Ix- PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON TUBES AND GUN BARRELS
Year: 1869

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Francis Henry Lloyd, of Wednesbury, in the
County of Stafford, Manager of Works, for the Invention of "Ix-
PROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON TUBES AND GUN
BARRELS."
Sealed the 2nd October 1869, and dated the 26th May 1869..
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Francis Henry Lloyd
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 26th May 1869.
I, FRANCIS HENRY LLOYD, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford,
Manager of Works, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STEEL AND IRON TUBES AND GUN
BARRELS," to be as follows:-
My Invention consists in manufacturing tubes and gun barrels of
steel or of iron by the process or the combination of processes herein-
after described.

page_text: My Invention is applicable to the manufacture of tubes and gua
barrels from ordinary cast steel, or from Bessemer steel, or homogeneous
iron, or from other kinds of iron or steel which can be cast and
rolled.
"
I will describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture of tubes
from Bessemer steel. I first form a hollow cone or ingot by the process
of casting, the casting being effected in a mould, the top and bottom of
which are closed, with the exception of a hole in each situated axially,
and of a size proper to receive a core of cast or wrought iron or steel.
The said core is a smooth conical bar, having sufficient taper to allow of
the requisite amount of contraction in the casting. The outside of the
mould is made of a conical tube of cast iron, either in one, two, or
more parts. The steel is cast through a gate or runner at or near
the bottom of the mould, and in connection with a second mould or
receptacle containing the molten steel, from which the said gate or
runner is fed. After the mould is full the core is released by being
driven downwards by a blow from a. hammer or otherwise, thus leaving
the hollow cone or ingot free to contract as it cools. The outer part of
the mould is removed from the ingot, and the said ingot is reduced in
diameter by rolling or forging with or without a mandril. The hole in
the ingot is contracted as the diameter of the said ingot is reduced, and
allowance is made for this contraction in the size of the core fixed in
the axis of the mould. Thus if a hollow cylinder is required having a
hole two inches in diameter the casting is made with a hole about four
inches in diameter. The casting is reduced in diameter by rolling until
the hole is somewhat less than two inches in diameter. The rolled ingot
is sawn into pieces of the required length, and these pieces are then
bored exactly to two inches internal diameter, thus securing the con-
centricity of the inner and outer surfaces. The hollow piece is now
further reduced in thickness by rolling on mandrils, and is finished by
the cold drawing process with hydraulic machinery. Instead of making
the ingot of a conical figure it may be made cylindrical. In this case
I make the mould and core cylindrical. In order to enable the core lo
leave the casting 1 make it in two or more pieces so arranged that
the removal of one of the said pieces allows the core readily to leave the
casting.
The essence of my Invention consists in manufacturing steel or iron
tubes by casting hollow conical or cylindrical ingots subgommantly in

page_text: the process of manufacture boring such ingots in order to secure
centricity, and finally finishing the tube by the cold drawing process
with hydraulic machinery.
My Invention may also be applied to the manufacture of gun barrels,
but for this purpose the pieces when cast and bored are finished by taper
rolling in the usual manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Francis Henry Lloyd in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 22nd November 1869.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, FRANCIS
HENRY LLOYD, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, Manager of
Works, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twenty-sixth day of May, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-nine, in the thirty-
second year of Her reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said Francis Henry Lloyd, Her special licence
that I, the said Francis Henry Lloyd, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as 1, the said Francis Henry Lloyd, 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, use, exercise, and
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 STEEL AND IRON TUBES AND GUN BARRELS," upon
the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Francis Henry Lloyd,
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 Francis Henry Lloyd, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same.

page_text: is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement thereof, that is to say:
My Invention consists in manufacturing tubes and gun barrels of
steel or of iron by the process or the combination of processes herein-
after described.
My Invention is applicable to the manufacture of tubes and gun
barrels from ordinary cast steel, or from Bessemer steel, or homogeneous
iron, or from other kinds of iron or steel which can be cast and rolled.
I will describe my Invention as applied to the manufacture of tubes
from Bessemer steel. 1 first form a hollow conical ingot by the process
of casting, the casting being effected in a mould the top and bottom
of which are closed with the exception of a hole in each situated axially
and of a size proper to receive a core of cast or wrought iron or steel.
The said core is a smooth conical bar having suflicient taper to allow of
the requisite amount of contraction in the casting. The outside of
the mould is made of a conical tube of cast iron, either in one, two, or
more parts. The steel is cast through a gate or runner at or near the
bottom of the mould, and in connection with a second mould or recep-
tacle containing the molten steel from which the said gate or runner
is fed. After the mould is full the core is released by being driven
downwards by a blow from a hammer or otherwise, thus leaving the
hollow conical ingot free to contract as it cools.
mould is removed from the ingot, and the said
"
29
The outer part of the
ingot is reduced in
diameter by rolling or forging with or without a mandril. The hole
in the ingot is contracted as the diameter of the said ingot is reduced,
and allowance is made for this contraction in the size of the core fixed
in the axis of the mould. The rolled ingot is sawn into pieces of the
required length, and these pieces are then bored. The tube mould"
thus produced is now further reduced in thickness by rolling on mandrils,
and may be finished by the cold drawing process with hydraulic
machinery, or through dies as practised in the manufacture of brass
tubes. In manufacturing gun barrels the pieces when cast and bored
are finished by taper rolling in the usual manner.
1 will now proceed to describe more in detail the method of manu-
facture which adopt. 1 first cast hollow ingots of iron or steel.
The
ingot mould in which I cast the said hollow ingots is slightly conical
and fits into a circular depression in a base plate. The said ingot
mould is fed from an adjacent mould or receptacle through a fire-brick

page_text: channel. A core of iron or steel having the same degree of taper as
the ingot mould is fitted in a hole in the base plate, the narrow end
fitting in a hole in the top of the mould. The upper and lower ends
of the core accurately fit the holes in the top of the mould and the
base plate respectively, and the said core is thereby supported accurately
in the axis of the mould. Two, three, or more of the said ingot moulds
may be arranged around the said central mould or receptacle upon the
same base plate. In using the ingot mould the melted iron or steel
is poured into the central mould or receptacle, from which it passes
by the channel described to the ingot mould, the metal gradually rising
from the bottom to the top of the said ingot mould.
The gaseous
matter contained in the mould escapes by a small hole made in the
top of the mould for that purpose, or escapes between the core and the
hole in the top of the mould in which the core fits. When the mould
or receptacle is filled with molten iron or steel, and the iron or steel
in the ingot mould has set about the core, the said core is released
from the casting by heing struck on its upper end by a hammer. The
releasing of the core from the casting requires to be done immediately
the metal has set, otherwise the contraction of the metal upon the core
renders it difficult or impossible to liberate the said core. The core
having been driven down the metal is at liberty freely to contract in
cooling, and no strain or tension is produced in tlie cast hollow ingot.
When the hollow ingot is sufficiently cooled the ingot mould is lifted
from off the casting, and the said hollow ingot is then lifted from the
base plate and core. The said ingot is now rolled for the purpose of
consolidating the metal and reducing the diameter of the ingot. The
rolled ingot where necessary is next sawn into convenient lengths. By
the reduction of diameter of the ingot the honeycomb or cellular
internal surface is concentrated into a smaller diameter, and by the
process of boring the whole of the cellular or defective metal is removed
and the hollow ingot is thus made free from flaws and its inner and
outer surfaces are made concentric. Where from the soundness of
the casting the removal of the inner surface of the ingot is unnecessary
the rolling and boring last described may be dispensed with. By the
treatment described a tube "mould " is produced, which may be rolled
into a tube on a mandril between grooved rolls. Or where thin tubes
are required I prefer to finish tubes made in the manner described by
a cold drawing process, the drawing being effected either by hydraulic

page_text: machinery or in an ordinary draw bench. For many purposes, however,
the tubes are sufficiently finished by the rolling 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
1 do not limit myself to the precise details herein described, as the
same may be varied without departing from the nature of my Invention;
but I claim as my Invention of improvements in the manufacture of
steel and iron tubes and gun barrels, the manufacture of the said tubes
and gun barrels by the process or combination of processes herein-before
described, that is to say, by casting hollow conical ingots of iron or
steel, reducing the said ingots by rolling, boring, and subsequently
rolling the said ingots, and where necessary finishing the tube so made
by a drawing process effected by the use of hydraulic machinery or by
the ordinary drawing machinery.
In witness whereof, I, the said Francis Henry Lloyd, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twentieth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-
nine
Witness,
WM. H. LLOYD,
Wood Green.
Wednesbury.
FRANCIS HENRY LLOYD. (1.S.)