IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF IRON RAILS AND GIRDERS
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Ephraim Sabel, of Moorgate Street, in the City of
London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF IRON RAILS AND GIRDERS."-A communication from abroad by
Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil Engineer, of Saint Servais, near
Namur, Belgium.
Sealed the 19th January 1866, and dated the 31st July 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ephraim Sabel at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
31st July 1865.
I, EPHRAIM SABEL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Gentleman,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON RAILS AND GIRDERS," a communication to me from
abroad by Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil Engineer, of Saint Servais, near
Namur, Belgium, to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in manufacturing railway rails and girders (or
joists) by rolling the faggot flatwise instead of on edge, and making the rail
head or flange and the ridges or flanges on the girders of one single piece of
iron, thus considerably economizing the use of ("corroyé), prepared iron,
and securing a more compact and better finished rail or girder. The ridged

page_text: or flanged bars so made replace successfully and advantageously the usual
description of prepared iron, flat and square, used in the faggots for rails and
girders. They present no difficulty in the manufacture, being produced from
a single faggot of puddled bar iron. Each description or dimension of rail or
girder exacts a prepared ridged or flanged iron appropriate to the faggot with
which it is to be rolled, except that some will serve for two very similar
dimensions.
In the annexed Drawing forming part of this Provisional Specification four
plans of rails and faggots are shown by way of illustration (see Sheet 1).
No. 1 serves for the manufacture of Minden rails (on the American
model).
No. 2 serves for the manufacture of double-headed rails. (Model, the
Northern of France).
"
"
1* rolled on edge serves to manufacture the single head rail (Versailles
railway).
3 rolled flatwise serves for the manufacture of tho same kind of rail
(Versailles).
For girders (or joists) a different form of ridged or flanged bar is used,
because they can be passed on edge through one of the grooves (except the
large one, No. 7, (with three ridges or flanges); also their ridges or flanges
do not require so much (corroyé) heating and rolling as those of rails, nor are
they required to be of a single iron. The form or model is merely a sort of
sole with edges placed at the top and bottom of the faggot, composed within
of puddled bar iron. By this means girders are also rolled flatwise, and
consequently are better finished than those rolled on edge. This model
comprises (as shewn in the Drawing, Sheet 2) seven lengths for manufacturing
girders, namely:-
Plan 1, No. 1, used for making girders of about 4 inches in depth..
"
رو
"
small or large
flanged.
"
"
2, 2. for making girders
-3,
"
for making girilers
"
5 to 6 inches.
4,
"
for making girders
"
5,
5,
"
"
for making girders
وف
flanged..
7
to 8 inches. :
"
6, 6,
"
for making girders
7 inches, small and large
">
"
"
9 to 12 inches..
7, 7, ,, for making a girder of 12 inches with three ridges...
All these ridged irons'economize a great part of the iron which has been
'rolled once and heated once ("corroyé ") employed in making up ordinary
faggots which require as much as 35°, and they produce girders and rails

page_text: much more perfect, better welded, and better finished than the ordinary
faggots which are rolled on edge. A rail rolled flatwise is indisputably the
better and more advantageous to manufacture, for the reason that it requires
less once rolled and once heated iron than the rail rolled on edge. In rolling
the rail flatwise the puddled bar iron is better rolled and heated, the faggot
being reduced from the whole of its height by rolling it flatwise to the
thickness of the rail, generally about one inch or less. Thus the height of the
faggot and the thickness of each bar are generally reduced to one-tenth by
rolling flatwise, whilst by rolling edgewise or on edge it is the width of the
bars that is reduced to this thickness, while the height of the faggot and the
thickness of the bars are barely reduced one-third. The puddled iron is
better purified and finished by rolling flatwise than rolling on edge. The
pressure in rolling flatwise expels more slag from the faggot, and renders the
stripe more dense, whereas in rolling on edge from the first grooves, as is
practised, the openings by which the slag escapes are choked up, and if more
slag escapes during the subsequent rolling flatwise it oozes through the bars,
which cannot be properly welded again, the iron being no longer at welding
heat. This is the principal cause of so much bad welding, and holes or
imperfections in the heads of rails which are obliged to be remedied at the
forge, defects which are not always well repaired and hidden, and so cause the
rails to be rejected when they undergo the inspection of a competent judge.
The rolling of rails and girders flatwise by means of ridged or flanged bars
gives greater guarantee of success both to the rolling mill and the railway
than those rolled on edge, both as regards quality and economy of manu-
facture, also in the saving effected in the once rolled and heated iron of the
faggots in which only the following proportions are used, say, for rails :-
1. The faggot for Minden rails consists of two bars of ("corroyé ") once
heated and once rolled iron, ridged or flanged, and of eight puddle bars, say
25% or 26% of the first-named iron instead of 35% which is required for
faggots to be rolled on edge.
2. The faggots for the double-headed rail (Northern railway of France) are
composed of two bars of once heated and once rolled ridged iron, and of ten
bars of puddled iron, say 24 per cent. of the former.
3. The faggot for the single-headed rail (Versailles) rolled on edge consists
of a single bar of once beated once rolled iron (ridged), and of nine bars of
puddled iron, say 13 per cent. of the first-named iron.
4. The faggot of the same rail rolled flatwise is composed of one bar of
idged, once rolled, once heated iron, and contains nineteen per cent. of once
eated once rolled iron.

page_text: SPECIFICATION, in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ephraim Sabel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
27th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EPHRAIM
SABEL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Gentleman, sénd
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-ninth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Ephraim Sabel, Her special licence that I, the said Ephraim
Sabel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the:
said Ephraim Sabel, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any

page_text: 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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF IRON RAILS AND GIRDERS," a communication to me from abroad
by Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil Engineer, of Saint Servais, near Namur,
Belgium, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ephraim Sabel,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, should particularly 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 the Great Seal Patent Offico
within six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Ephraim Sabel, do hereby declare the
nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Sheet of Drawing
forming part of this Specification, and to the figures and letters of reference
placed thereon:
This Invention consists in new forms or sections of ridged or flanged bars
or plates of once heated and once rolled iron ("fer corroyé," berein-after
termed No. 1 iron) for manufacturing rails and girders, which flanged bars
permit the rolling of the faggots flatwise instead of on edge, thus giving a
much better rolling with heads of a single piece for the rails while saving a
great part of the No. 1 iron required in faggots rolled on edge. These flanged
bars replace successfully and advantageously the usual descriptions of flat and
square bars of No. 1 iron used in forming faggots for rails and girders. They
present no difficulty in their manufacture, being produced from a single faggot
of puddled bar iron like ordinary No. 1 iron, and if it be desired to make the.
rail head of steel the flanged bar must also be of steel. Each section or
dimension of rail and of girder requires an appropriate pattern of flanged bar
of No. 1 iron suited to its faggot, except that some serve for two dimensions.
when they approximate.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing-
No. 1 indicates a bar of No. 1 iron used in faggot A for manufacturing the
rail C (American pattern), or in faggot D for making the rail E (Versailles
railway) rolled on edge. a, bar or plate No. 1 in faggot.
No. 2 indicates the bar used in the faggot F for making double-headed
rail G (Northern of France railway) rolled flatwise.

page_text: No. 3 indicates the bar of No. 1 iron used in the faggot H for making
rail E (Versailles railway). rolling flatwise. Bindicates a faggot made. in
the ordinary manner.
The girders require flanged bars of a different section, as they can be passed
flatwise through one of the grooves, with the exception of the large one of
11 inches, and that their ridges or heads do not require so much No. 1. iron
as those for rails, nor are they required to be of a single iron. This section
is merely a sort of sole with flanges placed at the top and bottom of the
faggot, which is composed within of puddled bar iron.. By this means girders
are also rolled flatwise, and consequently better rolled than by the usual
rolling on edge. This section comprises seven sizes for making the following
girders, as shewn on the annexed Sheet of Drawing, where-
No. 1 indicates the bar used for making girders of 3 inches in depth
rolled from the

page_text: rolled flatwise is indisputably better and more advantageous to manufacture,
for the reason that it requires less of No. 1 iron than the one rolled on edge.
In rolling the rail flatwise the puddled bar iron is much better laminated, the
faggot being reduced from the whole of its substance by rolling it flatwise to
the thickness of the rail, generally to of an inch. In this manner the
height of the faggot and the thickness of each bar are generally reduced to 10
by rolling flatwise, whereas by rolling on edge it is the width of the bars that
is reduced to this thickness, whereas the height of the faggot and thickness
of the bars are scarcely reduced by . It is therefore indisputable that
puddled bar iron is better prepared by rolling flatwise than edgewise. The
pressure flatwise expels more dross from the faggot, rendering the stripe more
dense, whereas in rolling on edge, even from the first groove, the openings by
which the dross escapes are choked up, and if more escapes during the rolling
flatwise which follows, it is by piercing between the bars holes which cannot
be properly welded again, the iron being no longer at welding heat. This is
the principal cause of so much bad welding and holes in the heads of rails,
which are obliged to be repaired at the forge, defects which are not always
well repaired and hidden, and are the cause of rails being rejected on their
delivery, should they be inspected by a competent judge. The rolling of rails
and girders flatwise by means of the ridged or flanged bars above described
gives therefore greater guarantees of success and advantages both to the mill
and the railway than rails rolled on edge, and therefore this system is to be
preferred, both as regards quality and economy of No. 1 iron in the faggots in
which only the following proportions are used:

page_text: It will be seen, therefore, by the above that my improved flanged bar
replaces with great advantage the flat and square bars of No. 1 iron now
used for the manufacture of rails and girders, and that they form the basis of
a sound and profitable manufacture.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention, and the means
by which it is carried into practical effect, I would here observe that I do not
confine myself to the precise details herein given, as such may be modified
without departure from the said Invention, nor do I bind myself to the
correctness of the several calculations herein given, any error in which does
not affect the principle of these improvements; and I claim,-
Firstly, the exclusive manufacture of railway rails made from faggots,
composed substantially as described and shewn, and rolled, as herein-before
directed.
Secondly, the exclusive manufacture of girders or joists when made from
faggots composed substantially as described and shewn, and rolled flatwise, as
herein-before directed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ephraim Sabel, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-sixth day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-six.
EPHRAIM SABEL.
L.B.)