Improvements in or Additions to Machinery for the Manufacture of Metallic Tubes.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 13th Oct., 1893-Accepted, 18th Nov., 1893
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in or Additions to Machinery for the Manufacture of
Metallic Tubes.
We WILLIAM ALLMAN of the Firm of Cope, Allman and Company of Unity
Tube Works Icknield Square Birmingham, in the County of Warwick Tube
Manufacturers and ELI DEELEY of No. 39 Johnstone Street, Ladywood,
Birmingham aforesaid, Tube Roller do hereby declare the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
The said invention consists of the addition to or combination with a pair of rolls
or with two or more pairs of rolls used in the manufacture of metallic tubes of an
adjustable guide, constructed arranged and used substantially as hereinafter
described for guiding the strip of iron or other metal, such as brass or copper, to
and partly shaping the said strip before it enters the single pair of rolls and for
guiding the partly made tube from the troughing or first pair of rolls to the back
or fiuishing pair of rolls or pairs of rolls, when more than one pair of rolls
is used.
The improved guides are specially applicable to machinery for making at one
heat close joint iron tubes (that is, tubes the edges of which abut closely against
one another but are unwelded) from a heated strip of iron according to the process
patented by Eli Deeley one of the present applicants on the Second day of January
1884-No. 297, but the said guides may be combined with machinery for making
other kinds of tubes, such for example as iron or brass tubes shaped to special
sections and having either open or close joints.
The adjustable guide constructed according to the said invention used with a
machine consisting essentially of a single pair of rolls having semi-circular grooves
for making cylindrical tubes is made in two symmetrical longitudinal balves fitted
in and supported by a rectangular frame fixed to the housings of the rolls. By
means of set screws acting upon the said halves of the guide the latter can be set
or adjusted at the required angle or at the required distance apart and fixed to the
carrying frame to compensate for wear and to fit the guide for the manufacture of
tubes of different sizes. The nose of the guide is made of a V figure externally to
fit closely against the peripheries of the rolls, and the said nose is conical internally
for troughing the heated strip before it enters the rolls. The mouth of the guide
has a figure proper to receive the flat heated strip.
In constructing an adjustable guide to be fitted between pairs of rolls, it is made
in two halves as described with respect to the guide for the single pair of rolls, but
both ends are shaped to fit close against both pairs of rolls, one half of the guide
being provided with a taper opening or passage through which the troughed strip
passes on its way to the finishing rolls or pairs of rolls as hereinafter particularly
explained.
We will now describe with reference to the accompanying drawings the manner
in which the said invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation; Figure 2 in cross section; Figure 3 in
front elevation; Figure 4 in plan and Figure 5 in horizontal section, through the
guide, machinery for the manufacture of cylindrical tubes, consisting essentially of
a single pair of rolls, to which machinery an adjustable guide constructed according
to this invention is applied;
Figure 6 represents in section and Figure 7 in plan a portion of the rolls and the
guide drawn to a larger scale;
Figure 8 represents a front elevation of the guide and its supporting frame and

page_text: Figure 9 represents a horizontal section of the guide, the said Figures 8 and 9 being
drawn to the same scale as Figures 6 and 7.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several figures of the
drawings.
a, bare the grooved rolls turning in the housings c, c in the usual way, the grooves
in the said rolls having a semi-circular figure; d, d are the symmetrical longitudinal
halves of the guide and e is the supporting frame for the guide, the said frame being
fixed between the housings by the wedge cotter f (see Figure 3). By the removal
of the wedge cotter f the said frame together with the guide can be withdrawn from
the rolls. The said halves d, d of the guide rest upon the bottom bar of the frame e
the flanges of the said halves bearing against the outside of the said frame as
represented, and the said halves are fixed to the frame by the set screw pins g, g
passed through holes in the upper bar of the frame and bearing upon the said
halves. The distance apart and inclination of the halves of the guide are set or
adjusted by means of the side set screw pins h, h bearing against the half guides
near their nose ends. When pressure is put upon the halves of the guide by the
side set screw pins h, h for adjusting their distance apart, the said halves turn
horizontally upon the top set screw pins g, g as centres so that the nose ends of the
said halves can by a horizontal motion be adjusted the required distance from one
another to suit the tube being made and on the wear of the nose end of the guide
the two parts can be closed upon one another.
It will be seen by an examination of the drawing that the nose end of the guide
bears closely against the peripheries of the pair of rolls a, b and that the interior
of the said nose end is made conical (see Figures 2, 5 and 9) for troughing the
heated strip before it enters the rolls. The mouth or front end of the guide it
will also be seen is expanded to receive the flat heated strip to be made into
a tube.
In making a tube by the use of the machinery and guide described and repre-
sented the end of the heated strip is first troughed as represented at i Figure 6 and
the strip introduced into the guide. As the strip is forced through the guide the
troughed end first enters between the rolls and the portion of the strip behind the
troughed part is troughed as it passes through the conical nose of the guide.
The troughed strip from the guide is bent into a cylindrical (or other shaped)
tube having a close joint by the action of the grooves of the pair of rolls as is
well understood.
By means of the holes in the top bar of the carrying frame e for the set screw
pins g, g to take into the adjustable guide can be brought and fixed opposite the
different grooves in the rolls according to the diameter of the tube to be made as
will be understood by an examination of Figures 3 and 4.
Figure 10 represents in side elevation; Figure 11 in longitudinal section ;
Figure 12 in cross section through the guide; Figure 13 in plan and Figure 14
partly in plan and partly in horizontal section (with the top rolls removed)
machinery for the manufacture of metallic tubes consisting of a pair of troughing
rolls and a pair of finishing rolls, between which pairs of rolls a guide constructed
according to this invention is applied;
Figure 15 represents in longitudinal section and Figure 16 in plan, with the top
rolls removed, a portion of the two pairs of rolls and the guide, drawn to a larger
scale;
Figure 17 represents in side elevation Figures 18 and 19 represent end elevations
and Figure 20 represents in cross section the guide detached;
Figure 21 represents a plan of underside of the top half of the guide.
The pair of troughing rolls is marked k and I and the pair of finishing rolls by
which the troughed strip is converted into a close joint cylindrical tube is
marked m, n.
The guide made in halves and situated between the two pairs of
rolls k, land m, n is marked p, y, the said guide being supported upon the frame r
fixed between the housings of the rolls. Both ends of the two parts p, 9 of the
guide are taper for fitting between the peripheries of the two pairs of rolls. The

page_text: bottom half g of the guide is flat on its underface and wider at one end than
the top half p, and the bottom of the top half p is provided with a taper groove or
opening p² through which the troughed strip from the pair of rolls k, l passes on
its way to the finishing pair of rolls m, n. The underside of the bottom half 4
of the guide is provided with a cross piece 9² for engaging with the bottom bar of
the carrying frame and the halves of the guide are provided with lugs s, s by
which the two parts are engaged together so that the top half p can take a limited
lateral or side notion in a horizontal plane upon the bottom half q. The lateral
adjustment of the upper half of the guide so that its nose, when worn, can be
reset or adjusted is effected by the side set screw pins t, t and the fixing of the top
balf p upon the bottom half is effected by the set screw pin u (see Figures 11
and 12). As the wear is principally upon the grooved top half of the guide, the
removal of the worn top half and its replacement by a new top half restores the
guide to a working condition.
Although we have described and represented the said invention as applied to
the manufacture of cylindrical close joint tubes yet it is equally applicable, as
before stated to other kinds of tubes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and the manner in which the same is to be performed we declare that
we claim as the said invention of "Improvements in or Additions to Machinery for
the Manufacture of Metallic Tubes ";-
First. The addition to or combination with the pair of rolls used for making
tubes from flat strips of iron or steel or other metals of an adjustable guide for
the purposes described, the said guide being made of two symmetrical longi-
tudinal halves supported by a frame secured between the housings of the_rolls,
the distance apart and inclination of the halves of the guide being adjusted and
fixed by set screws, the several parts being constructed arranged and used sub-
stantially as herein before described and illustrated in Figures 1 to 9 both inclusive
of the accompanying drawings.
Secondly. The addition to or combination with a pair of troughing rolls and one
or more pairs of finishing rolls used for making tubes from flat strips of iron or
steel or other metals of an adjustable guide made in longitudinal halves and
arranged between the pair of troughing rolls and the pair of finishing rolls for
guiding the troughed strip from the said troughing to the finishing rolls, the said
adjustable guide being carried by a frame secured to the housings of the rolls and
adjusted and fixed by set screws substantially as hereinbefore described and
illustrated in Figures 10 to 21 both inclusive of the accompanying drawings.
Dated the Twelfth day of October 1893.
WILLIAM ALLMAN.
ELI DEELEY.