Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel Tubes.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 14th Apr., 1890
Complete Specification Left, 9th Jan., 1891-Accepted, 14th Feb., 1891
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel Tubes.
I HENRY HOWARD of the firm of Lloyd and Lloyd of Coomb's Wood Halesowen
in the County of Worcester Manufacturers do hereby declare the nature of
this invention to be as follows:-
11
My invention relates to iron and steel tubes made from strips of sheet iron or
steel bent into a cylindrical figure the edges of the bent strip being presented to
each other and welded together forming a butt welded tube or overlapping each
other and welded together forming a lap welded tube.
My invention has for its object to expedite and simplify the welding together
of the edges of the skelp or partially formed tube by conducting the welding
process in the way hereinafter described whereby economy in time fuel and
labour is effected.
I will describe my invention in connection with the manufacture of a welded
iron tube.
I conduct the preliminary stages of the process of manufacture in the ordinary
way; that is the heating of the strip of iron and the bending of the heated strip into
a skelp by means of tongs or a bell. But instead of allowing the skelp to cool and
making the welding process a separate process I make the welding process imme-
diately follow the formation of the skelp by raising the temperature of the edges of
the heated skelp to a welding heat and welding together the said edges by the
operation of a pair of tongs. That is immediately in advance of the pair of tongs
or bell by which the heated strip of iron on emerging from the heating furnace is
fashioned into a skelp is a blowpipe by which a flame of mixed air and gas is
directed upon the edges of the skelp by which flame the edges of the skelp are
raised to a welding heat.
Immediately in advance of the said blowpipe is a pair of tongs through which the
skelp is passed and by the action of which its heated edges are welded together.
Or instead of a blowpipe flame of mixed air and gas a flame of mixed air and
hydrogen or the flame of an oxyhydrogen blowpipe may be employed.
Or the edges of the skelp may be raised to a welding heat by means of the voltaic
arc, in which one or both edges of the skelp may be made one of the electrodes, a
carbon rod being the other.
In this case the skelp must be included in the voltaic circuit. The voltaic arc
employed may however be formed between two carbon rods the edges of the skelp
being introduced into the heated arc between the two carbons. In this case the
skelp does not form part of the voltaic circuit.
I do not however limit myself to the use of any particular source of heat for
raising the temperature of the edges of the just formed skelp to a welding heat the
essence of my invention consisting in raising to a welding heat the edges of the
skelp immediately after its formation and while still hot and welding the said edges
by pressure without allowing the heated skelp to cool, thus making the formation
of the welded tube from the strip of iron one process or combination of processes.
Instead of effecting the welding by tongs it may be effected by rolls the partially
formed tube being supported internally by a mandril.
The application of my invention to the manufacture of steel tubes differs in no
essential respect from its application to the manufacture of iron tubes as hereinbefore
described.
Dand thin 14th 1
A 1 1000
W. T. WHITEMAN,
Agent for the Applicant.

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Iron and Steel Tubes.
I HENRY HOWARD of the firm of Lloyd and Lloyd of Coomb's Wood Halesowen
in the County of Worcester Manufacturers do hereby declare the nature of my
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 relates to iron and steel tubes made from strips of sheet iron or
steel bent into a cylindrical figure, the edges of the bent strip being presented to
each other and welded together forming a butt welded tube or overlapping each
other and welded together forming a lap welded tube.
My invention has for its object to expedite and simplify the welding together of
the edges of the skelp or partially formed tube by conducting the welding
process in the way hereinafter described whereby economy in time, fuel and labor
is effected.
I will describe my invention in connection with the manufacture of a welded
iron tube.
I conduct the preliminary stages of the process of manufacture in the ordinary
way; that is, the heating of the strip of iron and the bending of the heated strip.
into a skelp by means of tongs or a bell. But instead of allowing the skelp to cool
and making the welding process a separate process I make the welding process
immediately follow the formation of the skelp by raising the temperature of the
edges of the heated skelp to a welding heat and welding together the said edges by
the operation of a pair of tongs or a bell. That is, immediately in advance of the
pair of tongs or bell by which the heated strip of iron on emerging from the
heating furnace is fashioned into a skelp, is a blowpipe by which a flame of mixed
air and gas is directed upon the edges of the skelp by which flame the edges of the
skelp are raised to a welding heat. Immediately in advance of the said blowpipe
is a pair of tongs or a bell through which the skelp is passed and by the action of
which its heated edges are welded together. Or instead of a blowpipe flame of
mixed air and gas, a flame of mixed air and hydrogen or the flame of an oxy-
hydrogen blowpipe may be employed. Or the edges of the skelp may be raised to
a welding heat by means of the voltaic arc in which case one or both edges of the
skelp may be made one of the electrodes, a carbon rod being the other. In this
case the skelp must be included in the voltaic circuit. The voltaic arc employed
may however be formed between two carbon rods the edges of the skelp being
introduced into the heated arc between the two carbons. In this case the skelp
does not form part of the voltaic circuit.
I do not however limit myself to the use of any particular source of heat
for raising the temperature of the edges of the just formed skelp to a welding
heat.
Instead of effecting the welding by tongs it may be effected by rolls the partially
formed tube being supported internally by a mandril, if necessary.
I will now proceed to describe with reference to the accompanying drawing the
manner in which my invention is to be performed.
Figure 1 represents in side elevation, partly in longitudinal section, and Figure 2
in end elevation, the arrangement of my invention in which bells or tongs are used
for effecting the bending and welding operations and a blowpipe flaine is used for
raising the edges of the skelp to a welding heat.
a is the end of the heating furnace in which the strips to be made into welded
tubes are heated; is the bell (or pair of tongs) by which the strip as it emerges
from the heating furnace a is bent into a skelp or open jointed tube and c is the
bell (or pair of tongs) in advance of the first bell b by which bell c the edges of the
skelp which have been raised to a welding heat are welded together to form a
welded tube. Between the two bells b, c (or tongs) is the blowpipe apparatus for
delivering a sheet of flame upon the open or unjointed edges of the skelp for

page_text: raising them to a welding heat. The said blowpipe apparatus consists of the
mixing chamber d into which ordinary carburetted hydrogen or illuminating_coal
gas or the vapour of a volatile hydro-carbon is conveyed by the pipe e and air
under pressure by the pipe f the mixture of air and gas issuing from the mixing
chamber d through a series of jets or openings or through a slot along the middle
of the bottom of the mixing chamber d for producing a sheet of flame. Instead of
a blowpipe flame of mixed air and illuminating or coal gas, a flame of mixed air
and hydrogen or a flame of an oxy-hydrogen blowpipe may be employed with the
same or nearly the same effect. When a mixture of oxygen and hydrogen or a
mixture of oxygen and coal gas is employed the pipes conveying the same to the
mixing chamber should have sectional areas in the proportion of one for the oxygen
pipe and two for the other pipe. From the foregoing description and by an
examination of Figures 1 and 2 it will be understood that as the heated strip
emerges from the heating furnace a it is passed through and fashioned or bent into
a skelp or open jointed tube by the bell (or tongs) at band that the skelp after
leaving the bell has its edges raised to a welding heat by the blowpipe flame from
the apparatus at d and the skelp with its edges raised to a welding heat is passed
through the welding bell (or tongs) and its heated edges welded together so as to
form a welded tube marked g.
f:
A third bell or pair of tongs may be employed in advance of the welding bell or
tongs at c for perfecting or finishing the joint and figure of the tube.
Figures 3 and 4 represent elevations taken at right angles to one another, with
portions in section, of the arrangement of my invention in which the raising of the
temperature of the edges of the skelp to a welding heat is effected by the voltaic arc:
a is the heating furnace; b the skelp bending bell; c the welding bell and the
finishing bell by which the joint and figure of the tube may be perfected. The use
of the third or finishing bell is optional. Between the two bells b and c is a
carbon rod constituting one of the electrodes of the voltaic arc the edges of the
skelp being the other electrode, the skelp being included in the voltaic circuit; i is
a handle by which the carbon rod h can be supported and adjusted by hand. By
the heat developed between the voltaic are the edges of the skelp are raised to a
welding heat prior to the passage of the said skelp through the bell c for welding
its edges as herein before described.
C
Instead of using the single carbon rod represented the voltaic arc may be formed
between two carbon rods and the arc deflected onto the skelp by means of an
electro magnet.
Figures 5 and 6 represent elevations taken at right angles to one another of
another arrangement of my invention in which a series of rolls is employed for
shaping the skelp welding its edges and perfecting the welded tube in conjunction
with the voltaic arc for raising the edges of the skelp to a welding heat: a is the
heating furnace; k the pair of vertical rolls for forming the trough heated plate
into a skelp; the pair of horizontal rolls for welding the heated edges of the skelp
and m the pair of vertical rolls for finishing the welded tube; is the carbon rod
constituting one of the electrodes of the voltaic circuit and the skelp the other
electrode as described with respect to Figures 3 and 4. The carbon rod his
situated in front of the welding pair of rolls the heat generated between the
carbon rod and the skelp raising the edges of the skelp to a welding heat prior to
the passage of the said skelp through the welding rolls l.
Two carbon rods may be used in this arrangement as in the arrangement where
bells are used instead of rolls. The tube operated upon by the pairs of rolls may
be supported internally by a mandril or may be unsupported.
Although I prefer to employ the arrangements I have described and represented
for raising the edges of the skelp to a welding heat prior to its passage through the
welding bell or tongs or welding rolls, yet as before stated, I do not limit myself
to those arrangements as other sources of heat may be employed such for example
as a Sutherland's gas furnace or a small muffle fired in the usual way.
The application of my invention to the manufacture of steel tubes differs in no

page_text: essential respect from its application to the manufacture of iron tubes as hereinbefore
described and illustrated.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my inven-
tion and the manner in which the same is to be performed I declare that I
claim as my invention :--
The improvements in the manufacture of iron and steel tubes hereinbefore
described and illustrated in the accompanying drawing; that is to say, raising to a
welding heat a part or the whole of the skelp immediately after its formation and
while still hot and welding its edges by pressure effected either by a bell or tongs
or rolls without allowing the heated skelp to cool, thus making the formation of the
welded tube from the strip of iron or steel one process or combination of processes
substantially as described and illustrated.
Dated the 7th day of January 1891.
HENRY HOWARD.