IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF BEAMS OR GIRDERS, AND IN MACHINERY AND FURNACES USED IN THE SAID MANUFACTURE
Year: 1859

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to John Arrowsmith, of Bilston, in the County of Staf-
ford, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF BEAMS OR GIRDERS, AND IN MACHINERY AND FURNACES USED IN THE SAID
MANUFACTURE
دو
Sealed the 29th May 1860, and dated the 8th December 1859.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said John Arrowsmith at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 8th
December 1859.
I, JOHN ARROWSMITH, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Engineer,
do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF BEAMS OR GIRDERS, AND IN MACHINERY AND FURNACES USED IN
THE SAID MANUFACTURE," to be as follows:-
My improvement in the manufacture of beams and girders consists in
making them of bars or plates of iron piled and welded together. The body
of the pile is composed, by preference, of three bars in thickness, and the
flanges are each made of two bars of angle iron. The several bars are secured
together temporarily by rivets, and being raised to a welding heat are welded
together by rolls. My improvements in rolls consist in making rolls suitable
for welding the beams or girders piled as herein-before described. The said
rolls consist of two pairs. The first pair turn on horizontal axes and have
grooves and flanges proper for the reception of the partially formed girder. The
Price 8d1

page_text: girder passes through the rolls with its body in a horizontal plane and its
flanges in vertical planes. The second pair of rolls turn on vertical axes. The
said second pair of rolls are plain, and as the girder passes from the first pair,
the top and bottom faces of the said girder are made true, and the girder com-
pressed laterally. By the use of an additional roll the girder may be curved
when required. I prefer to make the holes in the bars of angle iron in part
by rolling, steel plugs being fixed for that purpose in the rolls used for making
the angle iron. I also prefer to make the bars and angle iron with bevil
edges so as to fit under one another and hold the pile together.
My improved furnace is of a length suitable to heat the partially formed
girder. The bottom of the said furnace is composed of grate bars nearly its
whole length, and the ash-pit is closed so as to prevent access of air. Two
pipes, perforated with small holes, pass under the grate bars from end to end
of the furnace. The said pipes are supplied with air by means of a fan, and
deliver a gentle blast into the furnace. The partially formed girder is raised
to a uniform welding heat, in the furnace described, without injury to the
iron. The pile may be charged into the furnace with a travelling crane, and
removed from the furnace by a pair of clams attached to a pulley on the
end of the rolls.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said John Arrowsmith in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
6th June 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOHN
ARROWSMITH, of Bilston, in the County of Stafford, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Eighth day of December, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-nine, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said John Arrowsmith, Her special licence that I, the said John Arrowsmith,
my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said John
Arrowsmith,myexecutors,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 THE
MANUFACTURE OF BEAMS OR GIRDERS, AND IN MACHINERY AND FURNACES USED IN

page_text: THE SAID MANUFACTURE," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said
John Arrowsmith, my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writ-
ing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, 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 John Arrowsmith, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My improvements in the manufacture of beams or girders consist in making
them of bars or plates of iron piled and welded together in the manner
herein-after explained and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
I form the pile in the manner represented in cross section in Figure 1, and
in side elevation on a smaller scale in Figure 2. The same letters indicate
the same parts in Figures 1 and 2. The said pile is composed of plain bars
and bars of angle iron arranged as best seen in Figure 1. The body of the
beam is formed of flat bars of puddled iron, marked respectively a, b, and c,
the said bars being bevilled at their edges as represented. The flanges are
formed of four bars of angle iron marked d, and also bevilled at their edges.
The whole is temporarily secured together by rivets e. The pile, Figures I
and 2, being raised to a welding heat in my new or improved furnace, herein-
after described, is welded into a solid mass by rolling machinery, represented
in Figures 3, 4, and 5 of the accompanying Drawings. Figure 3 represents
the welding or principal rolls in elevation and separate from the other parts of
the machine; Figure 4 represents the machine in plan, and Figure 5 repre-
sents an end elevation of the machine, the elevation Figure 5 representing the
end at which the rolled beam or girder is delivered. The same letters indicate
the same parts in Figures 3, 4, and 5. The first pair of rolls f, g, turn on hori-
zontal axes, and have grooves and flanges proper for the reception of the par-
tially formed girder. The said girder passes through the rolls f,g, with its body
in a horizontal plane and its flanges in vertical planes, as represented in
Figures 3 and 5, in which said Figures the girder is marked h. The second
pair of rolls marked i and k, Figure 5, turn on vertical axes. The said
second pair of rolls i and k, are plain; and as the girder h passes from the
first pair, the top and bottom faces, or the faces of the flanges of the girder,
are made true, and the girder compressed in the direction of its depth.
Where the girder is required curved,an additional roll having its axis parallel

page_text: ture.
to the axes of the rolls i and may be employed to give the required curva-
The rolls and g are adjusted in the ordinary manner, and the
rolls i and are adjusted by the right and left handed screws l, l, and m, m;
the screws 1, 1, adjusting the distance of the rolls from one another, and the
screws m, m, adjusting their height. The rolls and are driven from the
shaft p by the bevil gearing n, o. The said shaft pis geared to the rolls
f, g, by a band and pulley or otherwise.
In forming beams or bars for constructing the batteries and gun boats,
described in the Specification of a Pateut granted to me, dated the Eighth day
of December, in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
nine, I proceed as follows:-I form a pile of three plates or bars of iron
marked g, r, s, in Figure 6 which said Figure, represents the pile in cross
section. Figure 7 represents in cross section the finished beam or bar of
which I construct land batteries and gun boats, the said beam, Figure 7, being
made by welding the pile, Figure 6. The form and arrangement of the bars of
which the pile, Figure 6, is made will be understood by an examination of the
said Figure 6. After the pile, Figure 6, has been heated to a welding heat in
the furnace herein-after described, I pass it through the rolls represented in
front elevation in Figure 8, and in end elevation in Figure 9. The pile is
represented in the rolls, Figure 8, at t. The iron is compressed vertically
by means of the ordinary screws, and lateral compression is given by means
of the rolls u, v. The pile is thus welded and rolled to the required
form. Figure 10 represents in plan one of the rolls u, v, and the method of
regulating it. The roll u is carried by the lever v2, turning on a centre in the
frame of the rolls at w. A screw x,fixed to the frame of the rolls, passes through
the moveable end of the lever v2, and by means of the hand wheel y, the screw
nut z, on the screw x, is made to press more or less on the end of the lever v2,
and thereby to make the roll u compress the iron being rolled to the required
degree. The pile is first passed through the rolls between the grooves on the
left-hand side, next through the grooves at the middle of the rolls, and lastly
through the grooves on the right-hand side of the said rolls. For making
large flat beams or plates for constructing batteries or for other purposes,
I take a number of beams or bars of the form represented in Figure 7, and
put them together so that the projection on one fits into the groove in the next
one. Having fitted together a sufficient number of the bars, Figure 7, so as to
form a pile; I heat the said pile to a welding heat in the furnace herein-after
described, and pass sit between the rolls represented in elevation in Figure 11.
By means of the pressure of the plain rolls 2 and 3, and the grooved side rolls
4 and 5, the pile 6 is pressed on all its sides and welded into a flat beam or

page_text: plate. By this method of manufacture I can readily make plates for
batteries and other purposes, eighteen feet long, four feet wide, and four
inches and a half thick, or of other required dimensions.
The furnace which I employ for heating piles, in manufacturing large flat
beamsorplates,is represented inhorizontal section in Figure 12,in longitudinal
vertical section in Figure 13, and transverse section in Figure 14. The same
letters indicate the same parts in Figures 12, 13, and 14. The grate bars 7.
made of iron, are fixed across the furnace through nearly its whole length.
I prefer to make the said grate bars of the form represented, but do not limit
myself thereto. On the bars 7 hollow fire bricks S, perforated with holes, are
placed, and under each of the hollow fire bricks is a pipe 10, perforated with
small holes. A gentle blast is introduced into the fire through the said pipes
10, the said pipes being supplied with air by a fan or otherwise. Other per-
forated pipes 11, 11, pass under the furnace from end to end and deliver a
gentle blast into the said furnace. Tuyeres 12, 12, also deliver gentle blasts of
air into the sides of the furnace. The several blast pipes are supplied from
the air pipe or flue 13, in the manner which will be understood byan exami-
nation of Figure 12. The ash-pit 14 of the furnace being entirely closed
up, the air is prevented from escaping by the said ash-pit, but passes down
the flues 15 into the chimney flue 16. The fuel is introduced at the fire holes
17, which, with the charging doors 21 of the furnace, are closed while the pile
is being heated. The pile 18 is supported on the fire bricks 8, and by the
method of heating described is raised to a uniform welding heat without injury
to the iron. I sometimes arrange the fire bricks on which the pile is supported
lengthwise in the furnace, as represented in the transverse vertical section
of a furnace constructed in this way shown at Figure 15, in which Figure the
perforated fire bricks are marked 19. The furnace I employ for heating piles
for long narrow beams or girders is represented in transverse section in
Figure 16. It resembles in all essential respects the furnace Figures 12
and 13, excepting that it is narrower and simpler. Instead of hollow fire
bricks having perforated pipes inside them, I employ square perforated fire
bricks 20 on which the pile rests, The pile may be charged into the
furnaces described and represented with a travelling crane and removed
from the furnaces by a pair of clams attached to a pulley on the end of the
rolls by which the pile is welded. I prefer to build the pile on a series
of rollers working on a trolley wagon situated between the furnace and
the welding rolls, by which said trolley wagon the pile is carried to and
from the furnace and rolls.
Having now described the nature of my Invention, and the manner of

page_text: carrying the same into effect, I wish it to be understood that I do not limit
myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention.
But 1 claim as my Invention, firstly, the improvements in the mauufacture
of beams or bars or girders herein-before described and illustrated, that is to
say, forming the same of piles constructed and welded as herein-before
described and illustrated in the accompanying Drawings.
Secondly, the new or improved machinery for welding beams or bars or
girders, herein before described and illustratedin theaccompanying Drawings.
Thirdly, the new or improved furnaces for heating piles to be welded into
beams or bars or girders herein-before described and illustrated in the
accompanying Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said John Arrowsmith, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this second day of June, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
JOHN ARROWSMITH. (L.S.)