IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING AND TEMPERING SMALL STEEL WIRE BY MACHINERY."
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Daniel Bateman, of Low Moor, in the County of York,
Card Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING AND
TEMPERING SMALL STEEL WIRE BY MACHINERY."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Daniel Bateman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 4th October 1878.
DANIEL BATEMAN, of Low Moor, in the County of York, Card Manufacturer.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING AND TEMPERING SMALL STEEL WIRE BY MA-
CHINERY."
The object of this Invention is to draw by machinery wire of small numbers,
and to temper the same also by machinery for the use of cards or any other purpose.
Hitherto steel wire has been machine drawn to certain numbers, taking Stubs'
gauge as a standard, say from No. 19 to 28 or thereabouts, and after that for small
numbers, say up to No. 40%, has been found impossible to draw the wire by
machinery, but these small numbers have been drawn by hand at such a cost as to
prevent their use for card wire or for other general purposes.
I accomplish this object in the following manner:-As to the drawing, I coat the
steel wire with a metalic coating or wash previous to passing the wire through the
steel plate or wordel; by this means the wire is protected, the coating acting as a
cushion preserving the nature of the wire and making it slide through the aperture
in the plate or wordel as it is drawn from one size to another; when this wire
becomes hard or brittle from continuous drawing it is annealed and a fresh coating
or wash put on, it is then again drawn in the usual manner. The substance used
for the coating may consist of lead, bismuth, tin, nickel, or a mixture of these or
any other metal either in a fluid state or held in solution and deposited on the wire
by electrical agency. In order to make it applicable for card wire it is necessary to

page_text: harden and temper it to a straw or light brown colour; this is entirely under com-
and by my improved method of tempering; the wire may be made as hard as a
needle or let down to a light blue colour about the same temper as a saw blade, or
Jeft soft and tough as required, so that each piece of wire of any length is of an
exact and uniform temper; this I accomplish in the following manner-After the
wire is drawn to its proper size I pass it through a fire and heat it to a low red
colour, then immediately pass it through a cold medium such as water, ice, oil, or
quicksilver, or any cold substitute, which renders it hard and brittle, then I pass the
wire through heated tubes or over heated plates to let the temper down to the
requisite degree of colour or temper required.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Daniel Bateman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th April
1879.
DANIEL BATEMAN, of Low Moor, in the County of York, Card Manufacturer:
"IMPROVEMENTS IN DRAWING AND TEMPERING SMALL STEEL WIRE BY MA-
CHINERY."
:
The object of this Invention is to draw by machinery wire of small numbers and
to temper the same by machinery for the use of cards or any other purpose.
Hitherto steel wire has been machine drawn to certain numbers, taking Stubs'
gauge as a standard say from No. 19 to 28 or thereabouts, and after that for small
-numbers say up to 40s it has been found impossible to draw the wire by machinery,
but these small numbers have been drawn by hand at such a cost as to prevent the
use of such wire for card or other general purposes.
. I accomplish this object in the following manner :-As to the drawing, I coat the
steel wire with a metallic coating or wash previous to passing the wire through the
steel plate or wordle; by this means the wire is protected, the coating acting as a
cushion preserves the nature or fibre of the wire and assists it to slide through the
aperture in the plate or wordle as. the wire is drawn from one size to another; when
the wire becomes hard or brittle from continuous drawing it is annealed and a fresh
coating or wash put on, it is then again drawn in the usual manner. The substance
used for coating may consist of lead, bismuth, tin, nickel, or a mixture of these or
any other metal either in a fluid state, or held in solution, which metal or combi-
nation of metals is or are deposited on the wire by electrical agency.
In order to make it applicable for card wire it is necessary to harden and temper
it to what is technically known as a straw or light brown colour; this colour is
easily obtained and is entirely under command by my improved method of tem-
pering by which any length of wire may be made as hard as a needle or let down
in temper to a light blue colour about the same temper as a saw blade, or left soft
and tough to suit the purpose for which the wire is required.
This is accomplished in the following manner :- -After the wire is drawn to the
proper size I pass it through a heated tube at such a rate of speed that the wire in
its travel through the said tube is heated to a low red colour; this tube is heated
by a fire or by a series of gas jets and is enclosed by brickwork capable of retaining
a high degree of temperature; this brick work is set such a distance from the tube
that the heat radiating from the said brickwork will practically keep the circum-
ference of the tube at an even temperature and thus have an uniform heat inside
the same.
At the delivering end of the said tube, and in close proximity thereto, I
fix a cistern which is filled and regulated with a constant supply of water, ice, oil,
quicksilver, or other cold substitute, through which the wire is passed and thereby
hardened. In order to keep the liquid contained in the cistern cool I place one or
more hollow coils inside the same; through this or these coils I cause to flow a
constant supply of cold water and thus keep the contents of the cistern at one
degree of heat which is of great importance in order to ensure the wire to be of one
uniform degree of hardness throughout its entire length. After the wire has passed
through the said cistern it is then conducted between a number of clips which
remove the oil or other liquid used for hardening from off the surface of the wire;
it is then conducted over one or more heated plates which is or are heated and
regulated to such a degree of temperature that the wire in its travel over the same
is reduced to the requisite degree of temper and colour; it then passes through a
thin layer of soft packing, such as cotton waste, which is placed between two cisterns
through each of which is flowing a continuous stream of cold water, and thus by
these means the wire is chilled and the proper degree of temper obtained.
In order to ensure an even temper throughout the length of the wire I protect
the wire from the action of the cold atmosphere whilst passing over the heated plate

page_text: -
or plates by means of a metallic cover and thus retain a more uniform heat
on the plate or plates and consequently a more uniform colour and temper is
ensured.
In place of the heated plate or plates before described I can heat the wire for
tempering by passing it through a tube which is heated to the requisite degree of
temperature by a fire or a series of gas jets and is enclosed by brickwork which
acts upon the tube as before described, the wire after passing through the said
tube is conducted through the soft packing between the before-mentioned cisterns
and thereby chilled.
The means I employ for drawing the wire through the heated tubes and
over the heated plates are ordinary such as is used in drawing the wire through
the wordles.
Having thus described my Invention, and the manner in which I carry the same
into effect, I would have it understood that what I believe to be novel and
original, and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part
recited Letters Patent is,-
The drawing, hardening, and tempering of steel wire for cards and other purposes,
substantially as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Daniel Bateman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Second day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-nine.