Improvements in or relating to the Working of Tapers on Metals.
Year: 1888

page_text: Improvements in or relating to the Working of Tapers on Metals.
A communication from JOHN BELMER ARMSTRONG, of the City of Guelph, in the
County of Wellington, in the Province of Ontario, Canada, Manufacturer.
1, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT of 323 High Holborn in the County of Middlesex,
M.L.M.E. 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:-
The object of the invention is to shape the edges and produce any requisite taper
on the ends of iron or steel bars by a process of compressing or squeezing the edges
of the bar and then rolling out the taper on the bar after its edge has been so
shaped, the process of shaping the edge and rolling the taper being performed in
two consecutive operations on the heated bar by passing the same between
compresser jaws operated by an elliptical cam, and provided with adjustable com-
pressing bits, and between a plain upper roll vertically adjustable and a lower
segmental roll designed to run at a less rate of speed than the upper roll.
Fig. 1 is a side clevation of the machine with the front or operator's side to the
right hand.
Fig. 2 represents cross-sectional views of a plain upper roller and lower
segmental roll.
Fig. 3 is a sectional front view of the compressing levers H H showing adjusting
wedges a and compressing bits b.
Fig. 4 is a longituinal vertical elevation of the compresser jaws showing adjusting
wedges a and compressing bits in position.
Fig. 5 shows a parallel flat bar after edging the end with the compressing levers.
Fig. 6 shows the edged bar in Fig. 5 after passing through the rollers which
produce the taper.
Fig. 7 shows a flat bar tapered edgewise only.
Fig. 8 shows a bar tapered on opposite sides and edges.
Fig. 9 shows a bar with a convex taper on its sides.

page_text: In the drawing like letters of reference indicate similar parts in the different
figures.
In fig. 1 A is the frame of the machine. B is the lower segmental roll and
C the adjustable upper plain roll. DD are the movable journals for the upper
roll C; the lower portion of journals D₁ being held in position by the spiral
springs while the upper portion of the journals D are vertically adjustable by
means of the screw d¹ the journals moving in the grooved standards N. E is
the belt fly-wheel which drives the plain upper roll C and F the geared wheel
which drives the lower segmental roll. G is a prolongation of the axle of the
lower roll B which carries rigidly attached thereto the elliptical driving cam L
which actuates the compressing levers H centrally pivotted together at 2; which
cam when revolving gives the desired throw to the jaws of the compressing
levers H.
I and K are springs which hold the ends of compressing levers in position on the
elliptical cam L.
The upper roll C as shown in Figs. 1 and 2, is plain and is driven by a belt on the
heavy fly-wheel pulley E so that its rolling surface may move at a slightly faster
rate of speed than that of the lower segmental roll B so as to avoid any under
slipping on the surface of the former when heavy work is being performed. The
upper roll is made vertically adjustable in order to accomodate the different
thicknesses of bars to be tapered. The lower segmental roll B from which a
cylindrical segment has been taken so as to leave a flat surface on its periphery
adapted to form the requisite taper is run direct by positive action from the gear
wheel F independently of the upper roll C which is driven by the fly-wheel pulley
in the manner before mentioned. By this arrangement, the lower segmental roll
may be adapted to form a number of different grades of taper between its flattened
face and the face of the plain upper roll.
As may be seen in Fig. 1 the compressing levers H are operated at their rear ends
by a elliptical cam L which is keyed to an axle or projection formed on the lower
roll at G said cam revolving along with the lower roll B separates the lever arms
at each revolution squeezing together the jaws which carry the compressing bits b
and the adjusting wedges a. The lever arms are drawn together and held in
position to the surface of the elliptical cam by the spiral spring I. The additional
spring K which works against the lower compressing lever is available in the event
of any breakage of the upper spring I at the ends of the lever arms h.
The adjustable compressing bits in the jaws h¹ as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, are
adjusted by the wedges a so shaped and scale marked as to be easily placed in a
known position to produce the exact required compression of the edges of the bars
between the jaws after which the bars are ready to pass between the rolls so as to
form the taper as shown in fig. 6.
To reduce large-sized bars, say two feet back on the bar and one-eighth of an inch
thick at the end, two squeezes and two passes or more, through the rolls may be
requisite, but in light bars of say one and one-half inches wide by five-sixteenths
thick, one edge squeeze and one pass through the rolls will suffice and either a
parallel edged plate tapered on the flat, as shown in Fig. 6 is turned out, or the
adjustable compressing bits, b, can at will be so adjusted in combination with a proper
lower roll as to form the flat bar with the tapered edges, as shown in Fig. 7 or. a true
double taper may be formed as shown in Fig. 8.
It will be seen in Fig. 2 that the lower segmental roll has a segment cut from its
side as before mentioned. The object of this is to allow the operator to pass the
heated bar through and strike a stop or stops placed at known distances from the
centre line of the rolls according to the length of taper required on the bar.
When a convex taper as shown in Fig. 9 is required the same method can be
applied by using the compressing levers and gearing the upper and lower. rolls so
that they act together, each roll being so shaped as to afford the same concavity on a
portion of each of their peripheries, so as to form the requisite convex taper.

page_text: The bars shaped and tapered in the machine are of the usual pattern as they come
from the rolling mills.
In operating the machine, the heated bar is first squeezed odgewise by the com-
pressing levers, H, and it is then passed through the rolls, the upper roll C, being
a plain roll, and the lower roll being segmental adapted to form any requisite taper.
This machine has many advantages over the old form of machine, which has
directly geared eccentric rolls and edging grooves, as well as over what is known as
plate bed rolls; the old style of machine being expensive to make, besides causing
a buckling of the very thin ends of the bars in the edging grooves, as well as being
much slower in their operation than this form of machine.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said invention
as communicated to me by my foreign correspondent and in what manner the same
is to be perforined, I declare that what I claim is :-
1. The production of tapers on the ends of metal bars by the process of com-
pressing or squeezing the edges of the bars when heated, and then rolling out
the tapers on the heated bars after the edge has been so shaped, the process of
shaping the edge and rolling the taper being performed in two consecutive
operations on the heated bar by passing the same between compressing jaws and
rolling out the taper between rolls suitably shaped and adjustable as to each other,
substantially as specified.
2. In a rolling machine an upper roll C driven independently of the lower roll
and vertically adjustable in combination with a segmental lower roll B suitably
geared the rolling surface of which is driven at a slightly lower rate of speed than
that of the upper roll substantially as specified.
3. In a rolling machine the combination with compressing levers H of adjustable
compressing bits b in the jaws thereof, the compressing levers being operated by an
elliptical cam L rigidly attached to and adapted to partake of the motion of the
lower roll B substantially as specified.
4. In a rolling machine the combination with the compressing levers H carrying
adjustable compressing bits and sealed adjusting wedges a in the jaws thereof, of
the springs I and K and the elliptical cam L rigidly attached to and adapted to
partake of the notion of the lower segmental roll B driven by the geared wheel F
substantially as specified.
5. The upper roll C operated by the fly-wheel pulley E in combination with
standards N, screw d', spring d², and movable journals D D substantially as specified.
6. The within described machine for shaping the edges and producing any requisite
taper on the ends of iron or steel bars by a process of compressing or squeezing the
edges of the bar and then rolling out the taper on the bar after its edge has been so
shaped, substantially as and for the purpose specified.
Datad this 11th day of Santambar 1888