AN IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HARDENING, TEMPERING, AND ANNEALING STEEL AND OTHER METALS
Year: 1873

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Samuel Shaw Lewis at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
15th May 1873.
I, SAMUEL SHAW LEWIS, of the City and State of New York,
United States of America, now of No. 8, Southampton Buildings,
London, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "AN
IMPROVED PROCESS AND APPARATUS FOR HARDENING, TEMPERING, AND ANNEALING
STEEL AND OTHER METALS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to a novel process and apparatus for hardening,
tempering, and annealing steel, iron, and compounds of the same, gun
metal, and phosphor bronze. It is chiefly designed for hardening sheets
or slabs made up of layers of iron and steel combined by welding, for
forming the walls of burglar-proof safes and vaults, or for employment
as defensive armour plates for war vessels and fortifications; but the
said Invention is also applicable for the hardening or tempering of
machine tools and other implements or utensils, and for other liko
purposes.
One method of carrying my said Invention consists in subjecting

page_text: current or blast maintained under pressure, while it acts on the heated
metal by means of a head or force checked from delivery or outlet, so
that the current or blast will press against the heated metal, and will
flow past it rapidly, changing quickly the heated atoms of the current
for cold atoms, and thus rapidly absorbing and carrying off the caloric i
from the heated metal. The pressure is regulated by means of valves,
cocks, or other appliances.
I prefer to employ a current of water which may be supplied from
a head, pump, or otherwise; I may also employ other liquids or
various fluid mixtures, and substances soluble in water may be mixed 1
therewith; or I may use air or gaseous or vapourous currents or
blasts.
My improved apparatus has a trough designed to receive and hold.
the heated plate; this trough has an inclination so that if the cooling
medium is a liquid it may drain freely from below the lower edge of 1
the plate which rests on a grid or series of bars.
In recesses in the sides of the trough are fitted two adjustable
vertical plates; the said plates are provided on their adjacent faces
with pins or studs which come into contact with the sides of the hot
metal plate, and keep the surfaces of the same from the surfaces of a
the adjustable plates, so as to permit the cooling current to flow freely
past the heated metal. These pins or studs are longer where the cooling
current first strikes the heated plate than at the other end of said plate,
thus forming passage ways which gradually contract.
The top of the trough is provided with a cover or door which when a
opened allows the heated plate to be lowered into the trough till it
rests on the aforesaid bars. Screws are coupled to the said plates to
retract them readily, as well as press them toward each other; or in
place of these screws toggle joints may be used; the said toggle joints
may have their resisting pivots made moveable to adapt them to operate a
on any thickness of plate. At its outlet end the aforesaid trough is
provided with a suitable check or valve made adjustable to contract
the delivery from the trough to any desired extent. If the cooling
medium is to be a liquid supplied from a cistern or reservoir or head,
the inlet end of the trough is provided with a valve or gate, which
is turned or opened as soon as the plate is fixed in place and the
cover closed and secured; then the liquid fills the trough instantly,

page_text: and flowing past the plate on all its surfaces abstracts its heat very
quickly, and hardens or tempers the plate, discharging the abstracted
caloric with the current which escapes past the check. If the cooling
current is to be supplied by the action of a pump, fan, or bellows the
said valve or gate may be dispensed with. To keep the lower edge
of the plate from lodging on the aforesaid studs as it is lowered into
the trough, suitable temporary fenders are employed. Near the check
valve in the trough I place bars against which the end of the heated
plate abuts; these bars keep the plate from being moved along in
the trough toward the check valve by the force of the cooling current.
The water or other fluid used need not be wasted, but may be
collected as it flows past the heated plate, and may be used repeatedly
by being pumped back into the elevated reservoir, which, if necessary,
may be supplied with ice or other refrigerating substance.