R O L 
After being finished, dressed square, and the surface 
sqowered, the plates are rolled, singly, between a pair of 
polished case-hardened rolls, without being heated; they are 
therefore extended but little in size, though rendered much 
harder, and more stiff. Tin-foil is rolled much in the same 
manner as the plates for tinning, but of course without 
heating. 
There is a modern invention in the manufacturing of bar- 
iron, by which the rollers are substituted for the forge-ham¬ 
mer to work the metal, in the process of rendering it malle¬ 
able. This method is only used in conjunction with the 
puddling process (that is, converting cast-iron into a malle¬ 
able state by decarbonating it in a reverberating furnace); in 
this process the metal becomes divided into grains the size 
of mustard seeds, with a very slight cohesion, and full of 
interstices between the grains; it therefore requires to be 
stamped, or hammered, at a welding heat, into a solid 
mass; but rolling will also answer the purpose. 
This was first discovered by the late Mr. Wilkinson, who 
had, in his extensive works at Brosely, in Shropshire, a pair 
of enormous rollers, moved by the beam of the steam engine, 
not with a rotatory, but with a reciprocating motion; they 
were five feet diameter, near ten feet long, and weighed 
almost five tons each, although cast hollow, like garden 
rollers; sectors were fixed on the ends of the gudgeons, to 
turn each other, as they did not make above one-third of a 
revolution,, and then moved back again. The circumference 
of the rolls were grooved with grooves, gradually dimi¬ 
nishing from one end to the other, in the same manner as 
the rollers shewn in fig. 4. The mass of iron to be rolled 
was collected into a ball in the furnace, which was taken out, 
and passed through the greatest of the grooves. When it 
came through, a workman at the opposite side removed the 
ball to the next smallest groove, and by the returning motion 
of the rollers, it was carried back again to the front: the 
front workman then returned it in another groove, and so on, 
passing successively through the different grooves, until, by 
gradual consolidation, it was reduced to an imperfect bar of 
malleable iron. A number of these, being cut into lengths, 
were made up into faggots, or piles, and by a pair of rota¬ 
tory rollers finished into bars. Mr. Wilkinson had a patent 
for this machine, but it was afterwards found that other 
rollers would effect the purpose better. In fig. 5 of the plate 
is a view of a pair taken from Mr. Samuel Smith’s works, at 
Sheffield, Yorkshire, a gentleman who, we believe, was the 
first who brought them into use; the two grooves e and /’ 
are very coarse, and have teeth, that they may, more cer¬ 
tainly, draw in the balls. The two next grooves are plain 
but concave, and the remainder are angular, to form square 
bars when the ball becomes consolidated. The use of these 
rollers is very similar to those we have just described, the 
ball of metal being taken from the furnace and presented to 
the rolls. As soon as the metal comes through the rollers, a 
workman behind lifts it over the upper roll to the first work¬ 
man, who puts it between them again : in this manner the 
metal is rolled ten or twelve times, being put through a 
smaller groove of the rollers at each time, so as to compress 
it in a greater degree every time, till at last it is reduced to a 
tolerable square bar; but the last groove E, fig. 5, has teeth 
in different parts of the groove, and at such distances from 
each other, that they will indent so deeply upon the angles 
of the bars, at every eight or ten inches of their length, as 
to render it easy to break them into short pieces when they 
come through. The pieces, thus formed, are piled four 
together, and put into a ball-furnace, and, when heated, 
they are rolled into bars, by rollers shewn at fig. 6, which, 
at the first five grooves, e, f, are similar to the former, but 
the succeeding grooves, k, k, are made to receive the rings 
of the opposite roll, leaving small rectangular spaces, through 
which the iron, being passed, is reduced to a parallel smooth 
bar. The successive grooves through which it is passed are 
each made narrower than the preceding, so as to reduce the 
bars to the width and thickness intended, in which state they 
are sent to market, or if required for the nail rods, or hoops, 
are cut up by the slitters. The rollers are thought to inclose 
Von. XXII. No. 1494. 
R 0 L 201 
the impurities in the iron, rather than expel them; so that at 
present the rolled iron is not so good in quality as the ham - 
mered. 
The rolling-mill is not confined to the laminating of iron, 
but is likewise employed very extensively for reducing brass, 
copper, tin, lead, as well as gold and silver, into plates and 
bars. The latter metals are scarcely ever reduced by any 
other means than rolling; as this method makes no waste, is 
the most expeditious, and produces better work than ham¬ 
mering, or any other method, particularly when as equality 
of thickness and an even surface are desired; such, tor ex¬ 
ample, as gold or silver, which is always to receive a polish; 
in these cases the rollers are made of steel hardened and po¬ 
lished on the surface with the most scrupulous nicety, that 
they may produce a perfect surface on the matters which 
have been passed through them. 
RO'LLINGPIN, s. A round piece of wood tapering at 
each end, with which paste is moulded.—The pin should be 
as thick as a ro/lingpin. Wiseman. 
RO'LLING-PRESS, s. A cylinder rolling upon another 
cylinder by which engravers print their plates upon paper.— 
Not long after the art of printing was made public, the 
invention of the rolling-press was discovered. Massep. 
ROLLO, first Duke of Normandy, was originally a chief¬ 
tain or petty prince in Denmark. The king of that country 
having in vain endeavoured by force to subdue his small 
territory, lulled him into security by a treaty, and then per¬ 
fidiously falling upon him, killed his brother and many of 
his officers, and obliged him to take refuge in Scandinavia. 
Rollo there collected a body of adventurers from different 
northern regions, whom he further attached to his cause by 
a pretended vision of future success, and then made an 
attempt upon England in the latter end of Alfred’s reign. 
The order introduced by that great prince having rendered 
it difficult for him to reap a harvest of plunder in that 
country, he directed his enterprizes to France, and sailing 
up the Seine, committed great ravages, and obtained pos¬ 
session of the city of Rouen. Making that his head-quarters, 
he extended his conquests in Neustria, and became so for¬ 
midable, that Charles the Simple, at that time on the throne 
of France, made a treaty with him in 912, by which he 
gave him in marriage his daughter Gisele, with the part of 
Neustria, since called Normandy for her dower, on the con¬ 
ditions that Rollo should do homage for his territory, and 
embrace the Christian religion. He also for a time was to 
hold Brittany, till Normandy should have recovered from 
the ravages it had undergone. Rollo willingly submitted to 
the rite of baptism, in which he had Robert Duke of France, 
for his sponsor, whose name he assumed; but in the cere¬ 
mony of doing homage, he disdained the usual formality of 
kneeling before the king and kissing his foot. One of his 
officers, who was appointed to represent him on this occa¬ 
sion, rudely caught the king’s foot, and by suddenly raising 
it, was near throwing his majesty upon his back; and it 
was necessary to pass over this insult as a jest, so low had the 
royal authority fallen. 
In governing the dukedom which he had gained by his 
sword, the Dane shewed nothing of the barbarian. He 
divided the land among his followers upon the feudal tenure, 
. established magistracies in the different districts, and took 
care that law and justice were exactly administered. He 
severely punished robbery and pillage, treated his French 
subjects with mildness and equity, founded bishoprics and 
religious houses, and acted in all respects like an enlightened 
sovereign. Such was the reputation of his government, that 
the country shortly recovered its population and wealth, and 
many of his roving countrymen settled in Normandy, and 
became useful and regular subjects. To him is attributed 
the institution of the exchequer, or ambulatory parliament, 
which at a latter period became stationary at Rouen. At 
length, worn out by age and fatigue, in 927 he abdicated 
in favour of his son William, which act he is said to have 
survived five years, and then to have died in peace. Hume's 
Hist. Mil/ot. Nouv. Diet. Hist. 
ROLLOCK (Robert), a learned Scotch divine and theo- 
3 F logical 
