IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND ROLLING IRON AND OTHER METALS OR METALLIC ALLOYS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN ARTICLES OF COMMERCE
Year: 1840

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
WHITEHOUSE, of West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Ironmaster, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at Westminster,
the Twenty-eighth day of January, in the third year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John
Whitehouse, my exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said John Whitehouse, my exors,
admors, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Whitehouse,
my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others,
from time to time and at all times hereafter, during the term of years therein
mentioned, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING AND ROLLING IRON AND OTHER METALS OR
METALLIC ALLOYS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN ARTICLES OF COMMERCE;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said John
Whitehouse, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an
instrument in writing under my hand and seal, to be inrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next

page_text: immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as upon
reference thereto will fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Whitehouse, do hereby declare that the nature of my Invention consists
in certain improved modes of preparing and rolling iron technically denomi-
nated " spoon iron," being iron designed for the subsequent manufacture of
spoons therefrom. The methods usually adopted consist either in forging
them according to the ordinary process upon the anvil, or of cutting out the
blanks or flat forms from hoop iron of a uniform thickness. By the former
process adequate strength of the various parts was obtained, but the labour
of production or cost being too great for the requirements of commerce, the
latter method has been extensively employed instead. Those made by forging
are made of greater thickness in the middle of their length, or in the narrow
part near to the junction of the tang to the bowl than in the other parts, and are
consequently more firm and durable, while those which are cut out of hoop iron
(although less costly) are very weak in the narrow part of the tang, and con-
sequently of inferior utility. To combine the advantages which result from the
one process with the facility and cheapness that proceed from the other, I have
devised a peculiar system of rolling the iron, by which I produce spoon iron of
varying thickness, so that the blanks or forms that may be cut out of the same
will have that increase of thickness in the tangs, and that diminished substance
in the other parts, which are essential to the proper forms of the spoons. The
manner by which I produce this irregular thickness in the spoon iron I will
now proceed to explain with reference to the accompanying Drawings. I first
take the iron in the state of long and narrow plates called hoops, as they
are ordinarily produced in the hoop rolls, and introduce the same between the
grooves of my "preparing" rolls, a pair of which are shewn in elevation by
Figure 1, and a transverse section of the same by Figure 2, taken through the
dotted line marked a, b, in the elevation. These rolls differ only from those
in common use in one of them being provided with certain cavities or depressed
parts, into which a portion of the iron enters, and is thereby less reduced in its
dimensions than the other parts of it. At c is represented a series of depres-
sions, by which is produced upon the iron an irregularity of figure, the parts
corresponding with the depressions being left considerably thicker than the
neighbouring ones. The other groove in this pair of rolls marked d is
continued all round the cylinder, and consequently it leaves a ridge or pro-
jection the whole length of the piece of iron. In this stage of the operation
the irregularities or thicker parts of the iron are not perfected in their intended
figure; the iron is, therefore, passed through a second pair of rolls, denomi

page_text: nated "finishing rolls," a pair of which is exhibited at Figure 3. In these
it will be observed that the top roll is a plain cylinder, and the lower roll has
the same kind of indentations, and also a similar groove to the former pair,
but in these the figures are more exactly defined, and rather smaller, conse-
quently the iron is herein completed. Figure 4 is a transverse section of
Figure 3 through the line d. Instead of only a single row of cavities c, or a
single groove d, in the breadth of each hoop there may be several.
I will now proceed to describe another process for giving an irregular
thickness to spoon iron.
Figure 5 represents a pair of preparing rolls of the same general shape as
those already described. Around the upper one a series of slight cavities
fff (best shewn in Figure 6, which is a transverse section of Figure 5
through the line e,) are cut at equidistant points, thus alternating with the
cylindrical surface of the roll. The other one has a truly cylindrical surface..
Iron hoops made in these rolls will have an irregular figure; the under surface
will be flat, and the upper one slightly undulated, the undulations extending
the whole breadth of the hoop. In cutting the blank forms for spoons great
economy is effected by using iron of this form, inasmuch as several blanks may
be cut from it in the direction of its breadth, and by proper arrangement of
the blanks little scrap iron will be made. The iron formed by this process is
not completed by this one operation, but is subject to a second action in the
rolls, represented in Figure 7, and in section, Figure 8.
The processes which I have described are also applicable to the rolling of
silver, copper, zinc, and other metals and metallic alloys for the manufacture of
spoons therefrom.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying it into effect, I desire it to be understood that I claim under this
Patent the machinery for producing spoon iron or other metal having a ridge
along its whole length, or furnished with a series of ridges, as described with
reference to Figures 1, 2, 3, 4.
I also claim spoon iron of the kinds last mentioned, by whatever means
produced.
I also claim the machinery delineated in Figures 5, 6, 7, 8, for producing
spoon iron having an irregular thickness extending its whole breadth.
In witness that this is a true Specification of my aforesaid Invention, I
have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of July,
in the year One thousand eight hundred and forty.
JOHN
(L.S.) WHITEHOUSE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid John Whitehouse came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
toner of the Statute made for that purpose.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-third day of July, in
the year of our Lord 1840, the aforesaid John Whitehouse came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
toner of the Statute made for that purpose.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.
Inrolled the Twenty-seventh day of July, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.