AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING IRON FOR THE MANU- PACTURE OF VARIOUS ARTICLES WHERE GREAT STRENGTH AND CAPABILITY OF RESISTANCE TO TENSILE STRAIN OR TORSION IS REQUIRED
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, for
the Invention of "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING IRON FOR THE MANU-
PACTURE OF VARIOUS ARTICLES WHERE GREAT STRENGTH AND CAPABILITY OF
RESISTANCE TO TENSILE STRAIN OR TORSION IS REQUIRED."-A communication
from abroad by Michel Pawlowitch Lwoff, of St. Petersburgh, in tho
Empire of Russia.
Sealed the 6th March 1868, and dated the 11th October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
11th October 1867.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane,
in the County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING IRON FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF VARIOUS ARTICLES WHERE GREAT STRENGTH AND CAPABILITY OF
RESISTANCE TO TENSILE STRAIN OR TORSION IS REQUIRED," to be as follows:-
The object of this Invention is to manufacture bars, rods, shafts, or plates
of iron in such manuer as to obtain greater strength than heretofore.
In the manufacture of bars, rods, and other cylindrical articles I in the
first instance form a faggot of any requisite number of wires or rods, according
to the size of the article to be produced; this faggot with the wires arranged

page_text: parallel to each other is to be heated in a furnace to a red heat and then
twisted equally from end to end, care being taken that none of the rods
become disarranged or displaced. The twisted faggot is then to be heated to
a welding heat in an ordinary forge and reduced by forging to a completely
compact and solid mass.
In order to produce slabs or blocks of iron of any given shape suitable for
other than the above purposes, such, for instance, as armour plates, I make a
network of iron rods or wire after the manner of the warp and weft in woven
fabrics, and these layers I pile one above the other until they are of the
requisite depth and form desired for the object to be produced; this faggot or
pile is then subjected to the heating and welding process above described.
Iron manufactured by these processes is especially applicable to the
manufacture of ordnance, gun barrels, and other parts of fire-arms, armour
plates, axletrees, engine shafts, railway wheel tyres, springs, chains, and all
other articles requiring great tensile strength. When manufacturing cannon
according to this Invention I take several bars of the requisite dimensions,
manufactured as herein-before described; these bars are then to be coiled
helically and submitted to a welding heat, and finished in the ordinary
It may be necessary in the manufacture of armour plates to submit
the faggot or pile to a preliminary cold hammering in order to consolidate the
iron. In shafting of large size a number of these bars may be twisted
together after the manner of twisting cables.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 11th April 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County
of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
eign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special licence that I, the said
William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
cthers as I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, administrators,

page_text: 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 "AN IMPROVED MODE OF PREPARING IRON FOR THE MANU-
FACTURE OF VARIOUS ARTICLES WHERE GREAT STRENGTH AND CAPABILITY OF RESIST-
ANCE TO TENSILE STRAIN OR TORSION IS REQUIRED," being a communication to me
from abroad by Michel Pawlowitch Lwoff, of St. Petersburgh, in the Empire of
Russia, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward
Newton, 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 William Edward Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the
letters and figures marked thereon (that is to say):-
:-
The improved mode of preparing iron, which forms the subject of the
present Invention, relates to the manufacture of iron of great tenacity which
will only break when subjected to very violent strain. This object is effected
by the following means:-A number of iron rods all of the same thickness.
(which must be in proportion to the size of the article to be manufactured)
are to be worked cold, and then welded or brazed together to give the
requisite size for the article required. All these rods should be straightened.
and united together into a faggot or pile, which is to be brought to a red hent
until it has become sufficiently pliable to enable it to be twisted likę a cord ;.
care should be taken at the same time to readjust such of the rols as had
become displaced, and to preserve the regular form of the faggot or pile.
When the faggot or pile has been twisted from one end to the other it should
be submitted to the ordinary welding and, forging process until the rods
(already firmly united by the twisting) form one compact and solid mass.
The same result may be attained by employing a network or tissue of iron
wire; this network should be made by crossing the wires or rods in every
direction, and laying several layers of them one on the top of another, so that
the wires shall cross each other in every direction.. Generally speaking

page_text: metal treated in one or other of the above-described methods is so tough,
supple, and dense that articles made by this process can only be broken by
immensely powerful shocks, and may rather be torn asunder than broken in two.
The following are some of the articles that may be manufactured by this
process :-
-
First. Armour plates for ships.
Second. Ordnance and gun barrels, axles for gun carriages, and caissoons
and axles of locomotives, wagons, and other railway carriages and other
carriages.
Third. Springs of all kinds, and tyres for wooden or even cast-iron wheels.
Fourth. Anchors and chains for anchors.
Fifth. Telegraphic wires.
Sixth. Horse shoes of all kinds, whether to hold by clamps, or screws, or
nnils.
Seventh. Ladders and light staircases and balustors or gratings.
Eighth. Iron gun carriages, ambulance wagons, and all the iron parts of
ordinary wagons and platforms.
Ninth. Pins, screwed axles, runners, and a number of analogous articles.
Tenth. Mechanical, mathematical, and surgical instruments and apparatus
of all sizes, as well as domestic utensils or articles.
Eleventh. Sheet iron for the construction of steam boilers, reservoirs,
&c., &c.
1. Manufacture of Plates for Armour-plating for Ships.-In order to
manufacture these plates a network or rather tissue of large iron wire is
employed, which is interlaced until the requisite thickness is obtained for the
plate. These plates are manufactured according to two methods, either by
hammering or straight rolling as practised for the manufacture of ordinary
armour plates, or they may be passed through a rolling or flatting mill, the
lower part of which is straight and the upper part concave, in order that the
upper part of the plate shall have the appearance of a cushion. In this latter
case the plate has a kind of frame well forged to facilitate the bolting and
perfect junction of the plates, the internal surfaces of which must be even,
and prevent the passage of water. The outer surface of the plates is convex
in order that the iron wire tissue (being inside the plate) shall not be com-
pletely faggotted, and shall contain a small quantity of air, the presence of
which will offer an amount of elasticity to deaden the shock of projectiles,
which result will be at the same time obtained by the tissue itself, the wires
of which will receive in all directions & portion of the shock.

page_text: 2. Manufacture of Ordnance and Gun Barrels.-Barrels of different calibres
are manufactured in the following manner:-A faggot of iron wire or steel,
is first forged not of a cylindrical shape but like a blade or bar, the transverse
section of which is rectangular, its side will correspond to the thickness of
the side of the barrel plus the amount required for boring; the blades or
bars when suitably heated are rolled spirally upon an iron cylinder of a given
diameter, and the rings of the helices close together between them. If the
blade in question be not of sufficient length a second of the same size may be
added, and the rolling operation should be continued until the required
length of barrel is obtained, then the helical rings should be brazed or soldered
together. This unfinished barrel will already emit a sound, perfectly pure,
and when it is bored it will show no signs of a cavity or hole of any kind
whatever either inside or out. When the grooves are made the interior of
the barrel may be hardened leaving the exterior in its former state.
3. Manufacture of Iron Axles.- In order to manufacture axles a given
quantity of rods or iron wire should be made red hot and then twisted, as
above explained. Ordinarily for axles of small diameter iron wire may be
used, but for very strong axles, such as for gun carriages or artillery and
ambulance waggons rods of iron should be employed. When the faggots or
piles of iron wire have been twisted like a cord many of them should be
united together and twisted again like a strong cable, which should be sub-
mitted to the ordinary welding process, and thus a rough axle will be
produced. This operation certainly offers several practical difficulties, but it
may be greatly facilitated by the powerful machines employed in most work-
shops, and which may be used without any alteration.
This improved process ensures great solidity or tenacity in the articles
manufactured with this prepared metal, and this result may be briefly explained
as follows:-The wire itself offers greater resistance than any other matter
produced by any work whatever, and, generally speaking, the wire and rods
of iron are taken from the best soft iron from which the porous and scaly
parts have been removed which would prevent it from being drawn out into
wire or even into iron rods, and consequently a mass of iron made exclu-
sively from wire or rods offers great advantages, besides its suppleness and
pliability.
Having now described the Invention that has been communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent as aforesaid, and having explained the manner
of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the Invention secured to me by
Letters Patent, preparing iron for the manufacture of various articles where

page_text: great strength is required by piling, faggotting, or combining iron rods or wire,
as herein set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Edward Newton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Ninth day of April, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
Witness,
J. W. MOFFATT,
66, Chancery Lane.
W. E. NEWTON. (L.B.)