IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING PROVISIONAL
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alphonse Camme, of No. 60, Boulevart de Stras-
bourg, Paris, France, Civil Engineer, and Ferdinand Delpech, of
No. 21, Grande Rue Batignolles, Paris, Engineer of the Lower Seine
Towing Company, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alphonse Camme and
Ferdinand Delpech at the Office of the Commissioners of Pateuts, with
their Petition, on the 11th December 1867.
We, ALPHONSE CAMME, of No. 60, Boulevart de Strasbourg, Paris, France,
Civil Engineer, and FERDINAND DELPECH, of No. 21, Grande Rue Batignolles,
Paris, Engineer of the Lower Seine Towing Company, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING IRON AND
STEEL CHAINS WITHOUT WELDING," to be as follows -
The liuks of our chains are obtained by taking suitable round flattened
lumps of iron cut out from either round or flat iron bars; the said
lumps or blanks are punched out through their central part, as illustrated.
Fig. 1 of the accompanying Sheet of Drawing forming part of this our
Provisional Specification. The hole thus made is enlarged by hammering on
the tapered side or bickern of an anvil to obtain a ring as at Fig. 2, which
[Prios 8d.1

page_text: ring is then flattened to the shape shewn, Fig. 3, and bent in the middle, as
at Fig. 4, so as to form links which can be easily passed into each other as
shewn, Figs. 5 and 6.
To make cast steel chains the links are cast in moulds of an elongated ring
.shape, are hammered or stamped to be brought to size, and then finished and
strung together like the iron links.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Lettors Patent, filed
by the said Alphonse Camme and Ferdinand Delpech in the Great
Seal Patent Office on the 11th June 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, ALPHONSE
CAMME, of No. 60, Boulevart de Strasbourg, Paris, France, Civil Engineer,
and FERDINAND DELPECH, of No. 21, Grande Rue Batignolles, Paris, Engineer,
of the Lower Seine Towing Company, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eleventh day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto us, the said Alphonse Camme and Ferdinand Delpech, Her special
licence, that we, the said Alphonse Camme and Ferdinand Delpech, our
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others, as we, the said
Alphonse Camine and Ferdinand Delpech, our 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 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN MANUFACTURING IRON AND
STEEL CHAINS WITHOUT WELDING," upon the condition (amongst others) that
we, the said Alphonse Camme and Ferdinand Delpech, our executors or
administrators, by an instrument in writing under our, 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
Pa tent.
NOW KNOW YE, that we, the said Alphonse Camme and Ferdinand
Delpech, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention, and in what

page_text: manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement :—
Chains manufactured according to the principle of our Invention can be
made very quickly, the links being made with great regularity by special
machines from a single and solid piece of metal without any welded joints or
interrupted connection.
The links manufactured by our process can be strung together or fitted
within one another very easily.
The elementary process to be used to produce such chains without
machines and by mere manual labour will be understood by inspecting Figs. 1,
2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the annexed Sheet of Drawing, forming part of this
Specification.
.
A suitably flattened round lump of iron or steel, Figs. 1, 2, 3, being pre-
pared in any usual way under the steam hammer, a hole is punched through
the middle; it is then heated and worked round on the taper side or bickern
of an anvil and brought to the shape shewn, Fig. 4; when brought to the
required size the ring is flattened to the shape shewn, Fig. 5, and the middle
part squeezed to the shape shewn, Fig. 6, leaving two round eyes one at each
end, it is then bent or folded in the middle as shewn, Fig. 13, which is the
link brought to its final shape. Such links are fitted in each other very easily,
see Fig. 14, and then both eyes of each link are squeezed to bring them
close together.
Our Invention includes the method of forming and adapting or fitting to
each other without any kind of welding links of iron or steel to produce
chains of great soundness and strength, and also the apparatuses or machinery
for manufacturing such links with speed and regularity.
The first step in manufacturing links upon our system is to cut off under
the steam hammer lumps of iron from round or flat bars of the required size,
and to stamp and punch them under the same hammer to obtain rough rings
as shewn, Figs. 1, 2, and 3.
The second step is to roll the said rough ring in the rolling machine shewn,
Fig. 7, which is composed of two conical grooved rollers; the said grooves of
a helical shape, are larger and deeper on the smaller end and narrower on
the larger end of the rollers; they are set in a suitable cast-iron frame M,
their collars running in brass journals, and they actuate each other by means
of bevil wheels. The lower roller A can be moved backward and forward by
means of the hand lever B, when moved back its collar C gets out of its
journal leaving a free space for the introduction of the rough ring D previously
heated for that purpose; the roller A being brought back to its working

page_text: .
position, the ring D is carried along by the motion of the rollers brought to
its required shape by the grooves and falls out of the roller at D. The
machine is then stopped and the roller A removed; the space left between
the two rollers permits the removal of the ring D' before introducing a fresh
rough ring at D.
The third step is to bend the ring D₁ to obtain a link, firstly, of the shape
shewn, Fig. 6, then as shewn Fig. 18, and in this shape the links are ready
to be strung together or formed into a chain.
The bending or folding process is performed by a machine shewn, Figs. 8,
9, and 10; it is set up on a solid block or frame M, on which a screw threaded
on one side, right, and the other side, left, works in two nuts K, K ; this screw
is actuated by the hand fly wheel L; the ring D¹ as it issues from the rolling
machine is placed on the folding or bending machine, as shewn in red lines
at R, Figs. 8 and 9, between the squeezers or compressing pieces, I, I, and
the fly wheel L being turned to the right the ring K is brought to the shape.
shewn in dotted lines at Fig. 8, both by the squeezing action or compression
of the pieces I, and the action of the mandrels h,h, which come to the
position, . When to this shape, as shewn separately Fig. 6, the two
small fly wheels d, d, (Fig. 8) are set in motion and the pinions i, i, carried
by their shafts actuate the toothed sectors g. 9, 9, 9, which lift up the
pieces r,, as shewn, Fig. 10, to give to the link its second bend or folding,
as shewn by dotted lines; the sectors have now come to the position g³, g³,
and the link is at its final shape as shewn, Fig. 11. The squeezing or com-
pressing pieces I, I, which effect the first folding in a horizontal plane hinge
together like the head of a compass, see Fig. 12, thus they move up with the
sectors g, when the latter effect the second folding in a vertical plane. In
order to hold them fast when they are in their working position the screw
nuts K of the double action screw slightly overlap the hinge part. The
middle piece E, in which turns the central collar of the screw, is the shaping
mandrel for the second folding.
We do not deem it requisite to describe the process used for casting the
rings for the links of large chains made from cast steel, they are poured out
in ingot moulds and brought to the shape of rings either by stamping or
rolling.
The links made by our process can be easily adapted or fitted to each
I other to form chains of any length, and such chains will be very sound and
not liable to break like welded chains; Fig. 14 shews the way of adapting or
fitting links of our system to each other. Fig. 15 shews a number of links
strung together.

page_text: When a chain is to be lengthened by adding two pieces together, or to
compose an endless chain, this is effected by means of a bolt as shewn,
Figs. 16 and 17.
Our Invention being now described so that its nature and the mode of
carrying it into effect may be readily understood, we declare that we do not
confine ourselves to any precise method of obtaining rough lunips or rings
either of wrought iron or of cast steel (provided they are free from any
welding) for making the links of our chains to the most suitable shape as
illustrated ou the annexed Sheet of Drawing; but we claim as our Invention
the methods herein described of working the said rough rings into links, and
the special machines employed for this purpose, that is to say :-
grooves
Firstly. The rolling machine with conical grooved rollers, the said
being of decreasing size and helical shape, and the lower roller shifting in
order to permit the introduction of the rough rings to be rolled out, and the
taking out of those which have been operated upon.
Secondly. The bending or folding machine in which the rolled ring is
bent or folded to the most appropriate shape for resisting the greatest
strains; this bending being operated, firstly, in a horizontal plane by squeezing
or compression pieces actuated by a double action screw; secondly, in a
vertical plane by the action of toothed sectors actuated by pinions substantially
as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Alphonse Camme and Ferdinand
Delpech, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Sixth day of
June, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
eight.
Signed and sealed in the
presence of
L. D'AUBREVILLE, C.E.
ALPH. CAMME. (L.S.)
FND. DELPECH. (L.S.)