STRAIGHTENING RAILS FOR RAILWAYS AND OTHER BARS OF IRON AND STEEL
Year: 1884

page_text: I ROBERT MARSDEN of Southgate House Eckington in the County of Derby
and of the Tinsley Park Works Attercliffe Sheffield in the County of York Steel
Manufacturer do hereby declare the nature of my Invention for STRAIGHTENING
RAILS FOR RAILWAYS AND OTHER BARS OF IRON AND STEEL, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in
and by the following statement :—
The object of the present Invention is the more expeditious and economical
method of straightening rails and other bars of iron and steel.
In carrying out my Invention I adopt the well known method of bending or
straightening by means of rolls placed in certain relations to each other. And my
Invention is a simplification of the method by which these rolls are attached
so as to move in unison and so that each exerts its proper tractive and compressive
force upon the work to be done.
In arranging the machine for this purpose I first ascertain the extreme limits of
size with which I shall have to deal and when this is known I then determine the
number of different bars that it may be adviseable to manipulate in one set of rolls
so as to determine their length. I then find by calculation what diameter of roll
will give me the strength required to exert the necessary pressure to overcome the
resistance of the rail or bar and to prevent breakage of the roll. I then ascertain
and fix the diameter and length of neck to give the greatest amount of strength
and for wear and tear.
Having obtained these dimensions I draw five rolls A A A A A in such positions
that three of the said rolls are placed upon a level as shewn at Figure 1 and form
the bottom rolls and the two others form the top rolls but at such a distance above
the bottom as is required by the thinnest portion of the article to be straightened
as the web of a rail. I then gear these together in the following manner-By
preference I drive the machine through the middle roll at the bottom B though
this is not absolutely necessary-On the end of each roll I place a cog wheel of the
requisite diameter B. B'. B. B³. B. and then place them in such position that the
middle cog wheel B at the bottom gears into each of the cog wheels B. and B*. on
the top rolls but they B³ and B' do not gear into each other. The top rolls or cog
wheels B. B. are likewise made to gear into the two outside bottom wheels B¹
and B but B¹ and B* do not gear into the centre bottom wheel B This will be

page_text: ·
seen at once from the Drawings. By these means I get the rolls all to move in
the required direction and to take their proper share of the work to be done.
The frame C which contains the rolls is so arranged that each roll can be
adjusted to the greatest nicety by the screws D so as to give the necessary
resistance.
Having got the dimensions of all the different parts I sink into each roll by
turning a counterpart E of such portions of the article to be straightened as may
be necessary so as to prevent any alteration or readjustment of the rolls in the
frame or houseings C during the course of the work. If the article requires
straightening in two directions this will be done by passing it through the rolls
twice and the machine may be made with an ordinary reversing motion so that
the article will not require to be drawn back except by the machine in the second
part of the operation.
The annexed Drawings will make all the parts to be easily understood and their
manner of working will be perfectly clear.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
Invention and in what manner the same is to be performed 1 declare that what
I claim is the arrangement and the gearing together of rolls for the above or
other purposes as herein described and shewn in the Drawings annexed hereto but
I do not confine myself to five rolls merely as it is evident that two or more rolls
may be added and perhaps in some cases may be necessary and may be geared in
the same way without affecting the principle of my Invention.