IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON FOR PURPOSES WHERE GREAT TENSILE STRENGTH IS REQUIRED.
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Michel Pavlovitch Lyoff, of Saint Petersbourg, in
the Empire of Russia, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON FOR PURPOSES WHERE GREAT TENSILE STRENGTH IS
REQUIRED.
"
Sealed the 2nd October 1874, and dated the 28th April 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Michel Pavlovitch
Lvoff, at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 28th April 1874.
I, MICHEL PAVLOVITCH LVOFF, of Saint Petersbourgh, in the Empire
of Russia, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for
IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON FOR PURPOSES WHERE GREAT
TENSILE STRENGTH IS REQUIRED," to be as follows:
This Invention relates to treating iron in bar, strip, thread, or wire,
and after having been drawn or otherwise reduced in thickness, and
made into coils, hanks, or bundles, or after it has been made up in sheets

page_text: or other forms by weaving or by interlacing, so that the threads cross
one another diagonally or transversely.
The bar, strip, thread, or wire in quantities so prepared is first laid or
piled to the necessary height into a pyramidal, lozenge, square, or other
shape in cross section, and submitted to the action of heat in a furnace
or a forge, and then transferred to an anvil or a mould, and struck by a
steam or other hammer to amalgamate the bars, strips, threads, or wires
en masse, and form as it were one body, according to the purpose. for
which it is intended; or the threads may first be caused only to
adhere one to the other under the action of the hammer, and then be
reheated alone or with other piles or layers before they are shaped.
The additional piles or layers may be in the same line, or arranged
crosswise or diagonally as desired, the intention being to preserve the
grain or fibre as much as possible intact, and yet in contact, to resist
the breaking or tearing strain which the finished article is intended to
bear.
In some cases the coils, hanks, or handles are twisted, flattened, or
worked up before or after being piled; and the heated mass in all cases
can be passed through rolls or squeezers to unite the fibres, and also
to shape the article, such as for rods, bars, rails, slabs, or plates.
The mass may also be made to assume a shape suitable for coiling,
wrapping, or covering a mandril, so that in the making of heavy or
light gun barrels, or other hollow bodies or tubes, the grain or fibres
are retained in a position best suited to resist lateral as well as longi-
tudinal strain.
The mandril itself may be hollow, and may form the inner lining
of the body, supposing the article to be a heavy gun or piece of
ordnance.
The bodies or masses of heated piled interlaced wire can be ham-
mered on their flat sides, or on their corners, to produce the desired
contour or shape and to hold them together; they may also be bound
round with other wires, which can be hammered with and into the pile
to form part of the mass.
The prepared wire as a band can be first twisted or coiled, and then

page_text: put upon a mandril in a cold state, and be then heated and hammered,
or otherwise operated upon, to be united and shaped.
The main feature in the Invention is interplacing and treating or
preparing iron in bar, strip, thread, or wire, or any interlaced com-
bination of such to amalgamate the threads or filaments for the purpose
of obtaining great tensile strength therefrom, as well as durability and
density with a softness and elasticity which prevents a positive break
under any strain.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 28th October 1874.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, MICHEL
PAVLOVITCH LVorr, of Saint Petersburg, in the Empire of Russia, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-eighth day of April, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff,
Her special licence that I, the said Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff, 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 THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON FOR PURPOSES
WHERE GREAT TENSILE STRENGTH IS REQUIRED," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff, 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

page_text: 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 Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say :—
This Invention relates to treating iron in bar, strips, thread, or wire;
and after having been drawn or otherwise reduced in thickness, and
made into coils, hanks, or bundles, or after it has been made up into
sheets or other forms by weaving or by interlacing, so that the threads
cross one another diagonally or transversely.
-
The bar, strip, thread, or wire in quantities so prepared is first laid or
piled to the necessary height into pyramidal, lozenge, square, or other
shape in cross section, and submitted to the action of heat in a furnace
or a forge, and then transferred to an anvil or a mould, and struck by a
steam or other hammer to amalgamate the bars, strips, threads, or wires en
masse, and form as it were one body, according to the purpose for which
it is intended; or the threads may first be only caused to adhere one to
the other under the action of the hammer, and then be reheated alone 2
or with other piles or layers before they are shaped.
The additional piles or layers may be in the same line, or arranged
crosswise or diagonally, as desired, the intention being to preserve the
grain or fibre as much as possible intact, and yet in contact, to resist
the breaking or tearing strain which the finished article is intended to
bear.
In some cases the coils, hanks, or bundles are twisted, flattened, or
worked up
before or after being piled, and the heated mass in all cases
can be passed through rolls or squeezees to unite the fibres, and also to
shape the article, such as for rods, bars, rails, slabs, or plates.
The mass may also be made to assume a shape suitable for coiling,
wrapping, or covering a mandril, so that in the making of heavy or
light gun barrels or other hollow bodies or tubes the grain or fibres are
retained in a position best suited to resist lateral, as well as longitudinal
strain.

page_text: of the body, supposing the article to be a heavy gun or piece of
ordnance.
The bodies or masses of heated piled interlaced wire can be ham-
mered on their flat sides, or on their corners, to produce the desired.
contour or shape, and to hold them together; they may also be bound
round with other wires which can be hammered with and into the pile.
to form part of the mass.
The prepared wire as a band can be first twisted or coiled, and then
put upon a mandril in a cold state, and be then heated and hammered,
or otherwise operated upon, to be united and shaped.
The main feature in the Invention is interlacing and treating or
preparing iron in bar, strip, thread, or wire, or any combination of such
interlaced to amalgamate the threads or filaments for the purpose of
obtaining great tensile strength therefrom, as well as durability and
density with a softness and elasticity which prevents a positive break
under any strain.
The details of the Invention will be clearly understood by the
following, reference being had to the annexed Drawings:-I tako
packets of wire in rings as that produce is sold (Figure 1). Each ring
(cold) is pressed by a weight or by a steam hammer till it receives the
form of a hank of thread, Figure 2. The hanks are then submitted to
heat until they become red hot, and when grown sufficiently soft by the
heat are twisted, as in Figure 3, and pressed in their length in the
sectional form of regular squares, Figure 4, giving the possibility of
forming from them a regular packet, so that when piled the top ones
cover the seam of the lower ones as in Figure 5, or they may be
arranged as in Figures 6 or 7. A packet thus formed, and of the size
necessary, is tied up in the middle and also near the end with the same
kind of wire, after which the pile is put into the stove or furnace, where
it is subjected to a great heat, then taken out with the greatest-speed
and put under a steam hammer by which these packets are hammered
upon three of their sides, so that they become united into a compact
mass, as in Figure 8, for the whole of the length of the packet, and into
a form which may be long or round, or other form necessary. In
twisting the wire when cold all its threads are closely united one to

page_text: another, so that when heated and hammered they easily form one com-
pact mass that never loses its filamentous construction.
Good results are obtained from the preceding method, but a better
one can be had from working iron wire netting as layers put one upon
another in many rows, as in Figures 9 and 10. Such packets struck or
driven together in the manner set forth form one compact board or plate,
leaving in it the threads in crosses.
All classes of iron wire prepared as just described possess an ex-
traordinary durability. and density, also such a softness and elasticity
that they break only after the most earnest pains, and even then may be
sooner torn than broken,
In the treatment of iron wire for the manufacture of cannon, also of
armour plates, layers of iron wire netting are united to suit the size of
the cannon or plate, and so that the middle layer has always the same
length, breadth, and thickness as the layers on the outsides, as in
Figure 11. The middle layers are preferably united together at first,
and after that the side layers are united to them; the whole is then
heated and hammered into the form by blows upon the corners,
Figures 12, the striking being continued until the block receives, firstly,
an 8-corner form, as in Figure 13; and after that a round one corre-
sponding to the length and the strength of the cannon desired.
When I desire to make barrels for small arms, which arc of different
calibres, I proceed as follows:-Out of iron wire I forge quadrangular
bars as thick as the walls of the barrels are intended to be, adding to it
what metal may be necessary to thicken it. These bars when hot are
wrapped round a steel or iron cylinder by a spiral system, and are
thereby tightly united. If one bar should not be sufficient I add to it
another one of equal size, and continue the winding until I obtain a
barrel of the necessary length. After that the barrel is reheated, and
made into a compact mass. The interior of the barrel after the rifling
or boring has been effected can be steeled, but the exterior must remain
without steel.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in
what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I claim, the
treatment of thin and narrow iron bars, strips, or wires of any shape in

page_text: cross section in the manner herein-before described, and substantially
as illustrated in the annexed Drawings, whereby commercial iron of
great tensile strength can be produced suitable for cannon, gun barrels,
axles, armour, boiler and other plates, and other purposes as set forth.
In witness whereof, I, the said Michel Pavlovitch Lvoff, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Sixteenth day of October One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-four.
MICHAEL PAULOVITCH LVOFF. (L.S.)
Member of the Academy.
I hereby certify the signature of
Mr. M. P. Lvoff, as above
described.
J. MICHELL,
H. B. M. Consul.
St. Petersburg,
October 16, 1874.