TAY IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Stenson, of Northampton, in the
County of Northampton, Civil Engineer and Iron Manufacturer,
TAY IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Stenson
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th November 1853.
I, JOSEPH STENSON, of Northampton, in the County of Northampton,
Civil Engineer and Iron Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON "
to be as follows:-
According to the ordinary methods of manufacturing bar iron the
heated iron about to be converted into rough or forge bars is passed
between rolls (known as "forge rolls") and made into flat bars (known
as rough or forge bars); these bars are then cut into suitable lengthis,
and a sufficient number of such lengths piled one on the other in a
form similar to that shewn by the Figures No. 1 and 2 in the Drawings
hereto annexed, Figure 1, being a transverse section, and Figure 2,

page_text: a side elevation of such a pile. It will be seen on reference to these
Drawings that the form of pile now usually adopted consists of a
number of flat bars laid one on the other, and that there consequently
exist a number of straight lines throughout the pile. The pile thus
prepared is placed in a furnace, and when heated to a proper degree is
passed between rolls and rolled out into bars of the substance or size
required, and it frequently happens that in the finished bar so produced
it is found,, from the imperfect welding together of the various flat
surfaces of the bars of which the pile is composed, that upon punching
or working the finished bar there will be a cleavage or lamination in
the substance, corresponding to the lines between the flat surfaces of
the bar composing the pile. The object of my Invention is to avoid
this liability to cleavage or lamination, and my Invention consists in the
employment of rough or forge bars of a corrugated, zig-zag, or fluted
form, which being cut into. suitable lengths are piled together in the
manner herein-after described."
My Invention further...consists in the method of forming piles of
corrugated, zig-zag, or fluted forge bars. I employ the rolls herein-
before described as "forge rolls," but having grooves so formed in them
as to make rough or forge bars, not of the usual flat form, but of a
corrugated or zig-zag form, or fluted in grooves and ridges in lines
corresponding with and parallel to the length of the bars. An end or
transverse section of one of such bars is shewn in Figure 3, but I do not
intend to confine myself to the particular form of the corrugations or
flutings there shown, as rough bars may be employed with corrugations
or flutings of an angle more acute or more obtuse than those shown in
the Drawings, or the corrugations or flutings may be of a curved or
semi-circular form. A transverse section of a bar of this form is shewn
in Figure 7. Any form of rough bar similar to either of those shown
may be adopted, the corrugations or flutings of which will admit of
being piled together in the manner herein-after described, but the form
which I prefer is that shewn in Figure 3. For the sake of distinction
I term a bar of this form an "angular bar," and that form shewn in
Figure 7; I term a "curved bar." I cut the bars thus prepared into
suitable lengths, and place as many as may be required one upon
a

page_text: the other so as to form a pile; such a pile, composed of seven
angular bars, is shewn in its transverse section in Figure 4, and a
similar pile, composed of seven curved bars, is shown also in transverse
section in Figure 8, but I consider neither pile perfect until I place
one bar upon the top of and another underneath such pile. These
top and bottom bars are made with a plain or flat surface on the one
side thereof, and with the other side thereof corrugated or fluted, so as
to correspond with the corrugations or flutings of the rough or forge
bars which they are to cover. They are made alike to each other, but of
a different form to the bars composing the interior part of the piles. A
transverse section of the top and bottom bar with which I complete or
cover a pile composed of angular bars is shewn in Figure 5, and the
improved pile of angular bars is shown complete in transverse section
in Figure 6. A transverse section of the top and bottom bars applicable
to a pile of curved bars is shown in Figure 9, and a pile of curved bars
complete is shown in Figure 10. (Without these top and bottom bars
I consider the advantages of my Invention would be materially lessened
by the presence of the corrugated bars into flat or nearly flat surfaces,
which would necessarily take place in the next process of manufacture,
that is, the rolling into the finished bars). I place the piles thus
made in the furnace, and manufacture them into finished bars by
the ordinary methods. now in use. The top and bottom bars, as
well as the rough or forge bars, will be manufactured or produced
by the ordinary method of rolling now in use and before referred
to, but it will be necessary to have the rolls (known as forge rolls)
constructed with grooves so formed in them_as to produce bars of
the precise form to be employed. The Figures 5 and 9 show the
forms of the top and bottom bar which I employ for covering or
inclosing piles of rough bars of the forms shown in Figures 4 and 8
respectively; the form shown in Figure 5 being applicable to the
completion of the pile shown in Figure 4, and the form shown in
Figure 9 being applicable to the completion of the pile shown as
Figure 8; but every variation in the form of the rough bar used will
require a corresponding variation in the form of the top and bottom bar.
1 consider that the forms of the corrugations or flutings in the rough

page_text: bars may be varied to some extent, any form being adopted which
experience may show to be most easily produced, and which will admit
of the corrugations or flutings of the rough bars, when piled one on the
other, fitting into the corrugations or flutings, as well of the rough bars
of which the centre of the pile is formed as of the top and bottom bars,
so as to prevent any straight line of cleavage or lamination throughout
the transverse section of the pile. The rough or forge bars may also be
made of any width which may be found necessary, and the number of
corrugations or flutings may be varied according to the width of the
rough or forge bar; but I prefer always to have an odd or unequal
number (as 3, 5, 7, or any other unequal number) of corrugations or
flutings, as otherwise it would be found necessary to have the top and
bottom bars differing from each other in form, which would create
additional expense.
For the same reason I prefer always to adop
such a form of corrugation or fluting as will permit the piles to be
covered or completed by top and bottom bars of one and the same form.
The width of the rough or forge bars, as well as the number of the
pieces or lengths required in forming the pile will be regulated by the
proposed size and weight of the finished bar intended to be made.
The advantages obtained by my Intervention are, that there are no
straight lines through the transverse section of the pile, and the liability
to cleavage and lamination in the finished iron is greatly reduced or
entirely prevented; the welding surface is also considerably increased,
and the welding and cohesion of the parts composing the pile rendered
more perfect.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Joseph Stenson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 26th May 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
JOSEPH STENSON, of Northampton, in the County of Northampton, Civil 30
Engineer and Iron Manufacturer, send greeting.
... WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of November, in the

page_text: year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and suc-
cessors, give and grant unto me, the said Joseph Stenson, Her special
licence that I, the said Joseph Stenson, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said Joseph Stenson, my exccutors,
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 MANUFACTURE OF IRON," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Joseph Stenson, by an instrument in writing under my hand
and seal, 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 I, the said Joseph Stenson, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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, reference being had to the Drawings hero-
unto annexed (that is to say):-
According to the ordinary methods of manufacturing bar iron the
heated iron about to be converted into rough or forge bars is passed
between rolls (known as "forge rolls,") and made into flat bars (known
as rough or forge bars); these bars are then cut into suitable lengths,
and a sufficient number of such lengths piled one on the other in a form
similar to that shewn by the Figures 1 and 2 in the Drawings hereto
annexed, Figure 1, being a transverse section, and Figure 2, a side
elevation of such a pile. It will be seen on reference to these Drawings
that the form of pile now usually adopted consists of a number of flat
bars laid one on the other, and that there consequently exist a number
of straight lines throughout the pile. The pile thus prepared is placed
in a furnace, and when heated to a proper degree is passed between
rolls and rolled out into bars of the substance or size required, and it

page_text: frequently happens that in the finished bar so produced it is found, from
the imperfect welding together of the various flat surfaces of the bars
of which the pile is composed, that upon punching or working the
finished bar there will be a cleavage or lamination in the substance
corresponding to the lines between the flat surfaces of the bars com-
posing the pile. The object of my Invention is to avoid this liability to
cleavage or lamination, and my Invention consists in the employment
of rough or forge bars of a corrugated, zig-zag, or fluted form, which
being cut into suitable lengths are piled together in the manner
herein-after described.
My Invention further consists in the method of forming piles of
corrugated, zig-zag, or fluted forge bars. I employ the rolls herein-
before described as "forge rolls," but having grooves so formed
in them as to make rough or forge bars, not of the usual flat
form, but of a corrugated or zig-zag form, or fluted in grooves and
ridges in lines corresponding with and parallel to the length of the
bars. An end or transverse section of one of such bars is shewn in
Figure 3; but I do not intend to confine myself to the particular form
of the corrugations or flutings there shewn, as rough bars may be
employed with corrugations or flutings of an angle more acute or more
obtuse than those shewn in the Drawing, or the corrugations or flutings
may be of a curved or a semi-circular form. A transverse section of a
bar of this form is shewn in Figure 7. Any form of rough bar similar
to either of those shewn may be adopted, the corrugations or flutings
of which will admit of being piled together in the manner herein-after
described, but the form which I prefer is that shewn in Figure 3. For
the sake of distinction I term a bar of this form an "angular bar,"
and that form shewn in Figure 7, I term a "curved bar." I cut the
bars thus prepared into suitable lengths, and place as many as may be
required one upon the other so as to form a pile; such a pile, composed
of seven angular bars, is shewn in its transverse section in Figure 4,
and a similar pile, composed of seven curved bars, is shewn also in
transverse section in Figure 8, but I consider neither pile perfect until
I place one bar upon the top of and another underneath such pile.
These top and bottom bars are made with a plain or flat surface on the

page_text: one side thereof, and with the other side thereof corrugated or fluted, so
as to correspond with the corrugations or flutings of the rough or forge
bars which they are to cover. They are made alike to each other, but
of a different form to the bars composing the interior part of the piles.
A transverse section of the top and bottom bar with which I complete
or cover a pile composed of angular bars is shewn in Figure 5, and the
improved pile of angular bars is shewn complete in transverse section
in Figure 6. A transverse section of the top and bottom bars appli-
cable to a pile of curved bars is shewn in Figure 9, and a pile of
(Without these top and
curved bars complete is shewn in Figure 10.
bottom bars I consider the 'advantages of my Invention would be mate-
rially lessened by the pressure of the corrugated bars into flat or nearly
flat surfaces, which would necessarily take place in the next process of
manufacture, that. is, the rolling into the finished bars:) I place the
piles thus made in the furnace, and manufacture them into finished bars
by the ordinary methods now in use... The top and bottom bars, as well
as the rough or forge bars, will be manufactured or produced by the
ordinary method of rolling now in use and before referred to, but it will
be necessary to have the rolls (known as forge rolls) constructed with
grooves so formed in them as to produce bars of the precise form to be
employed. The Figures 5 and 9 shew the forms of the top and bottom
bars which I employ for covering or inclosing piles of rough bars of
the forms shewn in Figures 4 and 8 respectively; the form shewn in
Figure 5 being applicable to the completion of the pile shewn in
Figure 4, and the form shewn in Figure 9 being applicable to the com-
pletion of the pile shewn as Figure 8; but every variation in the form
of the rough bar used will require a corresponding variation in the form
of the top and bottom bars. I consider that the forms of the corruga-
tions or flutings in the rough bars may be varied to some extent, any
form being adopted which experience may shew to be most easily pro-
duced, and which will admit of the corrugations or flutings of the rough
bars, when piled one on the other, fitting into the corrugations or
flutings, as well of the rough bars of which the interior portion of the
pile is formed as of the top and bottom bars, so as to prevent any
straight line of cleavage or lamination throughout the transverse section

page_text: of the pile. The rough or forge bars may also be made of any width
which may be found necessary, and the number of corrugations or
flutings may be varied according to the width of the rough or forge bar;
but I prefer always to have an odd or unequal number (as 3, 5, 7, or
any other unequal number) of corrugations or flutings, as otherwise it
would be found necessary to have the top and bottom bars differing
from each other in form, which would create additional expense. For
the same reason I prefer always to adopt such a form of corrugation or
fluting as will permit the piles to be covered or completed by top and
bottom bars of one and the same form. The width of the rough or forge
bars, as well as the number of the pieces or lengths required in forming
the pile, will be regulated by the proposed size and weight of the finished
bar intended to be made.
The advantages obtained by my Invention are, that there are no
straight lines through the transverse section of the pile, and the liability
to cleavage and lamination in the finished iron is greatly reduced or
entirely prevented; the welding surface is also considerably increased,
and the welding and cohesion of the parts composing the pile rendered
more perfect.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my
Invention the employment in the manufacture of iron of corrugated or
fluted rough bars for the purpose of forming a pile, as before described.
I claim also the method of piling such rough or forge bars, and of
covering or completing such piles, with the top and bottom bars
constructed and arranged in the manner herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Stenson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of May, One
thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JOSEPH STENSON. (L.S.)