AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL TUBES
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edmund Lea, of Hill Top, West Bromwich, in the
County of Stafford, Mill and Forge Manager, for the Invention of "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
TUBES."
Sealed the 24th July 1860, and dated the 7th February 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edmund Lea at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 7th
February 1860.
I, EDMUND LEA, of Hill Top, West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford,
Mill and Forge Manager, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND STEEL
TUBES," to be as follows:-
In the ordinary method of manufacturing iron tubes, lengths of strip or hoop
iron are heated and bent into a tubular form, and being then raised to a weld-
ing heat, the edges of the partially made tube are welded together by pressure;
the unwelded tube is commonly called a skelp.
My Invention consists in making skelps of iron or steel for the manufacture
of iron or steel tubes in the following manner:-After having made the iron or
steel into strips or hoops by rolling in the ordinary manner, I pass the said
strips or hoops as they leave the hard or finishing rolls and while they are
still hot between rolls which bend them into skelps, which may afterwards be
welded into tubes in the ordinary manner; or the said strips or hoops may be
+

page_text: made into skelps by other .moulding or shaping machinery by which skelps
are or may be made, the essence of my Invention consisting in making the
said skelps before the iron or steel has become cold after having been made
into strips or hoops. By my Invention the reheating of the strips or
hoops of iron or steel, to convert them into skelps or partially formed tubes,
is avoided.
SPECIFICATION, in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Edmund Lea in the Great Seal Patent Office on the
2nd August 1860.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, EDMUND
LEA, of Hill Top, West Bromwich, in the County of Stafford, Mill and Forge
Manager, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Seventh day of February, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-third year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said Edmund Lea, Her special licence that I, the said Edmund
Lea, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I,
the said Edmund Lea, 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
night. make, use, exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention
for "AN IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON AND
STEEL TUBES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Edmund
Lea, 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.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said Edmund Lea, 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 thereof, that is to say :-
In the ordinary method of manufacturing iron tubes, lengths of strip or

page_text: hoop iron are heated and bent into a tubular form, and being then raised to
a welding heat, the edges of the partially made tube are welded together by
pressure. The unwelded tube is commonly called a skelp.
My Invention consists in making skelps of iron or steel for the manufacture
of iron or steel tubes in the following manner :-After having made the iron
or steel into strips or hoops by rolling in the ordinary manner, I pass the said
strips or hoops as they leave the hard or finishing rolls, and while they are
still hot, between rolls, which bend them into skelps, which may afterwards be
welded into tubes in the ordinary manner. Or the said strips or hoops may
be made into skelps by other moulding or shaping machinery by which skelps
are or may be made, the essence of my Invention consisting in making the
said skelps before the iron or steel has become cold after having been made
into strips or hoops. By my Invention the reheating of the strips or hoops
of iron or steel, to convert them into skelps or partially formed tubes, is
avoided.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edmund Lea, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this First day of August, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty.
20 Witness,
GEORGE SHAW.
EDMUND LEA. (L.S.)