IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL PILLARS, POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES, FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFacture.
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Robert Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred Rogers,
both of the Riband Pole Company, Manchester, in the County of
Lancaster, Manufacturers of Metallic Telegraph Poles, for the In-
vention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL PILLARS, POSTS,
MASTS, OR POLES, FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFacture.
"
ealed the 15th July 1873, and dated the 17th January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Robert Bristow Lee
and Simon Alfred Rogers at the Office of the Commissioners of
Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th January 1873.
WC, ROBERT BRISTOW LEE and SIMON ALFRED ROGERS, both of the
Riband Pole Company, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manu-
facturers of Metallic Telegraph Poles, do hereby declare the nature of
the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL
PILLARS, POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES, FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND
IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," to be as follows :-

page_text: year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one have been granted to
us. The said former Invention related to the manufacture of metal
poles, pillars, posts, columns, and masts, for telegraphic purposes, or for
supporting verandahs or buildings, or for use as gate or fencing posts, or
for other purposes, and consisted in forming such pillars, posts, columns,
and masts herein-after styled poles for convenience of description of bars
or rods of wrought iron or steel bent upon a mandril into right and left
hand spirals and riveted together at the points of intersection of the said
spirals. Our present Invention has for its object to facilitate the
bending or formation of the said spirals, and to this end we mount a
mandril in bearings and provide suitable gearing or appliances by means
of which a revolving motion may be imparted to the said mandril, and
we fit a carriage to slide or traverse from end to end of the said mandril,
and we provide the said carriage with guiding rollers, or otherwise so
form or fit the said carriage as that during the said traverso it shall
guide the bar or rod of metal into the required position upon the
mandril so as to form the required spiral. When forming taper poles
and therefore when it is necessary or advisable that the pitch or curve
of the spiral shall vary from end to end, we impart a differential motion
to the said carriage or it may be to the said mandril.
The arrangement we have adopted for imparting a differential motion
to the said mandril consists of a couple of conical chain drums which
are actuated by means of gearing, and give motion to the guiding
carriage through chains which wind upon one drum and unwind from
the other drum as the said drums revolve, the effect of this arrangement
being that when the said carriage is being traversed from the larger end
of the mandril towards the smaller end thereof, the drawing chain is
wound upon the conical drum which is acting upon the said carriage
from the larger diameter of the said drum towards the smaller diameter
thereof, whereby the speed of traverse of the said carriage, as relative to
the speed of revolution of the mandril is gradually diminished. The
form and proportions of the said conical drums are or may be made
suitable to the form and proportions of the said mandril.
We do not intend to confine ourselves to the employment of conical
chain drums or of chains for the said purpose, as other means may be
employed, as for example, only one conical drum may be employed, or
the guiding carriage may be actuated by means of a screw cut with a
differential pitch. By means of our present Invention we are enabled

page_text: to dispense with the guiding grooves in the mandril, and with the col-
lapsable mandrils described in the Specification of our former Invention.
and to employ a plain mandril in lieu thereof
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,.
filed by the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred Rogers
in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, wc, ROBERT
BRISTOW LEE and SIMON ALFRED ROGERS, both of the Riband Pole
Company, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Manufacturers of
Metallic Telegraph Poles, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in
the thirty-sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto us, the said Robert Bristow Lee and
Simon Alfred Rogers, Her special license that we, the said Robert
Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred Rogers, our executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as we, the said Robert Bristow Lee
and Simon Alfred Rogers, 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 King-
dom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man,
an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL PILLARS,.
POSTS, MASTS, OR POLES FOR TELEGRAPHIC AND OTHER PURPOSES, AND IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," upon the condition, amongst others, that
we, the said Robert Bristow Lee and Simon Alfred Rogers, by an instru-
ment in writing under our hands and seals, or under the hand and
seal of one of us, 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 Scal Patent Office within six
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE. that I, the said Simon Alfred Rogers, for myself

page_text: 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 (and accompanying Drawings), that is to say :-
Our Invention relates to a former Invention for which Her Majesty's
Royal Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of June in the
year One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, have been granted to
us. The said former Invention related to the manufacture of metal
poles, pillars, posts, columns, and masts for telegraphic purposes, or for
supporting verandahs or buildings, or for use as gate or fencing posts or
for other purposes, and consisted in forming such poles, pillars, posts,
columns, and masts herein-after styled poles for convenience of de-
scription of bars or rods of wrought iron or steel bent upon a mandril
into right and left hand spirals and riveted together at the points of
intersection of the said spirals. Our present Invention has for its object
to facilitate the bending or formation of the said spirals, and to this end
we mount a mandril in bearings and provide suitable gearing or appli-
ances by means of which a revolving motion may be imparted to the
said mandril, and we fit a carriage to slide or traverse from end to end
of the said mandril, and we provide the said carriage with guiding rollers
or so otherwise form or fit the said carriage as that during the said
traverse it shall guide the bar or rod of metal into the required position
upon the mandril so as to form the required spiral. When forming taper
poles and therefore when it is necessary or advisable that the pitch or
curve of the spiral shall vary from end to end, we impart a differential
motion to the said carriage, or it may be to the said mandril.
The arrangement we have adopted for imparting a, differential motion
to the said carriage consists of a couple of conical chain drums, which
are actuated by means of gearing and give motion to the guiding
carriage through chains which wind upon one drum and unwind from
the other drum as the said drums revolve, the effect of this arrangement
being that when the said carriage is being traversed from the larger end
of the mandril towards the smaller end thereof, the drawing chain is
wound upon the conical drum which is acting upon the said carriage
from the larger diameter of the said drum towards the smaller diameter
thereof, whereby the speed of traverse of the said carriage as relative to
the speed of revolution of the mandril is gradually diminished. The
form and proportion of the said conical drums are or may be made
suitable to the form and proportions of the said mandril.

page_text: We do not intend to confine ourselves to the employment of conical
chain drums, or of chains for the said purpose, as other means may be
employed, as for example, only one conical drum may be employed, or
the guiding carriage may be actuated by means of a screw cut with a
differential pitch. By means of our present Invention we may dispense
with the guiding groves in the mandril and with the collapsable mandrils
described in the Specification of our former Invention, and employ a
plain mandril in lieu thereof.
And in order that the said Invention may be fully understood we will in
this place refer to the accompanying Sheet of Drawings, which are marked
with letters of reference, similar marks indicating corresponding parts
in the various Figs.
Fig. 1, drawn to a scale of about three quarters of an inch to the foot,
represents a front elevation of a machine constructed in manner
according with our Invention, and suitable for forming taper poles. In
the said Fig. a is a mandril which is supported at one end in the head-
stock A, and at the other end by the pedestal b. The carriage is seen
at d, and the spiral drums at e and f.
Figs. 2, 3, and 4, represent the headstock end of Fig. 1 drawn to a larger
scale; Fig. 2 being a front elevation; Fig. 3, an end elevation; and
Fig. 4, a plan. In the said Figs. the said headstock is fitted with a
cone pulley c and with gearing similarly to an ordinary double geared
lathe headstock in order that a revolving motion may be imparted
to the said mandril. In this example the carriage d is fitted with
wheels g, 9, which run on rails h, h, and is retained upon the said rails
by a pair of wheels which run upon the lower surface of the front rail;
but this arrangement may be modified. The said carriage is attached
by one end to the chain i which passes over the sliding pulley j and
coils on the spiral drum f; the other end of the said carriage being
attached to the chain which passes over the pulleys m, m, seen in
Fig. 1, and coils on the spiral drum e. A mitre or bevil wheel o gives
motion to an arrangement of mitre or bevil wheels p, p, which acts on
a reversing motion, and imparts a revolving motion in one direction or
the other, as may be required to the drum f, which by means of the
gearing a imparts motion in a contrary direction to the drum e, so that
one chain is being wound upon one drum at the time that the other
chain is being unwound from the other drum. The carriage d carries
a guiding army which is fitted to swivel at s so that the direction of

page_text: its inclination with respect to the carriage may be reversed, or that the
amount of such inclination may be varied. The said arm is fitted with
a pair of rollers t, t, between which the bar or strip of metal passes on
its way to the mandril, the said rollers being mounted in a frame which
is provided with a screw and handle u whereby the position of the
rollers in or on the arm may be adjusted when necessary..
its inclination with respect to the carriage may be reversed, or that the
amount of such inclination may be varied. The said arm is fitted with
a pair of rollers t, t, between which the bar or strip of metal passes on
its way to the mandril, the said rollers being mounted in a frame which
is provided with a screw and handle u whereby the position of the
rollers in or on the arm may be adjusted when necessary..
In Figs. 2 and 4 a mandril formed with spiral grooves is represented,
but the said spiral grooves may be dispensed with.
Figs. 5 and 6 illustrate a form of mandril which may be used in lieu
of the mandril represented in the aforesaid Figs. In this example the
mandril is formed as a hollow tube having openings v, v, and longitudinal
grooves 10. When the bars have been wound upon the mandril, tem-
porary holding bolts are introduced through the said openings and are
passed through the holes which have been previously formed in the said
bars at the points of intersection and the spirals are by these means
secured together at as many points as may be considered suitable. The
partly formed pole is slid off the mandril, the grooves to permitting the
passage of the bolt heads. The manner of employing the apparatus
is substantially as follows:-The end of a bar is passed between the
guiding rollers t and is attached to the mandril, say for example, to the
larger end of the mandril. The mandril, is then set in motion and the
chain drums revolving in contrary directions as aforesaid, the carriage d
is drawn towards the other end of the mandril and guides the bar of
iron into the spiral grooves or into the required spiral form, the said
chain drums regulating the form of the spiral as herein-before men-
tioned. When the upper spirals are to be wound upon the lower spirals
the metal bar is attached to the other end of the mandril and the
direction of motion of the chain drum is reversed by means of the
lever x which acts on the sliding clutch of the reversing motion, a rod y
enabling the attendant to actuate the said lever from the other end of
the machine. The direction of motion of the said drums is also reversed
whenever it is necessary to "run back" the carriage after the com-
pletion of any single spiral. The attendant may guide the metal bar to
some extent whilst being wound upon the mandril by swiveling the arm
in one direction or the other. If the apparatus is to be used in the
formation of cylindrical poles or of non-tapering poles cylindrical chain
drums may be substituted for the spiral chain drums.

page_text: Having now fully described and indicated the nature of our said
Invention we would, in conclusion, have it to be distinctly understood
that we do not confine ourselves to the precise details thereof, but that
we claim the method of forming bars or rods of metal into spiral forms,
substantially as and for the purposes herein-before set forth, the
important features being the traversing carriage in combination with the
revolving mandril, the mandril shown at Figs. 5 and 6, and the differ-
ential movement of the said carriage when forming taper poles, for
which last a differential velocity of the mandril may be constituted.
In witness whereof, I, the said Simon Alfred Rogers, for myself
and on behalf of the said Robert Bristow Lee, have hereunto
set my hand and scal, this Sixteenth day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand cight hundred and seventy-three.
SIMON ALFRED ROGERS. (L.s.)