Year: 1886

page_text: I, ALFRED JULIUS BOULT, residing at 323, High Holborn, London, in the
County of Middlesex, England, Patent Agent, 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 :-
This invention relates to an improved method of reducing steel rail-road rails to
plate metal.
The object of the invention is to produce plates, for the manufacture of nails, and
other purposes from old steel rail-road rails.
The invention therefore consists in the method hereinafter described of rolling
said rails so as to reduce the head and flange, without lapping the same on to the
web of the rail as will more fully appear.
Referring to the drawings.—
Figure, 1, is a front view of the rolls which I use in carrying out the invention.
Figure, 2, is a sectional end view of an ordinary, T, rail after having passed once
through the grooved rollers.
Figure, 3, is also a sectional end view of the rail or blank after it has passed
through the grooved rolls a second time, and showing the same presented edge-
wise to the rolls of unequal diameter.
"
Figure, 4, is a top or plan view of the finished plate or nail blank.
A, indicates a series of three grooved rolls, through which the rail section is
caused to make a double pass for reducing the head and flange of the rail,
preparatory to being passed through the rolls, B, B¹.
B, B', are the rolls for widening and lengthening the blanks into plates said rolls
being what are known as "three high rolls," the rolls, B, B, being of larger
diameter than the intermediate roll, B.
The large rolls, B, B, act mainly as supports and in the capacity of anvils, while
the small roll serves to draw the inetal, so as to prevent the head and flange from
lapping or folding down onto the web of the rail.“

page_text: In carrying out the invention I take old steel rail-road rails and cut them into
short pieces, preferably, about three feet in length, which are heated to the proper
working point and passed endwise through the rolls, A, at, "a," figure, 1, thus
slightly reducing the Hauge and head of the rail and producing the blank, C, as
shown in figure, 2.
The blank thus formed is passed back through the rolls, A, at, "b," thus making
a double pass through these rolls, which reduces the flange and head, of the rail
still further, and brings it to the form of the blank D, shown in figure, 3, or if the
double pass fails to do so, another pass may be made, care being had, however
to avoid reducing so far as to crowd the metal over on to the web of the rail
section.
The blank, D, is now moved over to the plain rolls, B, B¹, and caused to make &
series of double passes side wise therethrough, first below the small roll, B', and
then back above it which draws and widens out the head and flange of the rail
and ultimately brings them to the thickness of the web, after which the blank is
passed endwise through the rolls, B, B1, until it is brought to the proper thickness,
all of these passes being made, and the rolling of the rail into plate metal being
accomplished at one heating of the metal.
In making the series of double passes of the blank through the rolls, B, B¹, side-
wise, the small roller tends to press the front of the blank, whether it be the flange
or head of the rail, back onto the web, the rear portion being drawn out in a
direction from the web, while the return pass brings the other side of the rail
section into contact with the small roll, which then produces the same effects on
that side of the section of the rail, that it had produced in the last preceding pass
on the other side.
After this double pass there will be found evidences of a slight crowding of the
metal over onto the web, the metal of the head having been slightly forced on to the
web on one side of the rail section, and the metal of the flange slightly forced over
onto the web on the other side of the section, but for the next succeeding double
pass, the section is turned over and its other edge presented first to the rolls, and
in the succeeding double passes, the metal that was found crowded over onto the
web, is driven back into the body of the head or flange, from which it had been
forced, and similar crowdings, but constantly diminishing in extent, will be pro-
duced, and as often obliterated, at each double pass, until after repeated double
passes, care being taken to reverse the section after each double pass, so that the
edge that last emerged from the rolls on one double pass, shall be the first to
enter the rolls on the next succeeding double pass, the projections of the rail section,
will be drawn out and rolled down to the level of the web, and thus all objectionable
folding or plication practically avoided.
The blank is caused to make any desired number of double passes sidewise
through the rolls, so as to bring it to the desired width, after which it is passed
lengthwise back and forth through the rolls any desired number of times to bring
it to the proper thickness, the small roll drawing alternately on both sides of the
plate, compacts the metal more firmly, gives it a smooth finish and changes the
character of the metal so that it can be cut with the shears or nail machine without
breaking or flying to pieces.
It is of course understood, that the rolls are set up after each pass by means of
any suitable adjusting devices, so as to regulate the distance between the rolls.
After the metal sheet or plate, E, is formed as shown in figure, 4, it is ready to
be cut into nail plates, F, from which the nails can be cut in the usual manner, as
indicated by dotted lines in figure, 4, which will produce nails having the fibre of
the metal running in the direction of their length, thus producing an article, which
will not break under the blow of the hammer.
Plates produced by this method of reducing old rail-road rails, will be found
equally useful in the manufacture of shovels, spades, hoes, shovel plows, mold boards,
and numerous other articles.

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what
I claim is
The method substantially as herein before described, of reducing rail-road rails to
plate metal, the same consisting in the presentation of an old rail to grooved rolls,
in order to reduce to a limited extent the head and the flange thereof, then
presenting said section side wise to plain surfaced rolls of unequal diameters and
giving to it a succession of passes accompanied by reversals of the section, so as to
present to the rolls first one edge and then the other, and to the small roll first
one side and then the other, until finally, after so rolling until the proper width of
plate has been attained, and then passing said plate endwise through the rolls to
reduce it to the desired thickness as set forth.