IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Howard Head, of the Teesdale Works,
Stockton-on-Tees, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
FOR ROLLING IRON AND STEEL."
Sealed the 1st October 1867, and dated the 12th April 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Howard Head,
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 12th April 1867.
J, THOMAS HOWARD HEAD, of the Teesdale Works, Stockton-on-Tees, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
MACHINERY FOR ROLLING IRON AND STEEL," to be as follows:-
The object of the Invention is to produce plates and other forms of iron
and steel rolled hot from the bloom in such a manner that they may be
produced correctly to the width required and with true edges, thus saving the
great cost of shearing and the loss also caused in reworking the scrap so
sheared off. To this end I employ both in front and at the back of the
ordinary horizontal rolls a pair of vertical rolls, so placed as to press against
the edges of the plate or bar, both before and after it passes the horizontal
rolls. These vertical rolls are driven at the requisite speed and are about the

page_text: same diameter as the horizontal rolls. The distance between the vertical
rollers is capable of adjustment, so that they may be set as required for each
passage of the metal between them; I prefer to have the power of reversing
the horizontal rolls, but it is not essential, and the same applies to the vertical
rolls. In rolling a plate all the cut is taken, or the reduction is made by the
first vertical rolls before the metal enters the horizontal rolls, and the vertical
rolls beyond are then only used to skim; when the machine is reversed the
rolls are changed and the first rolls are again made to do the work, the others
only to skim. It is possible however to do with only one set of vertical rolls,
and without reversing. By means of a self-acting movement on the screws
for adjusting the vertical rolls I can make the rolls go in or out at a regular
speed and thus produce taper plates. I can also by means of another vertical
roller placed beyond the second vertical rolls already mentioned deflect the
plate sideways, and so make the plate come out curved to a regular but
variable radius, and by this means subsequent shearing to form is avoided.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Thomas Howard Head in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 12th October 1867.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HOWARD HEAD, of the Teesdale Works, Stockton-on-Tees, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twelfth day of April, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirtieth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Howard Head, Her special licence that I, the said Thomas Howard Head, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Thomas
Howard Head, my 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 MACHINERY
FOR ROLLING IRON AND STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Thomas Howard Head, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should parti-
cularly 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

page_text: so arranged as to revolve in a direction and with a surface speed corresponding
with the motion of the horizontal rolls. These vertical rolls are adjusted
either nearer together or further apart by the screw shafts f, f, having right
and left hand threads, and which shafts are worked by hand wheels; these
rolls are also guided and kept in their places by guide girders g and motion
blocks h.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention, and the manner of
performing the same, I would have it understood that I do not confine
myself to the exact details described, but what I claim is the arranging
machinery for rolling iron and steel with adjustable vertical rolls on both
sides of the horizontal rolls as described, so that the metal may receive a
side pressure to form its edges both before and after its passage between the
horizontal rolls.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Howard Head, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twelfth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven.
THOS. HOWARD HEAD. (L.S.)