Improved Methods of Welding, Shaping, and otherwise Working Metals.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 20th Sept., 1889
Complete Specification Left, 18th June, 1890-Accepied, 30th Aug., 1890
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by Professor ELIHU THOMSON, of Lynn, Massachusetts,
United States of America, Electrical Engineer.]
Improved Methods of Welding, Shaping, and otherwise Working
Metals.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co. Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings, in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of this
invention to be as follows:-
This invention is designed to provide for welding or joining, shaping and otherwise
working metals by the aid of electricity, and comprises apparatus for use in such
operations.
In the specification of former Letters Patent dated 10th August A.D. 1886 No..10,241,
there is described a method or process of welding bars, wires, tubes or other pieces of
metal by the aid of electricity. In the welding of metals by this method or process,
it has been customary to apply the required pressure for uniting the parts, simul-
taneously with the application of heat thereto, or in other words to effect the welding
while the work is in the furnace. Now according to the present invention, the welding
or forging is effected after the work has been removed from the furnace or when it is
no longer subjected to the action of the electric current, that is to say, the electric
current is first caused to flow until the pieces of metal to be united are brought to a
welding or working heat, and the pressure for welding or forging is then applied by
subjecting the said pieces of metal, either in the same or another machine, to the action
of hammers, rolls, dies or other suitable devices.
It is
My present invention is found to be very advantageous for lap-welding,
however, applicable for other kinds of welding and also for forging or otherwise
working metals.
According to one method of carrying my said invention into practice I proceed as
follows iz. I employ, for heating the metals, a machine such as that described in
the said former specification comprising clamps which are movable toward and away
from each other and are connected with a source of electricity. The piece or pieces
of metal to be welded or otherwise worked are secured in these clamps, which are, if
necessary, so adjusted as to bring together the surfaces to be united, but without
pressure other than that required to ensure the necessary contact between the said
surfaces to permit the flow of the electric current. The clamps being movable towards
and away from each other, the fluxing of the surfaces to be welded is facilitated and
I am enabled to increase or diminish the extent of contact between the metal pieces
as may be required.
When the piece or pieces of metal have been brought to a working heat at the part
or parts to be united or otherwise worked, I remove them from the machine, retaining
them in approximately their correct relative position by clamps or otherwise. The
heating of the two surfaces in contact will, in some cases, cause adhesion of the parts
or produce an incipient weld which will be sufficient. to hold the parts together
without the aid of clamps or other devices. Or they may be removed separately and
placed together in the welding or forging machine. The fluxes may be applied in
any convenient manner.
I then subject the pieces of metal or the parts thereof to be welded or forged, to
the action of a hammer or of suitable rolls, dies or other devices which can be adjusted
towards and away from the surfaces of the metal and can be forcibly pressed against
the said surfaces.
For welding plates and similar pieces of metal, I provide a machine comprising a
strong shaft which is fitted to rotate in suitable bearings fitted to slide in the frame

page_text: of the machine and provided with means for adjusting them to move the said shaft
towards and away from the work. This shaft carries a series of rolls the axes of which
are parallel to that of the said shaft. Beneath the said shaft is arranged a table or
carriage for supporting the work, which table or carriage should be capable of recipro-
cating motion through a distance equal or about equal to the width of the surfaces to
be united. Suitable means are provided for rotating the said shaft, which is so adjusted
that, in its rotation, the rolls will be brought successively in contact with the upper
plate or other piece of metal and will be caused to exort great pressure thereon. As
the welding, or forging proceeds, the said shaft carrying the rolls is to be moved
toward the work by the devices provided for this purpose. If desired, another
set of rolls is substituted for, or used in addition to the said table or carriage.
I sometimes provide a machine which is so constructed that the pieces to be welded
will be moved longitudinally between suitable rolls.
I prefer to so arrange the rolls or other pressing devices that they will act upon
the metal in a direction at right angles or nearly at right angles to the surfaces to be
united.
In operating upon U-shaped tires, tubes, rings and the like, I insert a suitable
mandrel or other device for retaining the correct internal shape of the piece while it
is being worked.
The electric current is generally caused to flow through the part or parts to be heated.
In some instances, however, I provide for the transmission of the heat to one or more
of the parts by conduction."
Dated this 20th
Soniam 1480
',
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improved Methods of Welding, Shaping, and otherwise Working
Metals.
I, WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine, Lake & Co., Patent. Agents,
45 Southampion Buildings in the County of Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to metal working operations in which electricity is employed
as the heating agent for bringing the metal that is to be welded or joined, or is to
be shaped or otherwise treated, to the desired working temperature..
The invention relates particularly however to the operation of joining two metal
pieces by welding, and is especially applicable to lap welding or to welding processes
wherein the pressure which unites the pieces is applied in a line transverse to the
general plane in which the pieces to be joined lie.
In the method or process of welding by electricity, as ordinarily practised prior
to this invention, the pressure, hammering or other uniting force has been applied
simultaneously with the application of the heating electric current designed to bring
the work to the proper plastic condition.
According to the present invention however, the welding forging or shaping is
effected after the work has been brought to the proper condition by the action of
the current that is to say, the electric current is first caused to flow until the pieces
of metal to be united are brought to the desired welding or working temperature
after which the current is withdrawn and the pressure for welding, forging or other
operation is then applied by subjecting the work either in the same or another
apparatus to the action of haminers rolls, dies or other suitable devices.
In the accompanying drawings
Figure 1 is a side elevation of the apparatus that may be used for holding the work
⚫to be heated.
Figure 2 is an edge view of the same.

page_text: Figures 3, 4 and 5 illustrate various stages of the operation in butt welding.
Figures 6 and 7 illustrate lap welding.
Figures 8, 9 and 10 show apparatus for applying pressure to the work by means
of rolls or dies in welding or other opérations.
Figures 11 and 12 show other ways of applying rolls.
Figure 13 is an edge view and
Figure 14 is a side view of rolls applied in forming and welding U-shaped tires,
rings or other objects.
Referring to Figure 1 C, C are suitable clamps or holders by which the piece or
pieces of metal to be heated may be secured. These clamps or holders are connected
by cables A, B, or in other ways, with a suitable source of electricity of large
volume but low electro motive force, as described in the Specification of former
British Letters Patent dated the 10th of August A.D. 1886 No. 10,241. The clamps
are insulated from one another and supported upon a suitable bed D. One of them
as C is provided with a pressure screw E by which it may be slid towards the
opposite clamp or holder.
FF indicate the two pieces of metal to be welded together by butt welding.
The clamp jaws of the apparatus may be constructed as shown more fully in edge
view Figure 2. G is the clamp jaw the tail-of which is engaged by a screw G³,
which inay be worked up and down by means of a nut G³ resting on a suitable
bed G. By turning the nut the clamp jaw may be forced down upon the work, to
hold it squarely upon the clamp bed.
According to one method of practising the present invention, I proceed as follows.
The piece or pieces of metal F F are secured in the clamps and are adjusted so
that the surfaces to be united will be brought into the necessary contact to insure
the passage of the current from one to the other. The degree of contact may be
determined or varied by means of the screw E as required. The necessary contact
having been produced to allow the passage of the current the electric current is
caused to flow, thus heating the pieces FF at the point of contact and contiguous
thereto. After they have been brought to the working heat at this point, the current
is cut off in any desired way. After cutting the current off and while the pieces
retain their desired temperature, the pressure is applied to unite them. This welding
pressure may be applied by means of the screw E, the pieces retaining their position
in the clamps, or the pieces are removed from the clamps and during transportation
to another position or to another apparatus are caused to retain approximately their
correct relative position.
In some cases the heating of the parts would cause a slight adhesion or produce
an incipient weld which will be sufficient to hold them together during transportation,
but I prefer to employ a supplemental holder or clamp, such as indicated at H
which is in the form of a yoke made in two parts insulated from one another prefer-
ably as at H2 and provided with an eye HS by which the yoke may be lifted with
the yoke in place. The lower ends of the yoke at H have suitable clamping devices
or screws by which the pieces F F may be fastened to the yoke and held during
transportation.
Figure 3 illustrates the work as beld by the yoke or support H H during trans-
portation-after it has been taken out hot from the apparatus Figure 1.
In Figure 4 one way of applying the pressure or force that will unite the parts by
a butt weld is shown. Here i slow a hammer I as employed for forcing the part F
against the part F the latter resting in the meantime upon the bed I. In this case
it is obvious that the part F must be permitted to slide in the holder or yoke H.
Figure 5 illustrates the complete butt weld.
and
Figures 6 and 7 illustrate the application of the process to the formation of lap
welds. Here the parts F, F¹, are scarfed when put into the holders C, C,
while resting in good contact at their scarfed ends are heated at such point by the
passage of an electric current, as before described, until they have obtained the
proper welding temperature. The current having been removed either by caiting off
the flow of current to the holders 0, 0, or by detaching the pieces F, F, from the

page_text: clamps or holders C, C, the said pieces are placed in position on an anvil I,
Figure 7, and are hammered or otherwise worked in order to weld them together.
Figures 8 and 9, show in edge view and side view a set of rolls that may be
employed for imparting the desired pressure to effect a union of the pieces after the
same have been heated to the desired plasticity by the current. As before described
the pieces F, F, are first heated to the desired plasticity and then after the removal
of the heating current are subjected to the action of the rolls, dies or other devices
for applying the pressure. In Figures 8 and 9, two rolls K, K, are shown for
applying the pressure. They are geared together as is usual with metal rolls and the
upper roll is preferably mounted in bearings which have a movement up and down
in the frame adjusted, however, by means of suitable screws so that as the work is
reduced the rolls may be adjusted nearer together. The pieces F, F', are in this
case fed in sidewise between the rolls, and the joint between them may be either a
butt joint or a scarfed or lap joint.
In Figure 10, the pieces to be, welded are fed in lengthwise under a roll K, and
are supported upon a table K³. which moves on rolls or bearings K. The roll K,
is adjusted up and down in a frame to suit various sizes of work and to adjust or
vary the pressure applied. When the apparatus Figure 10 is employed, the
work F, F, is first placed in suitable clamps or holders through which current may
be passed into the work and across the joint to heat the joint to the desired plasticity.
The pieces F, F, are then removed and placed upon a table K³, which is fed beneath
the roll K, to effect the weld. As is obvious, the same operation might be resorted to
if the rollers were formed on their surfaces to act as dies or forming rolls. In such
case it is obvious that the work might consist of a continuous piece of material to
which a particular shape is to be imparted, or the forming operation might be
simultaneous with a welding operation wherein two pieces are to be joined together.
In Figure 11, I have shown the combination of pressure applied in a line trans-
verse to the general plane that the pieces occupy an end pressure applied to the said
pieces at the same time. Here the rolls act as before described after the work has
The end pressure is
been heated to the desired plasticity by the electric current.
applied by means of a follower M, which is carried by a rack M, driven by a cog
wheel. M. The end pressure so applied serves also to feed the work in between the
rolls K, K².
The same device might be applied as indicated in figure 12, to the lap welding of
pieces F, F, previously heated in an apparatus such as shown in Figure 1, or in any
other desired apparatus for feeding currents into the pieces said pieces being
transported in proper relative position after heating to the rollers for applying the
pressure.
In Figures 13 and 14, O is a U-shaped ring and the devices for applying the
proper pressure for welding or forming after the ring has been subjected to the
heating electric current are indicated at P, P2, P3. The roll P³, is a mandrel roll. of
the proper form for giving the correct internal shape to the ring O, and the
rolls P, P, press upon the exterior and are properly shaped at their edge as indicated.
R, indicates the point where the weld or junction is to be formed which part is heated
by the application of the electric current supplied to the ring through suitable clamps
and flexible conductors and caused to pass across the point R, until the proper
welding temperature is attained, after which the clamps are removed and the ring is
fed around through the rolls to effect the union by the laterally applied pressure of
such rollers.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated. to me by
my foreign Correspondent I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The herein described method or process of welding or shaping metals by the
agency of electricity and pressure applied through rolls, hammers or other devices,
consisting in first heating the part of the metal to be operated upon to the proper
working temperature by passing an electric current through such part and then,

page_text: after the removal of the current, subjecting such part to the action of rolls, hammers,
dies or other devices.
Second. The herein described method or process of forming a weld between two
pieces of metal, consisting in placing the pieces in electrical contact at the point of
proposed union, passing an electric current across the point of union until the pieces
are heated to the desired plasticity, cutting off the electric current, and then forcing
the pieces together by end pressure.
Third. The herein described method or process of electric welding, consisting in
placing the pieces to be welded in contact with one another, passing an electric
current from one to the other across the line of contact while they remain in contact.
or connection until they are heated to the proper working temperature, and then
applying the pressure for welding by subjecting the pieces at the point of contact and
either in the same or another apparatus to the action of hammers, rolls dies or other
suitable devices applied in a general direction transverse to the plane in which the
pieces lie as and for the purpose described.
Dated this 18th day of June 1890.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.