Improvements in Apparatus for Welding Metals.
Year: 1889

page_text: Date of Application, 1st Oct., 1889-Accepted, 2nd Nov., 1889
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Apparatus for Welding Metals.
I, THOMAS F. ROWLAND, of No. 329 Madison Avenue, in the City and State of
New York, United States of America, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature
of this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be par-
ticularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :—
The present invention relates generally to machines for welding together the edges
of plates, especially in the form of tubes or similar structures; it relates particularly
to a new form of welding machine, composed of two vertically arranged parallel arms
or horns which are supported at their lower ends and carry at their upper or free
ends welding rolls adapted to receive the overlapping edges of the blank being formed
and weld them together, such edges being previously properly heated and the blank
operated on being properly supported and its seam portion passed vertically between
said horns, as the formation of the seam progresses.
The object of the invention is to provide such a welding machine with improved
mechanism, first, for supporting and operating the blank, and second, for adjusting
and applying to the welding rolls the pressure requisite to accomplish a proper weld.
The various features of construction will be hereinafter described in detail.
In the accompanying drawing,
Figure 1 is an elevation view of a machine embodying my improvements, the blank
being shown in position ready to be passed between the welding rolls.
Figure 2 is a similar view but from the left hand side of Figure 1.
Figure 3 is a similar view to Figure 1 except that the blank is shown as drawn in
between the welding rolls, and
Figure 4 is a plan view of the machine.
These are
In these views, A and B represent the two roll-supporting arms.
arranged vertically and are firmly fixed in a suitable base C. These arms are sub-
stantially parallel and of the general form and construction well known in such
machinery.
1) and E represent the oppositely arranged parts of the heating furnace. They may
be of any suitable form, but will ordinarily consist of some kind of removable gas
furnaces, and will be supported above the machine as shown.
F is a guide rail or guide frame attached to the arm A and extending from the
upper end thereof to the base of the machine. On this guide travels the carriage G
which has hearing or friction rolls H. This carriage is recessed for the passage of
arm A, and at its inner side, between the arins A and B, it is attached to the piston
rod I of the cylinder J which extends below the bed Cand is firmly attached to the
arms A, B. This cylinder and its piston constitute an hydraulic apparatus by which
the carriage G may be raised and lowered, though steam or compressed air may be
similarly employed. K is a cylindrical blank attached to the carriage, by any suitable
clamps or otherwise, and arranged in position for its opposite overlapping edges to be
drawn in between the welding rolls.
Land M represent the welding rolls. These rolls are properly mounted in journals
in the ends of the arms, the bearings of the roll L being stationary while those of the
roll M are carried in a block Ọ having motion to and from the roll L. This block is
moved by the piston P of the power cylinder Q mounted on the arm B, the piston rod
being adjustably connected with such block by the bell-crank lever R. This power
cylinder may be one operated by hydraulic, steam or air pressure.
The operation of the machine is as follows:-
The blank with its seam parts brought properly together will be firmly clamped
to the carriage; the furnaces will then be lowered so as, when started, to apply
heat to the lower end of the seam; the welding rolls will be adjusted so as to be

page_text: brought to the proper proximity when the piston P is at the lower end of the
cylinder the furnaces may now he started, and when a portion of the seam is
brought to welding heat, the hydraulic apparatus J will be started and the seam will
be drawn between the welding rolls and its parts welded together.
In lieu of reciprocating the blank during the process of heating and welding, the
furnaces. may be so arranged with such proximity to the welding rolls, that it will be
practical to move the blank between the furnaces and welding rolls with a continuous.
motion.
An important feature of the machine, is mounting or supporting the parallel arans
vertically, thereby saving much space in shop room over that that would be required
for a machine of like capacity arranged horizontally. The blank can also be more
economically handled when in a vertical position, that is in regard to the space
necessary for the same. So, too, the vertical arrangement of the machine perinits
moving the blank carriage in the same direction as gravity acts, and consequently its
weight and frictional resistance will not produce the irregularities of action that a
horizontally moving carriage may have. This results in drawing the seam of the
blank between the welding rolls with regularity and steadiness, which is important to
forming a good seam. The machine may of course be arranged horizontally, though
the vertical position is preferred.
Mounting the blank carriage, as also the power cylinder of the welding-rolls, upon
the arms, are also important features for with such an arrangement of these parts the
spring of the arms is easily compensated, and the application of the welding pressure
regularly and uniformly made. By these means blanks of large dimensions and
unusual thicknesses may be more successfully worked than in the common forms of
machines used for similar purposes.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declaro that what I
claim is
First. The herein described machine, consisting of the vertically arranged arms A, B,
provided at their upper free ends with welding rolls.
Second. The herein described welding machine, consisting of the vertically arranged
arms A, B, welding rolls journalled in said arms, and a vertically moving blank
carriage.
Third. The combination of the vertically arranged arms A, B, the blank carriage
mounted upon one of said arms and the carriage operating power cylinder, the welding
rolls and the power cylinder for adjusting them.
Fourth. The combination of the arms A and B, the blank carriage mounted and
moving on one of said arms, the power apparatus for operating the same, the welding
rolls and M, and the power apparatus P, Q, R, for adjusting the roll M.
Dal
1000
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.