Patent GB-734769-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in or relating to methods of fabricating metal drums
IPC: B21D51/20
Filed: 1952-01-14
Abstract: 734,769. Making hollow-ware. RHEEM MANUFACTURING CO. Jan. 14, 1952 [Sept. 12, 1951], No. 1070/52. Class 83 (2). In a conveyer-line method of making metal cylindrical containers, sheets of hot-rolled steel for forming the cylindrical walls are successively fed while flat and in a horizontal position to stations at which they are abraded to remove scale, washed, treated with a paint-receptive coating, given one or more coatings for protective or decorative purposes, baked, and finally cleaned at opposite side edges in the region at which they are to be welded to form the side seam. The sheets are successively fed from a stack to a number of stages at which different operations or tests are performed as follows until the drum is finally completed : a cleaning by projection of small shot at high velocity on both surfaces ; b ironing by rollers to remove waves; c spraying with detergent and rinsing with hot or cold water; d spraying or roller coating with rust protective solution such as a phosphate to produce paint receptive film; e drying by hot air ; f roller coating with paint or enamel on one surface; g drying in an oven ; h inverting and returning by conveyer to repeat f and g on the opposite surface; repeatedly colouring by lithograph press and returning by conveyor for drying in same oven as g, until the required number of different colours have been printed; j sand blasting or abrading to remove paint at the edges to be welded as in apparatus 31, Fig. 1F, described in Specification 694,759, [Group XVI]; k curling the sheets and butt welding the edges at a station 32; l coating the seam as in apparatus 32<SP>1</SP> described in Specification 733,334, [Group III]; m drying the seam by electrical heater 34 lying on the bed of a conveyer 33; n up-ending the cylinders as by a star wheel up-ender 35 described in Specification 720,013, [Group XXX]; o testing the seam for leakage by applying compressed air at a tester 37, while the cylinder is sealed at both ends by automatically-operated closure plates and a stream of soapy water is applied to the outer surface; p down-ending the cylinders by a down-ender 38 operating in the reverse direction to the up-ender of stage n; q flaring the ends of the cylinders as at 40<SP>1</SP>, Fig. 1G, in a conventional flanging machine 40; r completing the flanging operation and swaging peripheral beads as at 41<SP>1</SP> in a second machine 41 ; s cutting an aperture for a bung hole in the side wall and inserting a threaded bush, by means of a press 43 such,as that described in Specification 681,074 ; t applying drum ends and seaming as at 45<SP>1</SP> in a double seamer 45 described in Specification 682,755, the ends-being previously pierced, embossed, &c., and fed by a conveyer 52 to opposite ends of the cylinder; u up-ending and pressure-testing the drum, in an air tester 59, described in Specification 709,016, [Group XXX]; drying by air blast in a drier 61 (not shown); w,painting and waxing the seams in apparatus described in Specifications 705,188 or 716,790, [both in Group III]; x applying hoops to the beaded end-seams in automatic apparatus 66 (not shown); y final testing in a tester similar to 59 above ; z spraying with protective material such as oil, up-ending and delivering the completed drum to a loading station or storage.