IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METALLIC RODS OR WIRE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE."
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Partridge Blake, of Medway, State of
Massachusetts, in the United States of America, but at present
residing at Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Mechanical
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METALLIC
RODS OR WIRE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Partridge Blake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 19th May 1870.
I, JAMES PARTRIDGE BLAKE, of Medway, State of Massachusetts, in
the United States of America, but at present residing at Birmingham,
in the County of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METALLIC
RODS OR WIRE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE,"
to be as
follows:-
"

page_text: the back of the rolls, into which guides the workman introduces the
rectangular or flattened rod or wire. The said guides hold the rod or
wire in the proper position to be seized by the octagonal groove of the
rolls. The distance to which the rod or wire is introduced between the
rolls is determined by the holder by which the workman holds and
introduces the rod or wire.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said James Partridge Blake in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 12th November 1870.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
PARTRIDGE BLAKE, of Medway, State of Massachusetts, in the United
States of America, but at present residing at Birmingham, in the County
of Warwick, Mechanical Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-
third year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said James Partridge Blake, Her special licence
that I, the said James Partridge Blake, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said James Partridge Blake, 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 ROLLING METALLIC RODS OR WIRE, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED FOR THAT
PURPOSE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said James
Partridge Blake, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James. Partridge Blake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same
i

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in rolling metallic rods or wire by
subjecting the said rods or wire to the action of grooved rolls in such a
manner that the rod or wire shall be alternately subjected to the action
of grooves flat or rectangular in section, and octagonal in section, the
rod or wire being afterwards subjected to the action of grooves having
the cylindrical or other figure which the rod or wire is "intended
eventually to have. By this method of rolling the metal is subjected
to a kind of kneading or compressing action, whereby it is consolidated
or made very dense during the rolling process, and is not liable to the
kind of fracture called " bursting," to which rods or wires rolled in the
ordinary way are liable. In place of the octagonal grooves described,
hexagonal or other polygonal grooves, having a greater or less number of
sides than six, may be employed.
My Invention consists, secondly, of machinery constructed in the
following manner, to be used in rolling rods or wire by the process
herein-before described. The said machinery consists essentially of a pair
of rolls having a series of grooves alternately flat or rectangular and
octagonal in section, and also a series of other grooves suitable to give the
rod or wire the shape finally required. In front of the rolls a rest having
a series of guiding grooves is fixed for the purpose of directing the rod or
wire in the required position into the grooved rolls. When it is required
to reduce the diameter of the rod or wire through part of its length only,
as in the manufacture of needles for sewing machines, I make a part of
each of the grooves in the rolls of sufficient size to permit of the intro-
duction of the wire without acting upon that part the diameter of which
is not to be reduced, the larger part of the groove joining the smaller
part by a taper or such other figure as the purpose to which the rod or
wire is to be applied may require. When the machinery has to operate
as described upon only one part of the rod or wire a reciprocating
rotatory motion or a continuous rotatory motion may be given to the
rolls. The said reciprocating motion may be given by a crank on a
rotating shaft being connected by a connecting rod with a crank on the
axis of one of the rolls. In this case the rod or wire to be operated
upon is introduced by the workman between the rolls, when that part of
the groove of largest diameter presents itself, the acting faces of the rolls

page_text: moving away from the workman. On the return motion of the rolls
the rod or wire is seized and operated upon by the portion of the groove
having the smallest diameter, and is returned to the workman. In order
to ensure the proper position of the rectangular or flattened rod as it is
seized by the octagonal groove a row of guides is fixed at the back of
the rolls, into which guides the workman introduces the rectangular or
flattened rod or wire. The said guides hold the rod or wire in the proper
position to be scized by the octagonal groove of the rolls. The distance to
which the rod or wire is introduced between the rolls is determined by the
holder by which the workman holds and introduces the rod or wire.
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
Figure 1, represents in side elevation, and Figure 2 in transverse
section, machinery constructed according to my Invention for rolling
metallic rods or wire for the manufacture of sewing machine needles;
Figure 3 represents a section of the rolls separately drawn of the full
size, and Figures 4 and 5 represent the front and back guides of the
rolls separately. The same letters indicate the same parts in each of the
Figures of the Drawings.
a, b, are the two rolls having a continuous rotatory motion given to
them. The said rolls are carried by the standards a³, a³, in which the
brasses or bearings of the rolls are supported. The adjustment of the
upper roll a upon the lower roll bis effected by the set or adjusting
screws at in the usual manner. The shafts of the rolls a, b, are geared
together by the pinions a³, b², the shaft of the lower roll being driven by
a band working over the fast pulley of the fast and loose pulleys b³, b*;
65 is the fly wheel. The said rolls a, b, are provided with grooves
alternately flat or rectangular and octagonal in section, each octagonal
groove being followed by a cylindrical one. In the said rolls a, b, three
sets of grooves are made for reducing three different sizes of wire. The
first set of grooves are marked c, d, e, the second set are marked f, g, h,
and the third set are marked i, k, l. A part of each of the grooves in
the rolls is made of such a size as to permit of the introduction of the
wire between the said rolls without acting upon that part the diameter
of which is not to be reduced, the larger part joining the smaller part of
the groove by a taper figure to form the taper shoulder which connects
the body to the shank of the needle. The shape of the enlarged or cut
1

page_text: away parts in the rolls will be best understood by an examination of
Figures 2 and 3 where the said enlarged parts are marked m, m. It
will also be seen by referring to the said Figures 2 and 3, that the
shouldering parts of the spaces m, m, of the grooves where the rolls first
bite the wire or rod are rounded for the purpose of forming the taper
shoulder on the said wire or rod. In front of the rolls is a rest n (shewn
separately in Figure 4) having a series of semicircular guiding grooves
made in it in a line with the grooves in the rolls for directing the
wire or rod in the required position into the said grooves and at
the back of the rolls is a series of guides p (one of which is shewn
separately in Figure 5), each guide having a rectangular groove at top
into which the rectangular or flattened rod or wire is introduced, the
said guide determining the proper position of the rod or wire to be
seized by the octagonal grooves of the rolls. In Figure 2 the holder is
represented by which the wire or rod to be passed through the rolls is
held. By means of this holder the distance to which the rod or wire is
introduced between the rolls is determined with great niccty, and a stop
rendered unnecessary. The said holder consists of a handle and stem q,
the said stem having a slotted end q in which the wire is placed and
gripped by the advancing of the tubular slide upon the said slotted
end. The nose part of the stem of the holder is slightly tapered, and
when the wire or rod is introduced between the rolls, the said nose part
bears against the periphery of the rolls as represented in Figure 2. The
distance to which the wire is fed between the rolls is thus determined
by the abutting of the nose part of the holder against the rolls.
In rolling a rod or wire according to my Invention from which a
sewing machine needle is to be made; I proceed as follows:-The cylin-
drical wire or rod gripped in the holder g is introduced into the groove c
in the rolls a, b, when the enlarged or cut away parts m of the said
groove present themselves at the front of the rolls. By the revolution
of the rolls in the directions indicated by the arrows, they seize the wire,
flatten it on its opposite sides, and return it to the workman. At the
part where the rolls first begin to pinch or bite the wire an inclined
or conical shoulder is formed, the said conical shoulder joining the shank
which has been left unchanged by the rolls to the body which has been
flattened by the rolls. The cut away parts m of the rolls again coming to
the front, the flattened wire formed by the groove c is turned a quarter
round and subjected edgewise to the action of the second groove d, the

page_text: said flattened wire being placed in the guide p at the back of the groove.
By the operation of the second groove d the flattened portion of the wire
is shaped by a compressing action into an octagonal prism, the said
shaped part being clongated and reduced in diameter by the rolls. The
octagonal shaped wire is next passed through the finishing cylindrical
groove e; or a wire or rod of large diameter may be reduced to a
smaller diameter and elongated by passing it alternately through the
whole of the flat and octagonal grooves of the rolls a, b.
Figure 6 represents in section drawn to a larger scale metallic rods
or wires which have been shaped by the three sets of grooves of the rolls.
1 represents the wire before being passed through the rolls; 2 represents
the wire flattened by the flat or rectangular groove c; 3 represents the
flattened wire shaped by the octagonal groove d; and 4 represents the
octagonal shaped wire brought into a cylindrical figure by the groove e ;
1º, 2º, 3º, represent the wire which has been successively operated upon
by the grooves f, g, h, of the rolls; and 1b, 2, 3b, represent the wire
which has been successively operated upon by the grooves i, k, l, of the
rolls.
Figure 7 represents in clevation a piece of wire, which has been
reduced and clongated by being passed successively through the three
sets of the alternate flat and octagonal grooves, and finally finished by
being passed through a cylindrical groove of the rolls. The reduced
part of the wire is marked s, and the conical shoulder which joins the
reduced parts to the shank t, which is left of the original diameter is
marked .
Figure represents in side elevation; Figure 9 in front clevation;
and Figure 10 in cross section, a pair of rolls constructed according to my
Invention, having a reciprocating rotatory motion instead of a continuous
rotary motion as herein-before described. The rolls a, b, in this arrange-
ment contain nine grooves, six of which are for reducing the wire to the
required size, as herein-before described, and three for giving a cylindrical
figure to the reduced part of the wire. The reducing grooves are alter-
nately flat and octagonal, as represented. The enlarged or cut away parts
of the grooves for preventing the said grooves operating upon the stem of
the wire and for shouldering the wire at the junction of the body and stem
are marked m, m; n is the rest in front, and p is the guide at the back of
the rolls. The reciprocating motion of the rolls is effected by the fol-
lowing mechanism :- On the shaft of the bottom roll b is a toothed wheel v

page_text: with which gears a second and larger toothed wheel w situated on the
rocking shaft x. A rocking motion is imparted to the shaft x from the
main shaft y by means of the crank plate through the crank arm 2,
and connecting rod 3, the said crank arm being situated on the rocking
shaft x. By the rocking motion of the shaft x a reciprocating motion
is transmitted through the toothed wheels 10, v, and pinions 4, 4, (by
which the rolls a, b, are geared together) to the said rolls, the said rolls
turning in opposite directions. I use with these rolls a holder of the
kind represented in Figure 2, and when the cut away parts m of the
grooves present themselves at the front of the rolls, the workman intro-
duces the wire or rod between the rolls, the acting faces of the rolls
moving away from the workman. On the return motion of the rolls
the wire or rod is scized and operated upon by the portion of the groove
having the smallest diameter, and is shaped thereby and returned to the
workman, as herein-before described with respect to the rolls having a
continuous rotatory motion.
Although I have only described my Invention as applied to the
rolling of wire or rods from which sewing machine needles are to be
manufactured, yet I wish it to be understood that my Invention is
equally applicable to the rolling of wire or rods for various other purposes,
such, for example, as the manufacture of awls used by shoemakers and
others for piercing leather prior to sewing, and the manufacture of horse-
shoe nails. In manufacturing horse-shoe nails the wire or rod is finally
passed through a rectangular groove.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner
in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that
I do not limit myself to the precise details herein described and
illustrated, as the same may be varied without departing from the
nature of my Invention; but I claim as my Invention,―
Firstly. The improvements in rolling metallic rods or wire herein-
before described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is
to say, rolling metallic rods or wires by passing them alternately through
grooves flat, or rectangular, and octagonal (or other polygonal figure) in
section, and afterwards passing the said rods or wires through other
grooves having the cylindrical or other figure which the rod or wire is
intended eventually to have, whereby the metal is consolidated or made
very dense and is not liable to the fracture called bursting.
Secondly. The improvements in machinery for rolling metallic rods or

page_text: wire herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings, that is to say, the combination in a pair of rolls of a series of
grooves alternately flat, or rectangular, and octagonal (or other poly-
gonal figure) in section, each of the said grooves being provided with
an enlarged space or cut away part of sufficient size to permit of the
introduction of the rod or wire between the rolls without acting upon
that part the diameter of which is not to be reduced, and also for giving
a taper or other shoulder to the rod or wire for the purpose and
substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Partridge Blake, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Tenth day of November, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
•
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JAMES PARTRIDGE BLAKE. (L.S.)