US436969A

US436969A - Method of and apparatus for drawing wire

Info

Publication number: US436969A
Authority: US
Publication date: 1890-09-23
Anticipated expiration: 1907-09-23

Description

(No Model.)

T. A.,EDISON. METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR DRAWING WIRE.

No. 436,969. Patented Sept. 23, 1890 M. W l I 0 1 l 0 M 1/ m m UNIT D STATES PATENT OFFICE.

THOMAS A. EDISON, or MENLO PARK, NEW JERSEY.

METHODOF AND APPARATUS FOR DRAWING WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 436,969, dated September 23, 1890.

Application filed June 10, 1884.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, THOMAS A. EDISON, of

Menlo Park, in the county of Middlesex and operations of drawing wire and annealing it a continuous process, the result being a cheapening of the product and a saving in cost of manufacturing-plant.

This invention is an improvement upon the apparatus particularly set forth in my application, Serial No. 134,244, being designed to perform the method broadly claimed therein, and alsoincludes an improvement upon that method. In that application an apparatus is particularly described in which the wire is drawn in succession through a numberof dieplates and is heated at intermediate points by an electric current, and is also drawn through a suitable pickle to remove the surface oxide, these operations being performed simultaneously upon a continuous line of wire and successively upon different portions of it.

By my present invention I substitute for. the connections with a source of electrical energy, which are used to heat the wire, chambers heated externally, through which the line of Wire passes, the wire entering and leaving the chambers through suitable airexcluding stuffing-boxes. The oxygen within the chambers is quickly consumed, so that but little remains therein, leaving the wire surrounded by nitrogen, and hence the heating can be performed with but slight oxidation of the wire. These heating-chambers are preferably located between 1 the drawingwheels and pickling-reservoirs, and form part of the apparatus for performing the continuous process of drawing, annealing, and pickling covered by theapplication referred to. The chambers with stufiing-boxes are heated externally to anneal the wire; but it is evident that the wire may be heated within the chambers by connections with one or more dynamo-electric machines, as described in my application referred to, the inclosing chambers with stufling-boxes preventin g-erret-arding the oxidation of the wire.

Serial No. 134,245. (No model.)

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part hereof, Figure 1 is an elevation showing one of the series of'parts of which the apparatus is composed; Fig. 2, a separate sect on of the heating-chamber on a larger scale; Fig. 8, a cross-section of such heating-chamber, and Fig. 4. a vertical section of a modified form of the heating-chamber.

A is a wire drawing die; B, a drawingwheel O, the heating-chamber, and D a pickling-tub, all arranged in succession to act simultaneously upon the continuous line of wire a, and successively upon different parts of it. The entire apparatus is a multiplication of these parts, although it may be suflicient to have a heating-chamber and pickling tub after every second or third drawing-die.

As shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3, the heatingchamber C may be a tube of porcelain, nickel, or other material, metal, or composition capable of withstandingthehigh heat used. This tube is heated by gas-jets E, and a blast may be used, if desired, to increase the heat. The flames are directed around the tube by shields F, of fire-clay or other suitable material. The tube C has its ends extended beyond the heating-flames, forming hollow arms I), and these are provided with stufling-boxes G G, having asbestus or other non-combustible packing. The heating-chamber may, however, be of the construction shown in Fig. 4. Here the chamber 0 is a closed cylindrical chamber, with a fire-boxH belowit and a fine I at the rear for carrying off the products of combustion. This chamber has hollow arms 1), extending from opposite sides, provided with the stuffing-boxes G G. A revolving drum K, within the chamber, has the wire passed around it one or more times for prolonging the time the wire is in the chamber.

What I claim is-- 1. In the continuous process of drawing and annealing wire, the method herein described of heating the wire, consisting in passing it continuously through a heating-chamber from which the oxygen of the air is excluded wholly or principally, whereby the heating will be performed wholly or principally in the presence of nitrogen and oxidation will be prevented or retarded, substantially as set forth.

2. The combination, with a wire-drawing die, of a heating-chamber in proximity there- 4. The combination of a. wire-drawing die, with, so thata continuous length of wire may a heating-chamber, a drawing-wheel, and a be drawn through said chamber and said die, pickling-reservoir, substaiiti city as set forth. said chamber having air-excluding stufling- This specification signed and witnessed this 5 boxes through which the. wire passes, sub- 2d day of June, 1884.

stantially as set forth. v v

3. The combination, with a wire-drawing T die, of an externally-heated chamber through Witnesses: which the wire ispassed after leaving the die, ALF. W. KIDDLE,

10 substantially as set forth. E. O. ROWLAND.