IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR ROLLING WIRE RODS HOOPS AND THE LIKE
Year: 1884

page_text: I, WILLIAM DICKSON HOUGHTON of Sankey Wire Mills, Warrington in the
County of Lancaster Do hereby declare the nature of said Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MILLS FOR ROLLING WIRE RODS HOOPS AND THE LIKE" to be
as follows:-
The object of my Invention is to construct a mill which will combine the
principle and advantages of the continuous mill for two or more passes and of the
reverse mill after giving the metal rolled a sufficient amount of freedom without
removing it from the front of the one pair of roll housings.
"
I also turn or groove the rolls so as to reduce the metal on its "flat and square'
in order to dispense with twist guides, vertical rolls and oval and diamond grooves
as at present used whereby I obtain a larger output of work with less liability to
breakage and less complication than has hitherto been possible.
By combining the principle of the continuous mill with that of the reverse mill,
freedom to the metal at the end of each of the two or more sets of rolls is obtained,
it being a well known fact that the slightest accident at either the fore or back
end of the simple continuous mill causes great damage to the mill, and it will be
easily understood how inconvenient it is to take the metal from the rolls of one
pair of housings to the rolls of another pair of housings and back again to the same
rolls as is done in other mills.
In arranging a mill according to my Invention I have four pairs of rolls (or more
if required) all in one set of housings.
The first two pairs are placed one pair above the other, and the other two pairs
are placed in like manner immediately behind and directly opposite to them (and
other two pairs beyond these if desired) all being driven by special gearing to
cause the upper set of rolls to deliver the metal the reverse way to the rolls below.
The metal having entered the groove of the first or lower pair of rolls it directs
itself into the second pair (and the further pairs of rolls if more be used) after
which it is sent on its return journey by being placed in the upper train of rolls to
receive the same number of draughts or reductions as before.
It is then placed again in the grooves of the first pair of rolls and so on till the
required dimensions of billet or rod are obtained. The rolls are turned or grooved
to take the metal on what is technically termed its flat and edge" so that there
is no necessity for either oval or diamond holes, twist guides or vertical rolls.
Dated this 24th day of Januam 1001
"

page_text: "
I WILLIAM DICKSON HOUGHTON of Sankey Wire Mills Warrington, in- the
County of Lancaster do hereby declare the nature of said invention for IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MILLS FOR ROLLING WIRE RODS, HOOPS AND THE LIKE and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement:-
The ordinary wire rod mills consist of single horizontal trains of rolls most of.
which are placed 3 high that. is to say three one above the other for the purpose
of obtaining a reverse motion of the rolls The bar to be rolled is put in by hand
quickly from both before and behind the train and as the rod in course of reduction
becomes lengthened it is frequently passing through six rolls or more at a time.
In these Mills complications are avoided and the working is simple and stoppages
seldom occur but the said Mills are slow in output and occupy much lateral space.
The universal mode of reducing the rods being by means of square diamond and
oval grooves in the rolls successively acting upon the rods requires the workman to
be careful in putting the end of the rod into the rolls and he has to turn or twist
the rod in every pass and adapt it to the changed form of next groove to avoid the
edges getting where the flat portions ought to be.
In rolling wire rods by a continuous Mill with the rolls placed either in a
horizontal line or superposed one over the other, the use of square diamond or oval
grooves requires twisted guides, or the rolls must be placed horizontally and
vertically alternately In either case complication and difficulty in working are
caused The difficulty in working is also greatly increased by the draught or take
up of the wire from one roll to the other having to be obtained within a definite
and limited space all the guides having to be accurately calculated both as to twist
and length, for the slightest variation in these respects causes stretching or breaking
and injury to the metal rolled. In a continuous Mill of more than two sets of rolls
the speed of the first and second rolls is necessarily limited to the length the
remaining rolls are capable of taking up as the wire is delivered. In a continuous
Mill of say fourteen or sixteen pairs of rolls the rod must pass very slowly through
the three or four first rolls and must gradually increase to the end, if the rod is to
be delivered hot which is very essential in good rolling so that the output of a
continuous Mill has never been much above if any that of an ordinary "Three high
Mill"
run at high speed from beginning to end.
The object of my Invention is to construct a Mill which will combine the
principal advantages of both the continuous Mill and the reverse Mill...
I turn or groove the rolls so as to reduce the metal on its "flat and square" in.
order to dispense with any necessity for twist guides vertical rolls and oval and
diamond grooves as at present used whereby I obtain a larger output of work with
less liability to breakage and less complication than has hitherto been possible.
By combining the principle of the Continuous Mill, with that of the reverse
Mill freedom to the metal at the end of each of the two or more sets of rolls is.
obtained, it being a well known fact that the slightest accident at either the fore
or back end of the ordinary continuous Mill causes great damage to the Mill, and
it will be easily understood how inconvenient it is to take the metal from the rolls
of one pair of housings to the rolls of another pair of housings and back again to
the same rolls as is done in other Mills.
In arranging a Mill according to my Invention I have four pairs of rolls all
arranged in one set of housings as shewn in the accompanying drawing of which
Figure 1 is a front elevation and Figure 2 an end elevation of a Mill wherein the

page_text: rolls are arranged according to my Invention. The first two pairs of rolls A A²
are placed one pair above the other and the other two pairs B B2 are placed in like
manner immediately behind and directly opposite to or in line with the rolls A. A³
all being contained in one set of housings C and being driven by special gearing
(as shewn in Figure 1) to cause the upper sets of rolls A² B² to deliver the metal
the reverse way to that at which the rolls A B below deliver it.
The metal having entered the groove of the first or lower pair of rolls A it
directs itself or is directed by a straight guide as at D into the groove of the
second pair B after which it is sent on its return journey by being placed in the
grooves of the upper set of rolls B' from which it directs itself or is directed by the
straight guide D2 into the grooves of the rolls A².
It is then placed in and passed through the smaller set of grooves of the pairs
of rolls and so on till the required dimensions of bellet or rod are obtained. As
before explained the grooves of the rolls are turned or grooved to take the metal
on what is technically termed its "flat and edge" so that there is no necessity for
either oval, or diamond holes, twist guides, or vertical rolls. There may be more
than two sets of rolls arranged vertically if desired. The grooves, of the rolls which
are opposite to each other or in the same horizontal plane are of the same figure so
that the rod has not to be turned between these opposite rolls. If hoops or flat
strips are to be rolled, the grooves may all be of the same figure, and the strips be
rolled without turning them at all. The final rolls will of course be grooved in
accordance with the shape to be given to the finished wire Of course I do not
limit myself to passing the rod through the lower rolls first, as it may be passed
through the upper rolls first if desired the grooves being suitably arranged for this
way of working.
The reason I prefer not to use more than two sets of rolls arranged horizontally
is to avoid the complication necessarily attached to the arranging for the exact
amount of delivery of one roll to another and to enable me to run the rolls at a
much quicker speed than can be possibly done if more than two sets are used.
The further advantage of two sets of rolls only in succession is that when the
rod has attained sufficient length to be turned into the next rolls by hand it
obviates any guide connection and in this way may be running through the whole
of the rolls at the same time as in a continuous mill with the advantage of uniform
quick speed throughout The superposing them by using four sets or two sets of
rolls placed in the same line above each other is simply to economize space which
is an advantage over the ordinary plan of wire rod mill.
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
A mill for rolling wire rods hoops or strips or the like, consisting of pairs of rolls
arranged and grooved for reducing the metal in the inanner herein before described
and illustrated by the accompanying drawings that is to say: a Mill wherein the
rolls are arranged in sets of four high or more one set being situated to the rear of
the other set and the grooves being made to reduce by "Hat and square" for the
purpose described.
DL 101
Ontahan 1001