IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR ROLLING AND SHAPING METAL CYLINDERS OR TUBES and
Year: 1884

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
We, JOHN ADDY HOPKINSON, and JOSEPH HOPKINSON, both of the firm of
J. Hopkinson & Co, of Huddersfield, in the County of York, Engineers, do hereby
declare the nature of our invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR
ROLLING AND SHAPING METAL CYLINDERS OR TUBES and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :—
"
Our invention relates to rolling machines of novel construction, whereby inetal
cylinders or tubes (which have been previously manufactured from sheets or plates
or otherwise produced) of a longitudinally plain, straight or parallel form, can have
the same converted into other forms or configurations as hereinafter set forth, that
is to say, by our said machines an ordinary plain or straight cylinder of iron, copper
or other metal, can have imparted to it a bulbous, barrel-shaped, channelled, ribbed,
wrinkled, corrugated or other configuration differing more or less from its original
shape. The said machines may be constructed to work or shape cylinders or tubes
of large or small dimensions and formed of metal of any required thickness or
strength. They will be found equally serviceable for shaping cylinders formed of
metals that should be worked in a heated condition, such as iron or steel, and also
for those that are most advantageously worked in a cold condition, such as copper;
that is to say, the respective metals can be worked hot or cold according to the
common practice in the trades in which they are used.
According to our invention, we construct a machine which works with two rolls
to effect the complete shaping of the metal cylinders or tubes. And by our
improvements, we are enabled, with two rolls only, to ensure a truly circular form
in the metal cylinders or tubes, and to dispense with any extra or auxiliary rolls
arranged in combination with the shaping rolls for the purpose of making, or
keeping, the work truly circular.
The said machine is open at one end, that is to say, its rolls are supported at one
end only, leaving the other end unobstructed so that the cylinders or tubes can be
placed thereon and removed therefrom without adjusting or shifting any of the
parts of the machine except the top roll. And we can, with the same pair of rolls,

page_text: produce cylinders or tubes of either of two different sectional forms. And, by the
means hereinafter described, we ensure the maintenance of such rolls in a parallel
position relatively to each other.
In another part or modification of our said invention we provide the machine
with two pairs of shaping rolls, one pair at each end of the machine, and we can
shape the metal cylinders partly by one pair, and partly by the other pair of the
said rolls.
Our invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which
Figure 1 is a side elevation, partly in central longitudinal section, and
Figure 2 an end elevation, partly in section, on the line x, x, Figure 1, of a
machine provided at one end with a pair of open-ended or overhanging rolls, and
constructed according our invention.
Figure 3 is a side elevation, partly in central longitudinal section, of our machine
provided at both ends with a pair of open-ended rolls.
Figures 4 and 5 represent a side elevation, partly in central longitudinal section,
and an end elevation, of a machine constructed according to a further modification
of our invention.
Figures 6 to 11 show, in outline, some of the various forms which may bo
produced by our machine.
Like letters indicate corresponding parts throughout the drawings.
A, A are strong standards of cast iron or other suitable material; a, b are the
shaping rolls, which, it will be seen, project at one side of the machine quite clear
of the standard A. In Figure 1 the said rolls have extensions at a, b, which aro
made sufficiently stout or heavy to afford the necessary steadiness to the rolls and
tend to keep them parallel to each other.
Or we make and arrange parts of the extensions a¹, b¹, in such a manner that a
plate, of the same thickness as the cylinder being operated upon by the rolls, can
be placed between such parts, so that, when the rolls are brought into operation,
the force tending to separate them or displace them from a relatively parallel
position will be resisted or counteracted by the said plate.
The roll-journals are fitted to turn freely in the bearings c, c, d, d. It will
be seen that the journals a³, b³, nearest the rolls, are made stronger than the
journals a, b. The bearings d, d¹ of the upper roll are supported by the screws e,
and can be thereby adjusted to set the roll up or down as required. In the
machines shown in Figures 1 and 3, the two rolls are geared together by the
wheels fg. But, if desired, they may be otherwise geared.
In the machine provided with two pairs of shaping rolls, as shewn in Figure 3,
the shaping rolls are formed, or fixed, upon the shafts a, b, which are fitted to
turn in the bearings c, d, The bearings of the upper roll-shaft are adjustable as,
and for the purpose, above specified.
This machine, as above stated, permits the metal cylinders to be partially shaped
on one pair of rolls and finished on the other pair. For example, a cylinder is first
passed between the pair of rolls at the left hand end of tho machine, where the
outline of the cylinder in the act of being shaped is shewn in dotted lines; it is
then removed from these rolls and placed between those at the other end of the
machine and thereby finished, as shewn by the dotted lines.
It is obvious that, if the metal cylinder or tube is placed upon or around the
roll a of either of these machines, it will be rolled into the shape or configuration
shown in Figure 6, whereas, if placed on or around the roll b, it will have the shape
shown in Figure 7. And it is obvious that the same result, viz:-the inversion of
the concavities and convexities of the longitudinal section of the cylinders, may be
effected not only by the particular rolls shown in the drawings, but with other
pairs of rolls of different configuration.
In Figures 4 and 5, we have shown a machine in which the top roll b is smaller
in diameter than the bottom roll a; and the said roll b is not geared with the
bottom roll, but is rotated by the friction exerted upon its surface by the cylinder
or tube being shaped between the said rolls.

page_text: The lower roll a is readily accessible, for placing the metal cylinders thereon,
through the bridge or arched standard A. It will be seen that the said roll has no
bearing at the end adjacent to this bridge, but its other end is made large and
heavy, and is supported in the bearing c. The shaft a is extended to, and fitted
to turn in, the outer bearing c³, and it will be seen that these two bearings afford
a very steady support to the open or overhanging roll a.
The top roll b is supported by the screws
roll up or down as required.
which can be adjusted to set the said
As above stated, in the machine shown, the top roll is not geared with the
bottom roll; but, if it is desirable that the top roll should be driven by the bottom
roll, we can provide it with a gear-wheel for this purpose.
We are fully aware that the process of manufacture consisting in forming, from a
plate or sheet, a plain metal cylinder or tube and then channelling, ribbing,
corrugating or otherwise shaping or changing the outline or configuration thereof
by rolling, is not new or of recent date, we therefore do not claim generally or
broadly this process of manufacture or the employment of shaping rolls or other of
the parts of machines employed therefor, except when they are arranged and
combined, as herein described, to enable us to effect the objects of our invention
as above set forth.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed we declare that what
we claim is:-
First. The machine, provided at one end with a pair of open-ended or overhanging
rolls constructed with extensions whereby their proper relative position, while
working, is maintained, which rolls are arranged in combination with the other
parts of the machine, substantially as described with reference to Figures 1 and 2
of the drawings for the purpose specified.
Second. The machine, provided with two pairs of open-ended or overhanging
rolls which are so constructed and arranged relatively to each other and to the
other parts of the machine as to permit the work to be commenced on one pair
of rolls and finished on the other pair of rolls, substantially as described with
reference to Figure 3 of the drawings.
Third. The modification of our invention wherein provision is made for access
to the rolls through a bridge or arch, and wherein the parts of the machine are
constructed and combined, substantially as described with reference to Figures 4
and 5, for the purposes specified.
Dated this 9th day of December 1884.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
For the Applicants.