IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
Year: 1865

page_text: LETTERS PATENT. to Ephraim Sabel, of. Moorgate Street, in the City of
London, Gentleman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY
TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON."-A communication from abroad
by Martin Dieudonné Henvaux, Civil Engineer, of Saint Servais, near
Namur Belgium.
Scaled the 19th January 1866, and dated the 4th August 1865..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ephraim Sabel at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 4th
August 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
MACHINERY TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," 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 the construction of new puddled bar rolls with a
slitting groove, by means of which one obtains from the principal bar made
by these rolls all the inferior sizes, say from 2 inches to about 5 inches in the
whole eighteen dimensions. requisite for the manufacture of merchant iron

page_text: from the small train. It is known that the small rounds (rod) and squares,
as well as the small flat irons are ordinarily manufactured from cuttings of
rolled and hammered iron of about one and a half inches square, which are
previously manufactured from faggots of four or five bars of puddled iron.
These cuttings bear naturally the same price or value that ("corroyé ") iron
once heated and once rolled bears, say from two shillings and ninepence to
three shillings and fourpence per 224 lbs. over puddled iron. Now small
faggots of puddled bar iron from about 2 inches by of an inch being heated
to welding heat and prepared at the preparatory grooves like the flat bar
faggots themselves are still hot enough to permit their being finished at the
same heat into flat, round, or square iron as easily as the flat bar iron. The
iron has therefore absolutely the same quality as that of flat bar re-heated
iron, but as the manufacture of this small puddle bar iron is slower and
consequently more onerous than that of larger bars, it is imperative to
manufacture as little of it as possible by the ordinary system because it much
retards the clearing or emptying of the furnaces, which delay tends to increase
the waste of iron and the consumption of fuel, reducing the quantity produced
in similar proportion. It is particularly for bars of about 1, 2, 24 inches
that the manufacture by the ordinary process of the old roughing rollers is
onerous and troublesome. In fact one is obliged to make a larger number of
balls in the furnace, and as these bars are generally rolled to or inches in
thickness it follows that they are necessarily very long and that they will
remain, consequently longer in the rolls, resulting in a longer time being
occupied in taking the batches out of the furnace and passing them through
the rolls, in this manner producing more waste and consumption of fuel than
the others. On the other side the roughing rolls which receive the balls
shingled to a square bar of 4 inches to be reduced to the size square
corresponding to the groove of the finishing rolls, namely, 12 inches for a bar
of 2 inches or thereabouts detains them much longer than the latter by reason
of the smaller pressure and the number of grooves to be passed in order to
'obtain the desired dimension. For these reasons the puddled bar rolls, a part
of this Invention, are adopted in order to manufacture puddled bar iron in all
small dimensions, from, say, 2 inches in width to about 5 inches, and by to
inches or thereabouts in thickness in as economical a manner as the others,
of 4 inches and more, these puddled bar rolls having a slitting groove, by
means of which all desired widths are obtained, say from 2 to 5 inches, from a
'single or principal bar made by these rollers. And in effect as all these
small bars have to be rolled to a very moderate thickness, say from to
inches, I adapt them to the manufacture of bars of about 6 or 7 inches by

page_text: this thickness, and I make in an instant and at one stroke two bars of the
following widths:-
1. Of 7 inches, two bars are made of 2 inches and 5 inches.
slitter slits rolled bars of about 3 inches by an inch in three pieces or lengths
for making horse-shoc iron. It is known also that the circular shears are
nothing else but a sort of slitting apparatus with a single cutter on each side.
Now, in order to. obtain a bar of puddled iron of seven inches by 12 or
2 or more inches, and bars from 2 to 5 inches I put at the last groove of the
rolls two steel rings on to the exterior collars which form at once two cutters
forming at once, in fact, veritable circular shears. They fit or sink in only
about the of an inch in order to slit the bar into two picces, as performed by
the slitting apparatus, and by this method it is the principal or major bar
made with these rolls which produces at a single operation all the small
widths required. For example, if bars of 2 inches are required a guide is
placed at the same distance (2 inches) from the exterior collar (as for circular
shears), and the 7 inch bar is introduced into the slitting groove, which
produces two bars of 2 inches and 5 inches (or thereabouts) by about or
of an inch. In order to obtain all the other widths, two by two, the guides
have to be arranged to the width required on the right and left in the groove.
It follows, therefore, that it only requires to make an ordinary bar of say 4
inchos to 7 inches in width by these rolls to obtain all the small widths with a
single rolling through the slitting groove, which constitutes an important
improvement in the puddle bar train, all these dimensions being produced by.
an operation as prompt as it is economical. .It should also be observed that
the bars produced by the slitting groove present a great advantage over, those
otherwise produced in that they have one side shewing the grain of the iron,
consequently without cracks which renders them more eligible in faggots than
other bars, and they answer much. better. for the heads and flanges or ridges of
rails (for railways), and girders or joists by placing the grain of the iron
outside, and they will produce perfect heads.

page_text: To the foregoing description 'two Sheets of Drawing are annexed and form
part of this Provisional Specification; the diagram on Sheet 1 shewing new
puddled bar rollers with a slitting groove by the ordinary system of two
rollers, and the diagram on Sheet 2 shews new puddled bar rollers with a
slitting groove system of three rollers, the diagrams being drawn to a scale of
sone-tenth of natural size.
*SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ephraim Sabel in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
26th January 1866.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EPHRAIM
SABEL, of Moorgate Street, in the City of London, Gentleman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fourth day of August, 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 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 TO BE USED IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON," 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 Office 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
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement:-
This Invention consists in the construction of new puddled bar rolls with a

page_text: slitting groove, by means of which 1 obtain from the principal bar made by
those rolls all the inferior widths, say from 2 inches up to 5 inches in the
whole eighteen dimensions requisite for the manufacture of merchant iron
from tho small train. It is known that the small rounds (rod) and squares as
well as the small flat bars are ordinarily manufactured from cuttings of rolled
or hammered ("corroyé ") iron (herein-after termed No. 1 iron) of about one
and a half inches square, which are previously manufactured: from faggots of
four or five bars of puddled iron. These cuttings bear naturally the same
price or value that ordinary No. 1 iron bears, say from 2s. 9d. to 3s. per
224 lbs. over puddled iron. Now small faggots composed. of five bars of
puddled iron of about 2 inches by of an inch being heated to white welding
heat and rolled at the preparatory grooves. like the faggots of cuttings have
themselves been are still hot enough to permit their being finished at the same
heat into flat, round, or square iron quite as easily as the cuttings. These
iron bars are therefore absolutely of the same quality as those produced from
the re-heated cuttings. But as the manufacture of this small puddle bar iron
is slower and consequently more costly than that of large bars it is imperative
to manufacture as little of it as possible by the ordinary system because it
much retards the clearing out of the batches from the furnaces, which delay
tends to increase the waste of iron and the consumption of fuel in the furnace
while reducing the quantity produced in similar proportion. It is particularly
for bars of about 2, 21, and 23 inches that the manufacture by the ordinary
process with the old roughing rollers is onerous and troublesome.
In fact one
is obliged to make a larger number of balls or loops in the batch, and as these
bars are generally rolled to or of an inch in thickness, it follows that
they are very long, and that they remain consequently longer in the rolls,
resulting in a longer time being occupied in taking the batches out of the
furnace and passing them through the rolls, and that thus they cause. greater
waste and a larger consumption of fuel than the others. On the other hand,
the roughing rolls which receive the balls shingled to a square bar of,4
inches to rough roll or reduce them to the size square corresponding to the
groove of the finishing rolls, uamely 13 inches for a bar of 2 inches or there-
abouts, detains them much longer than the latter by reason of the slighter
pressures and the number of grooves to be passed in order to obtain the
desired dimension. It is, therefore, evident that the manufacture of these
small bars by the ordinary roughing rolls is very onerous, for which reason, in
order to manufacture puddled bar iron in all small dimensions, from say
2 inches in width to about 5 inches, and by 14 to 1 of an inch in thickness
or thereabouts, in as economical a manner as the others of 4 inches, and.

page_text: that they have one side showing the grain of the iron, consequently without
cracks, which renders them môre eligible in faggots than other bars, and they
answer much better for the heads and flanges or ridges of rails (for railways),
and girders or joists by placing the grain of the iron outside, and they will
produce as handsome a head as No. 1 iron itself. It will doubtless be under-
stood that by setting up at the end of the puddled bar train either a slitting
mill with two cutters of the required widths, or a circular shears to slit the
same bar coming from the rolls, the same result would be obtained as at the
slitting groove, but it will be readily admitted that it is more simple and more
advantageous to effect this operation at the rolls themselves by means of this
slitting groove. It will therefore be admitted that these new puddled bar
rolls with a slitting groove form an important improvement in the manufacture
of the puddled bar iron of small width which is required for the manufacture
of small merchant iron directly from the faggots at a single heat and without
the necessity of a preliminary rolling of the cuttings.
On the accompanying Sheet of Drawing forming part of this Specification
Figure 1 shows the application of the slitting groove to the 2 roll system (A
slitter, and numbers 1 to 7 journey of bar from commencement to completion),
and Figure 2 its application to the 3 roll method (A slitter, and 1 to 9 journey
of bar).
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
absolute correctness of the several calculations herein given, any error in
which will not affect the validity of these improvements, and I claim the
exclusive use of puddled bar rolls made with a slitting groove substantially as
herein-before described and illustrated on the annexed Sheet of Drawing.
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.S.)