Year: 1886

page_text: Date of Application, 25th May, 1886.
Complete Left, 25th Feb., 1887.
Complete Accepted, 25th Mar., 1887.
We, JOHN FORD, of No. 2, Netherton Hill, near Dudley, Worcestershire, and
EDWARD FORD, of 34, Park Lane West, Tipton, Staffordshire, Chain Makers, do
hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our Invention has reference to improvements in the manufacture of chains and
chain-cables and it consists in the employment therefor of iron or steel rods or bars of
a peculiar cross-section as hereinafter described.
In bending a bar of iron to form a link for a chain or chain-cable it is desirable
that such bar should be bent as nearly as possible at right angles to the planes of
its lamination so that the lamine of which the bar is formed will lie one over the other
round the bend and thus have no tendency to separate from each other as they have
when bent parallel to the planes of lamination. When making chains and cables from
round rods and bars it is generally impossible to tell in what direction the lamina
run hence the links are made with the lamine running in different directions indes-
criminately thus causing some links to be weaker than others.
According to our Invention we use rods or bars which are D-shaped in cross-
section and are piled and rolled so that their planes of lamination are parallel to the
flat side of the D. In forming such rods or bars into chains or chain-cables the
rounded part of the D forms the inside of the link and the flat side the outside
thereof. The flat side thus forms a guide to the workman and ensures his bending the
link with the lamina running round one over the other.
Chains and chain-cables made of D-shaped rods or bars according to our Invention
have a firmer hold on the toothed wheel or cable-holder with which they are used as
the links being flat on the outside have no tendency to ride over the stops as is the
case with chains and chain-cables made of round rods or bars.
The D-shape cross-section which we prefer to use consists of a square with two
adjacent corners rounded off to a radius equal to half one side of such square but these
proportions may be varied as desired.
a
CHARLES BOSWORTH KETLEY,
128, Colmore Row, Birmingham,
Agent for the Applicants.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Chains and Chain-cables.
We, JOHN FORD, of No. 2, Netherton Hill, near Dudley, Worcestershire, and
EDWARD FORD, of 34, Park Lane West, Tipton, Staffordshire, Chain Makers,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement:-
Our Invention has reference to improvements in the manufacture of chains and
chain-cables and it consists in the employment therefor of iron or steel rods or bars of
a peculiar cross-section as hereinafter described.
In bending a bar of iron to form a link for a chain or chain-cable it is desirable that
such bar should be bent as nearly as possible at right angles to the planes of its
.lamination so that the lamina of which the bar is formed will lie one over the other
round the bend and thus have no tendency to separate from each other as they have
when bent parallel to the planes of lamination. When making chains and cables from
round rods and bars it is generally impossible to tell in what direction the laminae run
hence the links are made with the laminae running in different directions indes-
criminately thus causing some links to be weaker than others.
According to our Invention we use rods or bars which are D-shaped in cross-
section and are piled and rolled so that their planes of lamination are parallel to the
flat side of the b. In forming such rods or bars into chains or chain-cables the
rounded part of the D forms the inside of the link and the flat side the outside
thereof. The flat side thus forms a guide to the workman and ensures his bending the
link with the lamina running round one over the other.
Chains and chain-cables made of D-shaped rods or bars according to our Invention
have a firmer hold on the toothed wheel or cable-holder with which they are used as
the links being flat on the outside have no tendency to ride over the stops as is the case
with chains and chain-cables made of round rods or bars.
The D-shape cross-section we prefer to use consists of a square with two adjacent.
corners rounded off to a radius equal to half one side of such square but these propor-
tions may be varied as desired.
On the accompanying drawing Fig. 1 represents the improved D-section of bar
which we use in making chains and chain-cables according to our Invention; Fig. 2
illustrates an ordinary rectangular pile or bar having its laminations parallel to one
side and which are kept comparatively parallel to that side when formed into
the D-shaped bar, Figs. 1 and 3; Fig. 4 represents two links of a chain formed of
the bar represented by Figs. 1, 2 and 3, one of the links being shewn in cross-section
by Fig. 5. Fig. 6 represents two links of a stud cable formed of the bar represented
by Figs. 1, 2 and 3.
In rolling the D-section bar represented by Fig. 1 care is taken that the iron or
steel is piled so that the lamine are parallel with that side which is to form the flat
side a of the finished bar. When the said bar' is bent and formed into a link and

page_text: welded in the ordinary manner the rounded part 6 forms the inside of the link and the
flat side a forming the extreme outside thereof serves as a guide to the workman and
ensures his bending the bar so that the lamina run round the link one over the other
as represented for instance by the dotted lines in Figs. 4 and 5. The D-section bar
represented by Fig. 1 and "which is the section we prefer consists of a square,
represented by dotted lines, having the two adjacent corners c¹ rounded off to a radius
equal to half one side of the square and the other two corners also preferably
rounded off to a small radius in order that the links will work freely; we find that a
chain made of bars of this section will stand a greater tensile strain than will a chain
made of round bars of the same area so that weight for weight our improved chain
is stronger than chains made of round bars, this is partly caused by the D-section
ensuring the links being of uniform strength throughout the chain or cable; and it
is more durable as the peculiar section of the bar causes the links to gather up or
swell at the ends where they are bent thus making them stronger where the wear is
the greatest. We have also found that iron cables made of the improved D-section
bars are not corroded so quickly by sea water as are those made of a round section
because in the former the laminie are not strained apart in bending the link but are if
anything pressed more closely together.
It will be evident that our Invention is similarly applicable to chains or chain-cables
which are made of other metals than iron and steel or of alloys or bars formed of a
combination of iron and steel or of other metals.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we claim is :
The improvements in the manufacture of chains and chain-cables hereinbefore
described and illustrated by the accompanying drawing which consist in the employ-
ment therefor of rods or bars of the section as described and represented.
Dotad this 93rd day of February 1887