Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus Employed for Heating Steel Wire by Electricity and Chilling the same.
Year: 1894

page_text: Date of Application, 30th May, 1894
Complete Specification Left, 26th Mar., 1895-Accepted, 4th May, 1895
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus Employed for Heating
Steel Wire by Electricity and Chilling the same.
I, JOHN PLATT, Commercial Traveller of George Hotel, Cleckheaton
Yorkshire do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
My invention relates to the method of and apparatus employed for heating
steel wire by electric currents. To achieve this I use two troughs containing
mercury and connected with the terminals of a dynamo or other source of electric
supply. The wire to be heated travels through the troughs into the liquid metal
which they contain. The said troughs being placed some distance apart, the wire
is heated in the space between them by the resistance it offers to the passage of the
current. The wire may be heated in an unbroken or continuous length if the
current is constant or at intervals if the current is intermittent. The mercury
in the troughs acts as a liquid electric pole and secures a good contact to the wire,
which as it travels forward to be wound on a reel or fed into a machine, runs
through the mercury of the second trough and is chilled and therefore hardened.
A convenient way of immersing the wire into the mercury is by cutting narrow
grooves or saw-gates in the ends of the troughs; thus allowing the wire to run
through them in a straight line into the mercury which is made to rise above the
level of the wire.
Dated this 201 1
1001
Improvements in the Method of and Apparatus Employed for Heating
Steel Wire by Electricity and Chilling the same.
I, JOHN PLATT, of George Hotel, Cleckheaton, in the County of York,
Commercial Traveller, 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 :-
This invention relates to improvements in the method of and apparatus employed
for beating, hardening, or hardening and tempering wire by means of electric
currents, the process being simple and effective, and the apparatus occupies little
space and attention.
Such being the nature and object of the said invention, the following is a
complete description of same, reference being made to the accompanying drawings
which shew suitable apparatus for purpose aforesaid.
According to this invention, I use two troughs 1. 2 (see Fig. 1) containing
mercury, and connected by wires 3-4 with the positive and negative terminals of
a dynamo or other source of electric supply. The wire 5 to be heated travels
through the troughs 1. 2 and the liquid metal which they contain. The said
troughs 1. 2 being placed some distance apart, the wire 5 is heated at 5* i.e. in the
space between the troughs 1.121 by the resistance it offers to the passage of
Pol

page_text: the current. The wire may be heated in an unbroken or continuous length if the
current is constant, or at intervals if the current is intermittent, the mercury
in the troughs 1-2 acts as a liquid electric pole and secures a good contact
with the wire, which as it travels forward to be wound on a recl or fed into a
machine, runs through the mercury of the second trough 2, and is chilled by
the mercury in such trough, and therefore hardened. The mercury in the trough 2
acts as a "contact" and also as a chilling agent, and in order to keep the mercury.
cool, the trough may be water jacketed.
By the use of a third trough 6 containing mercury and placed at a greater
distance from the trough 2 than the latter is from trough 1, the wire is, between
the troughs 2 and 6, slightly heated, and therefore tempered.
A convenient way of immersing the wire into the mercury in the several troughs
by cutting narrow grooves or saw-gates in the ends of the troughs, down which
the wire is passed, and runs through them and the mercury therein in a straight
line.
The mercury, as is well known, rises from the sides of a cast iron vessel, of
which metal I prefer to make the troughs; that is the surface of the mercury is
slightly convex, so that a wire passed through the bottom of the saw-gate, and in
a straight line, will pass through the mercury without the latter escaping from the
trough.
In Fig. 2 is shewn the trough 2 provided with a water jacket 7. The trough 2
is in the form of a tube with one end closed by a plug 8, in which is a small hole for
the passage of the wire 5. The outlet end of the trough 2 is slightly curved to
above the level of the mercury and a saw-gate cut, for the passage of the wire 5.
The curved end also facilitates the filling of the trough 2 with mercury. The
troughs are all mounted on insulated tables.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :-
The use and employment of troughs containing mercury and connected to the
opposite poles of a source of electric supply for the purpose herein described, and
substantially as illustrated by the annexed drawings.
Dated this 25th day of March 1895
Dated this 25th day of March 1895
JOHN PLATT,
By his Agents, Brierley & Howard,
Penny Bank Chambers, Halifax.