IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CASTING OF STEEL INGOTS FOR WHEEL TYRES
Year: 1873

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Ireland, of Macclesfield, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE CASTING OF STEEL
INGOTS FOR WHEEL TYRES."-A communication from abroad by
Richard Pink, of Hoerde, Westphalia.
Sealed the 22nd July 1873, and dated the 23rd January 1873.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Ireland at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 23rd January 1873.
I, WILLIAM IRELAND, of Macclesfield, in the County of Chestor, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
THE CASTING OF STEEL INGOTS FOR WHEEL TYRES," being a communication to
me from abroad by Richard Pink, of Hoerde, Westphalia, to be as
follows:-
The object of these improvements is to produce tyre ingots of superior
quality, perfectly clean, without rokes or splashes, and of such dimensions
and weights as are directly suitable for working up into tyres without
cutting or sawing the same from large ingots, as heretofore done. Tyres
have been and are still to a great extent cast in the form of a ring, but
this system is more or less unreliable, as it leaves without exception a

page_text: faulty and weak place in the casting at the point of inlet for the steel
and at the point of outlet for the gases. These points are often combined
in one, but in any case, as they are situated in the ring itself and form
an integral part of the tyre when finished, they constitute a point or
points of great weakness, and are often the cause of a tyre bursting.
The aforesaid weak and unreliable part of the finished tyre is avoided by
placing it in the centre of the ingot and afterwards punching it out in
forging, thereby leaving a perfectly homogeneous material for the entire
ring. For each ingot there is a cast-iron mould of any desired shape,
the circular one preferred, which is bored parallel throughout its entire
length, the bottom of the mould being fixed to the body by screws, and
having in the centro a holo containing a fire-brick with an inlet hole.
Each mould has an adjustable cast-iron lid having a central hole for the
cscape
of the gases,
the hole being conical in order that the steel which
enters should leave freely when the ingot is removed. The moulds are
placed on a plate having in it distributing channels communicating with
the moulds and a git in the centre of the plate, the git being lined with
fire-clay, loam, drain pipe, or any suitable refractory material.
The distributing channels can be lined up with fire-clay or other
refractory material, but the use of burnt fire-bricks channelled for the
purpose is preferred, the bricks when inserted in their places being
coated with a little loam on their sides, bottoms, and ends.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent
filed by the said Richard Ireland in the Great Scal Patent Office
on the 23rd July 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
IRELAND, of Macclesfield, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of January, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said William Ireland, Her special license that
I, the said William Ireland, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said William Ircland, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others from

page_text: 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 THE CASTING OF STEEL INGOTS
FOR WHEEL TYRES," a communication to me from abroad by Richard Pink,
of Hoerde, Westphalia, upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Ireland, my executors or administrators, by an instru-
ment in writing under my; or their, or one of their hands and scals,
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 Ireland, do hereby
declare the nature of my said 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 figures and
letters on the accompanying Sheet of Drawings (that is to say) :-
The object of these improvements is to produce tyre ingots of superior
quality perfectly clean without rokes or splashes, and of such dimensions
and weights as are directly suitable for working up into tyres without
cutting or sawing the same from large ingots as heretofore done. Tyres
have been and are still to a great extent cast in the form of a ring, but
this system is more or less unreliable, as it leaves without exception a
faulty and weak place in the casting at the point of inlet for the steel
and at the point of outlet for the gases. These points are often combined
in one, but in any case, as they are situated in the ring itself and form an
integral part of the tyre when finished, they constitute a point or points of
great weakness, and are often the cause of a tyre bursting. In nearly all
classes of steel now used for the manufacture of tyres a larger or smaller
quantity of gas is developed in casting, and as this must necessarily
endeavour to free itself it forces its way to the ingress git or the gas
egress apertures in the mould. The steel in cooling gets stiffer, so that
the globules of gas are at last imprisoned and are mostly to be found in,
at, or near the ingress git or gas outlet, thus destroying the homogeniety
of the material and leaving in spite of all forging and rolling an
unsound place in the tyre, and this is the place of rupture in all cases,
whether they burst on the testing machine or in actual use. By this

page_text: Invention the aforesaid weak and unreliable part of the finished tyre is
avoided by placing it in the centre of the ingot and afterwards punching
it out in forging, thereby leaving a perfectly homogeneous material for
the entire ring. For each ingot there is a cast-iron mould of any desired
shape, the circular one preferred, which mould is bored parallel through-
out its entire length, the bottom of the mould being fixed to the body
by screws, and having in the centre a hole containing a fire-brick with
an inlet holc. Each mould has an adjustable cast-iron lid having a
central hole for the escape of the gases, the hole being conical in order
that the steel which enters should leave freely when the ingot is removed.
The moulds are placed on a plate having in it distributing channels
communicating with the moulds and a git in the centre of the plate, the
git being lined with fire-clay, loam, drain pipe, or any suitable refractory

page_text: In the distributing plate, shewn in Figs. 1, 2, 7 and 8, the channels
can be lined up in any suitable manner, but it is preferable to line them
up with burnt bricks on account of the certainty and rapidity with
which the lining up can be effected.
The method of manipulating is as follows:-When the git has been
lined and dried fire-bricks arc inserted in the bottom plate, cach brick
being covered on the bottom, sides, and ends with a little loam in order
to keep it firmly in its place, and all joints after the bricks are laid in
carefully stopped with loam to prevent the steel from forcing its way
through in any direction but the direction of the distributing channels.
The middle brick f is provided with an inlet channel of three-and-a-half
inches in diameter on the top side, and with four internal channels of
two inches diameter corresponding with the internal channels of the
bricks f¹, f, f³, f, and the channels in these bricks also exactly
correspond with the internal channels of the bricks g, g', g³, and g³,
having outlet holes on the top side corresponding with the inlet holes of
the bottom plates of all the moulds of the group. The central git is
adjusted exactly over the inlet hole of the middle brick f, and over the
cgress holes in the bricks g, g', g³, and g³, are placed the hollow conical
bricks, Figs. 1 and 5, in order to protect the metallic surfaces of the
bottom plates of the several moulds from coming in direct contact with
the flowing molten metal. When the protecting bricks are in
position the inlet holes in the bottom plates of the several moulds are
placed directly over them, the holes being bored out conical to hold the
bricks firmly and exactly in their proper positions. The four lids are
now placed in the moulds and packed between the upper edges of the
moulds and the flanges of the lids to the required height, and the group
is then ready for the reception of the molten steel, which is cast or
poured in at the top of the git, and passing down the same flows through
the channel bricks and up through the protecting bricks in the moulds
smoothly and evenly until filled. When the steel has risen about onc
or two inches in the gas outlet holes of the several lids it is then stopped
off, a little sand is strewn on the top of the steel in the git and gas
outlet holes of the lids, and the operation is then complete. For the
purpose of description a group of only four moulds is shewn, but each
group may have any desired number of moulds.
Having thus described the nature and particulars of the said Invention,
'