Improvements in Skate Blades and the Art of Manufacturing the same.
Year: 1894

page_text: e of Application, 7th Aug., 1894-Accepted, 8th Sept., 1894
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Skate Blades and the Art of Manufacturing
the same.
I, THOMAS WALLACE BRYANT of Torrington, in the County of Litchfield, in
the State of Connecticut, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby
declare the nature of my invention and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Heretofore in the manufacture of blades for ice-skates, a plate was rolled while
hot into the desired shape and thickness. Hot rolling the plate produced a scale
on its surface which was removed by pickling, when the blade-blank was punched
from the plate, its opposite sides ground and afterwards polished, and its tread
ground into slightly concave form to produce sharp cutting side edges. This was
an expensive method of making the blades owing to the time and labour required
in the operations of grinding and polishing necessary to impart the desired finish
Skate-blades as
and polished concave surface to the opposite sides of the blade.
thus made, lacked uniformity in finish, and their treads were comparatively soft
and required frequent grinding and sharpening to render them fit for use.
operations of grinding and polishing resulted in drawing what temper there was in
the blade, and hence the tread was rendered comparatively soft. As the result of
this mode of manufacture it bas been found well nigh impossible to preserve the
sharpness of the blades, unless the latter were subsequently subjected to tempering,
but this adds so materially to the expense as to be out of the question in respect to
the cheaper grade of skates.
The
The object of my invention is to provide a skate-blade whose stock is exceedingly
dense and well tempered having a smooth and highly finished surface, and a self-
sharpening tread, and a further object is to provide a process by which these
improved skate-blades may be produced at a cost less than that attendant on the
manufacture of skate-blades by the old process, and with these ends in view my
invention consists First. In a skate-blade having an exceedingly hard and
polished outer skin of metal on its opposite sides, and which serve as cutting
edges for the softer intervening metal of the tread. Second. The method of
manufacturing skate-blades, which consists in cold-rolling a metal plate and forming
thereon an exceedingly hard and smooth outer skin; then cutting or punching the
blank from the plate, and then finishing the blade and producing a tread having
hard and sharp outer edges and a softer intervening portion. Third. In certain
other features of improvement in the method of manufacturing skate-blades as will
be hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is a plan view of a plate from which the blanks are to be cut or punched.
Fig. 2 is a cross-section of the plate.
Fig. 3 illustrates the blanks as punched from the plate.
Fig. 4 is a plan view of one of the blanks.
Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the blank.
Fig. 6 is a plan view of the blank after it has been bent into the desired
shape, and
Fig. 7 is a cross-section of the completed blade after its tread has been ground
and sharpened.
I first take a piece of steel and roll it down while cold so that its cross-section is
of the shape shown in Fig. 2, or it may be rolled into any other desired shape.
The cold-rolling is continued until the metal has been rendered dense and firm, and
its surface rendered perfectly smooth and highly finished. The operation of cold-
rolling to the extent indicated, results in the formation of a very thin and exceedingly

page_text: hard skin of metal enveloping the plate. The blanks are then punched from the
plate in the manner indicated in Fig. 3, which results in the production of blanks of
the form shown in plan view in Fig. 4, and in cross-section as represented in Fig. 5.
Owing to the fact that the metal is condensed and hardened and is provided with a
thin hard skin enveloping the plate. No burr is formed on the blank in punching
it from the plate, as is the case when the blank is punched from hot rolled plates,
the metal being so soft that the cutting dies operate to crowd or force the metal
inwardly on the lower side of the blank, and outwardly in the form of a burr on its
upper side.
The blank is then bent into the form illustrated in Fig. 6 by which a rocker
bearing is imparted to the tread. The tread is then ground so as to give it a
concave bearing surface a as illustrated in Fig. 7. In grinding the tread, any skin
which may have been formed thereon in cold-rolling, is removed, thereby leaving
the outer edges of the tread provided with very thin and sharp cutting edges b, b,
formed by the hard cold-rolled skin on the opposite sides of the blade, while the
metal of the tread between its cutting edges is comparatively soft and hence the
tread is self-sharpening, its central portion wearing away much more rapidly than
its thin sharp cutting edges.
By my improved method the cost of manufacturing skate-blades, is largely
reduced because I obviate the slow and costly process of grinding and polishing
the sides of the blade. Again I
am enabled to produce a stronger and
lighter blade, because the process of cold-rolling renders the metal exceedingly
dense and tough, and much stronger, than that resulting from reducing the plate to
the desired form by grinding and polishing. The plate from which the blank is
punched, may be cold-rolled so that its sides shall have any desired concavity and
thus produce a blade having a comparatively wide tread and thin body-portion,
while by the old process the sides were rendered but slightly concave in order not to
sacrifice the strength of the blades. The blade formed by my process of cold-
rolling has imparted to it a superior temper which results in preserving its cutting
edges sharp and hard, while by the old process of grinding and polishing, the
temper of the metal is drawn, leaving it comparatively soft so that the cutting
edges of its tread required frequent grinding to keep them sharp and fit for use.
It is evident that the plate may first be hot-rolled into approximately the desired
shape in cross-section and afterward cold-rolled sufficiently to impart to it the
desired density and finish also that at any stage in the process of cold-rolling, the
plate may be annealed so that it shall not become too hard or highly tempered to
seriously interfere with the manipulation of the metal also that the blade may be
constructed of any desired shape and size, and hence I do not restrict my invention
to the particular steps in the process described nor to the particular shape or
construction of skate-blade shown and described, but,
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. A skate-blade having a cold-rolled polished outer skin of metal, which is
exceedingly thin, formed on its opposite sides, which serve as cutting edges for the
intervening metal of the tread, substantially as set forth.
2. The method of manufacturing skate-blades, which consists in cold-rolling a
metal plate, thereby forming thereon an exceedingly hard and smooth outer skin,
then cutting or punching the blank from the plate, and finally finishing the tread
by grinding, substantially as specified.
R. HADDAN,
Of the Firm of Herbert Haddan & Co.,
18, Buckingham Street, Strand, London, Agent for Applicant.