IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLANE IRONS AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1877

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Beck, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City
of London, Consulting Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF PLANE IRONS AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
A communication from abroad by the Bergische Stahl Industrie-Gessellschaft,
of Remscheid, in the Kingdom of Prussia, and Empire of Germany.
Sealed the 1st February 1878, and dated the 1st August 1877.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Beck at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 1st August 1877.
"
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLANE IRONS AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN." [A communication from abroad by the Bergische
Stahl Industrie-Gessellschaft, of Remscheid, in the Kingdom of Prussia, and
Empire of Germany.]
In the manufacture of plane irons as usually practised, they are steeled at the
edge only for a length of about fifty millimetres. Plane irons manufactured in
accordance with the present Invention are steeled over the whole flat side
the thickness of steel, diminishing regularly from the edge or front towards
the back end. The method employed to produce plane irons of this kind is as
follows:-
Steel of suitable dimensions is laid upon square iron of from forty to seventy
millimetres strength, and placed in a forge or welding furnace with or without
artificial welding means, and are welded together and forged square or flat under a
mechanical hammer.
Or the steeling may be effected by casting suitable hard steel on to white hot
iron blooms, or hard cast steel may be cast on to soft or mild steel, which will not
harden, in moulds so adapted that after the soft material is cast therein, the hard
steel may be cast on to the still hot soft block. This may be effected by adapting
the mould with suitable moveable pieces or sides.

page_text: The blocks placed together by either of the aforesaid methods are then welded
together and forged square or flat under a hammer in readiness for the rolls. They
are then reheated in a reverberatory furnace to a clear red heat, and rolled out in
an ordinary fine or coarse steel roller train to the breadth required for plane irons,
and to a thickness of about four and a half millimetres. They are then passed
through a special rolling apparatus, which imparts the requisite tapered form of the
finished plane iron.
The said special rolling apparatus consists of two rollers, one of which is turned
truly central, the other is turned central at the ends only for about fifty millimetres
broad, where it bears upon the first-mentioned roller, so as to be driven by friction
against it as well as by a coupling. The middle part of the said roller is turned
eccentrically either from one centre at a certain distance from the centre of the
roller, or from two centres diametrically opposite and at equal distances from the
centre of the roller, or from three or more centres equidistant from each other and
from the centre of the roller.
By the above-described construction of the roller, the centres of the eccentrically
turned parts are placed so far from the centre of the roller as the thickness of the
plane iron is to be reduced from the cutting end to the back, which, in most cases,
is two and a half millimetres. If the roller be turned eccentrically from one centre,
each revolution will produce two plane irons; if from two centres, each revolution
will produce four plane irons; if from three centres, each revolution will produce
six plane irons, and so on.
The pieces steeled and rolled, as above described, are cut off to the required length,
the sides are cut, and the plane irons so formed are straightened, hardened, and
ground in the usual way.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said William Henry Beck in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st
February 1878.
WILLIAM HENRY BECK, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London, Consulting
Engineer. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF PLANE IRONS AND IN THE
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN."
In the manufacture of plane irons, as usually practised, they are steeled at the
edge only for a length of about fifty millimetres. Plane irons manufactured in
accordance with the present Invention are steeled over the whole flat side, and in
order to produce the regularly diminishing thickness from the edge or front towards
the back end they are rolled lengthwise in a spiral rolling mill. The method
employed to produce plane irons of this kind is as follows:-
Steel of suitable dimensions is laid upon square wrought iron of from forty to
seventy millimetres strength, and placed in a forge or welding furnace with or with-
out artificial welding means, and are welded together and forged square or flat
under a mechanical hammer (see Figure A of the Drawing, in which a represents
the steel, and b, the iron).
Or the steeling may be effected by casting suitable hard steel on to white hot
iron blooms, or hard cast steel may be cast on to soft or mild steel, which will not
harden, in moulds so adapted that after the soft material is cast therein, the hard
steel may be cast on to the still hot soft block. This may be effected by adapting
the mould with suitable moveable pieces or sides, as illustrated in Figures B and C,
in which Figure C represents a mould with a moveable side b, the soft steel is cast
in this mould, and while the block of steel is still hot the moveable piece b is
removed, and the piece a, Figure B, put in its place, and the hard steel is then cast
on to the hot soft block.
The blocks placed together by either of the aforesaid methods, and thus welded
together, and forged square or flat under a hammer, are ready for the rolls. They
are then reheated in a reverberatory furnace to a clear red heat, and rolled out in
an ordinary fine or coarse steel roller train to the breadths required for plane irons,
and to a thickness of about 4 millimetres. They are then passed through a special
rolling apparatus, which, by one passage through them, imparts the requisite tapered
form of the finished plane iron, see Figures I. and IV.
The said special rolling apparatus consists of two rollers, see Figure II., one of
which A is turned truly central, the other B is turned central at the ends only for
about fifty millemetres broad, where it bears upon the first mentioned roller, so as to
be driven by friction against it, as well as by a coupling. The middle part of the
said roller B is turned eccentrically either from one centre at a certain distance
from the centre of the roller, as shewn in Figure III., or from two centres diametri-
cally opposite and at equal distances from the centre of the roller, as shewn in
Figure IV., or from three or more centres equidistant from each other, and from the
centre of the roller, as shewn in Figure V.
By the above described construction of the roller the centres of the eccentrically
turned parts are placed as far from the centre of the roller as the thickness of the
plane iron is to be reduced from the cutting end to the back, which in most cases
is two and a half millimetres. If the rollers be turned eccentrically from one centre,
each revolution will produce two plane irons; if from two centres, each revolution
will produce four plane irons; if from three centres, each revolution will produce
six plane irons, and so on.
The pieces steeled and rolled, as above described, are cut off to the required length,
the sides are cut, and the plane irons so formed are straightened, hardened, and
ground in the usual way, as illustrated in Figure I.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and the manner in which
the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that

page_text: what I claim as the Invention to be secured by the within in part recited Letters
Patent is,-
Firstly. The manufacture of plane irons with the steel face extending over the
entire flat surface of one side, as herein-before described.
Secondly. The method of manufacturing such plane irons by welding temperable
steel to wrought iron or soft untemperable steel, forging and rolling the blooms
so produced into parallel strips, and then imparting to such strips the tapered
forms of plane irons by passing the said strips lengthwise through rolling
mills provided with eccentrically turned rollers, substantially as herein-before
described.
Thirdly. The use of rollers turned eccentrically from one or more centres for the
purpose of producing the longitudinal taper in the aforesaid plane irons, as herein-
before described and illustrated in the Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Beck, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirty-first day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight.
TY
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