IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF HARDENING AND TEMPERING CRINOLINE FLATTENED WIRE OR SHEET STEEL
Year: 1861

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Gray, of the firm of Robert Gray and
Company, Crinoline Steel Manufacturers, of Sheffield, in the County of
York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF HARDENING
AND TEMPERING CRINOLINE FLATTENED WIRE OR SHEET STEEL."-A com-
munication from abroad by Mr. Edwin Goodwin, of Brooklyn, New
York.
Sealed the 3rd October 1861, and dated the 25th April 1861.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Gray at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 25th
April 1861.
I, ROBERT GRAY, of the firm of Robert Gray and Company, Crinoline Steel
Manufacturers, of Sheffield, in the County of York, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MODE OF HARDENING
AND TEMPERING CRINOLINE FLATTENED WIRE OR SHEET STEEL," to be as
follows:-
The Invention consists, firstly, in passing the steel through rectangular or
other shaped troughs containing molten lead; the troughs are placed in a fire
with regulating hoods and dampers, to subdue or accelerate combustion until
the requisite degree of heat be attained. The steel, after leaving the heating
trough, is drawn through a vessel containing a hardening fluid composed of
sperm oil, tallow, resin, and spirits of turpentine, and then coiled on a "swift".
or wheel.
Secondly, it is tempered by being drawn thence through another trough

page_text: containing molten lead. The "swift" or wheel on which the tempered
steel is wound is constructed with compensating springs and arms, so as to
adapt the periphery to the contraction of the material in cooling..
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Robert Gray in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
24th October 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ROBERT
GRAY, of the firm of Robert Gray and Company, Crinoline Steel Manu-
facturers, of Sheffield, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fifth day of April, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one, in the twenty-fourth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Robert Gray, Her special licence that I, the said Robert
Gray, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Robert Gray, my 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 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 THE MODE OF HARDENING AND TEMPERING CRINOLINE FLATTENED
WIRE OR SHEET STEEL," a communication from abroad by Mr. Edwin Goodwin,
of Brooklyn, New York, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
Robert Gray, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under
my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 Pâtént.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Robert Gray, 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 fol-
lowing statement, reference being had to the Sheet of Drawings hereunto
annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
This Invention relates to a process of hardening and tempering steel for the
purposes herein-before set forth, by depression or partial immersion in molten

page_text: lead, contained in a tubular, rectangular, or other shaped receiver. To melt
the lead in the receivers ordinary furnaces may be used, but for the purposes
of this Invention a furnace acted upon by a blast with regulating hoods, doors,
and dampers, to accelerato or subdue combustion as may be required, is
preferable. The steel to be operated upon is first coiled upon a wheel, which
is placed upon a pivot or axis in front of the heating receiver containing
molten lead; it is then pushed or drawn through the receiver through a
cistern or vessel containing a hardening fluid, and attached to another wheel,
on which it is wound and transferred to the tempering furnace; the hardening
fluid is composed of whale or sperm oil, tallow, resin, and spirits of turpentine.
The relative proportions which the latter ingredients bear to the oil is
not very material, nor are they indeed absolutely essential in practice, a'
small quantity, so small as not to admit of being accurately defined, is found
When drawn through this machine the steel is hardened. It is
then drawn off the wheel whereon it was coiled through another receiver con-
taining molten lead of the requisite heat, which acts upon it with the fatty
fluid adhering thereto, and imparts or produces the proper temper. The
tempered steel when drawn through the furnace is expanded to a much
greater extent than the hardened steel after passing through the liquid; it is;
therefore, necessary to provide for considerable contraction in cooling on the
"swift." or wheel, on which it is at once wound. This "swift" is therefore formed
with arms having sockets and springs, which admit of the broken periphery or
points which receive the pressure adapting itself to the contracting material.
to answer.
In the accompanying Drawings the arrangements contemplated by the said
Invention are fully set forth and delineated, similar parts in each Figure of the
respective furnaces being marked by similar letters of reference.
Fig. 1. is a plan of the hardening furnace and appurtenances; Fig. 2 is a
sectional elevation of the same; Fig. 3, a transverse section on the line A, B;
(see Fig. 1 ;) and Fig. 4, a side elevation, showing the furnace and hood
doors closed; Fig. 5 is a plan of the tempering furnace and appurtenances;
and Fig. 6, a sectional elevation of the same.
A represents the hardening furnace; B, B, the furnace bars; C, the hood,
which can be raised or lowered at pleasure by ordinary well-known tackle;
D, D, represent inspection doors in the hood; and E, E, the furnace doors,
the opening or closing of which when the blast is off, regulates the rate of
combustion, and consequently the heat; F represents the wheel on which the
steel F, F, is first coiled; G, the heating receiver in the furnace charged
with molten lead; H, the cistern containing the hardening fluid; I, I, bars to
depress the steel into the liquid; and K, the "swift" or wheel, the revolutions

page_text: of which determine the rapidity or otherwise with which the steel moves, and
this is made dependent on the heat, as indicated by its color on leaving the
heating receiver G; L represents the tempering furnace; M, M, the bars;
N, N, furnace doors; O, the wheel on which the hardened steel is coiled;
P, the heating receiver charged with molten lead; and Q, the "swift," by
which the steel is drawn through it. The swift Q is formed with gun barrel
or hollow arms a, a, in which rods b, b, are inserted sufficiently short to admit.
of a few inches play. To these plates are attached receiving plates c, c, which
project through, and are movable from d to e in the sides f. f. On the rods
b, b, are nuts g, g, screwed upon spiral springs h, h, which act on the ends of
the hollow arms a, a, and press the rods b, b, with the receiving plates c, c,
outwards from the centre of the "swift" with sufficient power to adapt them
to the contractile strain of the steel when cooling. The furnaces may be
adapted for as many strings of steel to pass through at one time as may be
desired.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is or may be carried into effect, I declare that what I
conceive to be new and original, and therefore claim as the Invention to be
secured to me by the above in part recited Letters Patent, is,―
First, the mode of hardening thin steel by drawing it through a depressed
or bent receiver containing molten lead, and through a vessel containing
hardening fluid at one operation.
Secondly, the mode of tempering thin steel by drawing it through a depressed
or bent receiver containing molten lead.
Thirdly, constructing the "swift" or wheel, as described, on which the
tempered steel is wound.
· Fourthly, the general construction and arrangement of the furnaces and
appurtenances, substantially as herein-before set forth and illustrated by the.
annexed Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Robert Gray, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
ROBERT GRAY. (L.S.)
Witness,
T. F. CASHIN.