by a slit nearly
in the direction of a radius, a small portion of the ring being removed
at the said slit. This gives to the ring an elasticity which causes
it when the tension of the wire is great to contract in diameter
and thereby to grip firmly and travel with the rotating draw block.
When however the tension of the wire is reduced the ring expanding
no longer grips the block but can slip upon it, or conversely the block
can travel without carrying the elastic ring and wire with it. The wire
being drawn is passed several times round the said elastic grooved ring,
and from thence passes to a guide roller situated in front of the draw
plate or die. From the said guide roller the wire passes to the second
hole in the draw plate or die, the said second hole being of less diameter
than and situated immediately over the first hole. After passing through
the said second hole in the draw plate, the wire is coiled several times
around a second elastic grooved metallic ring situated on the rotating
draw block immediately above the one already described. The wire
after passing around the second elastic ring is conducted to the guide
roller, from whence it passes through the third and smallest hole in the
draw plate. From the said third hole the wire passes to the rotating
draw block to which it is fastened in the ordinary manner. The elastic
grooved rings described are separated from one another by plain ring-like
flanges which serve to guide the wire into the said elastic rings.

page_text: The action of the machinery is as follows:-The wire having been
arranged in the manner described and rotation given to the draw block,
different portions of the wire are respectively drawn simultaneously
through the three holes in the draw plate or die. The requisite
tension on the different portions of the wire, which in consequence
of the drawing process are travelling at different velocities, is main-
tained by the grooved elastic rings on the draw block over which
the wire passes, the said rings, as herein-before explained, gripping and
travelling with the block when there is sufficient tension on the wire,
but slipping over and permitting the block to travel without them when
the tension of the wire is diminished. The said block by being provided
with elastic grooved rings capable of slipping upon it as described
becomes as it were a block, the different portions of which travel with
the speeds respectively required by the different portions of the wire
being coiled or wound
upon them.
Although we have only described the drawing of the wire through
three holes, yet the wire may be drawn through two holes, or more than
than three holes in the manner before described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Price and James Wilkins in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 21st March 1873,
'
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, JOHN
PRICE, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Wire Drawer, and
JAMES WILKINS, of Birmingham, aforesaid, Wire Drawer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the
thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said John Price and James Wilkins, Her
special license that we, the said John Price and James Wilkins, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said
John Price and James Wilkins, 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

page_text: 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 DRAWING
WIRE," upon the condition (amongst others) that we, the said John
Price and James Wilkins, our executors or administrators, by an
instrument in writing under our or their hands and seals, or under
the hand and seal of one of us or them, 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 we, the said John Price and James Wilkins,
do hereby declare the nature of the 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, that is to say :—
Our Invention consists in the construction and arrangement of the
parts of machinery for drawing wire herein-after described, whereby wire
may be drawn at one operation through two or more draw holes made in
the same draw plate or in draw plates or dies situated immediately over
one another, and the reduction of the wire through two or more sizes
effected at the same time on different portions of the same wire.
Our Invention consists principally in constructing that part of the
said machinery called the draw block, that is, the rotating cylindrical
block to which the drawing power is applied and on to which the wire
from the draw plate is wound, and thereby drawn through the holes in
the draw plate or die.
We construct the said draw block and arrange the other parts of the
machinery connected therewith in the following manner:-The swift or
reel carrying the wire to be drawn is of the ordinary kind. From the
said swift or reel the wire passes through the largest hole, by preference
the bottom hole in the draw plate or die, from which it passes to the
draw block; the wire does not however come in contact directly with
the said draw block, but passes around an elastic grooved metallic ring
situated upon the lower part of the said block; this grooved metallic
ring is divided on one side by a slit nearly in the direction of a radius, a
small portion of the ring being removed at the said slit, this gives to
the ring an elasticity which causes it when the tension of the wire is

page_text: '
great to contract in diameter, and thereby to grip firmly and travel with
the rotating draw block. When, however, the tension of the wire is
reduced, the ring expanding no longer grips the block but can slip upon
it, or conversely the block can travel without carrying the elastic ring
and wire with it. The wire being drawn is passed several times round
the said elastic grooved ring, and from thence passes to a guide roller
situated in front of the draw plate or die. From the said guide roller
the wire passes to the second hole in the draw plate or die, the said
second hole being of less diameter than and situated immediately over
the first hole. After passing through the said second hole in the draw
plate the wire is coiled several times around a second elastic metallic
ring situated on the rotating draw block immediately above the one
already described. The wire after passing around the second elastic ring
is conducted to the guide roller, from whence it passes through the third
and smallest hole in the draw plate. From the said third hole the wire
passes to the rotating draw block to which it is fastened in the ordinary
The elastic grooved rings described are separated from ono
another by plain ring-like flanges which serve to guide the wire into the
said elastic rings.
manner.
The action of the machinery is as follows:-The wire having been
arranged in the manner described, and rotation given to the draw block,
different portions of the wire are respectively drawn simultaneously
through the three holes in the draw plate or die. The required tension
on the different portions of the wire which in consequence of the drawing,
process are travelling at different velocities is maintained by the grooved
elastic rings on the draw block over which the wire passes, the said
rings as herein-before explained gripping and travelling with the block
when there is sufficient tension on the wire, but slipping over and
permitting the block to travel without them when the tension of the
wire is diminished. The said block by being provided with elastic
grooved rings capable of slipping upon it as described becomes as it
were a block, the different portions of which travel with the speeds
respectively required by the different portions of the wire being coiled or
wound upon them.

page_text: Figure 1 represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in plan, machinery
for drawing wire, the parts of which are constructed and arranged
according to our Invention. Figure 3 is an end elevation of a portion
of the same (the base plate being in section) taken at the dotted line A,
Figure 2.
Figure 4 is a vertical section of the draw block of the said machinery
The other Figures represent parts of the said machinery as herein-after
described.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several
Figures of the Drawings.
a
is the swift or reel carrying the wire to be drawn; 6 is the draw
plate provided with a series of draw holes; c is the rotating draw block;
d, ď³, is the guide roller against and around which the wire passes on its
way to the draw plate 6 and draw block c; e, f, are the elastic grooved
metallic rings situated upon the lower part of the draw block c, and
around which rings the wire being drawn is coiled. Each of the elastic
rings e, f, is divided on one side by an inclined slit, a small portion of
the ring being removed at the said slit. The slit part is marked e³ in
Figures 10 and 11. By this means the ring is capable of expanding
and contracting upon the block c, as herein-after described. The
bottom elastic ring e is situated and works between the flange c¹³ of the
draw block c, and the fixed ring-like flange g, and the elastic ring ƒ is
situated and works between the flange g and the top flange h on the
block, the said top flange having a feather edge h' forming the rise to
the cylindrical surface of the draw block. In order to retain the elastic
grooved rings e, f, in their places upon the draw block the top and bottom
of each ring is furnished with flanges which take respectively into
recesses made in the fixed flanges c³, g, and h of the draw block. The
fixed flanges g and h are secured to the draw block c by screws, as shown
in Figure 4. The order in which the elastic grooved rings and flanges
are placed on the draw block c is as follows:-
The lower elastic ring e is first dropped upon the periphery of the
draw block, the lower flange of the elastic ring taking into the recess in ;
the fixed flange c³, the fixed flange 9 is next placed upon the draw block

page_text: The action of the machinery is as follows:-On rotation being given
to the draw block c through the driving shaft in any convenient way,
different parts of the wire are respectively drawn simultaneously through
the three holes in the draw plate or die 6. Thus suppose 12 inches of
wire uncoiling from the swift a after passing through the lowest hole in
the draw plate are lengthened into 13 inches. After passing round the
ringe and guide roller d³, and through the second hole in the draw plate,
the wire will be lengthened into 14 inches. After passing around the
ring f and the guide roller d, and through the third and top hole in the
draw plate, the wire will be clongated into 15 inches.
In order that the same tension may be preserved in all parts of the
wire it is necessary that that part of the wire being coiled on the part hª
of the draw block c shall travel with a velocity of 15, that which is being
coiled on the ring ƒ with a velocity of 14, and that which is being coiled
on the ring e with a velocity of 13. The required relative velocities of
the parts ³, f, and e are brought about in the following manner:—'
:-The
coiling of the wire upon the part h³, where there is no yielding, draws
the wire through the top hole in the draw plate, and also after the wire
has passed around the guide roller d, and around the clastic ring ƒ
through the second hole in the draw plate, but the wire will not be
drawn through the second hole in the draw plate until by the tightening
of the wire upon the elastic ring ƒ the said ring ƒ has been contracted,
and made to bite or grip the draw block. Similarly the wire will bo
drawn through the bottom hole in the draw plate by the tightening of
the said wire upon the elastic ring e, and the consequent compression of
the said ring upon and its gripping of the draw block. So long as the
rings and e grip the draw block they draw the wire through the draw
plate at the same rate as the part h² of the block, but this gripping is
never permanent, as when it occurs it is immediately followed by a
slackening of the wire, and a consequent relaxation of the hold of the
elastic rings e, f, upon the draw block. Hence while the part ² having
no power of yielding is steadily drawing the wire through the upper hole
in the draw plate the said rings e, f, by slipping on the draw block, and
thereby permitting the draw block to travel slightly faster than they travel
the required relative speeds of the draw block, and the rings e, f, are
maintained. The said draw block thus constructed becomes as it were
a block, the different portions of which travel with the speeds respec-
tively required by the different portions of the wire being coiled or

page_text: wound upon them. The relative velocities herein-before described of
the different parts of the wire are only illustrative, as the relative rates
of travelling depend upon the extent to which the wire is being reduced
at each hole in the draw plate, but the action is the same in kind though
differing in degree, whether the wire at cach hole is being reduced one
or two sizes.
Although we have only described the drawing of the wire through
three holes, yet the wire may be drawn through two holes, or more than
three holes, in the manner herein-before described by the use of the
required number of grooved elastic rings on the draw block.
We will now describe some of the details of the machinery. The
guide roller d, d³, is represented detached drawn to a larger scale in
vertical section in Figure 12; the two parts of the guide roller turn
on the same shaft &³, but, as will be understood, by examination of the
Drawing, each part of the roller may rotate independently of the other
part.
The rotating draw block may be connected with and disconnected
from the driving shaft k by the clutch or coupling. represented in
Figures 4, 13, 14, 15, and 16. Keyed on the end of the driving shaft k
is a driver l, provided with two jointed arms m, m. The driver and
shaft kare represented in elevation in Figure 13, and plan of upper side
in Figure 14. On the under side of the rotating block c is a flanged
ring n, the flange of the said ring being under cut at opposite points.
This ring is represented in plan of upper side in Figure 15, and section
in Figure 16. The under cut parts are marked p, p, in Figures 4 and
15. This flanged ring is fixed to the under side of the draw block by
means of side screws and a central screw and nut. When the flanged
ring n on the draw block c is placed upon the driver & the bottom of the
flange of the said ring bears upon the tails m³, m³, of the jointed
arms m, m, on the driver I, and forces their acting upper ends into the
under cut parts p, p, of the ring n; and when the said upper parts of
the levers m come against the ends p³ of the said under cut parts p the
draw block is geared to the driver 2, as illustrated in Figure 4. To ungear
the draw block o from the driver the said draw block is lifted by the
ordinary treadle or foot lever not represented in the Drawing, when the
the flange of the ring n no longer pressing on the tails m³ of the levers m
the said levers m assume the position represented in Figure 13, when the

page_text: further lifting of the draw block c ungears it from the driver l. By
this arrangement of coupling the draw block may be coupled with and
uncoupled from the driving shaft without stopping the said shaft.
We prefer to combine with the drawing apparatus herein-before
described an automatic lubricator for lubricating the wire as it passes to 5
the draw plate. The said lubricator is marked q, and consists of a vessel
with open ends filled with solid fat or grease.
The lubricator is stationed in front of the draw plate b, and has an
oscillating and a rising and falling motion given to it by the arrange-
ment of parts represented in Figures 1 and 3. The cranked arm 8 of 1
the lubricator q works in the guide &³, its inner horizontal arm being
jointed to the crank wheel or plate t on the horizontal shaft r. Motion
is given to the shaft r through the friction wheel u, the said wheel
receiving motion from the bottom of the rotating draw block c. The
arms of the lubricator is pivoted or centred at v, the centre or pin v 1
working in the slot w in the said arm 8. On the rotation of the shaft r
an oscillating motion together with a rising and falling motion is given
to the lubricator, and the solid fat or grease is thus effectually brought
into contact with the wire passing through it. The lubricating of the
wire by hand is thereby dispensed with. During the pointing of the 2
wire the said wire may be supported in the spring clip marked x.
Having now described the nature of our Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, we wish it to be understood that we
do not limit ourselves to the precise details herein-before described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the nature 2
of our Invention; but we claim as our Invention of improvements in
machinery for drawing wire,-
Firstly. Constructing the draw block with one, two, or more metallic
grooved elastic rings over which the wire being drawn is coiled, the said
rings being constructed and arranged and operating substantially in the 3
manner herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, so as to effect the simultaneous drawing of different parts of
the wire through two or more draw holes by the use of one draw block.
Secondly. The combination or arrangement of parts herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings for conducting 3

page_text: and guiding the wire from the draw block back again to the draw plate
or die.
In witness whereof, we, the said John Price and James Wilkins,
have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Eighteenth day
of March, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-three.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW,
JOHN PRICE.
(L.S.)
JAMES WILKINS. (L.S.)