IMPROVEMENTS IN CAST-STEEL OR OTHER METAL CHAINS POR CABLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, MORE OR ADRADAMING CAR MANUFACTURING THE SAME
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Brown, of Park Wood Springs,
Sheffield, in the County of York, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN CAST-STEEL OR OTHER METAL CHAINS POR CABLES AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES,
MORE OR ADRADAMING CAR MANUFACTURING THE SAME."
Sealed the 11th August 1865, and dated the 15th February 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Brown
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th February 1865.
I, WILLIAM HENRY BROWN, of Park Wood Springs, Sheffield, in the County
of York, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN CAST-STEEL OR OTHER METAL CHAINS FOR CABLES AND FOR OTHER
PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING THE SAME," to
be as follows:-
My Invention consists, firstly, in a method of making chains, whereby I am
able to produce the links and to adapt them to each other without a welded
joint. For this purpose I take a tube of cast steel or other metal and cut it
into rings, which tube may be manufactured by the process for which Pro-
visional Protection has been granted to me bearing date 30th December
1864, No. 8251. A ring so made I then compress towards the centre
thereof, leaving a loop at each end, which loops being folded towards each
other, the solid ring constitutes a link through which another flattened ring
may be threaded and then similarly folded.

page_text: I have above spoken of rings cut from tubes manufactured according to my
Provisional Specification aforesaid, but the said rings may be cut from other
tubes, or may be made by casting, stamping, or other ordinary process.
Another part of my Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for
rounding the metal rings, above alluded to, when they have been cut from
tubes or are otherwise produced with a rectangular section of metal. With
this view I place rollers on the outside of a framework, and between which,
therefore the rings may be placed; these rollers are grooved to the shape
required for rolling down the rectangular edges, and I employ two or more
pairs acting at right angles or at another angle to each other.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Henry Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 15th August 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
HENRY BROWN, of Park Wood Springs, Sheffield, in the County of York,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifteenth day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred, and sixty-five, and in the twenty-ninth year of
Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto
me, the said William Henry Brown, Her special license that I, the said
William Henry Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as I, the said William Henry Brown, my executors, administrators,
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
Jawfully 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 CAST-STEEL OR OTHER METAL CHAINS FOR CABLES
AND FOR OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR MAKING THE
SAME," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said William Henry
Brown, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should par-
ticularly 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Brown, 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
following statement and accompanying Drawings (that is to say) :-
My Invention consists, firstly, in a method of making chains, whereby I am
enabled to produce the links and to adapt them to each other without a
welded joint. For this purpose I take a tube of cast steel or other metal and
cut it into rings, which tube may be manufactured by the process for which
Letters Patent have been granted to me, bearing date Thirtieth December One
thousand eight bundred and sixty-four, No. 3251; a ring so made I compress
towards the centre thereof, leaving a loop at each end, which loops being
folded towards each other, the solid ring constitutes a link through which
another flattened ring may be threaded and then folded; the rings mentioned,
however, may be cut from tubes other than those above referred to, or they
may be made by casting, stamping, or other ordinary process.
Another part of my Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for
rounding the section of the said metal rings when they have been cut from
tubes, or are otherwise as aforesaid produced. With this view I place rollers
at right angles to each other on the outside of a framework, and between
which, therefore, the rings may be placed.
In order that my Invention may be fully understood, I will, in the first
instance, point out the several forms through which the metal has to pass
before it becomes a perfect link, and subsequently the machinery or apparatus
connected with such forms. In the first instance I will suppose it desired to
manufacture a link from a tube of cast steel, made according to my former
Patent aforesaid, or from another tube represented at Fig. 1; this tube !
separate, by sawing or other convenient and ordinary means, into rings, as
seen by the dotted lines, a severed portion being represented at Fig. 2; these
rings have of course rectangular sections which are rolled out and converted
into circular sections, as seen at Fig. 3, and this may be done by means here-
after to be described. These are then flattened so as to form an double loop,.
as at Fig. 4, after which they are folded in the middle, as seen at Figs. 5;
the link, as at Fig. 5*, is now passed between the parts corresponding to those
seen at C, D, Fig. 4, and into the double eye F of Fig. 5 in. the direction
indicated, and having been turned round, is bent so as to close the ends
together, as seen at Fig. 6, leaving another double eye at B for a similar.
addition of a link, and thus a continuous chain is formed.
Another method by which the links may be formed, according to my.
Invention, is shewn at Fig. 7, which represents a bar of cast steel or other

page_text: metal in which there is a slit C, D, which slit may be formed by means of
the ordinary wedge-shaped punch used alternately on each side for such pur-
pose, and by the employment of which the metal is economized. By forcing
punches into this slit it is opened out, as at Fig. 8, to be treated as before
described, but this opening out need not, as will hereafter be seen, be pursued
so as to form a perfect circle.
In place of the methods, above described, the [rings from which the links
are to be formed may be produced by other means. For instance, they may
be stamped out of sheet metal, in which case also they will be formed of solid
metal, that is, without a weld.
In thus describing the method I adopt of forming the links and chain, I
desire it to be understood that I do not claim the method of threading them
together, for I am aware that chains have long been made the links of which
are first formed as at Fig. 9, which are subsequently folded over and threaded
as above described, but the form seen at Fig, 9 has never, to my knowledge,
been produced by collapsing a ring.
Having thus explained the principle upon which the links are formed
and adapted to each other, I will proceed to describe machinery which
may be employed for rounding the sections of the rings, and part of which
machinery constitutes a portion of my Invention, and also suitable apparatus
thay may be employed for bending the links and adapting them to each
other.
Fig. 10 represents in side elevation a machine for rounding the section of
the rings, which have been cut from tubes or otherwise formed, as above
described. At a, a, is a pair of rolls mounted in framework b, and geared
together at c. These rolls project beyond the side framing so as to be outside
thereof, and the upper one is capable of being raised by a screw d connected
to a strap e, which passes around the said roll: Upon the screw d is toothed
wheel gearing into other wheels g mounted upon the screws h, which press
the rolls together, so that at the same time that the roll a is raised by the
screw d, the other screws are also turned to admit of such lifting. The
rolls a, a*, having been separated, a ring, as represented at Fig. 2, is placed
between them, and when they have been lowered is rolled, in order to bring
the section to the form shewn at Fig. 3. In effecting this I employ two pairs
of rolls similar to Fig. 10, the first rolling the section to an oval, and the
second to a circle. In producing links from bars, as shewn at Figs. 8 and 9,
the opening out by the punches, as above mentioned, need not be continued
until a circle is obtained, it will merely be necessary to open out the ends
sufficiently to admit of its being placed between the rolls, which will by their

page_text: operation further open the slit at the same time that they round the section.
The rounding of the section of the links may be effected as above described;
but according to my Invention, I employ the arrangement shewn at Figs. 11,
12, in which a, a*, represent the rolls, as in the former instance, but in
addition to these I use another pair of rolls k, k*, placed as regards their
axes at right angles to the rolls a, a*. The link A is placed between both
these pairs of rolls, and the metal is therefore operated upon in rectangular
directions. One of the rolls k is of course arranged so as to be parted from
the other for admitting the link, as in the case of the rolls a.
I now proceed to shew how the rings, formed as above described, may be
bent into links. Fig. 13 represents an apparatus I employ for that purpose
in sectional elevation; and Fig. 14 is a plan view thereof, also partly in
section. At a is the framework furnished with V guides, within which are
situate sliders b, b. These sliders are provided with screws c, c, turning in
bearings formed in the framework, and geared together by pinions d, d. Each
of the screws c, c, works in both of the sliders b, but they are cut right-handed
for one slider and left-handed for the other. When therefore one of these
screws is turned it communicates motion to the other through the pinions d,
and the sliders 6 are caused to advance towards or separate from each other;
the object of having two screws is simply to cause an equal action on the
sliders. At right angles to the sliders b, and above them is another pair of
sliders e, mounted in V guides, and which may be drawn towards or separated
from each other by an arrangement of screws f similar to that above
described; at g is ram, which is caused to rise and fall at pleasure by steam
On commencing operations
or hydraulic power, or other convenient means.
with this machine the screws c are turned until the studs h thereon are
brought sufficiently near to each other to admit of the ring, which has been
made as above described, being placed around them, the said ring resting on
the sliders.e; the screws c are then turned the other way so as to separate the
studs h, and the ring is consequently drawn into an elongated form, as seen
at k. The screws f are now turned so as to bring the sliders e towards each
other, and by pressing against the link k they force it inward against the
studs h, so as to bring it to the form represented at Fig. 15. The ram g is
now caused to rise, and bearing against the link k forces it upward between
during which opera-
the rollers 7, and bends it into the form shewn at Fig.
tion the sliders & are brought slightly towards each other, so as to free the
studs from the ends of link, and admit of the said bending thereof. The
rollers are mounted in sliding pieces n, capable of being drawn together or
separated by screws o for the purpose of adapting them to different sizes of

page_text: links, and the sliding pieces n are themselves mounted in a sliding piece p
which may for the same purpose be moved upward or downward by a screw q
A link thus formed is now ready to be threaded into another, as described by
reference to Figs. 4, 5, 6, 7; in that description, however, and which was
merely given to explain the character of chain to which my Invention refers,
the link was described as being brought direct from the circle, Fig. 2, to the
shape Fig. 4, the two sides C, D, being brought together in practice; how-
ever, I form the link as at Fig. 15, leaving a space q between the flattened
sides, through which the next link may be threaded, after which threading
the parts between the eyes are pressed together by an ordinary pressing
apparatus.
g
It will of course be understood that the above-described operations upon
the links are performed while the metal is hot. I have above alluded to
certain methods of obtaining the rings of metal from which the links are to
be made, but I do not confine myself thereto, as other ordinary means may
be adopted; for instance, the said rings may be stamped out of sheet metal,
especially for light chains, and the rounding of the sections thereof may be
omitted if desired. I am aware that links for chains have previously been
made from rings of metal, but in all such cases, so far as I am aware, the
said rings have been formed by helical or volute coils welded together, whereas
in the case of my Invention the ring is formed from solid metal, and a great
feature of my said Invention is, that I am enabled to make chains of cast
steel, which for a given weight afford superior strength.
Having thus described and ascertained the nature of my Invention, and
the manner of carrying the same into effect, I desire it to be understood, that
although I have shewn certain machinery or apparatus for forming the links,
I do not limit myself thereto, it having been described for the purpose of
explaining how my Invention may be carried into effect. For light chains, for
instance, made cold from sheet metal, ordinary punches and dies may be used
for cutting the rings, and they may afterwards be bent by means of presses;
I would also observe that I have in general used the word ring as applied to
the metal from which the link is to be made; I do not, however, limit myself
to a circular form, for it will be obvious that the same results may be pro-
duced from oval or other similar loop forms, which still retain the character
of being without a weld; that which I claim as secured to me under the above
in part recited Letters Patent is,―
Firstly, the production of chain links by bending rings or other endless
strips of metal, as above described, such metal being cut from tubes or
otherwise produced without a weld.

page_text: Secondly, the application of rollers with their axis at right angles to each
other for rolling the links, as described in reference to Figs. 11, 12.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Brown, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, the Fourteenth day of August, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
W. H. BROWN. (L.S.)