Improvements in Apparatus for Rolling Metal.
Year: 1899

page_text: Date of Application, 19th May, 1899-Accepted, 9th Sept., 1899
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by MICHAEL JOHN LOUGHRAN, of Pittsburg, in the
County of Allegheny, State of Pennsylvania, one of the United States of
America, Roller.]
Improvements in Apparatus for Rolling Metal.
I, WILLIAM BURGELAND JOHNSON, of 4, Clayton Square, Liverpool, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described
and ascertained in and by the following statement, reference being had to the
accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which:
Figures 1 and 2 are side elevations of the platens employed in my apparatus,
showing their positions before and after their action upon the metal. Fig. 3
is a cross-section on the line III-III of Fig. 1. Fig. 4 is a perspective view
showing one of the platens. Fig. 5 is a partial plan view corresponding to
Fig. 1. Fig. 6 is a similar view after the metal is partially rolled. Fig. 7 is
a sectional elevation of one end portion of the machine. Fig. 8 is a cross-
section on the line VIII-VIII of Fig. 7 looking towards the left; and Fig. 9
is a detail view showing one of the supporting rings and the stop detached.
My invention relates to the rolling of metal articles such as axles, flanged
nuts, coupling pins, large screw blanks, etc.; wherein the end portion is of
different cross-section from that of the body or rounds where some portion is
larger than the blanks from which the article is to be made; and its object
is to provide a new and improved apparatus by which one or both end portions
of the article are rolled into the desired shape, while the body is supported in a
rotatory holder.
To that end, it consists in a pair of platens, one or both of which is or are
movable and which may be either flat platens or in the roller and concave
form, in combination with a rotatory socket in which the metal is held while
its end portion is acted upon by the platens, together with means for rotating
the holder, as well as in providing a forming recess in the holder into which
the metal is forced by the platens. It consists further in the construction and
arrangement of the parts, as hereinafter more fully described and set forth in
the claims.
In the drawing, in which I have shown one end portion of my apparatus as
applied to the rolling of axles, 2, 2 represent a pair of housings placed parallel
to each other and forming a part of one end of the machine. Each of these
housings is provided with inner supports and guides 3 for a pair of platens 4
and 5, which are moved therethrough by screws or worms 6 engaging suitable
teeth upon the rear faces of the platen. The forming face of each platen is
inclined in opposite directions, as shown in a, a, in Fig. 4, these inclines leading
to an intermediate horizontal plane portion b. The platens are supported so
as to leave the necessary space between their forming faces, and their outer
sides are closed by the removable blocks or strips 7, 7, the inner faces of which
are bevelled and also inclined in opposite directions, as shown in Fig. 3.
A rotatory holder 8 for the article is supported at a point midway between
the housings in a bearing carried in suitable supports 9, the end of this holder

page_text: being closely adjacent to the inner edges of the platens and being enlarged to
form a head 10 containing a recess of greater diameter than the width of the
forming space between the platens. The lower bearing 11 is movable verti-
cally, being guided at its ends by suitable ribs 12, and is moved by a bell-
crank-lever 13 pivotted on a shaft 13' and actuating a shaft 17 the end of which
forms the joint of a toggle lever composed of two links 14 and 15, the upper
of which is pivotally connected to the bearing 11, while the lower is pivoted
at a fixed point 16; the joint between the two links is formed by the shaft 17
which extends to the other side of the machine, such side portion being the
same in construction as that shown. The holder is made in the form of a
split sleeve, being divided into two parts, and to it inside of the housing at
each end is secured a two-part supporting collar 18, each half having a later-
ally projecting flange 19 in the shape of an arc of a circle, as shown in Fig. 9.
The juncture of the two parts is cut away at one side, as shown at 20, to form
a recess into which a stop 21 may be moved by means of a bell-crank-lever 22
loosely connected to it. When the holder is stopped in this position, the part-
ing between the two portions of the holder will be horizontal, and the upper
flange 19 will be above a projecting lug or lip 23 upon the housing. When
the lower bearings 11 at each side of the machine are lowered so as to open
the holder, these co-operating flanges and lugs will hold the upper part of the
rotatory holder from dropping down. A similar lug or lip 24 may be placed
below the holder and will act to steady the parts and also draw down the lower
half of the holder when the bearing is lowered. The holder is positively
rotated by a split wheel 25 each half of which is secured to the corresponding
half of the holder, this wheel being engaged by a suitably driven wheel 26
shown in Fig. 8.
The cavity extending through the holder to receive the article is of square or
other angular cross section, to fit the body of the article or in case of a round
being placed in the holder the piece will rotate under the action of the platens
and after the lower bearings are dropped and the article inserted within the
holder, these bearings are lifted so as to close the holder upon the body of the
article which is thus secured therein, with its ends between the platens. The
platens being in the position shown in Fig. 1, the screw shafts are actuated
simultaneously by connecting gearing so as to move the platens in opposite
directions longitudinally to each other. At the same time the holder is rotated
by its connecting gearing, and as the metal is acted upon by the platens it is
reduced in size, and the inclined faces at the outer ends of the matrix cavities
force the surplusage of metal back into the recesses in the heads of the holder.
This action proceeds until each end of the axle-blank is formed into a round
and the collars are formed between these cylindrical end portions and the body
within the recesses in the head. When the central horizontal faces of the
platens register with each other, as shown in Fig. 2, the operation is complete,
and the platens then moving on in the same directions as before will release
the blank as the cavity gradually enlarges by the platens reaching the opposite
position to that shown in Fig. 1. The bearings for the holder then being dropped
the axle is pulled out endwise, and another blank being inserted and the bear-
ings again raised to place, the platens are driven in the opposite direction to
that employed upon the former blank, thus giving the same action upon the
blank in place. If desired, after the rolling operation, the motion of the
platens may be reversed to release the blank, though I prefer the method of
operating above described.
The advantages of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art,
since the end portion of the blank is quickly and easily reduced to the desired
shape, and the collars are formed at the same operation. The inwardly pro-
jecting portions of the platen acting upon the ends of the blank serve to gradu-
ally force the metal inwardly to form the collars.
A single pair of platens may be used where only one end of an article is to

page_text: be shaped, the shape of these platens may be varied as desired, the holder may
be allowed to rotate without positive means for causing such rotation, and instead
of both platens being movable one may be fixed and the holder and the other
platen arranged to move longitudinally thereto in any convenient manner also
the shape of the holder and means of supporting it may be changed, and other
variations in the apparatus may be made by those skilled in the art without
departing from my invention.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is:
-
1. The combination with a rotatory socket or holder having an angular cavity
arranged to receive metal of angular cross-section, of mechanism for positively
rotating the holder, a pair of platens arranged to act upon the projecting end
portion of the metal held in the socket, and mechanism for moving at least
one of the platens longitudinally past the other while operating upon the metal;
substantially as described.
2. The combination with a socket or holder having a forming recess, of a pair
of platens arranged to act upon the projecting end portion of metal held in
the socket and force the metal into the forming recess, and means for moving
at least one of the platens longitudinally past the other while operating upon
the metal substantially as described.
3. The combination with a socket or holder having a forming recess, of a pair
of platens arranged to act upon the projecting end portion of metal held in
the socket and force the metal into the forming recess, and means for moving
the platens longitudinally of each other; substantially as described.
4. The combination with a socket or holder, of a pair of platens having
inwardly projecting portions with inclined faces arranged to force the metal
toward the holder, and means for moving at least one of the platens longitudi-
nally of the other; substantially as described.
5. The combination with a split sleeve or socket having an angular cavity
arranged to hold a bar of metal of angular cross-section, said holder being
rotatably supported, of a pair of platens arranged to act upon the projecting
end portion of the metal in the holder, and means for moving at least one of
the platens longitudinally of the other; substantially as described.
6. The combination with a split sleeve having an angular cavity, and a
forming recess at the end of the cavity, of a pair of platens having inwardly
projecting portions arranged to act upon the end of the metal and force it into
the forming recess; and means for moving the platens longitudinally of each
other; substantially as described.
7. The combination with a split sleeve arranged to contain a bar of metal, of
means for clamping the parts of the sleeve together about the bar, bearings in
which the sleeve is rotatably mounted, platens arranged to act upon the pro-
jecting end portion of the metal held in the sleeve, and means for moving the
platens longitudinally of each other; substantially as described.
8. The combination with a split sleeve rotatably supported in bearings, of
means for lowering the bearings to separate the portions of the sleeve, and a
pair of platens arranged to act upon the projecting end portions of the metal
held in the sleeve; substantially as described.