On Mon, 29 Mar 2004 17:02:56 -0500 (EST), (ED ROGERS) wrote:
Thanks gentlemen for your replies.I didn't know the power source for the
rolling mill and how it was capable, with the technology of the day,in
exerting the high pressures to form the rail.Did they use hydraulics to
get the pressure applied?

The Shofield mill in Atlanta (destroyed by Sherman in 1864, only the
heavy uprights supporting the rolls survived the fire and vandalism to
make the site recognizable) was powered by a stationary steam engine.
If there was a convenient source of water power at a particular plant
site, that could have been used instead.

A rolling mill forges the hot steel using a series of opposing pairs of
very large, very heavy steel or cast iron rolls mounted on fixed centers
and powered by the stationary engine. Each pair is closer together
than the preceding pair. As the hot ingot passes successively through
each set of rolls, it gets longer and thinner. In the case of a rail rolling
mill, the rolls are shaped so that the ingot takes on the desired form
in steps as it passes successively through each pair of rolls. The
Shofield plant had 8 sets of rolls.

The ingots come out of the ingot furnace at yellow heat, so they are
soft and plastic. The ingots, purchased from a bloomery, blast furnace,
or latter a Bessemer plant, were about 8"x8"x48" as they came out of
the ingot furnace. After going through the rolls, you had a 20 foot long
formed rail. (These were the fairly light 20 pound per foot rails used
during the Civil War era.)

The only hydraulics in the plant were the water pumps that pumped
cooling water on and through the rolls to keep them from softening
due to contact with the very hot steel. A rolling mill required a lot of
water, so it was usually located along a river or large creek. The
Shofield plant drew its water from Peachtree Creek.

Gary