IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILES FAGGOTS, OR BILLETS OF IRON OR STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILES FAGGOTS, OR BILLETS OF
IRON OR STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
11
LETTERS PATENT to John Henry Johnson, of 47, Lincoln's Inn
Fields, in the County of Middlesex, Gentleman, for the Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILES FAGGOTS, OR BILLETS OF
IRON OR STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN.
A communiontion from abroad by George H. Solaro of Wi-
mington, in the State of Delaware, United States of America.
Sealed the 1st June 1860 and deted the 90th Tannam 1980
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Henry Johnson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 29th January 1869.
I, JOHN HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County
of-Middlesex, - Gentleman, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for." IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILES, FAGGOTS, OR
BILLETS OF IRON OR STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS' EMPLOYEE
THEREIN," a "communication from abroad by George H. Sellers, of Wit
mington, in the State of Delaware, United States of America; to be as
follows:-
This Invention relates to the making of piles, faggots, or billets of
any desired shape from which finished shapes or plain merchant iron
[Price 8d.1

page_text: or steels can be rolled; also to the making of hollow piles or faggots of
iron or steel, from which pipes or columns can be rolled.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in the forming of iron
or steel into piles, faggots, or billets preparatory to rolling by pressing
the metal into forms of the required shape; also in forming iron or steel
into hollow piles or billets preparatory to rolling into hollow articles,
such as pipes or columns.
Various combinations or arrangements of machinery may be employed
in manufacturing pressed and moulded piles or faggots, as above
described, but that which the Inventor has found to give the best
results up to this date consists of a hydraulic or other powerful press,
the ram of which carries a plunger which accurately fits inside a strong
metal case or mould of any desired size, transverse section, the sides of
such mould being capable of opening on hinges in order to release the
compressed and finished pile. The blooms having been placed in the
mould and the sides closed down and secured the plunger is caused to
enter thro' one end of the mould which is left open for that purpose,
and to forcibly compress by the action of the hydraulic press the
metal contained inside the mould, thereby not only expelling the im-
purities which may be in the bloom, & which escape thro' the joints in
the mould, but causing the metal to be thoroughly consolidated and
to take the exact form of the mould. If a hollow pile, a punch or
pointed mandril of the required size and section is fitted on to the
end of the plunger, and on entering the mould perforates the bloom
or blooms and forces the metal laterally against the sides of the mould.
The end of this punch passes thro' the opposite end of the mould,
which has an opening in it just large enough to allow the punch to
enter, and this opening is kept closed till the punch arrives by a sliding
rod or stopper pressed forward by a counterweight. The punch having
penetrated the metal in the mould the plunger then enters and com-
presses the metal in a longitudinal direction, after which the plunger.
and punch are withdrawn. By reversing the action of the press the
mould is opened, and the finished pile, faggot, or billet, either solid or
hollow, as the case may be, is removed in a state ready for rolling.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said John Henry Johnson in the Great Seal Påtent
Office on the 29th July 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
HENRY JOHNSON, of 47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, in the County of Mid-
dlesex, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the
thirty-second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said John Henry Johnson, Her
special license that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Henry
Johnson, my executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 Inven-
tion for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PILES. FAGGOTS, OR BILLETS
OF IRON OR STEEL, AND IN THE MACHINERY OR APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
a communication from abroad by George H. Sellers, of Wilmington, in
the State of Delaware, United States of America, upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said John Henry Johnson, my executors
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, 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 John Henry Johnson, 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, reference being had to the accompanying
Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to
to say:-
The said Invention relates to the making of piles, faggots, or billets
Lich Snished shanee
plain merchant
"

page_text: irons or steels can be rolled; also to the making of hollow piles
or faggots of iron or steel from which pipes or columns can be rolled.
The essential feature of this Invention consists in the forming of iron
or steel into piles, faggots, or billets preparatory to rolling by pressing
the metal into forms of the required shape; also in forming iron or steel
into hollow piles or billets preparatory to rolling into hollow articles,
such as pipes or columns.
Various combinations or arrangements of machinery may be employed
in manufacturing pressed and moulded piles or faggots as above
described, but that which the Inventor has found to give the best
results up to this date consists of a hydraulic or other powerful press,
the ram of which carries a plunger which accurately fits inside a strong
metal case or mould of any desired size and transverse section, the sides
of such mould being capable of opening on hinges in order to release
the compressed and finished pile. The blooms having been placed in
the mould and the sides closed down and secured the plunger is caused
to enter through one end of the mould which is left open for that
purpose, and to forcibly compress by the action of the hydraulic press
the metal contained inside the mould, thereby not only expelling the
impurities which may be in the bloom, and which escape through
the joints in the mould, but causing the metal to be thoroughly con-
solidated and to take the exact form of the mould. If a hollow pile,
a punch or pointed mandrill of the required size and section is fitted on
to the end of the plunger, and on entering the mould perforates the
bloom or blooms and forces the metal laterally against the sides of the
mould. The end of this punch passes through the opposite end of the
mould, which has an opening in it just large enough to allow the punch
to enter, and this opening is kept closed till the punch arrives by a
sliding rod or stopper pressed forward by a counterweight. The punch
having penetrated the metal in the mould the plunger then enters and
compresses the metal in a longitudinal direction, after which the
plunger and punch are withdrawn. By reversing the action of the press
the mould is opened, and the finished pile, faggot, or billet, either
solid or hollow, as the case may be, is removed in a state ready for
rolling.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood I shall
now proceed more particularly to describe the same, and for that purpose
shall refer to the several Figures on the annexed Sheet of Drawings,

page_text: the same letters of reference indicating corresponding parts in all
the Figures.
Figure 1 of the Drawings represents a side elevation; Figure 2 an end
elevation; Figure 3 a plan; and Figure 4 a section through the line 1-2
of the said apparatus.
A represents the piston of a hydraulic steam, screw, or lever press,
which carries a plunger B of the same shape as the section of the pile
required; this plunger B is hollow to allow the piston C. to move
through the same; the said piston passes through the cylinder D into
another cylinder E lying behind and in the same plane as the cylinder D.
The piston C is only used when hollow piles are to be made. The
plunger B is of the same shape as the internal section of the opening
formed by the dies F, F; F, which are held in place by the frame of the
machine G, G, and by the hinges H, H, or other contrivances which
permit of the opening of the top form F, which, when open, allows the
admission of a number of blooms of puddled iron direct from the puddling
furnaces, or of blooms formed from puddled or other iron or steel which
have been simultaneously brought up to a welding heat, and placed
within these forms. The top being then closed and the power applied
to the plunger B the balls or blooms will be forced into each other and
into the shape of the mould formed by the closing of the dies against
each other, the construction of these dies being such that they do not
close so tightly as to prevent the expulsion of the impurities which may
be in the blooms when placed within the dies. When it is desired to
form a hollow pile the piston C has a pointed punch I inserted in the
end of the same, and the opposite end of the dies or forms has an
opening left in the end, stopping up the forms corresponding to the size
of the punch I, which opening is stopped up with a counterweighted
stopper K; this stopper is forced back when the panch I presses, against
it. The heated bloom being placed within the forms or dies the piston C
is moved forward, forcing the punch, I through the metal, the rounded
or pointed end of the punch causing the metal to be pressed aside
rather than driven ahead; when this punch has passed through the
metal and forced the stopper K back the plunger B being of the shape
of the opening formed by the dies is brought forward, thereby pressing
the metal into the shape of the forms and solidifying it around the
punch I. When pressed up as far as required the plunger or piston C is
withdrawn by opening the escape valve and applying power to the other

page_text: side of the piston, thus withdrawing the punch from the metal. When
this is accomplished the pressure is removed from the plunger B, the
dies are opened, and the pile is removed, which consists of a hollow
homogeneous mass devoid of seam or opening into which cinder, scale, or
dirt can be forced in the process of reheating. The power applied
in either solid or hollow piles should be in proportion to the size and
solidity required for the pile or billet. By the removal or insertion
of the punch I either solid or hollow piles may be formed in the same
. machine.
Having now described and particularly ascertained the nature of the
said Invention, and the manner in which the same is or may be
'used or carried into effect, I would observe in conclusion that I do
not confine or restrict myself to the precise shape of the forms or dies
shewn in my Drawings, nor to the particular kind of power. employed;
but what I consider to be novel and original, and therefore claim as
the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,―
First. The forming of iron or steel into piles or billets preparatory
to rolling by pressing the metal into forms, moulds, or dies of the
-required shape.
Second. Forming iron or steel into hollow piles or billets preparatory
to rolling, substantially as herein-before described.
Third. The construction and arrangement of machinery or apparatus
for forming solid or hollow piles or billets preparatory to rolling, as
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, 1, the said John Henry Johnson, have to this
my Specification set my hand and seal, this Twenty-ninth day of
July One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.