Improvements relating to the Securing of Rings, Washers, Collars or other Perforated Objects to Metal Bars, Rods, or the like by the use of Electricity.
Year: 1889

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
[Communicated from abroad by Professor ELIHU THOMSON and HERMANN LEMP,
both of Lynn, Massachusetts, United States of America, Electrician.]
Improvements relating to the Securing of Rings, Washers, Collars
or other Perforated Objects to Metal Bars, Rods, or the like by
the use of Electricity.
I, HENRY HARRIS LAKE, of the firm of Haseltine Lake & Co., Patent Agents,
Southampton Buildings in the County of Middlesex do hereby declare the nature of
this invention and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention relates to a method of securing perforated objects of metal or other
material to bars, rods, or other shaped pieces of metal threaded through the perfora-
tion. The invention is especially applicable, however, to the fastening of pieces of
metal to metal rods or bars, inasmuch as it affords a means whereby the perforated
piece may not only be simply held against slipping off the bar but may be rigidly
welded thereto and fixed against movement in any direction thereon.
The method or process affords a ready means of providing metal stock, as rods or
shafts, with collars or flanges, and is especially applicable to making collars upon
axles or to securing circular saws, gear wheels or other tools or objects to driving
shafts, and consists essentially in passing a current of electricity of large volume
through the piece of metal, as a shaft or rod, until such bar, rod or other metal
piece is softened, and then, while the piece is threaded through the perforation in
the object to be fastened to it, subjecting the piece to a suitable force as com-
pression which will cause it to bulge or expand laterally to both sides of the
perforated object.
It is generally preferable to heat the piece while the object to be fastened in place
is in position upon such piece, since the compression required may then be applied
without removing the piece from the clamp or holders through which the electric
current passes to it. It would, however, be within this invention to first heat the
piece and then apply the object after which the compression could be applied either in
the same apparatus used for passing the current into the piece, or in another
apparatus.
The invention consists also in keying a perforated object, as a gear wheel, circular
saw or other object, subjected to tangential or circular strain on its support, by heating
the shaft, rod or other support by a current of electricity circulating in it and then
expanding it laterally by endwise compression so as to cause the softened metal to
enter the key notches, openings, depressions or other perforations in the object while
the same is in position on the rod or shaft.
The invention consists further in the detailed methods and improvements hereinafter
described.
In the accompanying drawings :-
Figure 1 illustrates the application of the invention to providing a shaft with a
collar.
Figure 2 illustrates the condition of the work after compression.
Figure 3 shows the finished work.
Figure 4 is a longitudinal section of Figure 3.
Figure 5 illustrates one form that may be given to the perforated ring, disc,
wheel or other object for keying it to its shaft or threaded piece of metal.
Figure 6 is a longitudinal section through a piece of finished work in which the
perforated piece Figure 5 is employed.
Figure 7 is a modification in the form of the key openings or depressions.
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page_text: Referring to Figure 1, C, C, are heavy clamps or holders of copper or other good
conductor, one or both movable end wise on suitable metal guides, which are supplied
with electricity of great volume but low electro-motive force from any source, as for
instance, from a converter or transformer have a secondary of low resistance and large
section, and as now commonly practised in electric welding operations. The guides or
supports for the clamps or holders are mounted on suitable insulating material so as to
be insulated from one another.
A is the bar, rod or piece of metal held in the clamps for the purpose of causing a
current of electricity to pass through it so as to heat and soften it.
W is a perforated ring, washer or disc through which the rod A is threaded. The
perforated piece W is set approximately midway between the clamps and the hole
through it is preferably countersunk at both sides to allow an accumulation of the
material of the piece A, to take place in the countersunk portion.
When the piece A, has been sufficiently heated, end pressures or other force is
applied in thedirection of the arrow while the current is passing, or after it is cut off
by a suitable electric switch and while the piece is between the clamps C, C, or other
pressure clamps, thus causing the heated metal within and to either side of the perforation
to swell or bulge laterally, so as to form an enlargement which when cool will hold the
piece A.
If the piece A, is heated sufficiently by the current, the piece W, when of
metal, may be actually welded to the piece W, and to the enlargements or expansions
thereon.
In order to prevent the expansions or swells from extending back from the
perforation further than is absolutely necessary, collars D, may be applied in the
positions shown. These collars may in fact form a part of the clamps. They are
kept cool by contact with the large mass of the clamps or by forming a part of the
body of the clamps. It is not necessary that the piece W should be in position during
the heating of A, by the electric current. It might be applied after the electric
current. It is by far better, however, that it should be applied before the piece A, is
heated up.
In this method of providing a shaft or rod with a metal collar, the tensile strength
of the part A, cannot be impaired, a fact that has been abundantly proved in
practice.
By applying this method to the manufacture of axles, a considerable amount of
work heretofore used, is done away with. Axles have hitherto been forged out of
stock the size of the collar down to the size of straight or reduced portion, but by
this invention plain steel or iron bars of the required thickness of shaft may be used
instead and the collar prepared beforehand and fastened in a few seconds time to the
same.
The method described is effectual where the piece W, is to be held from longitudinal
movement, but where W is liable to strain which will tend to turn it on A, and the
latter is round at the point where it threads W, the perforated piece W, may be
provided with recesses, depressions or notches h, h, Figures 5, 6 and 7 into which
the swelled or expanded soft metal of A, will enter so as to key the part W to A.
These notches, recesses or openings may be entirely outside the central perforation
in W as in Figure 5 and may extend through W, from side to side, or partially
through it, as desired, or they may be notches extending outward from the central
perforation as in Figure 7, or be formed in any desired way so as to form a lock or
key by the aid of the softened upset metal of A, and to hold W against turning
on A.
It is obvious that after the lateral bulge or expansion has been formed, the bulge
may be finished by hammering or pressure for the purpose of compacting the bulge
or for forcing the heated metal of the bulge into the key recesses or openings
in W.
It is obvious also that the bulge or expansion may be dressed off by any desired
1

page_text: Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of the said
invention and in what manner the same is to be performed as communicated to
me by my foreign correspondents I declare that what I claim is :-
First. The herein described method of securing rings, washers, collars or other
perforated objects to metal bars, rods or other pieces of metal consisting in passing a
current of electricity through the metal piece in volume sufficient to soften the same,
and then subjecting the piece to pressure so as to swell or expand it in proximity to
the perforated object.
Second. The herein described method of keying a perforated object to a piece of
metal threaded through the perforation consisting in providing the perforated object
with recesses, openings or depressions to one side of the perforation, subjecting the
threaded piece to a heating and softening current of electricity and then applying
force in a direction to cause it to swell or expand laterally at the sides of the
perforated piece, and to enter the said recesses or depressions.
Third. The herein described method of fastening a perforated piece of metal to
another piece threaded through it consisting in providing one or more notches at the
edge of the perforation, passing a softening current of electricity through the
threaded piece and then subjecting said piece to a force which will cause the same to
expand laterally into the notch and to either side of the perforated piece.
Dated this 31st day of December 1889
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.