IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING LEAD AND OTHER SOFT METALS
Year: 1839

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
BURR, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Shropshire, Lead Merchant, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Eighth day of August, in the third year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
Thomas Burr, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Burr, my exors, admors, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Thomas Burr, my exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times during the
term of years therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exer-
cise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-
Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING LEAD AND OTHER SOFT
METALS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the
said Thomas Burr, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be
inrolled in Her said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto bad, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas Burr, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed; are particularly

page_text: described and ascertained in and by the folowing description thereof (that is
to say)
:-
My Invention relates to a mode of rolling lead and other soft metals, by
applying rollers heated with steam, hot water, or hot air. And in order to
give the best description in my power, I will proceed to describe the rollers
used by me, which are suitably arranged for employing steam as the heating
means, which is the mode I prefer, and I will afterwards give such other
explanations as will enable a workman to construct rollers suitable for employ-
ing hot water and for employing hot air.
In making rollers where steam is to be employed, I drill or otherwise form
a hole through the centre of the rolls from one end to the other, about three
quarters of an inch in diameter. I insert into each of the said holes one end
of a steam pipe of copper or other metal of about half an inch in diameter,
reaching about two thirds of the length of the rolls, having apertures in the
sides thereof so as to heat the rolls regularly; the other end of the pipe
communicates with a steam boiler, such pipes being packed steam-tight at
its entrance into the hollow rollers. And in order to convey off the water of
condensation from the rolls, I attach to either end of them a waste pipe by
means of a swivel joint similar to those used in gas fittings, fire-engine hose,
and other articles, and which are well known by engineers. I would remark,
that I do not confine myself to the holes through the rollers being three
quarters of an inch diameter, though that is the size of holes I employ. It
should be stated, that the steam I use is about ten pounds on the square
inch in the boiler. When it is desired to use hot water I apply similar pipes
to those above explained, connecting them to a suitable boiler in such manner as
to produce a constant flow of hot water through them, which proceeds through
the flow pipes, thence through the rollers, and thence by the return pipes to
the boiler, in like manner to apparatus usually employed and well understood
by engineers for circulating hot water for heating houses and other places,
taking care, as in the case of the using of steam, that the entrance or flow
pipes as well as the outlet or return pipes are suitably connected with
the hollow rollers to preserve them water-tight, all which however is well
known to engineers in heating rollers for other purposes. When it is desired
to use hot air I employ similar hollow rollers, and by means of any suitable
blowing apparatus I blow air through iron or other pipes externally exposed
to fire, and connected to one end of each of the hollow rollers, and by this
means cause a constant stream of heated air to pass through the rollers; and
it should be stated, that the smaller the diameter of such pipes and the
greater the length thereof exposed to the fire the greater will be the heat;

page_text: but, as before stated, I prefer to employ steam as the heating means. And
I would have it understood, that I do not confine myself to the precise means
of apparatus described for applying the heating matter employed, whether
steam, hot water, or hot air.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I would have it under-
stood that what I claim is, the mode of rolling lead and other soft metals by
the application of rollers heated by steam, hot water, or hot air.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Burr, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fifth day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.
Inrolled the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty.