Improvements in or connected with the Process of Galvanizing Iron.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Aug., 1899
Complete Specification Left, 25th May, 1900-Accepted, 8th Sept., 1900
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or connected with the Process of Galvanizing Iron.
I, RONALD ALLPORT NEEDHAM, of Acrefield, Woolton Mount, near Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be
as follows:-
This invention relates to the process of conveying galvanized iron and steel
sheets or any other flat substances and has for its object certain improvements
which will now be described. Hitherto the sheets to be treated have been fed.
into the washing bath by hand or by a series of chains or guides that are not in
contact with the rollers in the washing tank.
By my present invention I propose to improve this arrangement by conveying
the sheets automatically and simply to the guide rollers in the washing tank.
This I effect by providing two sets of endless travelling chains which convey
the metal sheets to the guide rollers.
One set passes round and engages with sprocket teeth or recesses for chain links
in the lower guide roll, and on these the sheets rest and are conveyed by the
travelling moment of the chains to the guide rolls in the washing bath, while the
other set of chains gradually converge towards the lower chains passing round
sprocket teeth or recesses for chain links in the upper guide rolls, and so act as
a guide to direct the movement of the sheets. The sprocket teeth or recesses
for chain links aforesaid in the rollers are arranged flush with the surface of the
said rollers or a little below the surface so that they will in no way injure the
sheets as they are fed through the rollers, but will clear them.
The sprocket teeth or recesses for chain links in the upper roller are not placed
immediately over those in the lower roller but are kept to one or either side of
them to avoid the chains fouling should they become slack.
The chains have separate adjustments by which each chain can be adjusted
indepently in case of unequal stretching.
Improvements in or connected with the Process of Galvanizing iron.
I, RONALD ALLPORT NEEDHAM, of Acrefield, Woolton Mount, near Liverpool,
in the County of Lancaster, Mechanical Engineer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same to be performed, to be particu-
larly described and ascertained in and by the following statement:-
This invention relates to the process of conveying galvanized iron, steel sheets

page_text: or any other flat substances, and has for its object certain improvements which
will now be described.
In the process of galvanizing, the plain (technically called black) iron or steel
sheets, are after being cleaned with an acid solution, passed through a bath of
molten spelter. After leaving this spelter bath, they are considered galvanized
sheets. It has been found necessary in order to produce good and marketable
galvanized sheets, to wash them in water after leaving the spelter bath, to remove
any stains which may have appeared upon them during their passage through the
spelter bath. These stains, which are caused by the flux which is used with
the spelter in coating the sheets if not washed off, causes black marks to appear
on the sheets, which marks are destructive and unsightly, and considerably lower
the market value of the sheets. Hitherto in galvanizing, the sheets to be washed
have been fed into the washing tank by hand, or by a series of chains or guides.
that are not in contact with the rollers in the washing tank. My present inven-
tion has for its object to improve this arrangement, by passing the sheets through
the washing tank automatically.
The invention will be understood from the following description, reference
being had to the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a front elevation of my improved guide rollers;
Figure 2 an end view with wheel B removed.
In these figures, A are the guide rolls aforesaid which are geared together by
the toothed wheels a and driven by means of the wheel B. The metal sheets are
conveyed to these guide rollers in the washing tank by means of endless travel-
ling chains C and C. One set C passes round and engages the sprocket teeth 1
in the lower guide roll, and on these the sheets rest and are conveyed by the
travelling movement of the chains to the guide rollers in the washing tank, while
the other set of chains C gradually converge towards the lower chains C passing
round the sprocket teeth or recesses for the chain links in the upper guide rolls,
and so act as guides to direct the movement of the sheets. The guide rolls are
recessed at intervals and are provided with sprocket teeth 1) for the chain links,
these teeth being arranged flush with the surface of the said rollers or a little
below, so that they will in no way injure the sheets as they are fed through the
rolls but will clear them. The recesses and sprocket teeth for the chain links
in the upper roll are not placed immediately above those in the lower roll, but
ure kept to one or other side of them to avoid the chains C C fouling should
they become slack. The chains have separate adjustments by which each chain
can be adjusted independently in case of unequal stretching.
In conclusion, I wish it to be understood that there is nothing new in washing
the sheets after the galvanizing process. This washing however has been
previously done by hand, and I believe there is also a machine for effecting the
washing, but there is no machine to my knowledge where the chain wheels are
placed between rollers, and I believe my particular arrangement of chain
wheels and rollers to be new. It is upon this that the whole successful working
of the machine depends.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
1 claim is―
1. In the process of galvanizing, the arrangement for automatically conveying
sheets to the guide rollers in the washing tank, which consists in forming recesses
in said rollers having sprocket teeth that are either flush with or a little below
the surface of the rollers so that they will in no way injure the sheets as they
are fed between them, and in providing two sets of endless travelling chains, one
set passing round the sprocket teeth in the lower guide roll on which the sheets
rest, so that the latter are conveyed by the travelling movement of the chains to
the said guide rolls, and the other set converging towards the lower chains and

page_text: passing round sprocket teeth in the top roll to act as guides to direct the move-
ment of the sheets, substantially as described.
2. In the process of galvanizing iron, forming the guide rolls in the washing
tank with recesses at intervals with sprocket teeth therein, arranged either flush
with or a little below the surface of said rollers, substantially as and for the
purpose described.
3. The arrangement for preventing the upper and lower chains fouling each
other as they pass round the rolls, substantially as described.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham & London.
WM. P. THOMPSON & Co.,
Patent Agents,
Of Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham & London.