IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING IRON INTO PLATES OR SHEETS
Year: 1843

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
DANIELL, of Abercarne, near Newport, in the County of Monmouth, Tin-plate
Manufacturer, send greeting.
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 Twenty-second day of July, in the seventh year of Her reign, did,
for Ierself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said William
Daniell, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and authority, that I,
the said Williamı Daniell, my exors, adiiors, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said William Daniell, my exors, aduiors, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING IRON INTO PLATES OR SHEETS;" in which
said Letters Patent is contained a proviso, that I, the said William Daniell,
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 Ler 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.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
William Daniell, do hereby declare that 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.
My Invention relates to "improvenients in the manufacture of thin plates
or sheets of iron, suitable for making tinned plate, and for other uses; and in
order that my Invention may be fully understood and readily carried into effect,
I will proceed to explain the means pursued by me.
In the manufacture of thin sheets of iron, suitable for the making of tinned
plate, and for uses where similar thin sheets of iron are required, it was formerly
usual, and is still commonly the case, to subject the iron to repeated processes of
piling and re-heating, by which not only was much fuel employed, but the iron
was much wasted, and in the repeated rollings, the rolling, after each piling and
re-heating, was in the same direction, and the iron was rolled into bars about
half an inch thick and about six inches wide; the bars thus obtained were cut
into lengths at the tin-plate mill, and subjected to rolling between hard rollers
in the reverse direction to that in which they had before been rolled. Now,
according to my Invention, I avoid the repeated processes of piling, heating,
hammering, and rolling of the iron before reversing of the direction of the
rolling, and I obtain not only a considerable saving of fuel, but, by avoiding the
repeated piling and heating processes, heretofore considered necessary, before
reversing the direction of the rolling, I save the consequent cost of those and
of the successive processes of hammering and rolling after re-piling and re-
heating, and at the same time I produce superior thin sheets or plates of iron.
In carrying out my Invention I take a ball of iron from a charcoal refinery,
or from a puddling furnace, and submit it to the hammer, and then roll it into
a bloom of about six inches wide and five inches thick; I cause this bloom to
be cut by a saw or other convenient means, into lengths of from four to six
inches or other convenient length. These pieces are then to be immediately
rolled, the grain of the pieces, when passing through between the rollers, being
kept vertical, by which the upper and under surfaces of the bars produced
therefrom will be the clean cut surfaces, and I roll each of these pieces till
they are successively brought into bars about five inches wide and two and a
half inches thick, and with proper care no re-heating is required up to this
process.
And I would here remark, that although this process is necessary to
the obtaining the upper and under surfaces, according to my Invention, I do
not claim generally the rolling of iron into thin sheets after cutting of blooms,
and causing the pieces thereof to be rolled with the grain vertical, that mode
of obtaining good surfaces having formed the subject of claim to Invention

page_text: under Letters Patent granted to me, bearing date at Westminster, the Sixteenth
day of April, in the third year of the reign of George the Fourth, and in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and twenty-two; but when
making thin sheets or plates of iron, according to that Invention, I caused the
bars obtained to be repeatedly cut up and piled, re-heated, hammered, and
rolled, retaining the cut surfaces above and below to the end of the process,
continuing the rolling after each piling in the same direction as before, and the
iron was brought into a bar of about half an inch thick and six inches wide,
which, on being taken to the tin-plate mill, was cut into lengths and rolled into
thin plates or sheets, reversing the direction of rolling. Now, according to my
present improvements, I avoid all these processes of piling, hammering, re-
heating, and rolling; before reversing the direction of rolling, I commence at
once to roll in the transverse or opposite direction on pieces of iron which have
been produced from the cut bloom, as herein described; therefore the bars
of iron obtained by rolling the grain when vertical, after cutting as above
explained, in place of being repeatedly cut up and piled, heated, hammered,
and rolled in the same direction, are, according to my present Invention, to be
finished into thin plates or sheets, by rolling the pieces thereof in the reverse
direction to that in which the bars were rolled; and for this purpose I cut the
bars into lengths according to the sizes of plates to be made therefrom, and these
pieces I cause to be heated in a suitable furnace, and I cause them to be rolled
in grooved rollers; the width of the grooves being the same as the length of the
pieces of iron, and pieces of iron are to be rolled and lengthened out in a direction
at right angles to the previous rolling, and I continue such rolling in successive
grooved rollers till about one quarter of an inch in thickness, and then in plain
rollers till the iron is reduced to about one-eighth of an inch in thickness, the
width remaining about the same as the length of the piece of iron was before
commencing rolling it at right angles to the direction in which the piece had
been previously rolled; a piece of iron thus treated will then be in the state of
what is technically called "a moulding," which is to be completed in a tin-plate
mill by being cut into suitable lengths, and heated to a low red heat, and passed
between hard rollers, as is well understood, then doubled and again heated to
a low red heat, and again rolled by hard rollers, and again doubled and heated
again to a low red heat and rolled into "black plate," the roller being in the
way of the length of the sheet or plate, that is, I continue to roll the iron in
the same direction between the hard rollers as it was rolled before coming to
the hard rollers. I would remark that I prefer to use the best refinery iron
for the purposes of my Invention; at the same time do not confine myself
thereto, as thin sheets, made according to my Invention from puddled iron,

page_text: will be found superior to the plates made of the same iron by the modes here-
tofore resorted to, in addition to which there will be a great saving in making
such plates or thin sheets according to my Invention.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner in which
the same is to be performed, I would wish it to be understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details, so long as the peculiar character of my
Invention be retained. But what I claim is the mode of rolling iron into thin
sheets or plates, for the manufacture of tinner plates and other uses, by causing
pieces of iron to be rolled out into sheets or plates, by rolling them at right
angles to the direction in which they have been produced, when such pieces
have been obtained by rolling cut iron with the grain in a vertical direction,
the upper and under surfaces being those which result from the cutting as
above described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Daniell, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of January, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and forty-four.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twentieth day of January,
in the year of our Lord 1844, the aforesaid William Daniell came before our
said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Twenty-second day of January, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight bundred and forty-four