IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WEAVERS' MAILS, AND IN THE METHODS OR PROCESSES OF AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE," AND WHICH PROCESSES AND APPARATUS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF OTHER ARTICLES OF STEEL AND IRON
Year: 1881

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Carter Ramsden at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th January 1881.
JOHN CARTER RAMSDEN, of Gristhorpe Hall, near Filey, in the County of York,
Gentleman. "IMPROVED MANUFACTURE OF WEAVERS' MAILS, AND IN THE
METHODS OR PROCESSES OF AND APPARATUS EMPLOYED IN SUCH MANUFACTURE,"
AND WHICH PROCESSES AND APPARATUS ARE APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE
OF OTHER ARTICLES OF STEEL AND IRON."
This Invention relates, firstly, to an improved manufacture of weaver's mails;
the processes and apparatus herein referred to will, however, be found multitudenous
in their useful application to articles of every description when manufactured of
steel or iron, either for hardening, tempering, converting, annealing, or preserving
from rust.
Weavers' mails are usually stamped out of sheet iron or brass or copper, but:
mostly iron; generally speaking when brass or copper mails are made, it is with
the view to obviate the objections which apply to iron if used in conjunction with
damp fibre or in a damp place or coming into contact with acids, but as a matter
of fact, iron mails will in process of use stand much more wear and tear than either
brass or copper, yet these articles by the constant lifting of the warp in weaving
are apt to nick, i.e., the constant friction inside the eye of the mails (caused by the
motion of the warp threads) very soon causes a nick to be worn therein to the-
great detriment of the weaver, and to the making of good and perfect fabric, by
reason of the frequent breakages of the warp threads. Now according to this.
Invention I manufacture weavers mails so as to withstand many times the amount
of wear and tear of the mails as now made and in general use, and, further, mails
after having passed through my improved process be in a very great measure
preserved from rust. The modus operandi is somewhat as follows:-In the first
place I stamp the mails out of sheet steel instead of iron; they are then finished off
in the usual manner and passed through a furnace, oven, or kiln, hereinafter
described, such furnace, oven, or kiln, being heated in a particular manner. The
furnace is somewhat as follows:-I construct a chamber of fire brick of a convenient.
size, having a heating flue passing through it something of the shape of an inverted'
letter at the bottom of one leg is an inlet for the admission of the heat and
gases, at the bottom of the other leg is an outlet for the same, and from which the *

page_text: surplus heat and gases pass up a chimney. I build this furnace, kiln, or oven,
upon a base plate or foundation which contains two orifices, one at the bottom of
each leg of the heat flue, and under these orificios I place two cisterns containing oil
or other suitable mixture. At the top of each leg of the heat chambers I fix hoppers,
which can by suitable means (such as grooved rollers) be caused to distribute the
contents placed therein so as to pass down the legs of the heat chambers and
into the cisterns of oil placed below, and so become heated and hardened or tempered
in accordance with which leg of the heat chamber they have passed down. Of course
the front leg, up which the heat and gases pass at their first entrance, will contain
a much more intense heat than the other leg, down which they pass on their way
outwards, and it will or must be understood that the articles to be hardened will
have to pass down the front leg, and so into the cistern of oil without exposure to
the cold air. Now weavers' mails, like many other articles, vary much in size, hence
the heat through which they will pass in their downward course to the oil cistern
may be sufficiently intense after immersion to harden articles containing a certain
amount of metal, and yet not sufficient to harden similar articles of a larger size,
and containing more metal; therefore to provide that certain articles may during
their descent absorb more units of heat, I apply inside the heat chambers a series
of hinged shelves, which can be arranged or set to any angle, so that the articles
which are descending are caused to slide down from one shelf to the other, and so
on, until they arrive at the bottom and pass into the oil cistern, the heat and the
gases passing up at the same time in a simultaneous manner; the articles thus
absorb more units of heat than they possibly could by a direct drop through, and
it must be understood that to obtain the best results the nature of the heat and
gases employed must be of such a nature that they are free from all impurities,
and that their immediate contact with the articles under operation will not cause
them to scale. The heat and gases which I employ for this purpose are generated
somewhat as follows:-At the entrance to the front orificio or inlet to the heat
chamber I place small tubes in pairs at right angles to each other, vertical and
horizontal; the end of these tubes which project towards the entrance of the heat
chamber are fitted with nozzles terminating with fine points and minute orifices,
the other ends of the horizontal tubes are attached to a pipe supplied with steam,
and proper taps or stop valves to each. The lower ends of the vertical tubes are
received within a vessel containing some or one of the volatile hydro-carbons, and
immersed therein when the taps are opened; steam is discharged with considerable
force through the nozzles at the ends of the horizontal tubes, and passes over the
nozzles of the vertical tubes, which tubes become exhausted, and the volatile hydro-
carbon rises therein to fill the vacuum, and reaching the orificio at the top is
caught by the rushing volumes of steam and blown into the finest spray; the result
is that an intimate union of the two liquids is effected, a light is applied, and
combustion at once takes place, and an immense heat is generated free from all
impurities and a complete absence of smoke. It will be obvious to any practical
mind that a furnace, oven, or kiln, constructed and supplied with heat and gases
as described, will have a great sphere of utility, not only in hardening weavers'
mails, but in hardening and tempering a large variety of small articles in steel,
such as needles, steel pens, heckle and gill pens, et hoc genus homme, in fact the
mere passage of iron mails and other small articles manufactured from iron through
this furnace and process will be found to have a marked effect in preserving them
from rust, but not entirely so, as articles to be annealed, converted, or preserved
from rust in the most effectual manner require to be subject to the heat and gases
for a longer time, according to quantity of metal, than the mere passage through
the furnace (as described) would allow them; therefore for these purposes I
construct a furnace, oven, or kiln somewhat in a different manner, but embracing
the same principles and supplied with the same heat & gases, i.e., I construct a
chamber of fire brick of convenient size, with a heat flue passing through it some-
what of the shape of the letter U, thus, U. At the top end of one leg of the heat
chamber I have an inlet for the entrance of the heat, and the gases. which pass down

page_text: one leg of the heat flue and up the other to the chimney placed at the top; the heat
flues are fitted with permanent shelves, upon which through suitable inlet I can
place trays containing the articles to be operated upon. In some cases, instead of
having the whole of the heat chambers provided with shelves, I arrange that the
articles to be operated upon shall be hung on grids, so that the heat and gases can
operate upon all parts, and in some cases some of the trays can be filled with
charcoal previously steeped in carbonate of potassa and then dried, and additional
steam jets can be applied to the furnace. In some cases when the articles have
been exposed sufficiently long to the influence of the heat and gases, they can be
taken out and plunged into oil with as little exposure to the atmosphere as possible,
and in other cases the admission of the heat and gases can be stopped and the
furnace sealed up, and so remain until cold, or steam, per se, can be injected for a
time after the heat has been shut off and the furnace sealed.