IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, TEMPERING, AND COVERING OR COATING THIN STRIPS OR SHEETS OF STEEL
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles Sanderson, of Sheffield, in the County
of York, Merchant, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING,
TEMPERING, AND COVERING OR COATING THIN STRIPS OR SHEETS OF STEEL."
Sealed the 22nd September 1859, and dated the 24th March 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles Sanderson.at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 24th March 1859.
I, CHARLES SANDERSON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Merchant,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN
PREPARING, TEMPERING, AND COVERING OR COATING THIN STRIPS OR SHEETS OF
STEEL," to be as follows:-
In carrying out my Invention I first harden the steel, and I prefer to do
this when the steel is wound in coils, but the strips or sheets of steel may bo
arranged in any other convenient manner, I then place this hardened steel in
an oven to temper it in a very slight degree to prevent it from breaking while
being handled, I then pass one end of the strip or sheet of steel so hardened
through a pair of dies made red hot, and as the steel becomes tempered by
the heat the steel is drawn gradually through these hot dies, and thus it
becomes tempered, and at the same time made perfectly flat.

page_text: I then cut up these sheets or strips of steel into narrow strips of suitable
width if for crinoline, or in pieces of other forms or dimensions; if the steel is
to be used for doctors or other articles, the surface of the steel is to be cleansed
by the usual process, and is then to be covered or coated by any of the known
processes with copper, zinc, brass, silver, or any alloy of metal, to protect it
from oxidation.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Charles Sanderson in the Great Seal Patent Office, on the
23rd September 1859.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, CHARLES
SANDERSON, of Sheffield, in the County of York, Merchant, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-fourth day of March, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-second year
of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant
unto me, the said Charles Sanderson Her special license that I, the said
Charles Sanderson, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Charles Sanderson, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns,
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at
all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should and lawfully
might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for
"IMPROVEMENTS IN PREPARING, TEMPERING, AND COVERING OR COATING THIN
STRIPS OR SHEETS OF STEEL," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Charles Sanderson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same
to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Charles Sanderson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement (that is to say):-
In the ordinary processes of hardening and tempering strips of steel used
for the manufacture of crinoline, the cold rolled steel is cut into such widths

page_text: as may be required while it is in a soft state as it comes from the cold rolling
mill. These strips are then temporarily united with bits of wire so as to make
one continued length, and this length is wound upon a reel, from which it is
passed through a furnace and hardened between cold dies, and then tempered
over a flame of gas as fully described in Chesterman's Patent. These pro-
cesses are both tedious and expensive, and the object of my Invention is to
prepare and temper thin strips or sheets of steel in a more convenient manner,
and with greater facility than heretofore, and to this end one of my improve-
ments consists in hardening the strip or sheet of steel, when in the full or
normal size as it comes from the cold rolls, and before it is cut up into the
narrow strips which constitute crinoline steel. The sheets of steel as they come
from the rolling mill are usually from two and a half to three and a half inches
wide, and from fifty to eighty feet long, and from No. 28 to No. 82 wire
gauge in thickness. The strip or sheet is first coiled round in such a manner
that a small space is left between each coil. This operation. is most readily
effected by coiling along with the strip of steel a piece of wire of a thickness
corresponding to the, distance required between the coils of the sheet.
When the sheet of steel is coiled in this manner, the oil into which it will be
plunged to harden will be allowed to freely circulate over the whole surface of
the strip when the coil is dipped in the oil.
The steel being thus coiled and bound with wire round its circumference,
it is placed in the heated chamber of a furnace, or in a muffle until it is com-
pletely heated throughout, it is then withdrawn and plunged into the bath of
oil. Being extremely brittle it is carefully lifted out, and when the super-
fluous oil has drained from it, it is placed in an oven heated to not more than
a very low red heat, until by becoming slightly tempered it has lost its brittle-
ness. A spindle is then passed through the centre of the coil, and' the strip
of steel being unwound therefrom is gradually passed between a pair of metal
dies which are kept at a red heat, and as the steel becomes properly tempered
by the heat of these dies it is drawn forward until the whole coil has been
unwound from the spindle and has become tempered, and at the same time
made perfectly flat. Strips of steel may be hardened without being made
or wound into a coil as above described, but I consider that hardening it in
a coil is both the best and most economical mode, I then take these tem-
pered strips of steel and cut them to such widths as may be required for
crinoline or other purposes.
The strips of steel which are so cut and are intended for the subsequent
manufacture of crinoline are then cleaned, and the oxide removed from their

page_text: surface by the usual process of pickling or glazing, after which the strips of
crinoline steel are to be coated or covered by means of any of the known pro-
cesses with copper, zinc, brass, silver, or any other suitable metal or alloy, in
order to protect the steel from oxydation.
Having now described my Invention of "Improvements in Preparing,
Tempering, and Covering or Coating Thin Strips or Sheets of Steel," and
having explained the manner of carrying the same into effect, I claim as the
Invention secured to me by Letters Patent as aforesaid,―
First, the process above described for tempering the hardened strips of steel
between heated dies. .
Secondly, the covering or coating of the tempored strips cut from tem-
pered steel used for the purpose of crinoline, with copper, zinc, brass, silver,
or any other suitable metal or alloy, in order to protect the surface of the
steel from oxydation.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles Sanderson, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, the Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine.
CHARLES SANDERSON. (L.S.)
Witness,
JOHN WILLIAM BACKLEY,
31, Carver Street, Sheffield.