US31361A - Hardening and tempering wire - Google Patents

Description

I. WASHBURN. Hardening and Tempering Steel Wire.

Patehted Feb. 5, 18.61.

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IOHABOD VVASHBURN, OF WORGESTEH, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF AND P. L. MOEN, OF WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

HARDENING AND TEMFERING- WIRE.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 31,361, dated February 5, 1861.

drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which Figure 1, is a vertical section of the ap paratus. Fig. 2, is a plan of the same with the furnaces in section.

Similar letters of reference indicate cor responding parts in both figures.

The object of my invention is to harden and temper steel wire or other steel in pieces of considerable length by one continuous operation without any danger of exposing it to so high a temperature as to produce oxidation or other injury; and to this end my invention consists in an apparatus com posed of two furnaces each of which contains a bath of lead or other metal or alloy fusible at temperatures below what are required for hardening and tempering, through'which the steel passes without immediate contact with the tire, and a bath of oil or water interposed between said furnaces. The steel is passed through the metal in the bath of one furnace and heated, then through the bath of oil or water by which it is cooled and hardened, and afterward through the metal bath of the other furnace by which it is again heated to reduce its hardness to the desired temper.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.

A, and B, are the two furnaces; C, and D, the baths containing the fusible metal or alloy, made of cast iron, each somewhat longer than its respective furnace and projecting throu h the front and back plates thereof. The said baths are covered, and their only openings are narrow slots a, a, in their upper parts outside of the furnace, for the entrance and exit of the steel. They are so arranged in the furnaces as to have their top, bottom and sides exposed to the heat thereof.

The furnacesconsist each of a simple oblong chamber with a fire grate b, and chimney c. The two are arranged in line with each other so that the steel may pass from the bath 0, to the bath D, without difliculty. E, is the hardening bath interposed between the furnaces to contain the water or oil to quench the heat which the steel has received in passing through themetal bath C, of the furnace A. In this bath there is a roller (Z, to direct the steel into the oil or water.

F, is an upright reel arranged to turn freely on a stationary upright shaft or standard G, near the entrance a, of the bath C, of the furnace A, for the purpose of carrying the steel to be hardened and tempered.

I, is a horizontal reel having its journals fitted to rotate in bearings ina stand H, arranged near the outlet a, of the bath D, of the tempering furnace, for the purpose of drawing the steel through the baths G, D, and E, from the reel F. This reel 1, may be turned by a hand with a crank, or by any suitable motive power.

The wire or other steel to be tempered, indicated by f, in Figs. 1 and 2, is first wound on the reel F, and when the baths C, and D, have been filled with lead or other fusible metal or alloy and said metal or alloy has been melted and brought to a suitable temperature by making tires in the furnaces, the end of the steel is conducted from the reel F, through the baths C, D, and E, and secured to the reel 1. On the reel 1, being set in motion the steel is drawn through the metal in the bath 0, in which it is heated to redness, then drawn through the water or oil in the quenching bath E, and hardened by the sudden cooling, and afterward drawn through the tempering bath D, by which its hardness is reduced to the proper temper, and as fast as it is tempered it is wound upon the reel 1. The metal bat-h D, in the furnace. B, may be filled with metal or alloy fusible at a lower temperature than that used in the bath C, of the furnace B.

It will be understood that in hardening and tempering with this apparatus the steel is never exposed to direct contact with the fire, but is protected from the action thereof by the molten metal or alloy in the baths C, and D. 1

Vhat I claim as my invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is;

An apparatus for tempering steel wire or other steel in pieces of considerable length, composed of two furnaces A, B, out exposure of the steel to direct contact each of which contains a bath C, or D, of with the fire.

fusible metal or alloy and an interposed quenching bath E, the Whole constructed IGHABOD WASHBURN' 5 and arranged substantially as herein de- Witnesses:

scribed to enable the hardening and temper- W. W. RICE,

ing to be performed at one operation With- W. T. BUCKLEY.

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