IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR STRAIGHTENING ROUND BARS OF METAL
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
I, HERBERT JOHN HADDAN, of the firm of Herbert and Company, Patent
Agents, of 67, Strand, in the City of Westminster, Civil Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of my Invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINES FOR
STRAIGHTENING ROUND BARS OF METAL, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
My Invention relates to improvements in machines for straightening round bars
of metal; and it consists in certain features of construction, and in combination of
parts hereinafter described and pointed out in the claims.
In the Drawings, Fig. 1 is a plan view, and Fig. 2 an elevation of my improved
machine. Figs. 3 and 4 are vertical transverse sections, respectively, on the
lines x x and y y of Fig. 1. Fig. 5 is an end view of one of the guides, showing
also the manner of attaching it to the revolving frame. Fig. 6 is an elevation of
one of the straightening rollers.
A represents a revolving framo with hollow trunnions B, journalled in the
pillow-blocks B¹. The frame A is provided with the longitudinal slots a, that are
chambered at the bottom of the slots to receive bolt heads, as shown in Fig. 3 by
means of which the guides and rollers, hereinafter described are secured to the
framé A in the desired position. A preferable way of revolving the frame A is
shown in the Drawings where b is a spur gear secured to one of the trunnions B
and engaging a gear b₁, on the shaft C, that may be provided at the other end
with bevel-gears, as shown, when it is desired to change the line of motion,
and in such a case a second shaft C, is had provided with the driving pulley c.
D represents a piece of shafting extending through the machine in the process
of straightening.
E are straightening rollers with a crowning face and conoidal or conical bearings
journalled in housings E, that are adjustable cross wise of the frame A by means
of slots in the housings, as shown, through which pass the bolts e, that secure the
housings to the frame. The housings are also provided with the set screws e', that
butt against projections or ledges of the frame A, as shown and furnish a means
of pressing the rollers against the shaft D. These rollers and housings alternate
with the guides F, that are secured to the frame A in the same manner as the
housings, and so arranged that a guide comes opposite a pair of rollers. .The.

page_text: guides should be of such length along the shaft D that their respective ends will
come opposite or overlap each other. In the process of straightening, the rollers
are pressed down so hard upon the shaft D that it would be bent out of its course
and butt against the next pair of rollers. The office of the guide is to hold the
shaft to its place and guide it to an engagement with the next pair of rollers after
which the guide is released from further duty until the end of another shaft requires
the same guidance.
It is found that conical or conoidal shaped journals being smaller toward the
end, where less strength is required, and moving with less surface velocity, cause
less friction than cylindrical journals, and also hold the rollers laterally. By means
of the crowning face the rollers the shaft or bar of iron is made to engage and
mount the rollers without having to be so far deflected by the guide. The axes
of the rollers are not parallel with the axis of the revolving frame, but are set
.obliquely thereto, so that the rollers lead on to the shaft, and their track around
the shaft would be like the thread of a screw, and by means of which the shaft is
drawn through the machine during its engagement with the rollers.
The trunnions B are provided with reducing bushings 6 that are chamfered on
the inner edge of the end in which the shaft enters. The bore of the bushings is
of suitable size to accommodate the size of the shaft that is to pass through
them, and are of course changed with every different size of shafting that is
straightened.
On either hand of the revolving frame A are supporting frames G, on which are
journalled in suitable boxes the shafts H and H, to which are attached the
sprocket-wheels and , carrying the chains I, the upper part of which moves
in the direction that the shaft D moves in passing through the machine. These
shafts with the sprocket-wheels, may be driven by gearing and a driving pulley
as shown, or in any manner most convenient.
The carriages Jare provided with wheels that operate on tracks g, attached to
the frame G. There are also guards g³ above the wheels, that prevent the carriage
from lifting, as shown in Fig. 4. The central portion of the frames G are broken
away to show the carriages J and attachments. The oarriages J are provided with
clamps, that grasp the bars of iron and hold them from revolving and also furnish
a means of forcing the bar D into and from the machine. The carriages are
provided with the hooks K, that when required engage the chains I. Theso hooks,
when not held to an engagement with the chains by a draft on the same, are
raised away from the chains by the balance-weights L. The clamps aforesaid have
jaws m and m³, the former attached to the carriage and the latter pivotally
attached to the former in the central part, and provided with the hand-wheel and
screw n by means of which the back ends of the jaws are separated and the front
ends made to grasp the bar of metal.
The operation of the device is as follows: The machine is set in motion and the
bar of metal to be straightened is clamped on the left-hand carriage and near the
left-hand end of the bar, when the opposite end is entered into the opening in
the hollow trunnion of the revolving frame. The hook K is dropped into a link of
the chain I, by means of which the carriage and bar of metal are forced along
until the front end of the bar has engaged two of the rollers E. This frame A,
with its oblique rollers, is so geared as to move the shaft longitudinally faster than
it is moved by the carriage J. As soon as the bar or shaft is grasped by the rollera
it is carried along by the action of the rollors faster than by the chain, so that the
hook is loosened and tilted back away from the chain by the weight L as aforesaid,
and the clamp may then be loosened from bar and the carriage run back by hand,
ready for the next bar. In the meantime as the forward end of the bar passes out
of the revolving frame it is clamped to the carriage there in waiting for it, and
when the rollers in the revolving frame cease to advance the bar the hook of this
carriage is dropped into a link of the chain, and by means of which the shaft is
drawn out of the revolving frame and may then be released from the clamp and be
removed from the machine. As soon as the shaft is. so far withdrawn from the

page_text: revolving frame as to offer little resistance, the hook will be released from the chain
by the attached balance-weight. The straightening-rollers press against the bar
and deflect it as far as a straight bar can be deflected and regain its straight
condition by its own clasticity after it is released. As the bars are subjected to
this deflection in all parts and in every direction they are in a straight condition
when removed from the machine.
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
I claim is
1. In a machine for straightening round bars of metal, the combination, with the
rotating frame having hollow journals, of the diagonally-arranged pairs of rollers
journalled in said frame, substantially as sot forth.
2. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination, with the
rotating frame having hollow journals, of the obliquely arranged rollers journalled
in suid frame, and guides secured in the frame opposite the respective rollers,
substantially as described.
3. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination, with the
rotating frame having hollow journals, of the obliquely arranged rollers, the guides
and the means for adjusting said rollers or guides (either or both) crosswise of the
axis of the revolving frame, substantially as described.
4. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination with the
revolving frame provided with hollow journals, of pairs of rollers having crowning
faces and conical or conoidal journals, said rollers being mounted in the frame
obliquely to the axis thereof, substantially as set forth.
5. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination with the
revolving frame provided with hollow journals, of pairs of rollers mounted
diagonally with relation to the axis of the frame and alternating at opposite sides
of said axis, substantially as set forth.
6. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination with the
revolving frame provided with hollow journals, of carriages having clamps adapted
to support a bar in line with the hollow journals of the frame, a chain traversing
beneath the carriages, and a hook secured to each carriage for engaging the chain
substantially as described.
7. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination, with the
revolving frame having hollow journals, of carriages provided with clamps adapted
to support a bar in line with the hollow journals of the frame, chains traversing
beneath the carriages, and a counterbalanced hook secured to each carriage,
substantially as described.
8. In a machine for straightening round metal bars, the combination, substantially
as before set forth, of the feed chain, the carriage provided with a bar-clamp, a
hook to engage the chain, the revolving frame having hollow journals, and the
rollers journalled obliquely in the frame to traverse the bar in spiral paths and
draw it endwise, substantially as set forth.