IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BARS, PLATES, AND SHEETS OF STEEL, OR STEEL AND IRON COMBINED, AND IN THE PROCESS OF WELDING EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE
Year: 1870

page_text: ETTERS PATENT to William Robert Lake, of the "International
Patent Office," Southampton Buildings, London, Consulting En-
gineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
BARS, PLATES, AND SHEETS OF STEEL, OR STEEL AND IRON COMBINED, AND IN
THE PROCESS OF WELDING EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE."—A commu-
nication from abroad by John Absterdam, of the City and State of
New York, United States of America, Scientific and Mechanical
Engineer.
caled the 29th July 1870, and dated the 23rd March 1870.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION filed by the said William Robert Lake
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition
and Declaration, on the 23rd March 1870, pursuant to the 9th
Section of the Patent Law Amendment Act, 1852.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," Southampton
Buildings, Loudon, Consulting Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS I am in possession of an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE MANUFACTURE OF BARS, PLATES, AND SHEETS OF STEEL, OR STEEL AND IRON

page_text: COMBINED, AND IN THE PROCESS OF WELDING EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURe,"
and have petitioned Her Majesty to grant unto me, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, Her Royal Letters Patent for the same, and
have made solemn Declaration that it has been communicated to me
from abroad by John Absterdam, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America, Scientific and Mechanical Engineer.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare that the following Complete Specification, under my hand and
seal, fully describes and ascertains the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, in and by the following
statement:
This Invention is intended to facilitate the operation of uniting one or
more plates or bars of cast or Bessemer steel with one or more bars
or plates of wrought iron. It is also designed to facilitate the operation
of uniting one or more bars or slabs of old Bessemer steel rails or other
cast steel scrap for re-rolling it into merchantable bars, sheets, or slabs.
The said Invention consists in placing between the bars or plates of
cast or Bessemer steel and the bars or plates of iron which are to be
united a thin body of steel, of cementation puddled steel, or case-
hardened iron in such a manner that such body of steel of cementation,
puddled steel,. or case hardened iron forms an intermediate welding
metal, which acts as a soldering agent in uniting the plates of cast or
Bessemer steel with each other or with the plate or plates of iron.
It consists also in placing between bars or plates of old Bessemer rails
or other cast steel scraps which are to be united a thin body of steel of
cementation, puddled steel, or case hardened iron in such a manner that
such body of steel of cementation, puddled steel, or case hardened iron
forms an intermediate welding metal in uniting the whole into one
solid mass.
In carrying the said Invention into practice I take the plates of cast
or Bessemer steel which are to be united and interpose between them a
thin plate of steel of cementation, or of puddled steel, or of case hardened
iron, then I heat the whole pile to a welding heat, and unite the same
by hammering or rolling. If it is desired to unite a plate or plates of
cast or Bessemer steel with a plate or bars of wrought iron the process
is substantially the same, with the exception that the iron portion of
the pile must be heated to a white welding heat, the steel portion being

page_text: protected against overheating by a bed of sand or clay in the usual
manner. Instead of simply interposing the plate of steel of cementation,
puddled steel, or case hardened iron loosely between the plates to be
united it may be previously united to a plate of cast or Bessemer steel
by hammering, or rolling, or by any other suitable means, and then
placed upon the plate of cast or Bessemer steel or wrought iron and
treated as above stated.
This process is applicable to all articles where cast or Bessemer steel
is to be united to cast or Bessemer steel or to wrought iron, the inter-
posed body of steel of cementation, puddled steel, or case hardened
wrought iron acting as a uniting medium, whereby the welding operation
is rendered feasible without destroying the cast or Bessemer steel'; and
to prevent the overheating of the cast or Bessemer steel in the welding
operation I sometimes insert the bar or slab of cast or Bessemer steel
between two plates of case hardened iron, which protects the steel from
the flame of the furnace, and then weld the whole into one bar, slab, or
sheet, as the case may require. In the absence of bars or sheets of
puddled steel, cemented steel, or case hardened iron I introduce between
the steel and iron to be welded filings or fine turnings of cemented steel,
puddled steel, or case hardened iron, and cement them with some car-
bonaceous substance in the same. manner as wrought iron is now
converted or case hardened. The said filings will act as an intermediate
welding metal between the cast or Bessemer steel and the wrought iron.
From these bars, slabs, or sheets of combined cast steel and iron I make
railway rails or bars with steel heads by placing in the rail pile a slab or
bar of this combined metal, and piling or fagoting the iron against the
iron side of the combined bar in such a manner that in rolling the rail
pile the cast or Bessemer steel forms the head of the rail; and in welding
or re-rolling old Bessemer bars in the manner above mentioned I roll or
hammer the same into head bars or slabs for making steel headed rails,
or I roll the whole directly into a solid steel rail. I also use it for
making safes, but in this case I weld several plates of iron and steel
alternately when required. I also use it for waggon tires and for horse
shoes and various other purposes; and this combined metal I also use
for armour plates, for building bridges and vessels. I roll it also into
slicets for various purposes. It is also a good metal for constructing car
wheels and wheels of field artillery.

page_text: Having thus fully described the said Invention as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondent, and shewn how the same may be
conveniently and advantageously carried into practice, I claim, the within-
described process of welding cast or Bessemer steel to cast or Bessemer
steel, either old or new, or to wrought iron by placing between the
surfaces to be united a thin plate or layer of steel of cementation,
puddled steel, or case hardened wrought iron, and treating the pile as
set forth.
Also a bar, slab, or sheet composed of either two or more bars of cast
or Bessemer steel, either old or new, or of a bar of cast or Bessemer
steel and a bar of iron united by the agency of an interposed plate
or layer of steel of cementation, puddled steel, or case hardened iron,
substantially in the manner herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of March, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
i
JAMES TEARE,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.,
Southampton Buildings,
London.