Improvements in Forging Machines.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 12th Dec., 1890-Accepted, 28th Feb., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Forging Machines.
I, GEORGE FREDERICK REDFERN, of the firm of G. F. Redfern & Co., the
General Patent Office, No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agents, do hereby declare the nature of this invention, (a communication
from abroad by Alexander Franz Paul Malin, of Mitweida, Saxony, Engineer,)
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 forging machines and has for its object
to provide a machine having arrangements for forging, shearing and cutting
together with a device for feeding in the material to be forged by means of which
both time and material are saved and the power required much diminished. In
addition great economy is effected as unskilled labour may be employed.
In order to enable the invention to be fully understood I will describe the same
by reference to the accompanying drawing in which
Figure 1 is a sectional elevation of the improved forging machine.
Figure 2 is a detail.
Figure 3 is a plan of the machine,
Figure 4 is an end view, and
Figure 5 is a detail.
For the sake of clearness only the new parts of the machine are shewn in the
drawings, the old parts being omitted.
The various articles are forged from an endless rod wound upon a drum A and is
fed forward to the actual forging mechanism through a heating furnace B.
The iron which is heated to a white heat in the forging furnace is fed forward
intermittently according to the length of rod it is desired to forge at a time. This
is effected by a double pair of rolls, one pair, of which is arranged in front of
the furnace and the other pair ', ' behind in close proximity to the point at which
the iron issues therefrom. The top roll of each pair is pressed against the lower
one by means of a weight or springs so that by the turning of the bottom roll the
iron is fed through the furnace into the forging apparatus under a pressure which
can be controlled as desired.
By means of this arrangement of the rolls all vibration or drawing out of the
iron is avoided as the front pair of rolls b, 6 conducts exactly the same length of
iron into the furnace as the pair of rolls b', b' withdraws from it.
To the axles of the bottom rolls 6', 6' ratchet wheels D D and levers d, d' are
attached, the latter of which carry balanced pawls d' and d. Both the levers d d'
are linked to each other and to a lever e by means of a rod E which is pivoted to
the frame of the machine at e, and carries a roller which presses against a disc F
on the shaft of the forging apparatus.
As the shaft sets the forging apparatus in motion and finishes the article in
something less than a revolution, whereas the feeding apparatus is first set in motion
by the disc F after the forging shaft has completed a revolution, it is plain that the
iron must remain at rest while the act of forging is taking place and is only moved
forward after it has been completed.
The forging mechanism actuated by the shaft / consists of three parts.
1. The roller-disc which forges the upper side of the article.
2. The anvil which forms or moulds the under surface of the article.
3. The mechanism for forging the sides which consists of a fixed and a loose

page_text: .
The roller disc G (Figures 1, 2 and 3) has an opening 9 provided in its circum-
ference to allow of a circular saw passing therein for cutting off the finished article.
Seven chilled rolls g', g², g³ &c. are distributed throughout the circumference or
periphery of the disc the diameter, of which rolls gradually increases from the first
to the last so that they complete the forging of the surface of the article lying on
the anvil.
The fixed anvil H is situated vertically underneath the forging shaft f. The
profile or contour of the article is cut in this anvil; and the roller disc consequently
presses the white-hot iron into the mould at the same time finishing the upper
surface. The sides of the article are finished by a special mechanism, consisting of
a fixed and a loose plate of a shape corresponding to that which it is desired to
impart to the sides of the object. The fixed plate shewn in Figure 5 is adjusted by
means of a screw and a wedge so that the rod when moved forward presses against
it with its side. The loose plate h¹ is guided in a suitable bed and is attached to a
lever I, to which the rotation of the shaft imparts a vibratory movement similar to
that of a hammer whereby the loose plate his caused to strike a number of blows
upon the rod situated between the two plates h, h¹.
The lever I which carries the loose plate is for this purpose arranged to work
in bearings in the frame of the machine and is also provided at the opposite end to
that carrying the loose plate with a roller i arranged in line with a second
roller (Figure 4) secured in the frame of the machine, the two rollers being
separated by a wedge K which is supported by a flat spring attached to the frame
and works in a guide. A second roller-disc L works upon the wedge from above
and this roller-disc is provided with rolls similar to the rolls y' of the roller-
disc G.
From this construction it will be seen that upon a revolution of the shaft taking
place the upper side of the article is forged by the forging roll G, the under side
being forced into the depression or mould in the anvil. At the same time the
rollers strike upon or come in contact with the wedge K and depress it. As, how-
ever, the wedge K is instantly raised as soon as the roller has passed over it by
means of the spring, the result is that the lever I, which is drawn back by the
spring immediately after having executed a forward movement, delivers a number
of blows upon the iron rod by means of the plate and thus, with the assistance of
the lateral depression and the fixed plate, completes the forging of the two sides of
the article. One of the rolls strikes against or upon the wedge K after each blow
delivered by one of the rolls g. Thus the iron-rod receives a lateral blow after
each blow from above, by which means it is kept true without the employment of
any special device for the purpose, and the article is finished on all sides after one
complete revolution of the shaft.
7.
As soon as the article has been finished in the manner described above it is cut off
from the rod and this operation takes place immediately before the iron-rod a is
moved forward.
The cutting off of the article is effected by a circular saw M mounted loosely in
bearings in the arm m which is rigidly connected to the spindle o of a toothed wheel O.
The saw itself is rigidly connected with the pinion n which engages with the toothed
wheel N which is in turn rigidly connected to the bearing of the spindle o.
The spindle o is driven by bevel gearing o', os and a toothed wheel o³ and as. the
arm m carries the pinion and the saw M round the fixed toothed wheel N
the saw. M also .revolves round the spindle o revolving on its own axis at the same
time, which revolution corresponds to the relative ratios of the radii of the two
wheels N, n.
At the moment when the saw (which is executing this double movement of
rotation on its own axis and movement in a circle) arrives in the plane of rotation
of the roller-disc G, the opening g in this disc has arrived in the path of the saw M.
The opening g is made of such a width that the revolving saw M has already crossed
the plane of rotation of the disc G, before the said opening g has in its turn crossed
the path of the saw M.

page_text: he saw M thus meets the iron rod a and while it continues its course through
opening in the rotating roller-disc G which continues rotating rapidly the while
off the finished article from the rod a.
'he finished article is thrown out of the machine by any suitable known device
1 for that purpose, and the feed mechanism herein before described again moves
vard the white-hot iron rod.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
ention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
aim is :-
1.) In a continuous-working forging machine having a heating furnace
1. A feeding device for feeding forward the iron-rod consisting of a pair of
rolls (b, b) in front, and a pair of rolls ('') behind the heating furnace, the
said pairs of rolls being coupled in such a way that they are caused to execute
a perfectly equable forward movement by means of the lever e which is
actuated by the shaft f, the object of the arrangement being to prevent either
a stretching or sagging of the heated iron-rod when being fed forward.
2. A forging device consisting of a roller-disc (G) which together with a fixed
anvil (H) forges the upper and under surfaces of the iron rod, and of a roller
disc (L) which sets in motion a lateral forging apparatus consisting of a fixed
plate () and a moveable plate (h) in such a way that every blow on the
surface of the iron-rod is succeeded by a lateral blow upon it for the purpose
of effecting a straightening of the article contemporaneously with the forging
operation.
3. A device for cutting off the finished article from the iron-rod consisting of a
perpetually rotating circular saw (M) which every time a forging operation
has been completed enters the plane of rotation of the forging disc (G)
crosses it and cuts off the finished article from the iron-rod, whereby the
forged article is cut off as neatly and with as little waste as possible.
2.) The combination of parts forming the improved forging machine hereinbefore
cribed and illustrated in the accompanying drawings.
Dated the 12th day of December 1890.
G. F. REDFERN & Co.,
4, South Street, Finsbury, London, Agents for the Applicant.