AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE
Year: 1837

page_text: NORTH'S SPECIFICATION.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
NORTH, of Mitre Street, New Cut, in the County of Surrey, Card, Paper, and
Metal. Piercer.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Nineteenth day of July, in the first year of Her reign, did, for
Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
North, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Thomas North, my exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as I, the
said Thomas North, my exors, adññors, 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, exercise, and
vend within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my
Invention of "AN IMPROVEMENT IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WIRE;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas North, .
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 had, will more fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
Thomas North, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say:

page_text: My Invention consists of a mode of making wire from zine, and in order to
give the best information in my power for carrying on the process I take
a plate of the best malleable zinc, and I divide the same into square bars, and
I employ either saws or circular cutters, preferring the using of saws when
the plate is of greater thickness than a quarter of an inch, and in case of the
plates being a quarter of an inch or less than rotatory cutters, such as are used
in making nail rods in the iron manufacture, and such as are shown in the
Drawing and hereafter described; the square rods or bars thus produced are
next to be condensed by passing between grooved rollers, by which means, in
case the wire is intended to be cylindrical, the bars or rods will (in addition
to being condensed) be rounded at the angles and the more suitable for being
drawn through the draw plates, which is to be performed similarly to the
process of drawing iron or other metal wire; and I would remark that I have
not found it necessary to anneal the zinc rods, bars, or wires, but the same
may be progressively drawn down to the size desired without other process.
And I would call particular attention to the utility and necessity of the con-
densing process performed by the rollers previous to the drawing process, as
on this depends in a great measure the well performing of the whole process,
for by this means the zinc is condensed and becomes suitable for drawing ;
and in making cylindrical wire the angles are rounded down.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING.
Figures 1 and 2 are views of a pair of grooved rollers and also some circular
cutters on the same axes, a, a, being the circular cutters, which consist of a
series of circular discs of steel of equal thickness and diameter, affixed on the
axes of the rollers b; and b, b, are a pair of grooved rollers, as is clearly shown
in the Drawing, and between which the bars or rods of zinc are to be passed
several times, turning the position of the rod or bar at each time of passing
between the rollers b, and also progressively passing through a smaller groove,
till the bar is sufficiently condensed.
Figure 3 is a draw plate, such as is usually employed in drawing other
wire from other descriptions of metals, the holes being for cylindrical wire.
Figure 4 shows a draw plate for square wire, and it will be evident that
whatever be the figure of the wire to be produced; so will be the holes in the
draw plate or instrument through which the bars or rods are progressively
reduced by being drawn through.
Figure 5 is a side view, Figure 6 is a plan, and Figure 7 an end view of
a machine for sawing plates of zinc into bars or rods. a, a, is the framing;
b, b, two guides for the same frame e, e, the construction of which is shewn in

page_text: the Drawing; the said frame e has a number of saws, depending on the number
of cuts to be made; f is a cranked axis, which receiving motion from a
steam engine or other power by a strap to the drum g; h is a fly wheel; i, i,
are two connecting rods to the saw frame, by which it receives an up &
down motion; j is a quadrangular frame, on which the sheet of zinc is to be
placed and fixed, the sides of the framej having teeth as shewn; the frame j
moves on parallel bars ; & l, is a connecting rod from the axis f, which by
the lever and driver m, n, give motion to the pinions o, on the axis p; the
ratchet wheel q being affixed on that axis.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner of
performing the same, I would remark that I lay no claim to the apparatus
or machinery herein described, they being similar to what have been before
used for making wire from other metal and for other purposes; but what I
do claim is the mode herein described of producing wire from zinc by means
of the conjoined process of the rollers and subsequent drawing of the bars
or rods of zinc.
And, secondly, I claim the application or using of saws and circular cutting
instruments for dividing plates of zinc into rods or bars in the process of
making wire from that metal.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas North, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Nineteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight.