AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR SURFACE- HARDENING STEEL
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Edward Newton, of the Office for
Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Civil
Engineer, for the Invention of “AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR SURFACE-
HARDENING STEEL." A communication from abroad by Gustavus
Ames, of the City of Rochester, State of New York, United States
of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Edward Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 2nd July 1872.
I, WILLIAM EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Oivil Engineer, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention for "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR SURFACE-
HARDENING STEEL," to be as follows:-
This Invention consists in hardening the surface of steel without
hardening the body thereof, by subjecting the surface of the steel to be
so hardened, while in motion, to the action of a surface in contact
moving at a very high velocity..

page_text: Suppose it be desired to harden the surface of a cylinder made of steel,
twenty-four inches in diameter and fourteen inches in length, the
cylinder is mounted in a lathe turning at the slow motion usually given
for turning such a body in the usual engine lathe. To this is applied an
emery wheel about ten inches in diameter and an inch face, and rotating
at a velocity of about eighteen hundred revolutions per minute. The
periphery of the emery wheel is kept in contact with the surface of the
cylinder, which in addition to its slow rotary motion has a traversing
motion of a little less than an inch to each revolution. At the end of
this operation the entire surface of the said cylinder will be hardened to
a depth of about one thirty-second of an inch, and so, hard that it will
resist the action of the best tools made of cast and hardened in the
usual way. Instead of emery wheels cast iron wheels with smooth faces
or other hard substances may be employed.
For hardening flat surfaces, the piece of steel to be so hardened should
be mounted in a carriage so that it can be moved in order to present in
succession every part of the surface to contact with the periphery of the
wheel; but the same result can be produced by mounting the wheel in
a carriage having the required traversing motion; or if the surface to be
hardened be of greater width than the face of the wheel, the block of
steel may be mounted on a carriage having one motion and the wheel
also mounted in a carriage having a motion at right angles to the motion
of the block carriage.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Edward Newton in the Great Seal Patent 2
Office on the 2nd January 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
EDWARD NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Civil Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her 3
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of July, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said William Edward Newton, Her special.

page_text: licence that I, the said William Edward Newton, my executors, adminis-
trators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Edward
Newton, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time
agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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 "AN IMPROVED PROCESS FOR SURFACE-HARDENING STEEL," being
a communication to me from abroad by Gustavus Ames, of the City of
Rochester, State of New York, United States of America, upon the con-
dition (amongst others) that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 imme-
diately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Edward Newton, 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 (that is to say) :-
The Inventor of the improved process for surface hardening steel for
which I have obtained Letters Patent as aforesaid, has found that by
subjecting steel (while in motion) to the friction of a surface moving
over it at a high velocity, the surface of the steel so subjected to friction
under such conditions is rendered harder than if plunged in cold water
at a white heat.
The object of the present Invention therefore is to harden the surface
of steel without hardening the body thereof, and this is affected by sub-
jecting the surface of the steel (to be so hardened while in motion) to
the action of a surface which when brought in contact therewith will be
made to move at a very high velocity.
Suppose it be desired to harden the surface of a cylinder made of steel,
twenty-four inches in diameter and fourteen inches in length, the
6 cylinder is mounted in a lathe and is made to rotate at the slow motion
usually given for turning such a body in the usual engine lathe. To
this is applied an emery wheel about ten inches in diameter and an inch

page_text: face, which is to be made to rotate, at a velocity of about eighteen
hundred revolutions per minute. The periphery of the emery wheel
is kept in contact with the surface of the cylinder, which in addition
to its slow rotary motion has a traversing motion of a little less than
an inch to each revolution. At the end of this operation the entire
surface of the cylinder will be hardened to a depth of about one thirty-
second of an inch and will be rendered so hard that it will resist the
action of the best tools made of cast steel and hardened in the usual
face, which is to be made to rotate, at a velocity of about eighteen
hundred revolutions per minute. The periphery of the emery wheel
is kept in contact with the surface of the cylinder, which in addition
to its slow rotary motion has a traversing motion of a little less than
an inch to each revolution. At the end of this operation the entire t
surface of the cylinder will be hardened to a depth of about one thirty-
second of an inch and will be rendered so hard that it will resist the
action of the best tools made of cast steel and hardened in the usual
way.
By operating in the manner above described, good results, such as 1
above stated, have been produced, but better results can be obtained
when the emery wheel has been run at a higher velocity than that above
given.
I have mentioned an emery wheel as the instrument employed for the
purposes of the Invention, but I do not wish to limit myself to the use 1
of emery wheels, as equally good results can be obtained by the use of
cast-iron wheels with smooth faces, or other hard substances may be
employed.
For hardening flat surfaces, the piece of steel to be so hardened should
be mounted in a carriage so that it can be moved forward, in order to 2
present in succession every part of the surface to contact with the
periphery of the wheel, but the same result can be produced by mounting
the wheel in a carriage having the required traversing motions. Or if
the surface to be hardened be of greater width than the face of the
wheel, the block of steel may be mounted on a carriage having one 2
motion and the wheel also mounted in a carriage having a motion at
right angles to the motion of the block carriage.
If the surface to be hardened be of any form other than a cylinder
or a flat surface, the form of the periphery of the wheel or the motions
to be given other than the rotary hardening motion must be such as 3
to present in succession every part of the surface to the action of the
wheel.
It would be useless to enumerate the various articles which can be
advantageously hardened by this improved process, as such enumeration
would occupy too much space, but it will be obvious that the process 3
can be applied to the hardening of the surface of any article made in

page_text: W. E. NEWTON. (L.S.)