US39174A - Improvement in the quality and ornamentation of metals - Google Patents

Description

PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM ROSE, OF HALESOWEN, ENGLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN THE QUALITY AND ORNAMENTATION 0F METALS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 39,174, dated July 7, 1863.

'dom of England, manufacturer, a subject of Her Britannic Majesty, have invented an improvement or improvements in piling or com bining metals to be used in the manufacture of arms and cutlery and for various other purposes; and I do hereby declare that the following is afull and exact description of my said invention-that is to say:

My invention consists of certain improvements in manufacturing ornamental metal which may afterward be worked up into gun or pistol barrels, ordnance, or any other kind of arms, swords, knives, and cutlery in 'general, engine-building, boiler-making, armorplates, and various other uses; and my object has been to produce an ornamental effect on the surface of the metal, and which effect shall not be confined to the surface only, but shall run through its entire body, so that such ornamental surface shall not be liable to be destroyed by wear, the metal being also rendered stronger and more tenacious by the process. This I efl'ect by so piling or combining together rods of iron and steel or various kinds of iron or various kinds of steel, the section of such rod being of any figure I please, so that when united by heating and rolling the mass or bar presents in its cross-section a checkered appearance. This bar mayafterward be twisted, and, as every turn of each twist will vary the pattern, an endless variety of ornamental lines may be produced upon the surface, and this effect will be still further diversified when the metal is intended to be worked up into twisted gun or pistol barrels by the very process of twisting or coilingthe metal for such purpose.

I am well aware that a metal consisting of layers of iron or steel piled or laid upon each other in one direction has already been used in manufacturing what are commonly known as Damascus or damascened gun-barrels and sword-blades; but mine is an entirely different method of piling, as by my plan of piling the bars are so interspersed as that the lamina of the metal shall be at right angles throughout the billet, and one which renders the finished metal of the same character and texture throughout,instead of producing mere surface ornamentation.

The mode of carrying out my process is as follows: I take bars of iron and steel, by preference selecting the best charcoal or stub iron for the one metal and blister-steel for the other, and I arrange these bars alternately, or, as the workmen term it, hand over hand, in such manner that a cross-section of the combined mass presents a checkered appearance in the lamina, and it the bars of which this billet be formed have been of a square section the section of the billet will somewhat resemble a chess-board, the check or pattern thereon resulting from the difl'erent colors or qualities of the metals. This billet or compound bar, being heated and rolled out or reduced to therequisite size, still preserves the same checkered section, and if twisted, as -it may readily be, during subsequent heatings, by suitable machinery for that purpose, any variety of patterns may be produced, and, as a necessary result, these patterns will pervade the entire body of metal, and will wear as the metal wears so that when made up into damascened barrels for small -arms, ordnance, swords, table and other cutlery, or into other similar articles for which it may be applicable, the ornamentation, which will be of a very high character, will be as lasting as the article itself. A similar efi'ect will be produced by the employment of two or more kinds of iron, varying in color, shapes, forms, and quality, while for some of the purposes above named-such as sword-blades and'tahie-cutlery, in which it may be necessary to employ all steel-different qualities, shapes, forms, and colors of steel may be selected, and as good an ornamental appearance will be the ,result. A very strong metal is produced also by these means, serviceable for various other purposes-such, for instance, as many parts of engine-building, boiler-making, the making of armor-plates for vessels of war--for all of which uses and many others of a similar kind this metal will be found very useful.

Having thus described the nature of the said invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, I would state that I lay no claim to piling iron by laying bars one upon the of giving the mass when worked acheckered other in one direction only, as this has long appearance throughout, as herein more fully been practiced; but set forth and specified.

What 1 do claim for the purposes of ornementation and strength is- WILLIAM ROSE The piling or combining of metals into a bil- Witnesses: let so that the lamina of the metal of some of J. M. G. UNDERHILL, the bars shall be at right angles to that of some 0. A., U. S. A. of the other bars on the pile, for the purpose EDWARD J. PAYNE.