IMPROVE- MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ROLLING IRON BARS, USED IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES AND OTHERWISE
Year: 1857

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Howard, of the King and Queen Iron
Works, Rotherhithe, Surrey, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ROLLING IRON BARS, USED IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES AND OTHERWISE."
Sealed the 15th June 1858, and dated the 15th December 1857.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Howard at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 15th
December 1857.
I, THOMAS HOWARD, of the King and Queen Iron Works, Rotherhite,
Surrey, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ROLLING IRON BARS USED IN.
THE CONSTRUCTION OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES AND OTHERWISE," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to improvements upon an Invention for which
Letters Patent for England were granted to me the 6th October, 1845; and
consists in the employment of moveable collars, for the purpose of readily
adjusting the rollers for variable lengths of bars, and when several enlarge-
ments, projections, or, as I formerly termed them, "heads," are required of the
same or different forms in the length of the same bar.
I employ by preference wrought-iron rollers in place of cast-iron, to give suffi-
cient length and strength, and at the same time for the purpose of reducing the
weight to diminish the momentum of the machinery of the to-and-fro motion.
I also employ a trough or other analogous appendage, having vertical sides
attached to the finishing rollers, to prevent the enlargements, projections, or.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Howard in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th June 1858.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HOWARD, of the King and Queen Iron Works, Rotherhithe, Surrey, Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-seven, in the twenty-first year of
Iler reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Thomas Howard, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas
Howard, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas Howard, 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 "In-
PROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR ROLLING IRON BARS USED IN THE
CONSTRUCTION OF SUSPENSION BRIDGES AND OTHERWISE," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Thomas Howard, my executors or admin-
istrators, 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 Thomas Howard, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what inanner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement thereof, that is to say:―
My Invention relates to improvements upon an Invention for which Letters
Patent for England were granted to mo on the 6th of October 1845, and
consists, primarily, in the adaptation of movable collars for the purpose of
adjusting the rollers for variable lengths of bars, and when several enlarge-
ments, projections, or, as I formerly termed them, "heads," are required of
the same or different forms in the length of the same bar.

page_text: I employ, by preference, wrought-iron shafts to receive the collars or bosses
in place of cast-iron rollers, in order to give sufficient length and strength, and
at the same time, for the purpose of reducing the weight, to diminish the
momentum acquired by the machinery in the to-and-fro motion.
I also employ a trough or other analagous appendage having vertical sides
attached to the finishing rollers to prevent the enlargements, projections, or
beads from deviating materially from parallelism with each other, and with
the intermediate parts of the bars, during the process of the final rolling.
And, further, I give motion to the rollers or shafts by means of jointed
spindles, situated intermediately between them and the driving pinions, instead
of placing the latter immediately upon the ends of the rollers or shafts, in
order to render them capable of admitting a greater variety of thicknesses in
the slabs or pieces to be headed or enlarged by the pressure of the bosses
attached thereto.
And having now described the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim as my improve-
ments in machinery or apparatus for rolling iron bars used in the construction
of suspension bridges and otherwise, the following modifications of my Inven-
tion for which Letters Patent were granted to me on the 6th of October,
1845, viz,-
First, the employment of movable collars for the purpose of adjusting the
rollers of the machinery described in the Specification of the said Patent, as
herein-before described.
Second, the employment of wrought-iron shafts to receive the bosses of the
said machinery, in place of cast-iron rollers, as herein-before described.
Third, the employment of a trough or other appendage to the said machinery,
in the manner and for the purpose herein-before described.
Fourth, the method of giving motion to the rollers or shafts of the said
machinery, by means of intermediate jointed spindles, in the manner and for
the purpose herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Howard, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-eight.
THOMAS HOWARD. (L.S.)