AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING IRON PIPES, TUBES, OR CYLINDERS
Year: 1831

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE ROYL,
of Walsall, in the County of Stafford, Whitesmith, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present Majesty King William the Fourth, by His Letters
Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-first day of March now last
past, did give and grant unto me, the said George Royl, His especial licence, full
power, sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Royl, my executors,
administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Royl, .my
executors, administrators, or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no
others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention
of "AN IMPROVED METHOD OF MAKING IRON PIPES, TUBES, OR CYLINDERS;" in
which said Letters Patent there is contained a proviso, obliging me, the said
George Royl, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, particularly
to describe and ascertain the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, and to cause the same to be inrolled in His said
Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said recited Letters Patent, as in and by the
same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Royl, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention, and the

page_text: manner in which the same is to be performed, is fully described and ascertained
in and by the Drawings hercunto annexed, and as follows, that is to say:-
My improvement for making iron tubes or pipes for gas, steam, and other
purposes, consists in the following process:-I take a piece of flat strip iron of
suitable width and thickness, according to the tube required, the iron is then
heated and the edges turned over till they meet or nearly so in the form of a
cylindrical tube; when it has thus acquired this form, one part of it is again
heated in an air furnace, into which it is introduced through a small aperture,
the other part remaining outside of the furnace. (This furnace has placed in
front of it two rollers, such as are commonly used in rolling iron, and contain-
ing a groove of the size required for the tube, and behind the rollers is a sliding
door to admit the iron into the body of the furnace). When the iron has
acquired a considerable degree of heat, it is taken out of the furnace through
the aperture and again introduced at a sliding door placed behind the rollers,
with the part not heated projecting out of the furnace and resting in the groove
of the lower roller (the upper roller having been elevated by means of a cross
bar and lever moved by manual effort). When the iron is heated to a degree
nearly approaching to fusion, the lever is pressed down, and the upper roller is
thus brought into contact with the lower roller, the iron being included in the
groove formed in both of them; the rollers are then turned by the means herein-
after described, in the direction to roll out the iron, which in passing through
the groove by the motion of the rollers exclusively is perfectly married or
welded together on the two edges; the tube being so perfectly married and
welded together (except in that part of it which was not introduced into the
furnace), is then taken to a scraper, and being placed securely in the
guage of
such scraper, is connected by a pair of tongs and an iron bow to an upright
rod standing on a horizontal movement, which movement is attached to a
vibrating rod connecting itself with the axis of the engine, and by means of
such movement the welded part of the tube is passed through the scraper,
which extends its length, removes its scaly surface, and gives to it a smooth,
regular, and neat appearance. The same process is then used with respect to
the reverse and unwelded part of the tube. The machinery employed in this
process may be thus described by reference to the annexed Drawing. In
Figure 1, the letters A shew the front view of the air furnace; the rollers
B, B, are fitted into housings C, C, and work upon their own axes by s
means of an iron couplet D, connecting the axis of the lower roller with
the axis of the engine by means of a pulley wheel, as shown by letter E.
At the other end of the rollers are two cog wheels, which work in each other
when the rollers are brought into contact, and give them their reciprocal

page_text: motion; the upper roller is elevated by means of a cross bar G, attached to a
lever H. The letters I shew a large iron plate placed before the furnace.
The letter K shews the sliding door opening to the furnace and placed at the
back side of the rollers. The letter L shews the aperture through which the
partially formed tubes are first introduced into the furnace. In Figure 2 the
letters A shew the frame of the scraper; B, B, shew the two beds containing a
guage or groove through which the tube passes when scraping; C is a lever,
being a continuation of one of the beds, and shewn in an elevated position in
order to admit the tube; D shews a pair of tongs, which take hold of the
tube; E shews the tube fixed in the position for scraping; F is a link or bow,
the one end connected with the end of the tongs, the other with the upright
rod G, which rod is moved horizontally, as shewn by letter H, by means of a
vibrating movement I connecting itself with the axis of the engine; letter K
is a standard on which the scraper is fixed. The novelty and advantage of my
Invention are the peculiar construction of the rollers, the upper one being
elevated and depressed by a lever to admit of the partially formed tube being
most advantageously placed in them for the purpose of dispatch, and their
position immediately at the mouth of the furnace, so that the tube is perfectly
married or welded before it is exposed to the cold atmospheric air.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Royl, have hereunto set my hand
and scal, this Thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
One thaw