IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET IRON, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EXPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, of the Firm of
Harris and Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of
Middlesex, Patent Agent, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET IRON, AND IN MEANS OR APPARATUS EXPLOYED
THEREIN."-A communication from abroad by Josiah Sinclair and
Frederick H. Lange, both of the City of Wheeling, in the County
of Ohio, and State of West Virginia, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Joseph
Barnard Mills at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with
his Petition, on the 16th April 1872.
I, BENJAMIN JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris
and Mills, of 35, Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET IRON, AND IN MEANS OR
APPARATUS EMPLOYED THEREIN,” a communication to me from abroad by
Josiah Sinclair and Frederick H. Lange, both of the City of Wheeling,
in the County of Ohio, and State of West Virginia, United States of
America, to be as follows:-
"
The Invention consists in transverse rolling of iron plate in order to
condense the texture and improve the surface. The iron sheet having

page_text: been prepared in any suitable manner the end is laid upon an anvil block
between guides, if found necessary, and then the machine is set to work
to roll the sheet across or transversely of its length.
The condensing roller may be six inches long on its face, and the
sheet iron may be fed forward two inches after each passage of the
roller. In this case each portion of the sheet will be three times sub-
jected to the pressure. The face of the anvil block and the upper side
of the traversing bar by which pressure is applied to the roller aro
perfectly smooth and parallel, so that the iron may maintain or acquire
an even thickness at all points, or a sufficiently near approximation to
exactitude in this respect.
The degree of pressure is adapted to circumstances, varying with the
condition of the iron, or for other reasons not necessary to specify. The
iron may be rolled hot or cold according to circumstances.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 15th October 1872.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, BENJAMIN !
JOSEPH BARNARD MILLS, of the Firm of Harris and Mills, of 35, South-
ampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of April, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, Her
special license that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, my
'executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, 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

page_text: Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEET
IRON, AND IN MEANS or Apparatus EMPLOYED THEREIN," a communication to
me from abroad by Josiah Sinclair and Frederick H. Lange, both of
the City of Wheeling, in the County of Ohio, and State of West Vir-
ginia, United States of America, upon the condition (amongst others)
that I, the said Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, 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
O the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to
bo 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 Benjamin Joseph Barnard Mills, do
5 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 thereof, that is to say :—
The principal object of this process is to condense the texture and
improve the surface of the iron. To this end the iron plate is subjected
) to rolling across its face, or in a direction transverse to that of the
rolling by which it was originally produced.
The Invention further relates to the particular appliances employed to
effect the transverse rolling of the plate or sheet, and to appliances by
which the intermittent feeding of the sheet may be effected.
And in order that the said Invention may be more clearly understood
and readily carried into effect, I will proceed, aided by the accompanying

page_text: A, A, are the standards or
housings" of the machine; B is an
"anvil" or bed block, its upper surface being a perfect plano, and
polished. On the block B rests the plate of sheet iron C. D is a bar
which is moved endwise by a pitman E resting upon a roller F which
traverses on the plate of sheet iron; G is a block which rests by its
rollers H, H, on the traverse bar D; and I, I, are set screws in the
housing by which the block G is limited as to its upward movement;
J, J, are guides which may be made adjustable so as to come in contact
with the edges of sheets of any width; K, K, are feed rollers, between
which the sheet is carried and by which it is moved endwise to a proper
distance after each pass of the condensing roll F. The upper and lower
feed roller of each pair are connected by pinions & in customary manner,
and the upper one is provided with an additional pinion L mounted
loosely on the said roller, but connected therewith by a pawl M and
ratchet wheel N, the former pivotted to the face of the pinion, and the
latter keyed on the roller, so that the rollers will be turned by an upward
movement of the rack bar O, but will not be affected by a downward
movement thereof. The rack bar O is elevated with any necessary force
by a cam P carried by the bar D, and near the termination of the stroke
of the latter, coming in contact with a pin Q projecting horizontally from!
the rack bar O. The rack bar may descend by its own gravity, or this
action may be assisted by a spring.
The iron may be prepared in any suitable manner previous to the
operation of cross rolling, and the Invention is not limited to any
specific mode of previous preparation. One method which has been a
successfully used may be described as follows:-The sheet metal is
immersed in a bath composed of a mixture of organic and inorganic
acids, the solution being heated to 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and the
metal remaining therein from three to twelve hours. The metal is
then taken from the bath, washed and scrubbed, and immersed in an ;
alkaline solution consisting of water and carbonate of potash, the said
bath being also heated to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. The metal is then
taken out and passed between two wheel brushes, jets of water being
thrown upon each brush during the operation, after which it is heated
until perfectly dry. It is then placed in a bath of animal oil at 100° ;
or 150 degrees Fahrenheit, and allowed to remain ten or fifteen minutes,
when it is taken out and dripped, and passed between two polished
chilled iron rollers, after which it is passed between wooden rollers

page_text: covered with leather, the sheet being dusted during the operation with
powdered chalk or brickdust. It is then coloured by being placed over
a bed of burning charcoal until it acquires the requisite shade. The
iron sheet having been prepared in this or any other suitable manner
the end is laid upon the block B between guides, if found necessary,
and then the machine is set to work to roll the sheet across, or trans-
versely of its length.
The condensing roller may be six inches long on its face, and the
sheet iron may be fed forward two inches after each passage of the
roller; in this case each portion of the sheet will be three times subjected
to the pressure. The face of the anvil block B, and the upper side
of the traversing bar D are perfectly smooth and parallel, so that
the iron may maintain or acquire an even thickness at all points,
or a sufficiently near approximation to exactitude in this respect.
The degree of pressure is adapted to circumstances varying with
the condition of the iron, or for other reasons not necessary to specify.
The iron may be rolled hot or cold, according to circumstances.
The plate may if desirable be supported by a roller beneath, but a
polished anvil block is preferred for this purpose.
The traversing bar D is shown working beneath antifriction rollers
H, H, of the block G, but the rollers may be dispensed with and
the bar work in grooves. All the parts of the machine may be of
cast iron except the condensing roll, which may be of chilled iron
or steel.
b
If it be desired to produce figures or devices of any kind on the
surface of the iron, the surface of the condensing roll is suitably figured
(by engraving, etching, or by the use of dies or other means), to a
proper distance from one end as indicated at ƒ in Figure 5, or at a
suitable point to act on the sheet where it receives the last or final
pressure at each pass.
If the sheet is to be moved after each pass of the condensing roll,
the feed mechanism (a pair of feed rolls with their operating mechanism)
is applied to each side of the machine as shown in Figure 5, but if it is
intended to pass the roll back over the same path but one feed mechanism
is required.
The feed mechanism is omitted in Figures 1, 2, and 3, in order more
clearly to show other parts of the apparatus.