IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBULAR OR ANNULAR CASTINGS
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to William Henry Willans, of No. 9, Leavy Greave,
Sheffield, in the County of York, Bachelor of Science, for the
Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBULAR OR
ANNULAR CASTINGS."
Sealed the 20th November 1874, and dated the 1st June 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said William Henry Willans
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 1st June 1874.
I, WILLIAM HENRY WILLANS, of No. 9, Leavy Greave, Sheffield, in
6 the County of York, Bachelor of Science, do hereby declare, the nature
of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE Manufacture of Tubular
OR ANNULAR CASTINGS," to be as follows:-
Tubular and annular castings, such as steel, hollow ingots, and steel
tyres intended for subsequent hammering or rolling, also cannon have

page_text: been cast in moulds with- metallic" cores, which had to be withdrawn
before the contraction of the casting, and difficulties were found in the
removal at the proper time.
My Invention is to have a tubular core not requiring removal before
the casting be cooled, and allowing the insertion of cold substances into
its interior, in which core I generally insert a plug or other material,
which while it allows the core to become expanded by external heat will
This
prevent its total collapse from pressure of the molten metal.
inserted body or material should be withdrawn from the core so soon as
the metal in the casting has become solid, unless the tubular core itself
has become so expanded before the setting of the casting that the
subsequent contraction would not press so tightly on the plug or other
material, as cither to render its removal difficult or to strain the casting.
In such case the plug, may be allowed to remain until the casting be
cooled.
In some cases, such as when the casting is preferred not to be chilled
in the setting, I use a tubular core of a nature to withstand the molten
metal, and to yield to its contraction in the cooling. This may be made
of a suitable clay. In such cases the plug or other material need not be
inserted.
9
The tubular core may be of iron or of clay or of such like refractory
material, and the plug or other inserted substance may be such as solid
or tubular iron or other material, or it may consist of a sufficiently
refractory, granular, or pulverized substance, such as sand, clay, coke
dust, or granulated iron, or the granular or pulverized substance may be
placed round a solid or tubular plug to fill the tubular core.
In some cases, such as in the casting of steel hollow ingots or steel
cannon, I prefer to use such an iron or steel tube for the core (with or
without any inserted plug) as will become attached to or welded on to
the casting, or I have a clay or such like tubular core admitting of
the insertion of cooling applications to its interior, but made of
sufficiently fragile material as to offer little resistance to the contraction
of the casting.
In some cases, such as when it be desired to have the casting chilled

page_text: or other cooler to its interior, or if solid or granular material had been
inserted into the core I remove it when the metal has set in the moulds,
and I cool the core in any convenient manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Henry Willans in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st December 1874.
:
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, WILLIAM
HENRY WILLANS, of 9, Leavy Greave, Sheffield, in the County of York,
Bachelor of Science, send grecting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the First day of June, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the
thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said William Henry Willans,
Her special licence that I, the said William Henry Willans, my exccu-
tors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
William Henry Willans, my executors, administrators, and assigns,"
should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time
and at all times thereafter during the term therein expressed, should
and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United
Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and. Isle
of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBULAR
OR ANNULAR CASTINGS," upon the condition (amongst others) that I,
the said William Henry Willans, my executors or administrators,
by an instrument in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands
and seals, should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the
said Invention, and in what manner the same was to be performed,
and cause the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within
six calendar months next and immediately after the date of the said
Letters Patent.
d

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Henry Willans, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same
is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and
by the following statement :-
My Invention has for its object the manufacture in an improved
manner of tubular or annular castings.
Tubular and annular castings, such as steel hollow ingots and steel
tyres intended for subsequent hammering or rolling, and also cannon,
have been cast in moulds with metallic cores, which had to be withdrawn
before the contraction of the casting, and difficulties were found in the
removal at the proper time.
My Invention is to have a tubular core not requiring removal before
the casting be cooled, and allowing of the insertion of cold substances
into its interior, in which core I generally insert a plug or other
material, which while it allows the core to become expanded by external
heat will prevent its total collapse from pressure of the molten metal.
This inserted body or material should be withdrawn from the core so
soon as the metal in the casting has become solid, unless the tubular
core itself has become so expanded before the setting of the casting that
the subsequent contraction would not press so tightly on the plug or
other material as either to render its removal difficult or to strain the
casting, in which case the plug may be allowed to remain until the
casting be cooled.
In carrying out my Invention I prefer to have a cast-iron mould of
the size and shape desired, into which I insert a tubular core of the
required dimensions. This core I prefer to have of sheet iron of a
thickness proportionate to the body of the casting, for example, with
castings of a thickness of two inches, it may be of No. 18 guage, and more
in proportion to thicker castings. Into this tubular core I insert before
casting a cooling or heat conducting substance preferably a solid
wrought-iron plug. This plug should be of a somewhat smaller diameter
than the interior of the core, and be smeared with a thin coating of
sandy loam to prevent adhesion to the core. After the insertion of the
plug the metal is cast, and after the metal has set the plug should be
withdrawn before it has become so expanded by the heat as to be difficult

page_text: of removal or to press injuriously against the casting during the con-
traction of the latter.
Instead of a solid plug a tubular plug passing down through the
bottom of the mould may be used, to the interior of which water may be
applied, or it may contain granular heat-conducting substances, such as
cold metallic granules, or damp sand, or such like. This plug I prefer to
be of wrought iron of about one-quarter inch thick.
When using a tubular plug in the manufacture of steel tubular or
annular castings I discontinue or lessen the cooling action immediately
when the metal has set in the mould by shutting off water, or by with-
drawing the sand or granules, and thus allow the plug to be heated by
the casting, and to expand outwards against the hot core and casting,
and so more or less to enlarge the cavity of the still soft casting. As
soon as the plug. becomes red hot I immediately renew the cooling
action by pouring water through the tubular plug, or by inserting cold
cast-iron granules, by which means the plug and core are cooled, and
contraction takes place rapidly, and the plug is then more casily with-
drawn from the core and the core itself more easily detached from the

page_text: I also claim in the manufacture of tubular or annular castings when
using a tubular core, that is, chilled by a cooling substance applied to
its interior, the temporary suspension or lessening of the cooling action
so as to allow the core to become expanded, and the subsequent rapid
cooling of the core while the casting is still hot, substantially as
described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Henry Willans, have here-
unto set my hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of November,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.
WILLIAM HENRY WILLANS. (L.S.)