IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE DRAWING, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Morgan-Brown, of the Firm of Brandon and
Morgan-Brown, Engineers and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings,
London, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WIRE DRAWING, AND IN
THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE." A communication from
abroad by Alfred Amand Théodule Glaçon, of 49, Chaussée d'Antin, Paris.
Sealed the 15th December 1876, and dated the 26th June 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Morgan-Brown at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th June 1876.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WIRE DRAWING, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE."
This Invention of improvements in wire drawing and in the apparatus employed
for that purpose consists, in the first place, in placing immediately after the usual
drawing plate a pulley or a roller running in a trough containing water or water
charged with acid suitable to the metal being drawn, and in causing the wire drawn
through this first plate to pass on the periphery of the said pulley or roller, thus
causing it to be wetted by the liquid contained in the trough; and in the second
place in placing after the said pulley or roller a second drawing plate of a smaller
size, through which the wire is drawn without being submitted to any intermediate
annealing process, as is usually done to the wire between the passes through the
draw plates.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by the
said William Morgan-Brown in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 15th
December 1876.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN, of the Firm of Brandon and Morgan-Brown, Engineers
and Patent Agents, of 38, Southampton Buildings, London. "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WIRE DRAWING, AND IN THE APPARATUS EMPLOYED FOR THAT PURPOSE." A com-
munication from abroad by Alfred Amand Théodule Glaçon, of 49, Chaussée
d'Antin, Paris.

page_text: In the actual state of the trade one special operation is requisite to reduce a wire
of any number or diameter to the number or diameter iminediately following it.
The mechanism employed for this purpose consists generally in a reel on which the
wire is coiled in a draw plate to produce the reduction, and in a bobbin on which
the reduced wire is wound. Then the wire having been annealed or rendered more
ductile it is replaced on the reel and reduced to a smaller diameter by being drawn
through a smaller hole in the plate by the bobbin on which it is wound, and these
operations are repeated successively until the wire is reduced to the desired number
or diameter.
Sometimes where the nature and the size of the metal admit of it the wire can
be reduced two numbers at one single pass, and the annealing process may be
dispensed with, but this only occurs in very exceptional cases.
To clean the metal and facilitate its drawing the above mentioned reel on which
the wire is wound preparatory to passing through the plate is placed in a tub of
water more or less acidulated, as may be required.
The bobbin is rotated either by hand or any appropriate motive power; where
steam is made use of several bobbins are generally placed on one bench and rotated
by one common driving shaft. Their number varies according to circumstances, the
available space, and particularly the gauge of the wire; there is necessarily a draw
plate and a reel for each bobbin.
The improvements consist in adding to such ordinary wire drawing machines
between the reel and the draw plate a bobbin or pulley turning on an horizontal
axis in a trough containing water acidulated to the same extent as the water in the
reel tub, and then in adapting a second draw plate of a lower number than the first
one between the said pulley and the drawing bobbin. The wire after having been
drawn through the first of these plates is passed once round the pulley and cooled,
cleaned, and malleabelised by its passage through the water contained in the
trough, it is then drawn through the second and smaller draw plate and wound on
the drawing bobbin, having thus been reduced by two numbers instead of by one,.
according to the actual practice during the same period of time, without necessitating
any material additional power.
When operating on very ductile metals each drawing may as in actual operations
reduce the wire by two numbers, which by the present improvements would be
equivalent to four numbers since it is made to pass through two plates under the
same conditions. It is therefore evident that under all circumstances double the
work can be obtained by means of these improvements compared to results actually
realised in the trade. Admitting that they give rise to no economy of motive
power, which is not the case, a most important economy in the first cost of the
imachinery is obtained, since my pulley running in acidulated water replaces a
bobbin much more expensive than the said pulley and its concomitant parts.
Labour is economised by fifty per cent., since one man can superintent and easily
direct the same number of my bobbins which do double the work of ordinary
bobbins. There is also an advantage in the space occupied, because my improved
mechanism requires thirty per cent. less room. Independly of these advantages
the wires manufactured by this new process are more supple and less brittle than
those manufactured by the ordinary process.
In order that these improvements be clearly understood I have added to this
Specification a Drawing representing a longitudinal elevation of the mechanism, in
which A is the reel of the ordinary wire drawer, and round which the wire to be
drawn is placed; B, the tub containing the reel and the liquid, which may be
acidulated or not; C is the draw plate, corresponding to the single one actually in
use; D, the bobbin on which the wire drawn through the plate c is directly wound
according to actual practice; E, shaft transmitting rotary motion to the bobbin
by means of the bevil gearing F; G, shaft on which bobbin is mounted
H, pulley turning on a horizontal shaft I, driven in the direction of the arrow by
means of appropriate gearing, such as pulleys and a strap, from the shaft E; J is the
trough containing a liquid similar to that contained in the tub B; K, the second
;

page_text: draw plate which is one or two numbers lower than the first, according to the
nature of the metal.
When the machine is in operation the wire is unwound from the reel, drawn
through the plate C, passed round the pulley H, acted on by the prepared liquid in
the trough J, then passed through the second draw plate K, and finally wound up
on the bobbin D, after having been reduced in diameter by two, three, or four
numbers, that is to say, double what can be effected with the actual mechanism.
The pulley I may be placed horizontally on a vertical shaft, and it may be
grooved either perpendicularly or in a diagonal direction. In many cases it would
also be sufficient for the thread to pass over a part of its circumference instead of
encircling it. The trough J may according to circumstances be smaller than shown
in the Drawing, of a different form, and be made in any kind of metal. The
machine itself can be made of any size as may be required.
Having thus explanied my improvements, as well as the best means that I am
acquainted with for carrying the same into practical operation, I claim as the
Invention,
Firstly. Adding to an ordinary wire drawing machine between the draw plato
and the drawing bobbin a pulley, either vertical or horizontal, arranged in a trough
containing water which may be acidulated or not; passing the wire coming from
the first drawing plate once round the said pulley, to which rotary motion is
imparted for the purpose of drawing the wire through this first plate and bathing
it in the liquid.
Secondly. The use of a second draw plate placed between the said pulley and
the ordinary drawing bobbin.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Morgan-Brown, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
WILLIAM MORGAN-BROWN. (L.S.)