IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METALS
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Sargeant Roden, of Ebbw Vale Iron
Works, in the County of Monmouth, Gentleman, and William
Thomas, of Ebbw Vale Iron Works, in the same County, Master
66
Puddler, for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING METALS.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Sargeant
Roden and William Thomas at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 3rd August 1853.
I, WILLIAM SARGEANT RODEN, of Ebbw Vale Iron Works, in the
County of Monmouth, Gentleman, and I, WILLIAM THOMAS, of Ebbw
Vale Iron Works, in the same County, Master Puddler, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING
METALS" to be as follows:-
In rolling metals according to the method usually employed one or
more pairs of rolls are connected together, and the piece required rolled
and re-rolled by lifting over the top roll till it is brought to the required
shape. Another plan consists in stopping the motion of the rolls when
the bar has passed through, then reversing the rolls and putting it
through in a contrary direction, by this means saving the trouble of

page_text: passing the bar over the top roll. In all cases the rolls revolve the
same way.
Now our Invention consists in having two or more pairs of rolls un-
connected with each other, and revolving in contrary directions the one
to the other; the two or more pairs of rolls being driven either by the
same or by a separate moving power. Thus when a bar or plate is rolled
it passes through one pair of rolls, and is then moved to the other pair,
either in accordance with the present system or by a moveable carriage
made for the purpose. The operation is repeated till the required
section is obtained.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Sargeant Roden and William Thomas
in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 3rd February 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
WILLIAM SARGEANT RODEN, of Ebbw Vale Iron Works, in the County
of Monmouth, Gentleman, and WILLIAM THOMAS, of Ebbw Vale Iron
Works, in the same County, Master Puddler, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of August, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seven-
teenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto us, the said William Sargeant Roden and
William Thomas, Her special licence that we, the said William
Sargeant Roden and William Thomas, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said William Sargeant Roden
and William Thomas, 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 ROLLING METALS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that we, the said William Sargeant
Roden and William Thomas, or one of us, by an instrument in writing

page_text: under our hands and seals, or the hand and seal of one of us, 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 we, the said William Sargeant Roden
and William Thomas, do hereby declare the nature of our said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement
thereof, reference being had to the Drawings hereunto annexed (that is
to say):
In rolling metals according to the method usually employed one or
more pairs of rolls are connected together, and the piece of metal
requiring to be rolled is passed between the rolls, and is then lifted over
the top roll, and again passed through the rolls, which operation is
repeated till the metal is brought to the required shape or thickness.
Another plan consists in stopping the motion of the rolls when the bar
has passed through, then reversing the rolls and putting it through in a
contrary direction, by this means saving the trouble of passing the bar
over the top roll. In all cases the rolls revolve in the same direction.
Now our Invention consists in employing two or more pairs of rolls
unconnected with each other, and revolving in contrary directions the
one to the other; the two or more pairs of rolls being driven either by
the same or by a separate moving power. Thus when a bar or plate is
rolled it passes through one pair of rolls, and is then moved to the
other pair, either in accordance with the present system, or by a moveable
carriage made for the purpose. The operation is repeated till the
required section is obtained.
Figures 1, and 2, of the Drawings hereunto annexed, represent
respectively a front elevation and plan of two pairs of rolls arranged
according to our Invention. A, A, is a strong base or foundation to
which the standards B, B¹, are firmly bolted. C, C, and D, D¹, are
two pairs of rolls mounted in brasses in the standards B, B¹. The
upper portion of the standards are formed with strong screws a, a, and
also that part of them above the bearings of the under rolls are formed

page_text: with a parallel opening, as shewn in the detached view of one of the
standards in Figure 3, whereby the upper rolls can be removed by
sliding them upwards, they being retained when in their place by
means of bars b, b, which have holes in each of their ends, whereby
they are passed over the screws a, a, and are caused to bear upon the
brasses of the upper rolls by means of the nuts c, c. E, E¹, are two
pairs of spur wheels keyed upon the bearings of the pairs of rolls for the
purpose of coupling them respectively together. The bearing d, of the
lower roll C¹, is made much longer than the corresponding bearing of
the roll C, and is supported in a separate standard F, also bolted to the
foundation A. G, is a spur wheel keyed upon the bearing d, outside
the standard F, and gearing into a similar spur wheel H, upon the
shaft I. This shaft turns in suitable standards, and has keyed upon its
opposite end a spur wheel K, which gears into the intermediate wheel
L, the teeth of which also take into those of the spur wheel M, keyed
upon the bearing e, of the lower roll D'. By means of this arrange-
ment of wheel work it will be seen that upon motion being communi-
cated to the spur wheel G, through the crank N, which may be
connected in any suitable manner to a steam engine or other prime
mover, the pair of rolls C, C', will be caused to revolve in one direction,
say in that of the arrows f, while the intervention of the intermediate
wheel L, will cause the pair of rolls D, D', to revolve in the contrary
direction, or in that of the arrows g. Although we have shewn this
particular method for causing the pairs of rolls to revolve in directions
contrary the one to the other, yet we do not confine ourselves to this
precise arrangement, as various other methods might be adopted for
effecting this purpose; as, for instance, each pair of rolls may be
separately coupled to a steam engine or other prime mover, and caused
to revolve in contrary directions by means of any suitable reversing
arrangement. 0, and P, are two carriages or trucks placed on oppo-
site sides of the rolls, and free to run upon the rails Q, Q. The purpose
of these trucks is to receive the metal as it issues from the rolls, in
order to be conveyed by shifting the truck to the next pair of rolls,
when the metal is passed between them and received upon the opposite
truck. This operation is repeated till the metal is of the required