IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING MILLS, AND IN COUPLINGS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER MACHINES
Year: 1864

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Yule, of St. Petersburgh, in the Empire of
Russia, Engineer, at present residing at Glasgow, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING MILLS,
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Yule at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th August 1864.
I, WILLIAM YULE, of St. Petersburgh, in the Empire of Russia, Engineer,
at present residing at Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
ROLLING MILLS AND IN COUPLINGS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER MACHINES," to be
as follows, that is to say:-
This Invention comprises improvements in rolling mills, and in couplings
for the same, such couplings being designed to lessen the shocks when the
motion of the rolls is reversed, and being also applicable to other machines in
which heavy revolving pieces have their motions frequently reversed.
In the improved arrangement of rolling mill, instead of the wheels for giving
the reverse motions being loose on the clutch shaft, one wheel is fixed on a
solid shaft which is mounted in suitable bearings, and the wheel giving the
reversed motion is fixed on a tubular shaft, also mounted in suitable bearings.
The clutch shaft is entered through the tubular shaft, and receives motion by
means of a shifting clutch of the usual kind arranged in the line of and between
the ends of the two wheel shafts. With this arrangement the driving gear can
be kept in better order, and when the clutch requires repair the clutch shaft
can be drawn back, whilst the large wheels and their shafts need not be lifted.

page_text: The improved coupling is of a composite character, the two parts of the
coupling having the usual claws or seginents which, when in contact, form an
unyielding connection between the parts, whilst these are arranged with some
play or space between them, so that when the motion is reversed one part of
the coupling moves round a little before the segments come into contact, and
in so moving round is resisted by the friction of a ring or rings encircling the
two parts of the coupling and made to grip them more or less by means of
With this arrangement the reversed motion is moro gradually com-
municated than when the couplings cannot yield at all, whilst it has the
advantage over ordinary frictional couplings that the parts come certainly to a
dead lock after a determined amount of yielding movement has taken place,
after which any extra strain, as on a plate being entered between the rolls,
cannot start tho coupling. Two or more couplings of this kind may be applied
on the breaking spindle or at any convenient points between the rolls and the
clutch shaft, and in this case they are by preference adjusted to requiro
different strains to overcomo the frictional grip of cach, so that on reversing
the motion the coupling having the smaller frictional grip is first acted on, and
then the other or others.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Yule in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
15th February 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I. WILLIAM
YULE, of St. Petersburgh, in the Empire of Russia, Engineer, and sonia timo
residing at Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of August, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and sixty-four, in the twenty-eighth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, tho
said William Yule, Her special licence that I, the said William Yule, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William
Yule, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during tho
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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN ROLLING MILLS,
AND IN COUPLINGS FOR THE SAME AND FOR OTHER MACHINES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Yule, my executors or adminis-

page_text: trators, 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 William Yule, do hereby declare
the nature of my 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 in writing, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings,
and to the letters and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
My said Invention comprises improvements in rolling mills and in couplings.
for the same, such couplings being designed to lessen the shocks when the
motion of the rolls is reversed, and being also applicable to other machines in
which beavy revolving pieces have their motions frequently reversed.
And in order that my said Invention and the manner of performing the
same may be properly understood, I have hereunto appended a Sheet of
explanatory Drawings, to be herein-after referred to, and representing my
improved! arrangements.
Figure 1 is a plan of the gearing of a rolling mill as constructed with my
improved arrangement and as fitted with a modification of my improved
coupling; and Figures 2, 3, and 4 are enlarged views of the coupling.
The first-motion shaft 1 is represented as fitted. with three pinions 2, 3, 4,
one at each end, fitted with crank pins to be driven by two steam cylinders
which are not shown, and one,, 3, with the fly wheel 6 on the middle part.
One pinion 3, gears with a spur wheel 7, fast on. a shaft 8, mounted in
bearings in the line of the shafting transmitting the motion to the rolls. The
other pinion. 4 gears with a spur wheel 9 on an intermediate shaft 10, which
has also fast on it a. pinion 11, and this last gears with a spur wheel 12,
having its axis or centre in the same line as the shaft 8, but being made to
revolve in the opposite direction to that of the shaft 8 by the introduction of
the-intermediate shaft 10. The wheel 12, giving the reversed motion, is fixed
on a tubular shaft 13, which is mounted and turns in separate independent
bearings. 14, 15, on both sides of the wheel. The clutch shaft 16 is entered
through the tubular shaft 13, being additionally supported by a bearing 17
beyond it, and it receives motion by means of a clutch 18 of the usual kind
arranged in the line of and between the ends of the two wheel shafts 8, 13,
which are fitted with the usual clutch pieces 19, 20. With this arrange-
ment the driving gear can be kept in better order than when the reverse-

page_text: notion wheel is supported directly on the clutch shaft, and when the clutch
details require repair the clutch shaft 16 can bo drawn back, whilst the large
wheels 7, 12, and their shafts 8, 13, need not be lifted. My improved
arrangement is also superior to one which has been tried (which I do not
claim), and in which the wheel on the clutch shaft is provided with a separate
or independent support on one side only. A second set of rolls may be driven
by the same genring, but with the addition of a second intermediate shaft to
be driven by the pinion 2, and with the necessary parts connected therewith
and with the other end of the shaft 8.
My improved coupling is of a composite character, the two parts of
the coupling having the usual claws or segments, which, when in contact,
form an unyielding connection between tho parts, whilst these are arranged
with some play or space between them, so that when the motion is reversed
one part of the coupling moves round a little before the segments come into
contact, and in so moving round is resisted by a frictional appliance.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of a modification of the improved
coupling as fitted in the line of shafting; Figure 3 is an inside face view of
one part of the coupling; Figure 4 is an iusido view of the counterpart
coupling; and Figure 5 is an inside view of a ring used for applying the
frictional resistance.
The segmental claws or projections 21, formed on the one disc or
coupling 22, enter segmental openings 23, formed in the other disc or
coupling 24, but the segmental openings 23 are longer than the projections 21,
so that on the motion being reversed the disc 24 must move round a certain
distance before contact takes place on the other sides of the projections 21.
The disc 24 is formed with lugs 25 to receive bolts, by which there is con-
nected to the disc an iron flanged ring 26, which is applied to the further side
of the other disc 22, and by screwing up the bolts is made to grip this dise
more or less, and thus occasion a frictional resistance to the moving of one
disc without the other. The friction ring 26 is formed with snugs 27, which
ombrace the lugs 25, and cause the ring to be carried round without subjecting
the bolts to an unnecessary shearing strain. With this arrangement the
reversed motion is more gradually communicated than when the couplings
cannot yield at all, whilst it has the advantage over ordinary frictional
couplings that the parts come with certainty to a dead lock after a determined
amount of yielding movement has taken place, after which any extra strain,
as on a plate being entered between the rolls, cannot start the coupling. One
of my composite couplings is shown as applied at the end of the clutch
shaft 16 of the rolling mill, and connecting it to the braking spindle 28, 29,

page_text: which transmits the motion to the pinion axle 30. I prefer to make this
braking spindle in two pieces 28, 29, and to introduce a second composite
coupling between these pieces, and an ordinary coupling box 31 between the
latter piece 29 and the pinion axle 30. The two spindles 28, 29, and the
pinion axle 30 are formed with grooves or flutes, and are fitted with a little
play into the several coupling pieces so as to form approximate universal
joints, as is well understond, to allow of any little deviation of the parts. Two
or more of the composite couplings may be applied on the braking spindle or
at any convenient points between the rolls and the clutch spindle, and when
two or more are used I prefer to have the friction rings adjusted to take
different strains to overcome the frictional grip of each, so that on reversing
the motion the coupling having the smaller frictional grip will be first acted
on, and then the other or others.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention, and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I have to state that I do not restrict
myself to the precise details herein described or delineated, and that I do
not claim to have invented every separate detail herein delineated and
described; but that what I believe to be novel, and original, and claim as the
Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited Letters
Patent is,
1, the fixing of the reverse-motion wheel of rolling mill gearing on a
tubular shaft supported in bearings on both sides of the wheel, and having the
clutch shaft passed through it, as herein-before described.
And, 2, the constructing of couplings of a composite character, or com-
bining a limited yielding with an ultimate unyielding connection, substantially
as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Yule, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twentieth day of December, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-four.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
W. YULE. (L.B.)