ROLLING-MILL. 



be made, if the flabs or original pieces were cut to the pro- of the rolls were grooved with hooves, gradually dimi- 

 per proportions of length and breadth, and of a thicknefs to nifhing from one end to the other, in the fam? manner as the 

 form only one piece ; then rolling it alternately length and rollers fhewn in Plate V. Jig. i. The mafs of iron to be 

 breadth ways every time it is paffed between the rolls, and 

 continuing this till the plate is fimfhed, at one heat ; a better 

 grain or texture will be thus acquired, becaufe in the former 

 method it will be weaker one way, having fomething of a 

 grain in the direftion of the laft rolling. 



Rolling iron Plates which are to be Tinned. — Thefe are made 

 from the beft Englifh iron, and fome of the very thinneft 



rolled was collected into a ball in the furnace, which was 

 taken out, and palled through the greateft of the grooves. 

 When it came through, a workman at the oppolite fide re- 

 moved the ball to the next fmalleft groove, and by the re- 

 turning motion of the rollers, it was carried back again to 

 the front : the front workman then returned it in another 

 groove, and fo on, paffing fucceffively through the dif- 



frorn^ foreign^ iron ^the^bars^ are drawn out, by the forge ferent grooves, until, by gradual confoUdation, it was re- 

 duced to an imperlecT: bar of malleable iron. A number of 

 thefe, being cut into lengths, were made up into faggots, or 

 piles, and by a pair of rotatory rollers finifhed into bars. 

 Mr. Wilkinfon had a patent for this machine, but it was 

 afterwards found that other rollers would effeft the purpofe 

 better. In Jig. i. of Plate V. is a view of a pair taken 

 from Mr. Samuel Smith's works, at Sheffield, Yorkfhire, a 

 gentleman who, we believe, was the firit who brought them 

 into ufe ; the two grooves c and / are very coarfe, and 

 have teeth, that they may, more certainly, draw in the balls. 

 The two next grooves are plain but concave, and the re- 



hammer, to five inches broad, and half an inch thick, and 

 are cut into lengths of eleven inches by the (hears ; thefe 

 are heated in an oven, and paffed breadthways through cafe- 

 hardened rolls : this is repeated till they are extended to 

 twice the length of the intended plates : the pieces are 

 then folded, and fet on edge in the furnace till properly- 

 heated, when they are rolled double, the fold being put in 

 firft ; they are thus extended to twice the length of the 

 folded plate. Now two men, with ftrong tongs, tear the two 

 leaves afunder at the fold, and fold each again feparately, 

 putting one into the other, like two fheets of paper ; in 



this ftate they are heated, and rolled four thicknefles to- mainder are angular, to form fquare bars when the ball be- 



gether, the next time eight, and fo on, till the plate is re- comes confolidated. The ufe of thefe rollers is very fimilar 



duced to the required th.cknefs : in the very thinneft plate, to thofe we have juft defcribed, the ball of metal beintr 



iuch as is ufed for tagging laces, fixteen leaves are rolled taken from the furnace, and prefented to the rolls. As fooT. 



together. In folding the plates, care is taken every time as the metal comes through the rollers, a workman behind 



to put a new furface of metal outf.de, otherwife, thofe lifts it over the upper roll to the firft workman, who puts 



which were conftantly reduced by the preffure of the adja- it between them again : rn this manner the metal is rolled 



puts 

 mer the metal is n 

 cent leaves, would, at length, become grained on the fur- ten or twelve times, being put through a fmaller groove of the 

 it tif ^continually gaining new furfaces, which are rollers at each time, fo as to comprefs it in 



rable fquare bar ; 

 r '• r," ,T" ,c "" c, , cu >*"»»<-»■ -"■ out tne lait groove iL,Jig. 2, has teeth in different parts of 

 mall quantity ot oil is fprmkled between the leaves, when the groove, and at fucn diftances from each other, that they 

 they are firft put in, and mitantly Ipreading over the whole will indent fo deeply upon the ana' 

 rface, prevents any adhefion ; the plates are drefled fquare eight or ten inches of their length, as to render it eafy to 



thofe parts which, by projeding over the edges of the other 

 leaves, are not fo much reduced. 



After being finifhed, dreffed fquare, and the furface 

 fcowered, the plates are rolled, fingly, between a pair of 

 pohfhed cafe -hardened rolls, without being heated ; the- 

 are therefore extended but little in fize, though rendered 

 much harder, and more ftiff. Tinjoil is rolled much in the 

 fame manner as the plates for tinning, but of courfe without 

 heating. 



Rolling, or Shingling Iron by Rollers. —This is a modern in- 

 vention m the manufaaurine of bar-iron, the rollers being 



1, i 



procefs of rendering ft malleable. This method is only The rollers are thought to indole 'the impurities in tl 



conjuna,onw,ththe / ^//^procefs,th,t is, puddling, rather than expel them; but as rollers require much left 



tat fiTft m g a 'revT T V™ 1 ^ ^ * ^T^ ^T ™ *" the » ™ l ™ th ™ ^ h ™> * ^ om 



™ fV a reverberatmg furnace ; in tins procefs the worth the confideration of manufacturers to improve their 



metal becomes divided into grams the fize of muftard feeds, conttruftion, and render them equal in effeft to the ham me r 



with a very flight cohefion, and full of interftices between At prefent the rolled iron ' 



face ; but by continually gaining new furfaces, which are rollers at each time, fo as to comprefs it in a 

 fmoothed by the immediate contaft of the rollers, thofe e^ ry time, till at laft it is reduced to a tolerable fquare bar ; 

 which are laid againft them are alfo rendered fmooth. A but the laft groove E,Jg. 2, has teeth in different parts of 

 mall quantity ot oil is fprmkled between the leaves, when the groove, and at fucn diftances from each other, that they 

 they are firft put in, and mftantly Ipreading over the whole will indent fo deeply upon the angles of the bars, at every 

 furface, prevents any adhefion ; the plates are drefled fquare eight or ten inches of their length, as to render it eafy to 

 by the fhears_ every time before they are folded, to remove break them into fhort pieces when they come through, the 



pieces, thus formed, are piled four together, and put into a 

 ball furnace, and, when heated, they arc rolled into bars, 

 by rollersfhewn at fg. 4, which, at the firft five grooves, 

 e,f, are fimilar to the former, but the fucceeding grooves, 

 i, i, are made to receive the rings of the oppolite roll, 

 leaving fmall reaangular fpaces, as is (hewn by the light 

 parts, Jg. 4, through which the iron, being palled, is re- 

 duced to a parallel fmooth bar. The fucceffive grooves 

 through which it is paffed are each made narrower than the 

 preceding, fo as to reduce the bars to the width and thick- 

 nefs intended. 



„. „.. ., .,,, ,„.„„ UCM , g „ci S .nienueo. in which ttate they are fent to market, or if 



iubitituted for the forge hammer to work the metal, m the required for the nail rods, or hoops, are cut up by the flitter 



ufed in t 

 or 



the grains ; it therefore requires to be ftamped, or ham- 

 mered, at a welding heat, into a folid mafs ; but rolling will 

 alfo anfwer the purpofe. 



This was firft difeovered by the late Mr. Wilkinfon, who 

 had, in his extenfive works at Brofely, in Shropfhire, a 

 pair of enormous rollers, moved by the beam of the ileam- 

 engine, not with a rotatory, but with a reciprocating motion ; 



is not always fo good in quality as 

 the hammered, though this circumftance fhould not deter 

 manufaaurers from ufing it, as it is fcarcely poffible that a 

 newly invented procefs fhould be at firft brought to equal 

 perfeaion with another which has exercifed the Ingenuity of 

 manufaaurers for agespaft. But in the courfe of praaice 

 many improvements may arife, which will remain undif- 

 covered if the procefs, in its prefent ftate, is negkaed ; 



they were five feet diameter, near ten feet long, and weighed even in this ftate the puddled iron, made with rollers is hv 



r fes-taors 5 ea '' h r a J h ° U f f <"? '"fr ^ ^^ -™obedef pl fe P d, w^en its price and qualft^ coS 



„"' , e< ^, 0rS were . fixed ' ° n the e " ds ot the gudgeons, to pared ; it h for iron requiring the fibrous texture that this 



turn each other, as they did not make above one-third of a procefs is beft adapted 

 revolution, and then moved back again. The circumference Rolling andpmng iron for nail rods or fmall hoops. The 



