IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU. .FACTURE OF IRON. AND IN ROLLING IRON AND STEEL, AND IN MACHINERY-TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN
Year: 1858

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Jeremiah Brown, of Smethwick in the County of
-Stafford, Machinist; for the Invention of IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU.
.FACTURE OF IRON. AND IN ROLLING IRON AND STEEL, AND IN MACHINERY-TO BE
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
(
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Jeremiah Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
19th May 1858.
1, JEREMIAH BROWN, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Machinist,
do hereby declare the nature of the said. Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON. AND IN ROLLING IRON AND STEEL. AND. IN MACHINERY
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," to be as follows:-
My improvements consist in the use of_a.mechanical puddler made to
operate through the top of the puddling furnace. The puddling of the iron
is made inore complete by the operation of the said meelianical puddler, and
the balls made thereby are joined together more readily under the hammer or
otherwise, particularly when the balls are of different qualities. For trans-
ferring the puddled ball from furnace to furnace, or to the rolls, or elsewhere,
I employ an instrument resemblinga large pair of forceps, which seize the ball.
This part of my Livention is particularly applicable to-the taking of large
masses out of.the furnace. The machinery for fashioning the balls in the
Furnace is particularly applicable to the preparation of iron for the machinery

page_text: When made into a bloom the
After reheating the
By this method of
When I want large
already patented by me for blooming iron.
iron is conveyed into a machine consisting of a series of pairs of rolls, through
which it is passed; it is thus reduced to a puddled bar.
bars are again passed through a similar series of rolls.
treatment a superior bar is obtained economically.
masses I put two or more heats together and treat them in the same way.
When I want to make large piles I prepare the bars with a groove in both
edges, and I prepare other bars, which are inserted in the said grooves. The
object gained is facility of charging into the furnace and superior quality in
the bar produced I.prepare bars sometimes with a groove in one edge, and
use an intermediate piece suitable to make a good joint. When I want
billets of small dimensions 1.prepare the iron in such a form that when slit it
has the shape of billets. In rolling iron for girders I make the plates for the
top and bottom with grooves for the body of the girder to engage in. The
said plates canbe put on the body of the girder while hot and shrunk thereon;
the plate for the top of the girder may have a dovetail groove for connecting
the flooring tothe girder when the girder is to be used for supporting flooring.
After bars or plates of iron have passed from the rolls I pass them through
a cleansing apparatus, which consists of a pair of rolls, having teeth thereon
or grinding or filing surfaces. The said rolls cleanse the iron from the scale
formed on it during its manufacture.
For girders, sometimes roll hot and cold pieces together, for the purpose
of compressing or fastening the iron together. The advantage of this method
is that girders of large dimensions may be readily manufactured thereby. L
sometimes compress the parts together cold, in order to give the girder more
stability.
The methods of rolling described may be used either with iron alone or
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Jeremiah Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
18th November 1858.
.) ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME. I. JEREMIAH
BROWN, of Smethwick, in the County of Stafford, Machinist, send greeting.
WHERE AS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Nineteenth day of May, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight, in the twenty-first year of Her

page_text: reigu, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Jeremiah Brown, Her special licence that I, the said Jeremiah Brown,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Jeremiah Brown, my executors, administrators, and assigus, should at any
time agree with. and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter
during the terin 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
THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON. AND IN ROLLING IRON AND STEEL, AND IN MACHINERY
TO BE EMPLOYED THEREIN," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Jeremiah Brown. my executors or administrators, by an instrument in
writing under my, 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 Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I. the said Jeremiah Brown, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained inand by the following statement
thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements in the manufacture of iron consist in the use of mecha-
nical puddlers, or stirring and percussive instruments, for effecting the
agitation of iron while in aliquid or a semi-liquid state in the puddling furnace,
and for squeezing and fashioning the ball of iron in a heating furnace prior to
the action of the hammer or rolls. My machinery for puddling iron is repre-
sented in side clevation in Figure 1 of the accompanying Drawings, and in
plan in Figure 2. A platforma, mounted upon the carriage, carries a small
steam engine c, to which steam is supplied by a flexible pipe. The said steam
engine c communicates a rotatory motion to the axis d through the toothed
gearing e. On one end of the axis d is a face plate f, (portions of which are
shewn on a larger scale in Figure 3.) A ping is situated on the face plate f
and is capable of being moyed nearer to or further from the axisd by means
of the screw . A paddle" or rabble" i is jointed to the ping, and on the
rotation of the shaft d and face plate f, the said paddle or rabble i acquires a
reciprocating sliding motion. The moveable end of the paddle or rabble i
being introduced in the puddling furnace and guided by the workman in the
direction required, agitates the fused iron, and effects the puddling of the said
iron; the moveable part of the rabble, which is directed by the workman, is
shown at . The steam engine e is supported upon the shaft or column k,

page_text: and the said shaft or column may be made to perform a partial rotation by
means of the lever . A pall or click on the end of the lever / engages in a
ratchet wheel m, and a pinion n on the same axis takes into the toothed
wbeelo on the column . By working the lever 1, the engine c and paddle or
rabble i may be made to assume any desired inclination in a horizontal plane
to the mouth or door of the furnace. The engine c may also be lifted to a
greater or less height vertically. By the motion of the carriage b, the apparatus
can readily be brought to and removed from the puddling furnace, and by the
motion of the engine upon the column k, and the vertical motion described
the agitation and puddling of the iron may be effectually accomplished.
I prefer to construct the puddling furrace with which the apparatus,
Figures 1 and 2, is used, so that the mouth of the furnace can be enlarged
when desirable, for the purpose of permitting the withdrawal of the whole
heat in one mass. For this purpose I make the sides of the furnace mouth
capable of a sliding motion,so that the opening between them can be widened,
and I also make the lower edge of the mouth of the furnace slide vertically,
so that it can be raised and lowered at pleasure. The mass of puddled iron
may be consolidated in the furnace by the use of the percussive machine
herein-after described, and represented in Figure 4 of the Drawings. I some
times connect two or more paddles or rabbles with the machine, Figures 1
and 2, and make two or more doors in the side, or two or more openings in
the top of the furnace for the paddles or rabbles to work through.
Figure 4 represents, in vertical section, my percussive machine, for com-
pressing and fashioning masses of iron, either in the puddling furnace or in a
heating furnace. is the body of the furnace. audy the bed of the same,
which said bed is supported underneath by the upright ; s is a hammer,
which works through a hole in the top of the furnace. The said hammer s
is connected with the steam cylinder u, and is worked up and down after the
manner of an ordinary steam hammer. Although I prefer to actuate the
hammers by means of steam, yet it may be raised by other means, aud
allowed to fall by its own weight. By the action of the said hammer s, the
ball of iron may be fashioned into any desired form while under the influence
of heat. By the use of the machine, Figure 4, I can join two or other
number of balls together, and weld them together in the furnace, and reduce
them partially to a homogeneous mass. I can also, by the said machine,
Figure 4, effectually unite iron of different qualities, or unite puddled steel to
puddled iron, for the purpose of rolling rails and other bars. This machinery,
Figure 4, is particularly applicable to the preparation of iron for the machinery
already patented by me for blooming iron.

page_text: In transferring the puddled bail from furnace to furnace, or to the rolls or
elsewhere, I employ an instrument represented in plan in Figure 5. The
said instrument resembles a large pair of forceps, and consists of two arms
,, crossing each other, and jointed together at y. This instrument, which
1 call a seizer.is mounted upon a carriage, as shewn in the elevation, Figure 6.
and in plan in Figure 7. Figure 7 represents in plan two furnaces 1. 2,
with a tramway 3 between them(the said tramway being also partially repre-
sented in Figure 6). The carriage upon the tramway serves to convey the
seizer w,e,holding the ball of iron 4 from one of the furnaces 1,2, to the other.
One of the said furnaces may be a puddling furnace, and the other of the said
furnaces a heating furnace, in which the ball is subjected to the percussive
action of the machine herein-before described, and represented in Figure 4.
The puddled ball 4 is secured in the seizer by means of the screw 5, which
holds the arms of the said seizer in a closed position. The said screw 5 may
either be actuated by hand or by steam power. Besides being employed to
transfer the puddled ball from furnace to furnace, the seizer, Figures 5 and 6,
may also be employed for squeezing or fashioning the iron, particularly where
it is wished to give a square or oblong figure to the ball in conjunction
with the machine, Figure 4. The machinery by which I roll and reduce a
ball or bloom of iron to a puddled bar, is represented in end elevation in
Figure 8,in vertical longitudinal section in Figure 9, and in plan in Figure 10.
This machinery consists of a series of pairs of rolls, through which the bar 6
is passed, the figure of the said rolls, and the manner in which they engage with
one another, will be understood by an examination of the elevation, Figure 8,
and the plan, Figure 10. The said rolls marked 7 are fixed in a frames,
and geared together by toothed wheels 9. In making large bars, I prefer to
use a series of three pairs of rolls instead of five pairs of rolls, as represented,
but I prefer to use five or more pairs of rolls when I make small bars. When
I use a series of not more than three pairs of rolls, I give them a reciprocating
motion, so that the bar or pile may be passed back again. The essential
novelty in this part of my Invention consists in combining and working the
several pairs of rolls in the same frame. I sometimes modify this part
Invention in the manner illustrated by the Diagram, Figure 11, that is to say,
I place the pairs of rolls 10 by which the rolling is effected at a great distance
apart; in this case [ employ small rollers marked 11, 11, for the purpose of
supporting the bar indicated by the line 12, and I employ large rollers 13, to
prevent the bars from bowing or curving upwards. After reheating, the bars
may be again passed through a similar series of rolls to those represented in
Figures S, 9, and 10. I sometimes modify the series of rolls, Figures 8, 9,
of my

page_text: and 10, by making each set consist of three rolls, situated vertically over one
another, so that the bar being passed between the lower and middle rolls, may
be returned through the middle and top rolls. When use three rolls in
each set, I prefer to put the toothed wheels 9, by which the rolls are drawn,
at the bottom of the frame. The position of the toothed wheels, when
situated at the bottom of the frame 8. is indicated at 14 in Figure 9.
Instead of placing the frame of the machine, Figures 8, 9, and 10.
horizontally, I sometimes raise one end, so as to give the machine an inclined
position. This modification of the machine is represented in side elevation in
Figure 12. As the said machine, Figure 12. resembles in all essential respects
the machine, Figures 8, 9, and 10, I do not think it necessary to describe the
said machine, Figure 12, further than to point out the difference between the
form of the frame 15, in Figure 12, and the frame 8, in Figures S. 9, and 10.
Although I prefer to place the rolls in a horizontal plane. as shown in
Figure 9, or in a plane inclined to the horizon, as shown in Figure 12, yet
the said rolls may be placed in a vertical plane where convenient or desirable.
After the bar has passed through the series of rolls described and represented,
it may be passed through a second series placed at or connected to the end of
the first series.
After the bars or plates of iron have passed from the rolls represented, or
from other rolls, I pass them through a cleansing apparatus, represented in
elevation in Figure 13. The said apparatus consists of a pair of rolls 16, 16,
having teeth thereon in grinding, or filing, or floating surfaces, as represented.
The bar or plate of iron 17 is introduced between the rolls 16, 16, and carried
through the machine by the said rolls. The bar or plate 17 is, however, pre-
vented from moving at the same rate as the rolls by means of the stop 18,
against which it bears. The said stop 18 is allowed gradually to retire by the
use of any suitable mechanism, and the bar or plate 17 is permitted to pass
slowly through the machine. The teeth on the rolls 16, 16, scrape or cleanse
the scale from the iron. A spring may be placed between the end of the set
screw 19, and the bearing in which the upper roll turns, so as to permit of the
yielding of the said upper roll. When I want to make broad piles of iron, I
coll a bar of the form represented in section at 20, in Figure 14, that is to
say, I roll grooves 21, in the edges of the said bar, and I prepare other bars
22, the edges of which fit into the grooves in the edges of the bar 20. I form
the pile upon the compound bar, Figure 14. The objects gained by the use
of the compound bar, Figure 14, are facility in charging into the furnace, and
superior quality in the bar produced. Instead of making grooves in the edges
of the middle bar, and inserting side bars therein, as shown in Figure 14,

page_text: I sometimes make a groove in the inner edge of each of the side bars, and
make the middle bar ongage therein. When I want to roll a larger mass
than can be conveniently heated in one furnace. I use two or more furnaces,
and pile the mass together in front of the rolls.
When I want billets of small dimensions I roll the iron of which the said
billets are to be made, of the form represented in the cross section, Figure 15.
The said iron when slit at the points indicated by the lines 23, constitutes
small billets. In making smali billets, I sometimes cut off from a large bar
of iron as much as can be rolled into small billets at that heat, and the
remainder of the bar may be rolled to any size required, or reheated and rolled
down to a small size. In relling iron for girders, I proceed in the manner
illustrated in the transverse section of a girder, Figure 16, that is to say,
I make the plates 24 and 25, constituting the top and bottom of the girders
with grooves for the body of the girder to engage in, as indicated at 26. The
said plates 24 and 25 can be put on to the body of the girder 26 whilst hot,
the body of the girder being cold. On the cooling of the top and bottom
plates 24 and 25, they contract and shrink thereon, and are secured thereby
very firmly. I sometimes force the top and bottom plates upon the body of
the girder by the use of a press. In order the more effectually to secure the
upper and lower plates upon the body of the girder, I sometimes roll the top
and bottom plates of the form represented in transverse section at 27 and 28
in Figure 17, and I make the body of the girder of the form shown at 29.
By flattening the plates 27 and 28, the ears 271,281, are made to embrace the
top and bottom edge of the body of the girder, as shown in Figure 18, which
represents a girder, the top plate of which is secured to the body in this
manner. After the cars 28! are made to lie upon the body of the girder, the
small ears 30 may be rolled down upon them, and the attachment of the plate
28 to the body of the girder more effectually secured. The same arrangement
may be adopted with regard to the upper part of the girder, Figure 17.
Figure 19 represents a modification of the girder. Figures 17 and 18, the
top and bottom plates being formed and secured upon the body in the manner
already explained. The top plate in Figure 19 is represented flattened and
secured to the body, and the bottom plate is represented as not yet secured to
the body. The body of the girder, Figure 19, is represented thickened only
at its lower edge. In the girder, Figures 16 and 18, a dovetail marked 31 is
formed on the top plates, and a dovetail 32 on the bottom plate of the girder,
Figure 16. These dovetails are convenient for attaching the boarding to when
the girders are used for building purposes,

page_text: The top, or top and bottom plates in the several girders described are
shrunk while hot upon the cold bodies of the girders.
I sometimes form girders having dovetails on their top and bottom plates,
in the manner illustrated in Figure 20, in which said figure, 33 represents
the girder, on each side of which plates 34 are connected by the screw and
nut 35. The top and bottom ends of the plates 34 form the dovetails, as
represented. I sometimes compress the parts of my girders together in a cold
state in order to give them more stability.
The advantage of my method of making girders from iron rolled of the
forms described, is that girders of large dimensions may readily be manu-
factured thereby. In rolling iron for nuts, I roll direct from the puddled
bloom semi-tubular rods of the form represented in section in Figure 21.
Two of the said rods placed together edge to edge and welded, constitute a
thick tube from which nuts may be conveniently formed.
In rolling trough-like bars of iron or steel with which to coat rails or other
bars, I first roll the bar of the form represented in transverse section in
Figure 22,and by afterwards flattening the curved part 36,cause the two sides
37 to become parallel, and the whole to assume a trough-like form. I some-
times form the upper plate of girders of the shape shown in transverse section
in Figure 23, which form is very convenient when the girder is used for
building purposes. I sometimes shrink or cast washers or double washers on
either end of a girder, which construction gives to a building great stability.
Figure 24 represents in elevation, and Figure 25 in, section, a girder,
having a washer 38 shrunk or cast thereon. A strap 39, being part of the
body of the girder, passes through the wall 40, and a second washer 41 is
secured thereon by a screw and nut 42. The methods of rolling described
may be used either with iron alone, or with combinations of iron and steel.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of
carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and represented, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention; but I
claim as my Invention,-
Firstly the improvements in the manufacture of iron herein first described,
and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, puddling
and compressing or fashioning iron by the use of the mechanical paddlers
and percussive instruments herein-before described with reference to
Figures 1, 2, 3, and 4 of the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, the instrument or apparatus herein described with reference to

page_text: Figures 5, 6,and 7 of the accompanying Drawings, for seizing and transferring
balls of iron from furnace to furnace, or from the furnace to the hammer rolls
or elsewhere, and also for shaping or fashioning balls or blooms of iron..
Thirdly, the machinery for rolling puddled and other bars or rods or rails
from the puddled ball, herein-before described and illustrated in Figures
8, 9, 10, 11, and 12 of the accompanying Drawings.
Fourthly, the machinery herein-before described with reference to Figure
13 of the accompanying Drawings, for the purpose of scraping or cleansing
the scale from bars or slabs of iron..
Fifthly, the method of forming large piles of iron herein-before described,
and illustrated in Figure 14 of the accompanying Drawings.
Sixthly, the method herein described, and illustrated in Figure 15 of the
accompanying Drawing, of making small billets; also making small billets
by cutting off a portion from a ball or bloom of iron, and rolling it down
without reheating, as herein described.
Seventhly, the methods of rolling iron for girders, and joining together the
bars of iron so rolled by rolling or by pressure, so as to form girders therefrom,
whether the bars be put together cold, or those bars constituting the top and
bottom of the girder be hot when put upon the body, as herein-before
described and represented in Figures 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 23, 24, and 25 of the
accompanying Drawings.
Eighthly, the method of rolling iron for manufacturing screw nuts, herein-
before described with reference to Figure 21 of the accompanying Drawings.
Ninthly, the method of rolling trough-like bars of iron or steel for coating
or casing other bars, or for other purposes herein-before described, and
illustrated in Figure 22 of the accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Jeremiah Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-eight.
0
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JEREMIAH BROWN. (L.S.)