NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC AND OTHER TUBES OR HOLLOW CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL RODS OR BARS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Arthur Clifford, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Manufacturer, for the Invention of "NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE
MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC AND OTHER TUBES OR HOLLOW CYLINDERS AND
CYLINDRICAL RODS OR BARS."
Sealed the 25th March 1879, and dated the 5th October 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Arthur Clifford at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th October 1878.
ARTHUR CLIFFORD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer.
"NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC AND OTHER
TUBES OR HOLLOW CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL RODS OR BARS."
My Invention consists of machinery constructed as herein-after described by the
use of which machinery metallic and other tubes or hollow cylinders and cylindrical
rods or bars may be manufactured with greater rapidity and more economically
than by the ordinary methods of manufacture.
The said machinery is constructed essentially as follows:-Three conical rolls
are mounted upon axes arranged about a common axial line. The bases of the
conical rolls are more distant apart than the small ends of the said rolls, the said
small ends being separated by a distance equal to the diameter of the tube to be
made. The axes of the rolls consequently make a considerable anglo with the axial
line, about which they are arranged. The said rolls are so mounted that they can
be inclined to one another at different angles so as to fit them to manufacture
tubes of different sizes. The said conical rolls are geared together so as to rotate
in the same direction and at the same speed. I prefer to drive the rolls by the
gearing herein-after described. Besides the inclination herein-before referred to of
the axes of the rolls to the axial line about which they are arranged, the axes. of
the rolls have such a position that they cross at a small angle the said axial line.
That is the plane in which the axis of each roll is situated, crosses at a small angle
the plane in which the axial line described is situated.

page_text: In making a tube or hollow cylinder by the use of the machinery described, the
metal or material in the form, by preference of a short thick hollow cylinder (but
other shapes may be employed), is supported on a mandril of the size of the interior
of the tube to be made. The rolls are made to rotate and the metal or material is
introduced between them at their larger and most separated ends. The metal or
material is seized by the rotating rolls, and with the mandril is carried with a
rotatory motion to the smaller ends of the rolls from whence it emerges as a tube
having the internal diameter of the mandril.
The gearing I prefer to employ for driving the conical and inclined rolls is con-
structed as follows:-
On the end of the axis of each roll a sphere is formed, and the shaft by which
power is transmitted to the roll has at its end a hemispherical cup, which fits the
said sphere. In the said cup and at opposite points are pins or projections, and in
the said sphere are slots in which the said pins engage. The slots in the sphere
are in the plane in which the axis of the roll carrying it is situated. The said shaft
and the axis of the roll are inclined to each other at a considerable angle, but the
rotatory motion is readily transmitted from the former to the latter by the arrange-
ment of parts described.
I do not however limit myself to any particular driving gear.
When a cylindrical rod is to be manufactured the mass of metal or material
without a hole or mandril is introduced between the rolls at their larger ends, and
it is seized by the rotating rolls and carried forward and delivered at the other end
of the rolls in the form of a solid cylindrical rod.
Although I have described my Invention as constructed with three rolls (which
number I believe to be best), yet I do not confine myself to the use of three
rolls.
The tubes or hollow cylinders and rods or bars may, if thought desirable, be
passed through a draw plate after leaving the machine in order to give them a
smooth surface.
In place of conical rolls cylindrical rolls may be employed with the same or
nearly the saine effect, but I prefer the use of conical rolls.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Arthur Clifford in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 1st April
1879.
ARTHUR CLIFFORD, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer.
"NEW OR IMPROVED MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC AND OTHER
TUBES OR HOLLOW CYLINDERS AND CYLINDRICAL RODS OR BARS."
My Invention consists of machinery constructed as herein-after described by the
use of which machinery metallic and other tubes or hollow cylinders and cylindrical
rods or bars may be manufactured with greater rapidity and more economically than
by the ordinary methods of manufacture.
The said machinery is constructed essentially as follows:-Three conical rolls
are mounted upon axes arranged about a common axial line. The bases of the
conical rolls are more distant apart than the small ends of the said rolls, the said
small ends being separated by a distance equal to the diameter of the tube to be
made. The axes of the rolls consequently make a considerable angle with the axial
line about which they are arranged. The said rolls are so mounted that they can
be inclined to one another at different angles so as to fit them to manufacture tubes
of different sizes. The said conical rolls are geared together so as to rotate in the .
same direction and at the same speed. I prefer to drive the rolls by the gearing
herein-after described. Besides the inclination herein-before referred to of the axes
of the rolls to the axial line about which they are arranged, the axes of the rolls
have such a position that they cross at a small angle the said axial line, that is, the
plane in which the axis of each roll is situated crosses at a small angle the plane
in which the axial line described is situated.
In making a tube or hollow cylinder by the use of the machinery described, the
metal or material in the form, by preference of a short thick hollow cylinder (but
other shapes may be employed), is supported on a mandril of the size of the interior
of the tube to be made. The rolls are made to rotate, and the metal or material is
introduced between them at their larger and most separated ends.
The metal or
material is seized by the rotating rolls and is carried with a rotatory motion to the
smaller ends of the rolls, from whence it emerges as a tube having the internal
diameter of the mandril.
The gearing I prefer to employ for driving the conical and inclined rolls is
constructed as follows:
On the end of the axis of each roll a sphere is formed, and the shaft by which
power is transmitted to the roll, has at its end a hemispherical cup which fits the
said sphere. In the said cup and at opposite points are pins or projections, and in
the said sphere are slots in which the said pins engage. The slots in the sphere
are in the plane in which the axis of the roll carrying it is situated. The said shaft
and the axis of the roll are inclined to each other at a considerable angle, but the
rotatory motion is readily transmitted from the former to the latter by the arrange-
ment of parts described. I do not however limit myself to any particular driving
gear.
I will now describe with reference to the accompanying Drawings the manner in
which my Invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in plan; Figure 2, in back elevation; Figure 3, in longitudinal
section; and Figure 4, in front elevation, my new or improved machinery arranged
for the manufacture of metallic tubes from short thick hollow cylinders, the said
cylinders being supported on a mandril of the size of the interior of the tube to be
made.
The section, Figure 3, is taken on the dotted line a, b, Figure 4. The other
Figures represent one of the rolls detached, and other parts of the machinery as
herein-after explained.
.
The same letters of reference indicate the same parts in the several Figures of the
Drawings.
3

page_text: c, d, e, are the conical and inclined rolls of the machinery arranged equidistantly
about a common or axial line running through the middle of the machine. By the
inclination of the rolls c, d, e, their bases are more distant apart than..their small
ends as represented, the said small ends being separated by a distance equal to the
external diameter of the tube to be made. The said rolls c, d, e, are constructed, 5
mounted, and driven in the following manner-At the larger end of each roll is a
sphere marked f which takes into a hemispherical cup g in the shaft h, by which
motion is given to the roll. The several shafts h, k, of the rolls work in the housing
or standard i in the manner seen in Figure 3. The spherical end f of the roll is
connected to the cup g of the shaft / by means of pins or projections k, k, at opposite 1
points taking into slots 2, l, in the said spherical end of the roll. The said pins k, k,
are loose, and their angular ends are fitted into recesses m, m, in the face of the
shaft h, the said pins being retained in the said recesses by the divided ring n
which is screwed to the face of the shaft.
Figure 5 represents in elevation, and Figure 6 in cross section taken through the 1
spherical end, one of the rolls of the machine; Figure 7 represents in elevation,
Figure 8 in section, and Figure 9 in front elevation one of the driving shafts of the..
rolls; Figure 10 represents the divided ring by which the pins or projections k,-k,
are retained in their places, and Figure 11 represents one of the pins or projections
k detached. By an examination of Figures 3, 5, 6, 8 and 9, the positions of the 2
slots 6, 7, in the spherical end of the roll and the recesses m, m, in the face of the
driving shaft for receiving the connecting pins k, k, will be readily seen. By means
of the spherical end f of each roll and the hemispherical cup g in the driving shaft h,
and the connecting pins k, k, the said rolls may be inclined to one another at.
different angles so as to fit them to manufacture tubes of different sizes, and the 2
rotation of the shafts his readily transmitted to the said rolls. The way in which
the slots 1, 1, in the spherical ends of the rolls work upon the pins or projections,k,
on the shafts h, h, when the rolls are inclined more, or less, will be understood by
an examination of the section, Figure 3.
The said conical and inclined rolls c, d, e, are geared together so as to rotate in 3
the same direction and at the same speed by the gearing indicated in dotted lines in
Figure 4; p is a large toothed driving wheel gearing with the toothed wheels q, r,
on the shafts h, h, of the bottom rolls c, e. Gearing with the toothed wheel q is an
intermediate wheel & which gears. with the toothed wheel t on the. shaft of the top
roll d. A toothed wheel gearing with the wheel r may also be employed to gear 3
with the wheel ton the shaft of the top. roll. The toothed wheels on the driving
shafts h, h, are arranged on the said shafts in the manner represented with respect
to one of the shafts shown in Figures 7, 8, and 9. ...
8
"..
The accurate adjustment of the small ends of the conical rolls c, d, e, to suit the
particular size of tube to be made is effected by the following mechanism :-
40
The small end of each roll.turns in a brass or bearing sliding in the radial
slots x, x, in the back housing or standard of.the machine. These bearings v, v, aro.
connected to blocks w, w, sliding in the said slots >>. Pressing upon or against the
blocks w, w, are wedges y having, screwed ends, upon which screwed ends are lock
nuts y... By adjusting the position of the blocks w by means of the said wedges y 4
and lock nuts y, the small ends of the rolls may be permitted to open more or less,
and the inclination of the rolls to one another changed according to the size of the
tube to be made.
For the purpose of causing the axes of the rolls to cross at a small angle, the
axial line about which the said rolls are.arranged I adopt the following combination 5
of parts. The bearings or brasses u, v, of the small ends of the rolls and the
adjusting mechanism of the same are carried by a ring y³, which works in the fixed
ring-like frame 3 on the housing of the rolls. In the said ring-like frame y
are slots y through which screw pins 8 connected with the moveable ring y³ pass!
By loosening the screw nuts of the screw pins y and turning the ring y³ through a 5
small angle, the axis of each of the rolls c, d, e, may be made to cross at a small ·
angle the axial line about which the rolls are arranged.
44
1
•

page_text: 2 is the thick hollow cylinder of metal from which the tube is to be made, the
said hollow cylinder being supported on the mandril 1 while it is operated upon by
the rolls. In the middle of the front housing of the rolls is a guide tube 3 through
which the thick hollow cylinder 2 is passed, in order to introduce it between the
rolls at their larger and most separated ends. By the rotation of the rolls c, d, e,
the thick hollow cylinder 2 is seized by the rotating rolls, and is carried with a
rotatory motion to the smaller ends of the rolls from which it issues as a tube
having the internal diameter of the mandril, and the external diameter of the
separated small ends of the rolls, as shown in Figure 3, where a tube 4 is
represented in the act of being made by the rolls.
When a cylindrical rod or bar is to be manufactured by the machinery described
and represented, the mass of metal or material without a hole or mandril is intro-
duced between the rolls at their larger ends, and it is seized by the rotating rolls
and carried forward and delivered at the other end of the rolls in the form of a
solid cylindrical rod or bar.
Although I have described and represented my Invention as constructed with
three rolls (which number I believe to be best), yet I do not confine myself to the
use of three rolls.
The tubes or hollow cylinders and rods or bars may if thought desirable be
passed through a draw plate after leaving the machine in order to give them a
smooth surface.
In place of conical rolls cylindrical rolls may be employed with the same or
nearly the same effect, but I prefer the use of conical rolls.
My Invention is applicable to the manufacture of tubes or hollow cylinders, and
cylindrical rods or bars of non-metallic plastic materials as well as of metals and
metallic alloys.
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 I claim as my Invention,
the new or improved machinery for the manufacture of metallic and other tubes
or hollow cylinders, and cylindrical rods or bars herein-before described and
illustrated in the accompanying Drawings, that is to say, machinery consisting of
a series of three or more conical or cylindrical rolls arranged symmetrically around
an axial line; the axes of the said rolls being inclined to one another and crossing
at a small angle the axial line about which they are arranged substantially as
described and illustrated; also the construction and combination of parts con-
stituting the gearing by which the said rolls are driven, the said gearing consisting
essentially of spherical terminations on the rolls taking into hemispherical cups in
the ends of the driving shafts, the rotatory motion of the said cups being transmitted
to the spherical ends of the rolls by pins or projections on the former taking into
slots in the latter, substantially as described and illustrated.
In witness whereof, I, the said Arthur Clifford, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of March, in the year of our Lord