IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL AND PLAIN METALLIC TUBES
Year: 1868

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by James Atkins at the Office of
the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 14th October
1868.
I, JAMES ATKINS, of the Firm of Robert Walter Winfield and
Company, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Merchants and
Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF ORNAMENTAL AND PLAIN METALLIC
TUBES," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to such metallic tubes as consist of
a foundation of iron or other metal sufficiently hard, covered or coated
with a thin tube of brass or other metal or alloy. Such tubes arc
commonly called cased tubes.
My Invention consists, firstly, in making ornamental tubes of the kind
described in the following manner :-I make the inner or foundation
tube of sheet iron or other metal by cutting out or perforating the sheet
metal before it is made into a tube with any desired ornamental pattern,
and I afterwards make the said perforated sheet metal into tubing in the
ordinary manner. I then place the tube of brass or other tube with which
the foundation tube is to be cased upon the said foundation tube and subject

page_text: the compound tube to a drawing process. By this means the brass or casing
tube is fixed upon the foundation tube, all those parts supported by the
unperforated portion of the foundation tube preserving their cylindrical
figure, while those parts of the casing tube which are over the perforations
in the foundation tube being unsupported, are depressed during the
drawing process into the said perforations. The tube so made has a
cylindrical figure with ornamental depressions corresponding to the
perforations in the foundation tube. Instead of employing a plain brass
or casing tube an ornamented easing tubo may be employed, that is, a
tube which has been covered with a small running pattern such as a
series of stars, diamonds, leaves, or other small figures. When a brass
or casing tube of this kind is drawn upon the perforated foundation tube
the pattern is destroyed during the drawing process on all those parts of
the said casing tube which are supported by the foundation tube, while
the pattern remains on all those parts over the perforations in the
foundation tube. The tube in this case has the ornamental pattern of
the original casing tube over the perforations in the foundation tube, the
other parts being truly cylindrical or without a pattern. Where only a
moderate pressure is employed the pattern is only in part effaced on the
supported parts of the casing tube. Instead of applying pressure by
means of a draw plate the requisite pressure may be given by a series of
plain rolls arranged in the way commonly employed in making orna-
mental tubes. In this case I put a covering of pitch, paper, or other
flexible or yielding material outside the casing tube. The pressure of the
rolls upon the said yielding material causes it to press the casing tube
into the perforations in the foundation tube.
I also make ornamental tubes in the following manner:-I put upon a
plain or unperforated foundation tube a pattern of wire gauze or lace or
other like material or fabric, or a pattern cut in paper or thin sheet
metal, and over this the casing tube. By the drawing or rolling process
the casing tube is pressed upon the foundation tube and the pattern
between them is produced upon the outer or casing tube. Or the
foundation tube when perforated may be made of zinc or some metal
which can be readily melted, and after the casing tube has been drawn
upon it and ornamented the zinc may be melted out and the ornamented
tube be left without internal support.
My Invention consists, secondly, of the following improvement in the
manufacture of plain cased tubes. I employ sheet iron, from which

page_text: washers or other small pieces have been punched or cut to make a
perforated foundation tube, and upon this perforated foundation tube I
place a casing tube of brass or other metal and draw it upon the said
perforated foundation tube, using only sufficient pressure to tighten the
casing tube upon the perforated foundation tube. The casing tube docs
not become forced into the perforations in the foundation tube, and a
plain cased tube results. Where a slight pattern is produced by the
casing tube sinking slightly into the perforated foundation tube the said
slight pattern may be removed by the filing process called "floating."
Instead of a plain casing tube a casing tube made of ornamented metal
may be employed, and be secured to the perforated foundation tube in
the manner last described without the production of any pattern by the
perforations in the foundation tube.