IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR BLOOMING IRON
Year: 1852

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
FLACK WINSLOW, of the City of Troy, in the State of New York and United
States of America, Iron Master, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date
at Westminster, the Thirty-first day of March, in the fifteenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said John Flack Winslow, Her especial license, full power, sole
privilege. and authority, that I, the said John Flack Winslow, my exors,
admors, and assigns, and such others as I, the said John Flack Winslow, my
exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times during the term of years therein mentioned,
should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England,
Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR BLOOMING IRON;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso obliging, me, the said John. Flack Winslow, by an instrument
in writing under my hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain
the nature of my said. Invention, and iu what manner the same is to
be performed, and to cause the same to be enrolled in Her Majesty's
High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and immediately
after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being. thereunto had, will more fully and at large appear.
'f

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said John
Flack Winslow, do hereby declare that the. nature of my said Invention, and
the manner in which the same is to be performed, is particularly described and
ascertained in and by the following description thereof, reference being had to
the Drawings hereunto annexed, and to the letters and figures marked thereon
(that is to say)-
This Invention has reference to a novel mode of performing the process
of blooming iron by machinery. Hitherto it has been the practice, when
operating upon puddlers' balls, either to rid them of the cinder by subjecting
them to a hammering operation, or to extract the cinder by submitting the
balls to the action of rotating, compressing, or squeezing surfaces, but to both
these methods objections have been raised, although each is acknowledged
to possess peculiar advantages. Thus the hammering action is believed to
produce a superior quality of iron, but at an increased expenditure, as com-
pared with the rotating compressing surfaces; and, on the other hand, while
the squeezing process is generally acknowledged to effect a saving in the cost
of the operation, machinery working on this principle has been objected to
as being liable to lap up portions of cinder, and kneed them into the bloom.
Now the object of the present Invention is, to combine the advantages of both
these plans of working without the disadvantages which have been supposed to
attend them, and in order to obtain this beneficial result I avail myself of both
the hammering and kneading actions.
In the Drawing forming part of this my Specification I have shewn two modes
of carrying out my Invention, but in each instance the hammer action is shewn
as applied to an arrangement of blooming machinery, for which a Patent was
granted to Alfred Vincent Newton, bearing date the fourteenth day of
October, One thousand cight hundred and forty-seven, on an application
made on my behalf, as a foreigner then residing abroad. It will, however,
be obvious that the hammer action may be readily adapted to other kinds
of machinery used for blooming iron wherein the bloom is worked by pressing
or squeezing surfaces having a revolving or axial motion.
Figure represents, in front elevation, an arrangement of machinery
for subjecting puddlers' balls, while under the action of a continuous and
_ gradually increasing rolling pressure, to a succession of smart blows, whereby
the "upsetting" of the iron and the kneading operation will be simultaneously
effected.
Fig. 2 is a sectional plan view of the same, taken in the line 1..... 2, of
Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 is a cross section taken in the line 8 .... 4, of the same
Figure. This machine consists of a bed plate A, A, to which massive standards

page_text: B, B*, are bolted. These standards carry at their upper ends journals for
a shaft C, on which an excentric fluted roller D is mounted.. Immediately
below this roller Da pair of fluted rollers E, E, is mounted in journals
carried by the standards B, B*; keyed to the axle of each of these rollers
is a spur pinion F, and into the teeth of these pinions gears a pinion G, which
is mounted on the driving shaft H. Rotary motion is also communicated
from this pinion G.to the cam D, by means of a cog wheel I, which is
keyed to the shaft C, and is driven by the pinion in the direction of the
arrow, Fig 3. The fluted rollers E, E, form the bed for sustaining the bloom
while undergoing the pressing and hammering action. At the front end of
these rollers, and in a line parallel with their axes, a horizontal rod J is
mounted; this rod slides in suitable bearings L, L*, and carries at its inner
end a hammer head J*, of such a sectional form that it will work in the
space
between the rollers E, E*, above the line of their axes. Upon the rod Ja
shoulder K is fixed, which is fitted with a friction bowle, and between this
shoulder and bearing L the rod is surrounded by a helical spring M, the
action of which is to drive the hammer-head forward into contact with the
bloom of iron upon the rollers. . By referring to Fig. 2, it will be seen that tho
axle of the roller E* is elongated to receive a cam N, and that this cam.works
in contact, with the bowle of the shoulder K, by which means the hammer. is
carried back after it has acted upon the bloom to be again propelled forward
by the action of the spring M, immediately the bowle can escape from the
inclined face of the cam N. The lateral pressure put upon the bloom by the
continuous action of the hammer is sustained by a plate O, which is firmly
secured to the standard B. P is a latch for holding back the hammer-.
head until the hammering or upsetting of the bloom is required to be com-
menced. This latch is withdrawn by the depression of a foot lever which
is connected thereto by a chain for the convenience of. bringing the lever near
the attendant, who stands near the driving shaft in order to have the move-
ment of the machine under his command. Q is a ledge intended to receive
the bloom when it is brought to the machine. The iron to be operated upon
is fed into the machine while the recess in the periphery of the excentrie
roller D is presented to the bed rollers. The ball having been laid between
the bed rollers rotary motion is communicated to the machinery from any
first mover, and. the increasing diameter of the roller D being now brought
round the ball will be subjected to great pressure between the three revolving
surfaces, which pressure will increase by reason of the increasing excentricity
of the roller D, and cause the ball to spread into a bloom, and thereby yield
up any cinder. which it may contain. The hammer is at the same time

page_text: released from the catch which kept it quiescent, and by the alternate action
of the spring M and the cam N it will be caused to deliver a series of blows
on to the end of the bloom, and thereby ensure the discharge of the cinder
therefrom, while it effects a more perfect condensation of the metallic inass.
When the pressure of the roller D is taken off the bloom by the recess
in the periphery of that roller being presented to the bed rollers, the workman
draws the bloom out of contact with the roller E* on to the roller E, which,
tby its continued rotation in the direction of the arrow, Fig. 3, will discharge
the bloom on to the plate Q, from whence it may be readily removed.
Figures 4 and 5 shew a modified arrangement for working the hammer,
weighted levers being employed in lieu of the helical spring for giving the
forward impulse to the hammer, and steam being employed in place of
the cam for drawing back the hammer. Fig. 4 is a side view partly in
section, and Fig. 5 is a plan view of this arrangement, so much only of the
squeezing portion of the machine being shewn as will explain its connection
with the hammer action. In these views A is a rod, which carries at one
end the hammer-head and at the other a piston, which works in the steam
'cylinder B. This cylinder is furnished with entrance and exit passages
and valve, in the usual manner of steam cylinders, and the valve is worked
either by hand or by the driving power of the machinery. C, C, are a pair
of weghted levers keyed to a cross axle D, and this axle is connected. by
shackles E, E, to a cross head F, carried by the rod A. Projecting down-
wards from this cross head F is a forked piece. G, which, as the rod A
moves backwards and forwards, is brought into contact with one of two stops
on a horizontal rod H in connection with the valve rod, and thereby opens
either the induction or eduction passages of the steam cylinder, as may be
required. When steam is let into the cylinder the hammer-head will. be
drawn back and the weighted levers C, C, will be raised into the position
shewn at Fig. 4, but immediately the exhaust port is opened. the weighted
levers will fall and impel the hammer-head forward, causing it to upset
the bloom in the manner before described. Instead of the weighted levers,
a helical spring may be employed, in combination with the steam cylinder, to
actuate the hammer if thought desirable, or the steam may be used alone for
actuating the hammer.
Having now described the nature of my Invention of Improvements in
Machinery for Blooming Iron, and the manner of carrying the same into
effect, I wish it to be understood, that, under the above in part recited Letters
Patent, I claim the application of a reciprocating hammer to machinery con-
structed on the principle of blooming iron by the pressure of rolling surfaces,

page_text: whereby I am enabled simultaneously to subject the bloom to percussion and
pressure for the purpose of more effectually extracting the cinder therefrom,
and condensing and consolidating the metallic mass.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Flack Winslow, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Eighth day of June, One thousand eight
hundred and fifty-two.