IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR DIVIDING RAILS INTO LONGITUDINAL STRIPS OR SECTIONS to be as follows:
Year: 1884

page_text: We ALFRED HILL, RICHARD HILL and CYRIL MOUNTAIN BEVAN all of
Middlesbrough in the County of York Wire Manufacturers do hereby declare the
nature of our said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS
FOR DIVIDING RAILS INTO LONGITUDINAL STRIPS OR SECTIONS to be as follows:-
"
Our Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for dividing rails or rail ends
into longitudinal strips or sections suitable for the manufacture of wire or for other
analogous purposes. The rails or rail ends to be operated upon are first nicked
along the desired lines of fracture and are then if necessary broken into longi-
tudinal strips or sections by means of a breaker as bereinafter described which
acts upon the rail with great force. The operations of nicking and breaking may
be carried out in separate machines specially constructed for the purposes or the
mechanical parts requisite for each operation may be combined, and worked from
one source of motive power and form parts of one machine or apparatus. The
operation of nicking the rails may be carried out by means of rotary or other
cutters The rail to be nicked may be secured to a moveable table and be brought
up to stationary cutters, or the rail itself may be kept stationary and the cutting
tools be passed along it. Whether the rails be nicked by rotary or other cutters
several sets may be arranged in one and the same machine and so placed that a rail
may be passed between each set of cutters in succession or each set of cutters in
succession may pass over the rail each succeeding set of cutters nicking the rail
deeper The portion of the apparatus for carrying out the operation of breaking
the rails or rail ends into longitudinal strips or sections consists of a frame or
structure carrying at its upper part a shaft provided with eccentrics or cams and at
the lower part the breaking mechanism which is guided at both ends and connected
by means of bars with the shaft above. When this shaft is rotated or partially
rotated the cams or eccentrics thereon impart a short reciprocating motion of great
force to the breaker similar in action to a shearing and punching machine. Imme-
diately below the breaking apparatus an anvil or would is rigidly fixed upon which
the rail or rail end to be broken is laid so that when the breaking apparatus is put
into operation its force is exerted upon the rail so as to break it into longitudinal
strips or sections along the lines of fracture previously nicked out. The form or
construction of both the breaking apparatus and the anvil or mould will depend
DC37

page_text: upon the kind of longitudinal strips or sections into which the rail or rail end is
to be broken, for example for breaking the head and flange off a flat bottomed rail
or both heads off a double headed rail from the web by one stroke of the breaking
apparatus, two long dies or crushers are provided projecting in parallel lines from
one head or stock the distance between these parallel crushers or dies being such
that their faces correspond to the flange and head or the two heads as the case may
be of the rail when laid upon the anvil or mould. The anvil upon which the rail
is laid when operated upon by the above described form of breaker is provided
with a long flat face of uniform width and the longitudinal edges of the anvil face
are parallel to and within the lines of fracture nicked out on the web of the rail.
In order to hold the rail securely in position on the anvil face when the pressure or
blow of the breaker comes upon it; a holding down bar is provided which is
adjustable vertically in the machine frame; this adjustable bar is situated above
the anvil face in the space between the parallel dies or crushers of the breaker so
as not to interfere with their reciprocating motion. When the rail is required to
be broken into only two longitudinal strips or sections the breaking apparatus
is provided with one die or crusher which may be V shaped or of any form in
section suitable for the purpose; in this case the rail to be broken must be unsup-
ported along the web and may be supported towards the heads or head and flange
as the case may be on an anvil or mould having a hollow or concave face or
provided with a gap so that when the pressure of the brake is applied, the rail
being unsupported along the line of fracture previously nicked out on the web,
breaks into two longitudinal strips or sections. Or an anvil or mould may be
made to receive and hold the flange, head, or web of a rail, so that while part of
the rail is left unsupported or over hangs a gap provided in the mould the rail is
broken by the pressure or blow of the breaker in the manner already described;
Two rails may be placed one below the other with the over hanging parts touching
each other by which means when the strain of the breaker is received by the top
rail it is communicated to the bottom one and both are broken in two longitudinal
strips or sections by the same blow or thrust of the breaker. Although we prefer
to impart the reciprocating motion to the breaker it is obvious that the actions of
the apparatus may be reversed, that is to say, instead of causing the breaker to
move towards the rail to be broken, the anvil or mould with the rail may be moved
towards the breaker which may remain stationary.
The breaker and anvil may be in the form of a pair of rolls between which the
rail to be broken is passed, the circumferential surfaces of the rolls being provided
with hollows and projections as in the straight form to support the rail and effect
its division on the lines of fracture nicked out, as herein before described, the rail
being nipped by the rolls with sufficient pressure to be drawn through them by
their rotation.
от
J. HENRY JOHNSON,
47, Lincoln's Inn Fields, London, W.C.,
Agent for the said Alfred Hill, Richard Hill,
and Cyril Mountain Bevan.

page_text: We, ALFRED HILL, RICHARD HILL and CYRIL MOUNTAIN BEVAN all of
Middlesborough in the County of York, Wire Manufacturers do hereby declare the
nature of this invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR
DIVIDING RAILS INTO LONGITUDINAL STRIPS OR SECTIONS" and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
Our Invention relates to machinery or apparatus for dividing rails or rail ends
into longitudinal strips or sections suitable for the manufacture of wire or for other
analogous purposes. The rails or rail ends to be operated upon are first nicked
along the desired lines of fracture and are then broken into longitudinal strips or
sections by means of a breaker hereinafter described which acts upon the rail with
great force.
The operations of nicking and breaking are preferably carried out in separate
machines but the mechanical parts requisite for each operation may be combined
and worked from one source of motive power and to form parts of one machine
or apparatus. The rails or rail ends may be nicked on one or both sides along the
intended lines or line of fracture to the usual depth according as the rail is soft
and tough or brittle and hard-The process of nicking to the required depth may
be effected by any suitable well known means as for instance, the rail may be
secured to a moveable table and be brought up to stationary cutters, or the rail
itself may be kept stationary, and the cutting tools be passed along it, but we
prefer to employ rotary cutters working in combination with friction rollers in the
manner setforth in the Specification filed by Henry Britten in pursuance of Letters
Patent granted to him as of the 19th day of June 1883 and Nod 3024.
The operation of breaking the rails or rail ends along the lines of division nicked
out on them is effected by means of breakers provided with one or two long
continuous edges or dies acting in combination with a mould or anvil of corre-
sponding length and in some cases with an adjustable holding down bar to hold
the rail in position on the anvil, great force being brought to bear upon the intended
lines of division on the rails by means of a short reciprocating motion, which
brings the edges or dies of the breaker in contact with the rail or rail end.
And in order that our Invention may be fully understood we will now proceed
particularly to describe the same and for that purpose shall refer to the accom-
panying drawings whereon like letters of reference are employed to indicate the
same parts in the several figures-Figure 1 is a side elevation and figure 2 is an
end elevation of a machine constructed according to our Invention: Figure 3 is
a sectional view showing to a larger scale a flat bottomed rail fixed in position
between the breaker and the mould or anvil when required to be broken into three
longitudinal strips or sections. Figure 4 is a similar sectional view illustrating
a modification of the breaker when constructed to break double headed rails into
three longitudinal strips or sections: Figures 5 and 6 illustrate in similar sectional
views the form of breaking apparatus suitable for breaking rails into two longi-
tudinal sections or strips, when the intended line of division is taken along the

page_text: web. In figures 1 & 2 a is the breaker shewn as being that constructed to break
flat bottomed rails into three strips as illustrated by figure 3. bis the mould or
anvil upon which the rail is laid, c is an adjustable holding down bar for securing
the rail in position to undergo the operation of breaking-In order to impart
'a reciprocating motion of great force to the breaker a similar to the reciprocating
motion employed in punching and shearing machines, any suitable machinery may
be employed, for instance the breaker a may be connected to the shaft & by means
of motion bars e securely fixed to the breaker a and confined by the guides f so as
to have a reciprocating motion, connecting bars g working on pins in the usual
manner connect the motion bars e to the straps or covers d' which work on the
cams, eccentrics or their equivalents provided on the shaft d-The rotation of the
shaft d is produced by means of a spur wheel geared into a pinion j which is
keyed on to a shaft k provided with pulleys k¹ and a fly wheels so that when
one of the pulleys on the shaft k revolves at great speed a slow rotary motion of
great power is transmitted to the shaft d and is converted into a reciprocating
motion in the usual manner and operates the breaker a-It is of course obvious
that if a reciprocating motion imparted to the breaker a will fracture the rail when
secured in position on the anvil or mould as shown in figure 2, a like result will be
obtained by constructing the machine to impart the same reciprocating motion to
the mould or anvil instead and so bring the rail to the breaker fixed in position―
In order to convey the reciprocating motion from the shaft d to the breaker a only
when required or at the will of the attendant we provide chocks worked by hand
levers the chocks fitting in between the cams or eccentrics of the shaft d and the
end of the connecting rods g: The holding down bar c is made adjustable by
means of a screwed shaft c¹ working in each end of the frame and turned up or
down by means of a worm and worm wheel turned by the hand wheel c²-By
modifying the breaker as shown in figure 4, double beaded rails may be broken
into three longitudinal strips or sections, and the modifications shown in figures 5
and 6 illustrate forms of breakers and their corresponding moulds for breaking
into two longitudinal sections, flat bottomed and double headed rails respectively,
the holding down bar c being dispensed with.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is
Apparatus for breaking or dividing rails longitudinally consisting in the combi-
nation of a breaker or die or breakers or dies with an anvil or anvils the said
breakers and anvils bearing upon the rail in the direction of its length and one or
both of them being operated to break the rail all substantially as hereinbefore
described.