US444049A - Rod-mill - Google Patents

Description

(N0 Modlel.)-

T. W. PITCH.

ROD MILL.

No. 444,049. Patented Jan; '6, 1891.

INVENFTOR. $44 n. M

rm: NORRIS PEYEHS cu, PHo-ro-umm, msumm'nN-n. cv

,UNITED'STATES PATENT Orrrcn.

THOMAS W. FITCH, OF EDGEWOODVILLE, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROD-MILL.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 444,049, dated January 6, 1891.

Application filed August 21, 1890. Serial No. 362,668. (No model.)

To all whom it mag concern.-

Be it known that I, THOMAS W. FITCH, of Edgewoodville, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rod-Mills, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

The object of my invention is to provide a rod-mill of improved construction, especially adapted to rolling rods from blooms or billets of'iron or copper,'which metals on account of their greater ductility than steel require special apparatus to be employed in their reduction.

It consists in combining with billet-rolls a train or series of roll-passes (herein designated the intermediate train) so related in position to the billet-rolls that the metal shall not enter the first pass of the intermediate train until its rear end has emerged from the billet-rolls. Within the scope of this feature of my invention the intermediate train and the final train or rod-train may be arranged in a varietyof ways relativelyto each other. For example, both maybe combined in a single line or series, and other arrangements Wlll suggest themselves to those familiar with the art. I shall describe, however, an arrangement which I deem to be preferable, and which I intend to claim specifically. In so doing I shall refer to the accompanying drawing, which shows my improved mill in diagram plan view.

I do not show in detail the construction of the housings of the rolls, since these are so familiar to those skilled in the art that minute description and illustration of them would not serve to make the specification more 1ntelligible.

In the drawing, 2 represents one of the usual heating-furnaces in which the metal bloom is heated as a preliminary step to its reduction. The rolls consist of three sets-a billet-train A, a rod-train B, and an intermediate train 0. The billet-train may consist of two sets of rolls 3 and 4, of which the rolls 3 may be a three-high set, through which the bloom is passed back and forth, as shown by the dotted line, which represents the course of the metal through the mill. From the rolls 3 the rod travels in a loop to and through the rolls 4, and thence in a direct pass I) to the first pass 5 of the five roll-passes 5, 6,7, 8, and 9, constituting the intermediate train through which it travels in loops back and forth. From the rolls 9 the rod passes to the first pass of the rod-train, and then travelsinloops through the six roll-passes 1.0, 11, 12, 13, 14, and 15 of this train. From the last pass of the rod-train the rod passes to the reel 16 or other apparatus by which it may be coiled or bundled. Instead of arranging these rolltrains B and C in the precise manner indicated, their relative position may be varied in the manner shown in my patent, No. 435,812, dated September 2, 1890.

The mill is provided with suitable guidetroughs 17 and curved guides or repeaters 18, by which the rod is delivered from one rollpass to the next, and the roll-passes are pref erably shaped in the usual manner, so as to reduce the rod alternately from a square or round section to an oval section, the repeaters being used to guide the squares or rounds in the looped passes, and the guide-troughs to guide the ovals in the direct passes, while in the looped passes the ovals are reflexed and inserted by manual work. The motive power for driving the rolls may be derived from a single engine .19, geared with the rolls by lines of shafting 20, belts 21, and pinions 22 in such manner as to drive the trains A, C, and B at successively greater rates of speed.

More than one driving-engine may, however,

be employed.

In order to adapt the mill to the successful reduction of rods of copper or iron to small diameter and to enable a large output to be produced, I set the first pass 5 of the intermediate train 0 at such distance from the last pass 4 of the billet-mill that the front end of the rod shall not reach the rolls 5 before its rear end has completely emerged from the pass 4. The front end of the rod is therefore inserted with tongs of a Workman or by suitable feed-rollers, &c., into the pass 5. This arrangement enables me to drive the rolls of the train 0 at a very high rate of speed relatively to the rate of rotation of the billet train rolls. For example, I may drive the rolls of the billet-train at a rate of ninety revolutions per minute, the rolls of the train 0 at two hundred and forty revolutions per minute, and the rolls of the rod-train at five hundred revolutions per minute. Such ratio of revolution between the rolls of the billet-train and the intermediate train would be impossible it the rod were passed directly from the billet-train to the intermediate train and were in the passes of both trains at the same time, since the increase of surface speed of the rolls would be far in excess of the ratio of elongation of the rod by the rolls 4; but by placing the rolls 4 and 5 so that there shall be the interruption in the passage of the rod before noted, the increased speed becomes entirely practicable and results in a capacity of the mill for a large output and for a much greater reduction of the diameter of the rod than has been possible hitherto without reheating.

The advantages of my invention will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, and need not be enumerated further than as already done in the foregoing description.

I claim-- 1. An improvement in the art of rolling metal rods, which consists in passing a heated billet through billet-rolls, reducing and elongating it thereby into rod form, and after passing it entirely through the billet-rolls introducing it into a more highly-speeded rodtrain,wherebyindependent action of the rodtrain on the rod is secured and undue tension on the rod prevented, substantially as and for the purposes described.

2. A rod-mill plant having billet-rolls, a series of roll-passes 5, 0, 7, S,and 0, to which the rod travels in a direct pass from the billetrolls and through which it travels in loops, and a final series of roll- passes 1O, 11, 12, 13, ii, and 15, to which the rod travels in a direct pass and through which it travels in loops, substantially as and for the purposes 40 described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 16th day of August, A. D. 1890.

THOMAS W. FITCH. Witnesses:

II. M. CoRWIN, W. II. JACKSON.

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