IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING DISC WHEELS AND HOOPS OR TYRES
Year: 1868

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Benjamin Walker and John Frederick Augustus
Pflaum, of Goodman Street Works, Leeds, in the County of York,
for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING DISC
WHEELS AND HOOPS OR TYRES."
Sealed the 18th December 1868, and dated the 21st August 1868.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Benjamin Walker and
John Frederick Augustus Pflaum at the Office of the Commissioners
of Patents, with their Petition, on the 21st August 1868.
We, BENJAMIN WALKER and JOHN FREDERICK AUGUSTUS PFLAUM, of
Goodman Street Works, Leeds, in the County of York, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
ROLLING DISC WHEELS AND HOOPS OR TYRES," to be as follows;-
This Invention consists, firstly, in so arranging machinery for rolling
disc wheels and for rolling hoops or tyres that both these purposes can
be accomplished in one machine. For this purpose the two main
spindles to which the pair of rolls are fixed run in bearings in strong.
framings, which framings are mounted on centres, through which the

page_text: driving shafts run, and these shafts may be driven in any suitable
manner. The centres are carried by slidės capable of sliding to and
from one another upon the bed of the machine, so that by bringing
the slides close up to one another the spindles may both be brought into
a vertical position, or by separating the slides they may cach be made
to incline one towards the other. The upper ends of the frames carrying
the rolls may be drawn together by any suitable arrangements of
mechanism so as to give the requisite pressure, thus the main spindles
can be made to work at different angles, and can be made to move to or
fro at either end simultaneously or separately, as may be required. If
it be required to work the machine for rolling disc wheels the spindles
are made to incline to one another, and conical rolls are affixed to the
spindles, but if it be required to work the machine for rolling hoops or
tyres the spindles are brought into a position parallel or nearly so to one
another, and rolls suitable for rolling hoops or tyres are affixed to the
spindles. Machines constructed in a similar manner to that above
described may also be adapted for rolling disc wheels only.
According to this Invention we also transmit motion from the driving
shaft of the machine to the spindles of the rolls through differential
gearing, so that the speeds of the spindles of the rolls may be varied
whilst the operation of rolling is going on; this is especially useful when
rolling hoops or tyres, since as the diameter of the hoop or tyre is
cnlarged by reducing its thickness the speed of the inner roll should be
increased. This arrangement of transmitting motion to the spindles of
the rolls through differential gearing, so that the relative speeds of the
internal and external rolls may be varied is applicable to all machines
for rolling hoops or tyres.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Benjamin Walker and John Frederick Augustus
Pflaum in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 20th February
1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COMF, we, BENJAMIN
WALKER and JOHN FREDERICK AUGUSTUS PFLAUM, of Goodman Street
Works, Leeds, in the County of York, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-first day of August, in the year

page_text: of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto us, the said Benjamin Walker and John Frederick
Augustus Pflaum, Her special licence that we, the said Benjamin
Walker and John Frederick Augustus Pflaum, our executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Benjamin Walker and
John Frederick Augustus Pflaum, our 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
DISC WHEELS AND HOOPS OR TYRES," upon the condition (amongst others)
that we, the said Benjamin Walker and John Frederick Augustus
Pflaum, our executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing
under our or their hands and seals, or under the hand and scal of
one of us or them, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature
of the said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be per-
formed, 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 Benjamin Walker, on behalf of
myself and the said John Frederick Augustus Pflaum, do hereby declare
the nature of the 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 consists, firstly, in so arranging machinery for rolling
disc wheels and for rolling hoops or tyres that both these purposes can
be accomplished in one machine. For this purpose the two main
spindles to which the pair of rolls are fixed run in bearings in strong
framings, which framings are mounted on centres through which the
driving shafts run, and these shafts may be driven in any suitable
manner. The centres are carried by slides capable of sliding to and from
one another upon the bed of the machine, so that by bringing the slides
close up to one another the spindles may both be brought into a vertical
position, or by separating the slides they may each be made to incline
one towards the other. The upper ends of the frames carrying the rolls
may be drawn together by any suitable arrangements of mechanism so

page_text: as to give the requisite pressure, thus the main spindles can be made to
work at different angles, and can be made to move to or fro at either end
simultaneously or separately as may be required. If it be required to
work the machine for rolling disc wheels the spindles are made to incline
to one another and conical rolls are affixed to the spindles; but if it be
required to work the machine for rolling hoops or tyres the spindles are
brought into a position parallel or nearly so to one another, and rolls
suitable for rolling hoops or tyres are affixed to the spindles. Machines
constructed in a similar manner to that above described may also be
adapted for rolling disc wheels only.
According to this Invention we also transmit motion from the driving
shaft of the machine to the spindles of the rolls through differential
gearing, so that the speeds of the spindles of the rolls may be varied
whilst the operation of rolling is going on; this is especially useful when
rolling hoops or tyres, since as the diameter of the hoop or tyre is
enlarged by reducing its thickness the speed of the inner roll should be
increased. This arrangement of transmitting motion to the spindles of
the rolls through differential gearing so that the relative speeds of the
internal and external rolls may be varied is applicable to all machines
for rolling hoops or tyres.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention we will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shews a side view, Figure 2 a plan view, and Figure 3 a
transverse section of a machine such as is above described adapted both
for rolling disc wheels and also for rolling tyres.
a, a, are the two main spindles running in bearings in frames b, b, the
lower ends of which are mounted on axes c, c. The frames b are made
in two parts capable of sliding one within the other, the lower part
which carries the lower bearing of the spindle a is mounted on the axes c,
whilst the upper portion of the frame has spindles projecting from it
which are received in bearings on slides d capable of being moved along
a bede which is supported in any suitable manner. By this means
either the lower or upper ends of the spindles a can be moved towards
or away from one another. Upon each of the spindles a is mounted a
hollow spindle carrying a bevil pinion f'; this hollow spindle carries
a key sliding in a keyway in the spindle a, so that the spindle a must

page_text: turn with the bevil pinion but yet can slide endwise through it. The
hollow spindles are carried by the lower parts of the frames b which
pivot on the axes c, and the pinions are driven by bevil toothed wheels g
carried on these axes. The bevil toothed wheels g are themselves driven
by other bevil pinions h, h, carried by the main axis k of the machine
which is driven in any suitable manner. One of these pinions is made
fast with this axis with a key capable of sliding in a keyway cut therein;
the other bevil pinion is carried by a short hollow axis capable of turning
freely around the main axis k; this pinion can either be made fast with
the main axis by means of a clutch m worked by the clutch lever m¹ so
that it shall turn with the main axis and so revolve at the same speed as
the other bevil pinion &, or it can be driven at a slower speed by making
the clutch m fast with the toothed wheel n, which at other times is loose
on the main axis, and which gears with a toothed wheel o on the inter-
mediate shaft P, and this shaft by another toothed wheel is geared with
the toothed wheel q on the hollow axis of the pinion ; this hollow axis
and the pinion carried by it is thus driven at a slower speed than the
main shaft. This motion is only required when the machine is to be
used for rolling tyres or hoops, but when the machine is to be used for
rolling disc wheels only it is not required, but in this case both of the
pinions can be driven directly from the main axis; when however the
machine is being used for rolling tyres or hoops it is of great advantage,
as when commencing to roll out a hoop into a tyre the difference in
diameter between the hole in the centre of the hoop and the outer
circumference of the hoop is considerable, and the roll in the centre of
the hoop must revolve at a much less surface speed than the outer roll;
but as the hoop enlarges in diameter and becomes less in thickness or
depth the speed of the inner roll should be increased; this has in some
cases heretofore been effected by driving each of the rolls by separate
engines, but this arrangement is costly and complicated; whereas by
employing differential gearing for driving one of the rolls all the changes
of speed which practically are found to be necessary may be obtained
with very little extra cost in constructing the machine. As before
stated, this arrangement of transmitting motion to one of the rolls by
differential gearing is applicable to other arrangements of machinery for
rolling hoops or tyres than the one above described. The bevil toothed
wheels and pinions g and f' are carried by slides r sliding on the bed
plates of the machine. The slides r can be moved towards or away from
one another by means of right and left handed screws on the spindle t

page_text: which can be turned by a separate engine or by hydraulic gear or other-
wise. The slides & can also be moved towards or away from one another
by right and left handed screws on spindles geared together, as shown,
so that they revolve simultaneously. When the machine is to be used
for rolling hoops or tyres suitable rolls are applied to the upper ends of
the spindles a, and these spindles are brought into a vertical position
parallel with one another or nearly so. The roll which is within the
hoop out of which the tyre is to be formed is the one driven by the
differential gearing, and this gearing is put in action so that the inner
roll shall be driven at a slower speed than the outer roll, but as the tyre
becomes enlarged in diameter the spindle of the inner roll is driven at
the same speed as the spindle of the outer roll. The tyre during the
rolling process rests on a table level with the rolls; this table is not
shown in the Drawing. When the machine is to be used for rolling disc
wheels the slides r are moved away from one another to set the spindles a
at an angle to one another, as shewn at Figure 4, and suitable rolls are
applied to the upper ends of the spindles, as is also shown in that Figure.
The disc or bloom to be rolled out into a disc wheel is by means of
swages first made to the form shewn in section at Figure 5, and is then.
placed between the rolls, being supported on the under side by the roll u,
and being held from rising by the two rolls v, v. The rolls carried by the
spindles a are then drawn together and caused to press upon the disc or
bloom, and are caused to revolve, at the same time the slides are caused
gradually to approach one another until the spindles are brought into the
position shewn at Figure 6. The disc or bloom will during this time
become enlarged in diameter, and the metal at its circumference will
have been forced into the grooves of the rolls u, v, and thus its circum-
ference is brought to the shape desired. As the wheel enlarges in
diameter the rolls v, v, are gradually moved away from one another so as
not to bind too firmly upon its circumference.
In witness whereof, I, the said Benjamin Walker, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine.
BENJAMIN WALKER. (L.S.)