Machinery for the Manufacture thereof.
Year: 1888

page_text: Date of Application, 17th Jan., 1888
Specification Accepted, 20th Apr., 1888
Machinery for the Manufacture thereof.
I, HOMAN PRICE FENBY, of the Manor House, Farnley near Leeds, in the County
of York, engineer, 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 :-
In a Patent applied for by me and dated 2nd day of September, A.D. 1887, and
numbered 11,899, entitled "Improvements in Boiler Flues and Fire-boxes and in the
manufacture. thereof" I describe what I consider a novel form of corrugation to be
employed in such flues or fire-boxes, by means of which an increased amount of.
strength is imparted to the structure to resist collapse. I also describe the method of
manufacture I adopt to produce such flues or fire-boxes, but I do not limit myself
to the precise form of corrugation there mentioned, as it is evident many other forms
of corrugations may be used without altering the method of manufacture there
described.
As will be seen by reference to the above mentioned Patent, I first make a plate of
metal hot in a suitable furnace and then pass it through a pair of longitudinally fluted
rolls which crimp or corrugate the plate on its passage through without in any way
stretching the metal so as to thin the corrugations.
I then bend this corrugated plate into the form of a flue or fire box by passing it
transversely to the corrugations through a pair of ordinary or special bending rolls,
such rolls having the exact form of the corrugations turned or otherwise formed in
their peripheries.
I next weld the now contiguous edges of the plate together by means of a special
power hammer and apparatus, the hammer face and anvil being provided with tools
which exactly fit the corrugations in the flue or fire box.
My next operation (if required) is to re-heat the flue so made and place it again in
the bending rolls and allow it to revolve under pressure of the rolls so as to give it a
truly cylindrical shape..
By this process of manufacture I am enabled to produce a much sounder flue or fire-

page_text: box, and if required, a deeper corrugation, than can be produced by the process of
manufacture now in use, which consists in corrugating the flue or fire-box after it has
been bent up and welded or otherwise formed into a plain tube; as the great stress
upon the metal in corrugating an already formed tube, generally tears open the weld more
or less and thins the corrugations, leading to costly and imperfect repairing afterwards.
This defect in manufacture is entirely avoided by my new and improved process and
machinery.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawings my
improved machinery and the arrangement or disposal thereof.
In the drawings Fig. 1, Sheet 1, shows the various machines and apparatus in plan.
Fig. 2, Sheet 1, shows the furnace front, platforms &c. and corrugating or crimping
rolls in side elevation. Fig. 3, Sheet 1, is a front elevation of the crimping rolls.
Figs. 1 & 2 Sheet 2, show the special bending rolls in front and end elevation.
Figs. 3 & 4, Sheet 2, show the special welding machine in sectional elevation and end
view. Figs. 1, 2 & 3, Sheet 3, show various sections of my improved forms of
corrugations. The saine reference letters refer to the same parts in all the
drawings.
Fig. 1, Sheet 1, shows in plan the general arrangement of the furnace, machinery
and adjuncts, A being a furnace of suitable size for heating the flat plates from which
the flues or fire-boxes are to be made. Opposite this furnace and about level with its
working bottom is a platform B, upon which the plates are drawn when sufficiently
hot. This platform is provided with a means (afterwards described) of ensuring the
plate always being presented quite square to the corrugating or crimping rolls C, by
which it is seized and crimped on its passage through. The plate is supported at the
other side of the rolls on a similar platform D. The rolls C, may now be reversed
(if required) and the plate will again be deposited upon the platform B, in such a
position that it may be returned to the furnace to be further heated, or it may be
pushed or pulled off the platform B, on to the guide rails 1, 1, 1, 1, which are so spaced
apart as to agree with the pitch of the corrugations in the plate.
The object of these guide rails is that the plate shall always be presented with its
corrugations at right angles to the axes of the bending rolls F.
These bending rolls I prefer to place as shown in the drawing with their axes at
right angles to the corrugating or crimping rolls C. For moving the plate from off
the platform B, on to the said guide rails I use a similar means to that used in
connection with the said platform B, for presenting the plates square to the corrugating
or crimping rolls C, or the plate may be pushed forward with hand bars. The plate
is next seized by the bending rolls F, and bent up to the required form of fluo, and
so as to have either a lap or butt joint for the after operation of welding. I prefer a
lap joint. These bending rolls F, may be of an ordinary construction such as are used
in boiler shops, or they may by preference, be special, as hereinafter described and
shewn in the drawings Figs. 1 & 2, Sheet 2, or equivalent thereto.
The welding of the flues or fire-boxes is performed in a machine of special
construction hereinafter described and fully illustrated on Sheet 2, of the drawings.
I will now describe in detail with reference to the drawings the several machines
and apparatus used in the above described process of manufacture.
The furnace may be of a usual type, such as, for example, is used for re-heating
boiler front plates, and therefore need not be described further than that it is provided
with doors back and front, so that plates may be put in at the back, and when ready,
drawn out at the front.
A plate being at the correct heat in the furnace, it is drawn out by means of the
hooks g, g, (Figs. 1 & 2, Sheet 1) and chains h, h, and windlass G, over the idle
roller H, upon the platform B, in the direction of the arrow, and forward to the
crimping rolls C, which immediately seize it and crimp or corrugate it on its passage
through. The plate is then delivered on to the second platform D. The rolls are
now reversed so as to draw the plate in the direction of the arrow &, and more
pressure put upon the plate by means of the screws I, I, and handles J, J, so as to give the
corrugations their final depth. The plate having returned through the rolls, rests upon the

page_text: platform B, and may be returned to the furnace if necessary, or it may be passed
forward to the bending rolls to be bent into the form of the finished fluc or fire-box.
To effect this the plate is drawn endwise in the direction of the arrow ẞ, upon the
guide rails 1, 1, 1, 1, by similar hooks ii, chains j, j, and windlass J', in connection with
the bending rolls F, Fig. 1, Sheet 1. In these rolls (which are hereinafter described)
the plate is bent into the form of the finished flue or fire-box, the edges being
either lapped or butted together, as may be desired for the after process of welding or
rivetting.
The corrugating or crimping rolls C, C, Figs. 2 & 3, Sheet 1, are suitably mounted
in housings and are geared together by pinions k, k, and have the desired form of
corrugations running longitudinally along their peripheries, the projections on the one
roll being opposite the recesses of the other. The driving power is communicated
through the shaft and coupling L, direct to the bottom roll by preference, though the
top roll may be the driver.
The operation of bending may be performed as before mentioned by ordinary
bending rolls having the form of the corrugations in the plate turned in their
peripheries, but I prefer to use my improved rolls which I will now describe.
In Figs. 1 & 2, Sheet 2, these rolls are shown in end and front elevation, and in plan
Fig. 1, Sheet 1. The rolls are three in number, two being placed at the top and one
at the bottom, the centres of the three rolls forming an equilateral triangle or nearly
so.. The two top rolls have trunnions m, m, carried in axle-boxes n, n, which are
capable of vertical movement in the housings M, M, by means of the screws o, o, and
bevil or mitre wheels and cross coupling shaft p, and hand wheel 9. The trunnions at
one end of these two top rolls are continued out so as to carry the pinions ", ", which
both gear into a pinions, upon the bottom roll shaft, when the rolls are down in their
working position. In order to provide a ready means of removing the bent-up flue
or fire-box from off the inside roll, or of replacing it for further rolling or bending, I
adopt what I believe to be an entirely novel plan in such machinery. I make the
bottom or inside roll of say double the length of the others, or in such a manner that
it is balanced or counterpoised in the swivelling bearing N, and is capable of swivelling
in a horizontal direction, so that the flue will pass on and off clear of the housing, as
indicated by the dotted line,o, o, Fig. 1, Sheet 1.
I prefer the outer trunnion of this roll to carry its own bearing with it, as shewn in
Figs. 1 & 2, Sheet 2, the exterior of such bearing being of a square form, so that it
readily finds its proper support and position upon the ledge P, when closed for work,
a pin or other device sufficing to keep it in place.
At the counterpoise end of the roll shaft I form a gudgeon or driving piece Q,
which will pass in and out of the forked end of the main driver R, when the slot or
fork is in, or nearly in, a horizontal position.
The main driver R, may be stopped at or about this horizontal position without
difficulty, and may receive its motion in any ordinary manner.
A flue being brought upon a truck in a hot state for the purpose of finally rounding
up, is threaded upon the bottom roll endwise, and the roll is immediately swung to
its place, the outer trunnion with its bearing resting upon the support P, and the
driving gudgeon Q, engaging in the driving fork of the shaft R. The top rolls are
then brought down to give the requisite pressure upon the flue or fire-box, and the
operation of rolling commences.
A modification of this machine, but embodying the system of the balanced swivelling
roll, will do equally well for corrugating plain tubes in the usual manner, and for
such purpose I consider it to be entirely novel.
I wish it to be understood that I do not bind myself to the exact details of
construction of my improved bending rolls as described and shown in the drawings,
as it is evident these may be varied, though still maintaining the system of the
balanced swivelling roll, or swivelling roll.
My improved welding machine as shown in Figs. 3 & 4, Sheet 2, consists of an
anvil S, placed in a pit on a suitable foundation and arranged to receive the necessary
tools or dies in its top surface. -I prefer to make this anvil double ended so that both

page_text: ends may be used for welding, or one end for welding, and the other for blocking, &c,
as may be advisable. The flue is held and manipulated by means of a "porter bar" t,
of the usual description, resting in a sling chain u, which can readily be adjusted to
various heights by pulley blocks, crane or other device. At the end of the anvil is an
automatic power hammer worked by steam, air, gas or other active agent, or
mechanical means, capable of striking rapid blows in succession automatically or by
hand.
The hammer head is provided with a tool v, or tools corresponding exactly to the
form of corrugation to be welded. The anvil has also a similar form of tool or tools
to exactly fit the corrugation in the interior of the flue.
In the pit below the hammer head is a furnace box T, trunnioned on the blast
pipes w, w, these pipes being connected to the main blast pipe U, which rests at cach
end in the wall bearings, and can be rocked by means of the handle y, so as to
elevate or depress the furnace-box T. This furnace-box with its weight of fire bricks
or refractory lining is balanced or counterpoised by the weight V, so as to be easily
under the control of the operator.
It will be seen by reference to Fig. 4, that the blast (if ordinary fuel is used)
passes from the main blast pipe U¹, into the rocking pipe U, and thence along the two
pipes,, and into the wind chambers Z, Z, entering the fire near the bottom as
indicated by the arrows. The bottom of this furnace-box is fitted with a door or slide
by which used or dirty fuel can be allowed to fall clear away, when fresh fuel may be
fed in at the top.
'
I prefer the balance weight or counterpoise to be heavier than the furnace box, so
that the fire shall always keep up in contact with the flue, and to have a catch for
the handle y, to hold the furnace box down in the bottom of the pit when not
required.
The reverse of this arrangement however may be used. Instead of ordinary fuel, I
can use a mixture of compressed air and gas, or vapourized oil, or other suitable
ingredient without altering the general arrangement.
In welding a flue or fire box, the now open seam is turned to the under side, and
the operator having raised the fire up into contact with the part to be re-heated,
leaves it so until a sufficient heat is obtained. He immediately then throws his fire
down by means of the handle y, and spins the flue half round in the sling chain u,
bringing the part to be welded under the hammer. The hammer is now started by
the attendant and strikes rapidly upon the part to be welded, the operator being able
to turn the flue round by means of the cross handle Y, the flue being balanced or
nearly so by the adjustable weight X, on the end of the "porter bar" t." In finishing,
the hammer can be worked singly by hand.
Although I have shown the machinery and plant in what I consider the best
disposition, I do not bind myself to this precise arrangement, as for example, each
machine may be worked separately and independently of the others if so desired,
without departing essentially from the system of manufacture above described.
Figs. 1, 2 & 3, Sheet 3, show full size my improved serrated section of corrugation
for boiler flues and fire boxes, the angular dotted lines indicating the amount of
rounding off top and bottom of the Vee section previously described.
To avoid changing the rolls, to suit various lengths of flues with plain ends, I prefer
to corrugate each flue for its whole length and afterwards flatten one or more
corrugations at each end during the operation of "blocking." I am thus able to
make all lengths and diameters of flues and fire-boxes with the same rolls, in both the
crimping and bending machines without changing.
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. Giving to flues and fire-boxes of boilers corrugations of a serrated section
substantially as described and shown in Sheet 3 of the drawings.

page_text: flue,) by means of the corrugating or crimping rolls substantially as described and
shown in the accompanying drawings.
3.—The corrugating or crimping rolls with their platforms, means of presenting the
plates square to the rolls &c., for the purpose set forth and described and as shown in
the accompanying drawings.
4. The special bending rolls with the balanced swivelling roll or swivelling roll,
guide rails, windlass &c., for the purpose set forth and as described and shown in the
accompanying drawings.
5. A corrugating mill for corrugating cylindrical flues or fire-boxes of boilers
provided with suitable corrugating rolls, one of such rolls being capable of being
turned or swivelled to an angle to allow of the flue or fire-box being placed in and
removed from the mill as set forth and described.
6. The forked coupling and gudgeon Q, or their mechanical equivalent for driving
the swivelling roll in bending rolls or corrugating mill as described and shown in the
drawings.
7. The special welding machine or apparatus for the manufacture of corrugated
flues and fire-boxes, with its lifting and lowering gas, fuel or other fire, moving blast
pipes, hammer, anvil &c., substantially as described and shown in the accompanying
drawings.
8. The manufacture of corrugated flues and fire-boxes for boilers by a system
of machinery substantially as described, and as illustrated by the accompanying
drawings.