IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON FITTINGS OR JUNCTION PIECES FOR GAS, STEAM, AND WATER PIPES
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Job Edwards, of Wednesbury, in the County of
Stafford, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON FITTINGS OR JUNCTION PIECES FOR GAS,
STEAM, AND WATER PIPES."
Sealed the 1st November 1872, and dated the 2nd September 1872.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Job Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd September 1872.
I, JOB EDWARDS, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Manu-
facturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Im-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF WROUGHT-IRON FITTINGS OR JUNCTION
PIECES FOR GAS, STEAM, AND WATER PIPES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates to the wrought-iron fittings or junction pieces,
commonly called elbows, crosses, and T pieces which are used for
joining gas and water pipes, principally where cross or branching pipes
are required, or where the pipes require to make a right or other angle..

page_text: The said fittings are ordinarily made by forging the same on mandrils,
either by hand or by shaping tools actuated by machinery.
In making the said fittings according to my Invention I employ a
pair of tools or dies, the acting parts of which have the shape of the
exterior of the fittings to be made; one of these dies or tools is fixed on
the bed of a stamp, and the other is fixed to the ram or plunger of the
said stamp. Pieces of wrought iron raised to a forging heat are operated
upon by the said dies or tools and stamp, and solid pieces or blanks of
iron having the general figure of the fitting are thereby produced. Each
of the said pieces or blanks so produced has a web or fin extending
along its middle, which web or fin is produced during the shaping of the
said pieces or blanks by the forcing out of the metal between the two
dies. In order to remove the said web or fin from the solid blanks the
said blanks are passed through a clearing die, by which the superfluous
metal is removed. The solid blank is next drilled by means of an
ordinary drilling apparatus, and the required openings or passages
thereby made. The partially made fitting is afterwards faced and
wormed with an internal screw in the ordinary way.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Job Edwards in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 21st February 1873.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JOB
EDWARDS, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Second day of September, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-
sixth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors,
give and grant unto me, the said Job Edward, Her special license
that I, the said Job Edwards, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Job Edwards, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, usc, exercise, and

page_text: vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the
Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
in the Manufacture of WroughT-IRON FITTINGS OR JUNCTION PIECES FOR GAS,
STEAM, AND WATER PIPES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said Job Edwards, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the
same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar
months next and immediately after the date of the said Letters
Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Job Edwards, do hereby declare
the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
My Invention relates to the wrought-iron fittings or junction pieces,
commonly called elbows, crosses, and T pieces, which are used for
joining gas, steam, and water pipes, principally where cross or branching
pipes are required, or where the pipes require to make a right or other
angle. The said fittings are ordinarily made by forging the same on
mandrils either by hand or by shaping tools actuated by machinery.
In making the said fittings according to my Invention, I employ a
pair of tools, or dies, the acting parts of which have the shape of the
exterior of the fittings to be made. One of these dies or tools is fixed
on the bed of a stamp, and the other is fixed to the ram or plunger of
the said stamp. Pieces of wrought iron raised to a forging heat are
operated upon by the said dies or tools and stamp, and solid pieces or
blanks of iron having the general figure of the fitting are thereby pro-
duced. Each of the said pieces or blanks so produced has a web or fin
extending along its middle, which web or fin is produced by the forcing
out of the metal between the two dies. In order to remove the said web
or fin from the solid blanks, the said blanks are passed through a
clearing die, by which the superfluous metal is removed: The solid
blank is next drilled by means of an ordinary drilling apparatus, and
the required openings or passages thereby made. The partially made
fitting is afterwards faced and wormed with an internal screw in the
ordinary way.

page_text: Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention in its application to the
manufacture of the fittings or junction pieces called crosses. I take a
bar of wrought iron and double its end so as thereby to produce the
required thickness of metal for the manufacture of the cross junction
piece. A bar of this kind, with its end doubled or folded is represented
in Figure 1 and marked a; its doubled end being marked b. I heat the
doubled end 6 of the bar to a forging or welding heat and place it upon
the lower die d of the pair of dies c, d, of the stamp, represented in
elevation in Figure 2, the said lower die d being fixed on the bed e of
the stamp, and the upper die c being fixed in the sliding ram ƒ of the
stamp. Each of the dies c, d, has a depression or concavity in it of the
shape of one half of the exterior of the cross junction piece to be made.
By the operation of the stamp, Figure 2, the heated end of the bar of
iron a is shaped or fashioned into the figure represented in plan and
edge view in Figure 3, that is, into the figure of a blank or solid junction
piece g, the said blank having joined to it at its middle a thin web or
fin h. caused by the spreading of the metal between the opposed faces of
Having explained the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe, with reference to the accompanying Drawings, the manner in
which the same is to be performed.
I will describe and illustrate my Invention in its application to the
manufacture of the fittings or junction pieces called crosses. I take a
bar of wrought iron and double its end so as thereby to produce the
required thickness of metal for the manufacture of the cross junction
piece. A bar of this kind, with its end doubled or folded is represented
in Figure 1 and marked a; its doubled end being marked b. I heat the
doubled end 6 of the bar to a forging or welding heat and place it upon
the lower die d of the pair of dies c, d, of the stamp, represented in
elevation in Figure 2, the said lower die d being fixed on the bed e of
the stamp, and the upper die c being fixed in the sliding ram ƒ of the
stamp. Each of the dies c, d, has a depression or concavity in it of the
shape of one half of the exterior of the cross junction piece to be made.
By the operation of the stamp, Figure 2, the heated end 6 of the bar of
iron a is shaped or fashioned into the figure represented in plan and
edge view in Figure 3, that is, into the figure of a blank or solid junction
piece g, the said blank having joined to it at its middle a thin web or
fin h, caused by the spreading of the metal between the opposed faces of
the dies c, d.
Figure 4 represents in section the dies c, d, of the press, Figure 2,
drawn to a larger scale, the blank or solid junction piece g being
represented between the said dies.
The web or fin h is removed from the solid junction piece g by the
pair of clearing tools represented partly in section and partly in elevation
in Figure 5, and plan of the lower tool in Figure 6. The said lower
tool marked i, consists of a cutting tool, the cutting edge of the opening
in which has the exact outline of the blank or solid junction piece g
made in the dies c, d, Figures 2 and 4; and the upper tool marked k
consists of a pressing or forcing tool worked by the plunger of a fly or
other press, the lower cutting or clearing tool i being fixed on the bed of
the said press.
The blank or solid junction piece g being placed in the
cutting tool i, in the manner represented in Figure 5, the pressing or
forcing tool is brought down upon it. The said blank or solid junction
piece g is thereby forced through the opening in the cutting or clearing
tool i and the web or fin h cut or separated from it, the said web or fin

page_text: attached to the bar a remaining on the face of the cutting tool. After
breaking off the web or fin h from the end of the bar a the said end is
again doubled and heated, and operated upon by the dies in the stamp,
Figure 2, and another blank or solid junction piece formed, which is
afterwards cleared of its attaching web or fin, and so on. Instead of
operating upon the doubled end of a bar a bar of the required thickness
may be employed.
A blank or solid junction piece of the full size, made in the way
herein-before described, is represented in section in Figure 7. The
required openings or passages in the branches of the solid junction piece
are next drilled so as to prepare the said junction for the final worming.
I effect the drilling of the passages in the blank or solid junction
pieces by preference by the use of the drilling machine. represented in
side elevation in Figure 9, plan in Figure 10, and end elevation in
Figure 11; the drill is represented of the full size in Figure 12. lis
the bed of the machine; n is the drill shaft carrying the drill m, the
said shaft n having a rotary and an advancing and retiring motion. The
rotary motion of the drill shaft is effected by a band working over the
fast pulley of the fast and. loose pulleys p, q, and the advancing and
retiring motions of the said drill shaft are effected by the screw p³ acting
on the end of the shaft. The holder for holding the blank or solid
junction piece while being drilled, consists of two holding dies 7, 8, the
holding faces of which have a shape proper to receive the cross junction
piece. The said dies are geared together by means of the toothed
sectors t, u, the shafts of the said sectors being respectively connected
with the lower ends of the said holding dies. On the shaft of the sector t
is a weighted lever w, the tendency of which is to cause the two holding
dies r, s, to separate, and thereby to release the blank or junction piece.
By gearing the holding dies together in this way the said dies when
closed bring the blank or solid junction piece exactly in a line with the
drill. The two dies 7, 8, are closed and maintained in their closed
position during the drilling of the junction piece by means of the
screw v, the end of which bears against the die s. By turning the hand
wheel of the screw in the proper direction the said screw retires from
the die s, and the two dies r, 8, open by the operation of the weighted
lever wand gearing t, u. The solid junction piece is now placed between
the open dies, which are then closed, and the said junction piece gripped
firmly between them by turning the hand wheel of the screw v. One

page_text: pair of the branches of the blank or solid junction piece is thus fixed
horizontally in the holding dies, their axis being exactly in a line with
the axis of the drill m; and the other pair of branches of the junction
piece is fixed vertically. On advancing the rotating drill m by turning
the hand wheel of the screw p³ a clear passage or opening is drilled
through the branches of the junction piece opposite the said drill. The
drill m being withdrawn from the junction piece, the said junction piece
is released from the holding dies and turned so as to bring the branches
which were previously vertical into a horizontal position. The holding
dies being closed the other pair of branches of the junction piece is
brought into a line with the drill and drilled in the manner before
described, and a partly made junction piece of the kind represented in
Figure 8 is produced. The cross junction piece or fitting thus made is
finished by being faced and wormed with an internal screw in the
ordinary way.
In making T fittings or junction pieces, as represented in Figure 13,
and elbows as represented in Figure 14, I substitute for the dies and
tools represented in Figures 2, 4, and 5, and the holding dies of the
drilling machine, other dies and, tools having the shape of the junction
pieces to be manufactured.
Although I have represented in the accompanying Drawings the tools
and apparatus which I prefer to employ in carrying my Invention into
effect, and which I have found to answer well in practice, yet I wish it to
be understood that I do not limit myself thereto, as other tools and
appliances for effecting the same objects may be employed.
By making junction pieces or fittings according to my Invention
they are perfectly sound at the angle, and in consequence of the
substance of metal left at the said angle they are not liable to the
leakage or escape of gas, steam, or water, at the angle, to which
junction pieces or fittings made on mandrils in the ordinary way are
liable.
Junction pieces or fittings are made more economically by the use of
my Invention than by the ordinary process.
Having now described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise details herein described and illustrated, as
the same may be varied without departing from the nature of my

page_text: Invention. But I claim as my Invention the improvements in the
manufacture of wrought-iron fittings or junction fittings for gas, steam,
and water pipes, herein-before described, and illustrated in the accom-
panying Drawings, that is to say, manufacturing the said fittings or
junction pieces commonly called elbows, crosses, and T pieces, by
shaping or fashioning in a pair of dies or tools a solid piece or blank of
wrought iron having the external figure of the fitting to be made, next
clearing the solid piece or blank of its attaching web or fin and
afterwards forming the required openings or passages in the solid
blank or fitting by drilling, substantially as described and illustrated,
the partly made fitting or junction piece being finished in the ordinary
way.
In witness whereof, I, the said Job Edwards, have hereunto set
my hand and seal, this Fourteenth day of February, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-three.
Witness,
FRANCIS LEES,
Junction Works,
Wednesbury.
JOB EDWARDS. (L.S.)