IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR SHAPING METAL AND PLASTIC SUBSTANCES.
Year: 1863

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Hesketh Hughes, of Homerton, in the County of
Middlesex, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR SHAPING METAL AND PLASTIC SUBSTANCES.'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Hesketh Hughes at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
30th March 1863.
I, HESKETH HUGHES, of Homerton, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer,
5 do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR SHAPING METAL AND PLASTIC SUBSTANCES," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in shaping metal and plastic substances by means of
a set of two, three, or more rolls cut or formed with the shape or pattern to
be produced in a spiral direction from end to end of the rolls. The rolls
O are driven at the same speed and in the same direction, and the metal
or plastic material is presented to the rolls in a line parallel to the axis
thereof, or nearly so, and by the rotation of the rolls is carried through
between them in a direction at right angles, or nearly so, to that of their

page_text: rotation.
I employ guides to keep the articles in their proper position
while passing through the rolls.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Hesketh Hughes in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
30th September 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HESKETO
HUGHES, of Homerton, in the County of Middlesex, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirtieth day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-three, in the twenty-sixth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said Hesketh Hughes, Her special licence that I, the said Hesketh
Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Hesketh Hughes, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
MACHINERY FOR SHAPING METAL AND PLASTIC SUBSTANCES," upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said Hesketh Hughes, 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 Hesketh Hughes, 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 fol-
lowing statement thereof, referenco being had to the Drawings hereunto
annexed, that is to say:
My Invention consists in shaping metal and plastic substances by means of
a set of two, three, or more, rolls cut or formed with the shape or pattern to
be produced in a spiral direction from end to end of the rolls. The rolls are
driven at the same speed and in the same direction, and the metal or plastic

page_text: material is presented to the rolls in a line parallel to the axis thereof, or
nearly so, and by the rotation of the rolls is carried through between them in
a direction at right angles, or nearly so, to that of their rotation. I employ
guides to keep the articles in their proper position while passing through
the rolls.
Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings is a front elevation, Figure 2a
side elevation, and Figure 3 a plan of machinery constructed according to my
Invention.
A, A, are two steel rolls set in a frame B, and cut or formed with the
shape or pattern to be imparted to the metal or other material in a spiral
direction from end to end of the rolls, as shewn. The rolls are, by preference,
tapered the whole or part of their length, or they are set in slightly different
planes; they are driven at the same speed and in the same direction by a
toothed wheel C in gear with toothed wheels C¹ fitted on the axes of the rolls;
the wheel C derives its motion from a pinion D driven in any suitable
manner. The metal or other material to be shaped is led through a tube,
and is presented to the rolls A through the aperture e in a line parallel, or
nearly so, to the axis of the rolls, and by the rotation of the rolls is carried, as
before stated, through between them in a direction at right angles, or nearly so,
to that of their rotation. f.f, are guides to keep the metal or other material
in its proper position while passing through the rolls; one of these guides is
shewn detached in Figure 4. The distance between the rolls A, A, is regulated
according to the thickness of the article to be shaped by means of screws G, G.
The wheels. C! may be removed when required, and replaced by larger or
smaller wheels with a greater or less number of teeth, according to the speed
at which the rolls are to be driven. The axis of the wheel C is fitted in a
block H, free to slide in a groove I, and screws J passing through a bracket K
draw this block and the wheel C nearer to or farther from the axes of the
rolls according to the diameter of the wheels C; the wheel C is therefore
always in perfect gear with the wheel C, whatever the diameter of the latter.
The wheel C may likewise be replaced by a wheel of larger or smaller
diameter, and the pinion D is always kept in gear therewith by a screw L
passing through a bracket M; this screw L moves the pinion D and. a
block N, in which the axis thereof is fitted, backwards and forwards in tho
groove O.
Figure 5 is a front elevation of a machine in which I employ three rolls
A, A, A; and Figure 6 is a horizontal section through the line a, a, of
Figure 4. P is a wheel or ring with teeth on both its external and internal

page_text: peripheries; the exterior teeth are in gear with a wheel similar to the wheel C
in Figures 1, 2, and 3, which drives it, and the interior teeth aro in gear with
and impart motion to the wheel C¹ fitted on the axes of the rolls; Q is a
flange on the wheel P, to retain it in the frame B; and Q' is another flange,
on which a cap P' with a hole in the centre thereof is placed. In this
arrangement the guides may be dispensed with. Sometimes instead of the
guides f, f, being fixed, I cause them to revolve, either by friction alone, or by
suitable driving gear, and in such case I cut them in a spiral direction, as
represented in Figures 7 and 8, in a similar manner to the rolls.
I some-
times also employ as guides tooth discs of hardened steel, which also act as
cutters, they are shewn in plan in Figuro 9; or I use endless chains formed
of plates, as shewn in plan in Figure 10; each of the chains moves round
two rollers b, b.
Figure 11 shows a pair of rolls suitable for shaping polygonal-headed bolts,
pins, rivets, and similar articles. The metal A must be inserted red hot, and
the bolts are delivered by the rolls in a continuous length, as shown at B, and
the point of one bolt may easily be afterwards separated from the head of the
adjoining bolt.
Figure 12 is a sectional elevation of a machine suitable for shaping pills,
confectionery, and other articles from plastic substances. D is a bevil pinion
driven by a crank handle R, or otherwise, and gearing into a bevil wheel C,
which is formed with teeth on its internal periphery, into which the wheels C'
fitted on the axes of the rolls A, A, gear. The paste or substance to be
shaped is fed into a hopper S, is pressed down between the rolls by a plunger T,
when it is taken hold of by them and delivered in pills or pieces of spherical
or other form, according to the design on the rolls into a receptacle placed
below to receive them.
In shaping or ornamenting thin tubes by the machinery before described, I
prefer to employ a core of lead in the tube. After the tube has been passed
through between the rolls the lead core may be melted out.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not limit myself to
any particular number of rolls, nor to the means herein-before described of
driving the same; and that I claim constructing machinery for shaping metals
and plastic materials of a set of two, three, or more rolls cut or formed with
the shape or pattern to be produced in a spiral direction from end to end of
the rolls, the rolls being driven at the same speed and in the same direction,
and the metal or plastic substance to be shaped being presented thereto in a

page_text: line parallel, or nearly so, to the axis thereof, so that by the rotation of the
rolls the metal or plastic substance is carried through between them in a
direction at right angles, or nearly so to that of their rotation, all substantially
in manner herein-before described and illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Hesketh Hughes, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Thirtieth day of September, One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-three.
HESKETH HUGHES. (L.s.)