the Ends of Tubes.
Year: 1886

page_text: the Ends of Tubes.
I, JAMES RODGER THOMSON of the firm of James & George Thomson, Engineers
and Shipbuilders, Clydebank, Dumbartonshire, 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 :-
The object of my invention is to effect in a simple and expeditious manner the
expanding and staving or thickening of the ends of tubes in order mainly to
prepare the tubes for use as tube stays in the construction of steam boilers in
which the expanded tube ends are screwed into the tube plates and afterwards
expanded therein. This object I attain by the use of machinery or apparatus of
improved construction designed to effect at a single operation and under one
heating both the expanding of the tube end and the staving or thickening which
is required to compensate for the reduction in thickness due to the expansion.
The improved apparatus is adapted for expanding and staving the ends of
tubular shafts and tubes generally as well as for the specific purpose above
mentioned, is represented in end and side elevations in figures 1 and 2 of the
accompanying drawings and in part to an enlarged scale in figures 3 and 4, and it
consists, as regards the operative parts, of a pair of grasping die blocks A, B, cut to
the desired form and adapted to grip and hold the end of the tube T, and a
horizontally moving punch or die piece C,, which enters the end of the tube and
presses out or expands it while a shoulder formed on the die piece staves the tube
end to thicken it at the expanded part. The tube to be operated on is heated at
its end before placing it in the machine in which it is supported at one end in the
lower die-block B, while its opposite end rests on and bears against an adjustable
thrust block D, and a centre block E supports it at its mid length. These blocks
are carried upon a sole plate F, having formed on it a bracket or standard F¹
to which is secured the cylinder or casing of a vertically operating hydraulic ram G,
at whose lower end is fitted the gripping and holding down die block A which with
the stationary block B, serves to grip the tube end. Upon the sole F is fixed the
casing of a horizontally operating hydraulic ram H on whose outer end is fitted the
punching die C, which serves to expand and stave the tube end. A water tank I
is fitted to supply water through a pipe i for cooling the die blocks, and the usual
supply pipes and controlling valves are as shown provided in connection with the

page_text: rams G, H, The several dies and supports are removable and may be replaced by
others to suit the various sizes of tubes operated on.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed I declare that what
I claim is
(1.) The combination of parts constituting the improved machine for simul-
taneously expanding and staving the ends of tubes substantially as herein described
with reference to the drawings annexed.
(2.) In apparatus for expanding and staving tube ends the combination with
suitably formed holding die blocks for holding the tube of a punching die adapted
to enter the tube end and simultaneously expand it and stave or thicken the
expanded part, substantially as set forth.