AN IMPROVE- MENT IN CAST-IRON ROLLERS FOR SUGAR MILLS, BY MORE PERMANENTLY FIXING THEM TO THEIR GUDGEONS
Year: 1821

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
COLLINGE, of Lambeth, in the County of Surrey, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS His most Excellent Majesty King George the Fourth, by His
Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at West-
minster, the Fourteenth day of August now last past, did, for Himself, His
heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said John Collinge, His
especial licence, that I, the said John Collinge, my executors, administrators,
and assigns, or such others as I, the said John Collinge, my executors, ad-
ministrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from
time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years therein ex-
pressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within
England, Wales, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "AN IMPROVE-
MENT IN CAST-IRON ROLLERS FOR SUGAR MILLS, BY MORE PERMANENTLY FIXING
THEM TO THEIR GUDGEONS;" in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso
obliging me, the said John Collinge, by an instrument in writing under my
hand and seal, particularly to describe and ascertain the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, and to cause the
same to be inrolled in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within four
calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully
and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
John Collinge, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and

page_text: the manner in which the same is to be performed, is described and ascer
tained as follows, that is to say:-
Having experienced much difficulty in fixing cast-iron rollers or cases for
sugar mills to their axes or gudgeons, and having frequently found, after every
precaution has been used, that the iron wedges used for that purpose get
loose, by which circumstance the mills so constructed are rendered useless;
and having also found, when these accidents occur in the West Indies (where
sugar mills are most commonly-used), that in attempting to replace the wedges
by great force the rollers or cases are sometimes broke, I have been induced
to remedy so great an evil, by the application of my Invention, by the use of
which, cast-iron rollers or cases for sugar mills may be more permanently
fixed to their axes or gudgeons than by any method ever before known or
made use of. The well-known fact that all cast iron contracts in cooling
from the melted state, induced me to adopt the method of casting the rollers
or cases upon wrought-iron axes, properly prepared; and instead of leaving
any space between the axis, and those parts of the rollers or cases where
wedges are usually applied, I permit the fluid cast iron to come in contact
with the wrought-iron spindle or axis, as near the gudgeons or turned bearings
as may be found necessary, by which means the whole thickness of the bosses
or ends of the rollers or cases will come in contact with the wrought-iron
axis, and as the fluid iron cools it contracts, and the natural consequence is,
that such a degree of permanent tightness and fitting is obtained as can
never be obtained by wedges, however accurately they may have been
adjusted and driven to their places, for it is very well known, that when iron
wedges are used, in the course of a little time they get compressed in parts,
and consequently become loose from their bearings; and when they are driven
or forced into their recesses again, the position of the roller or case is altered
upon its axis, which very frequently renders it excentric to the gudgeons or
turned bearings, producing thereby the most distressing imperfection in the
action of the mill to which they are fixed. But by casting the rollers or
cases upon the wrought-iron spindle or axis, no such imperfection will be
found, the rollers or cases being as firmly and permanently fixed as if they had
grown together. It will immediately occur to every reflecting mind that
nearly the whole expence of wedging will be saved, and all the evils and acci-
dents of that method will be avoided. To attempt giving directions to any
competent founder or workman how the same should be carried into execution,
would perhaps be superfluous, because every person the least conversant in the
art of the iron foundry or casting of metals will be perfectly aware of the best
method of putting my Invention into practice. I shall therefore only observe

page_text: that the gudgeons at each end of the axis, being properly and truly turned
in a lathe, care must be taken to place it exactly perpendicular in the mould,
that the case or roller, when cast, may be as true to its centres as possible.
The casting, when complete, should not be disturbed until it is quite cold,
after which the gudgeons are again placed in the lathe, and the cylindrical
surface of the roller or case is turned in the usual way until it is perfectly
true with its bearings. The mould is made of loam, and the casting in sand,
according to the established methods of all iron foundries.
These few simple directions have been given merely to shew that there are
no other means used than will be found to have been applied in all similar
circumstances where casting of the kind herein described are to be effected.
And in order to identify my Invention, I hereby further declare, that it consists
entirely in casting the rollers or cases of sugar mills upon wrought-iron axes
or gudgeons, by which means they will be more permanently fixed than
can be effected by any method hitherto known or made use of for this
purpose.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Collinge, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Thirteenth day of December, in the year of our
Land One the
JN° COLLINGE. (L.S.)
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the same Thirteenth day of De-
cember, in the year above mentioned, the aforesaid John Collinge came
before our Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specifi-
cation aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained, in form above
written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the
tenor of the Statute in that case made and provided.
Inrolled the same Thirteenth day of December, in the year above written.