IMPROVED APPARATUS FOR HEATING OR ANNEALING WIRE, WIRE IRON, OR RODS OR SHEETS OF IRON OR OTHER METALS
Year: 1857

page_text: rece
CICO
application for Letters Patent was not given within the time prescribed
by the Act.)
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Cocker at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th October
1857.
I, JAMES COCKER, of Liverpool, in the County of Lancaster, Wire Drawer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVED APPARATUS
FOR HEATING OR ANNEALING WIRE, WIRE IRON, OR RODS OR SHEETS OF IRON OR
OTHER METALS," to be as follows:-
The improved apparatus for heating or annealing wire, wire iron, or rods or
sheets of iron or other metals, and which forms the subject of the present
Invention, consists of a metal or other cylinder heated externally in any
suitable or convenient manner, and through which passes a horizontal shaft or
axle, which is mounted in two sets of bearings that are capable of being raised
and lowered when required. The wire, wire iron, or metal rods or sheets are
wound in long lengths upon bobbins or reels, which are placed upon the
horizontal axle or shaft, and being loose on this shaft, they may with facility
be pushed along the same into the heating cylinder, which is to be made long
enough to admit from four to eight reels or bobbins side by side. For the
convenience of introducing these bobbins into the heating cylinder, the outer-
most end bearing of the shaft or axle on which they are mounted must be
lowered and one or more of the bobbins or reels charged with wire, wire iron,

page_text: or metal rod or sheet is placed on the end of the horizontal axle or shaft.
The end bearing is then raised into its place again, so as to support the shaft
with its charge, and the second innermost bearing is then lowered, and the end
of the heating cylinder is opened so as to admit of the charged bobbins or
reels being pushed forward into the heating cylinder, which, when filled with
bobbins or reels, must be closed so as to keep in the heat. I find it advisable
that a slow rotary motion should be given to the shaft while the bobbins are
being heated, and when the wire, or rod, or sheet metal on the first or further-
most bobbin from the entrance of the heating cylinder is sufficiently heated,
the end of the rod or sheet metal may be drawn through an opening made in
the side of the heating cylinder for the purpose, and passed between rollers,
whereby it will be reduced to a proper size or thickness. This rotary motion
is given to the shaft to prevent it from becoming bent or distorted (while in a
heated state) by the weight that is placed thereon. As the reels or bobbins are
placed loosely on the shaft, they may be made to rotate thereon independent of
the shaft, while the wire iron, or rod, or sheet metal is being drawn off. When
all the rod or sheet metal is drawn off the first reel or bobbin, the latter must
be moved out of the heating cylinder, to effect which object the end of the
cylinder must be opened and the innermost bearing lowered, so as to allow the
bobbin to pass or be pushed along the shaft beyond the bearing; the next
bobbin may then be drawn forward into the place of the first, and all the other
bobbins also moved forward in a similar manner; the bearing may then be
raised up again into its former position, so as to support the end of the shaft
as before. The outermost bearing and the driving gear must then be removed
from the shaft, after which the empty bobbin or reel may be lifted off. The
above apparatus may be adapted in front of any set of rolls capable of rolling
iron or other metals into sheets, or wire, or rods of such small size or
thickness, as would prevent them from retaining their heat a sufficient
length of time to admit of their being rolled when heated in the usual way.