Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Metallic Tubes, Cylinders, Hollow Wheel-rims, Gun Barrels, and other Hollow Articles of a like Manufacture.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 6th Mar., 1893
Complete Specification Left, 6th Dec., 1893-Accepted, 17th Feb., 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Metallic Tubes,
Cylinders, Hollow Wheel-rims, Gun Barrels, and other Hollow
Articles of a like Manufacture.
We, BENJAMIN SHORTHOUSE and GEORGE SHORTHOUSE, trading as B. and
G. Shorthouse, of Spring Hill, in the City of Birmingham, Tube Manufacturers,
do hereby declare the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
Our invention relates to improvements in, and in the manufacture of, tubular
metallic articles such for example as tubes, pipes, cylinders, cycle wheel bollow
rims, gun barrels and other hollow articles of a kindred character and manufacture.
Our said improvements relate to the production of both seamless and seamed
articles, known in commerce as solid drawn, welded and brazed.
Our process of manufacture is eminently adapted for the production of
extremely thin tubes in steel, copper, brass and other metals, and which tubes
may be employed for a variety of purposes, such as for cycle framings, rims of
cycle wheels, condensor tubes and other articles where lightness combined with
strength is required.
Part of our said improvements are also applicable to the manufacture of gun
barrels, with the rib made integral with it, and further, one part of our said
improvements are applicable to the production of taper tubes, either seamless or
seamed.
By a further part of our invention, both seamless and seamed tubular articles
are produced having great lightness combined with strength, and when applied
to the construction of hollow rims for cycle wheels, ribs, fins or feathers are
directed along the middles or other parts of the inside or outside walls of the
said tubes, and into which thickened parts, the spokes or the like may take.
Thus, the middles of the inner peripheries of the rims have thickened parts
running in the directions of the lengths of the same, and into which thickened
parts, the spokes of the wheels take.
In carrying out the manufacture of a seamless metallic parallel-sided tube,
provided with longitudinal ribs upon the outside, we proceed as follows:-We
take a thick tube or hollow billet, preferably of steel, and when in a heated
and soft state, we flatten or smash the same down into a strip or plate, and
with the walls or sides of the said tube being collapsed or coming together. Then
by subjecting the same to two, three or other number of passes through flattening
rolls, the said strip or plate is then thinned and elongated longitudinally, leaving
the marginal edges of about the same thickness from the outside to the inside
seam as they were.
Thus, the flattened or collapsed tube has its top and bottom sides or walls
reduced in thickness, with the thickness of the marginal edges of the inside seam
still preserved, whilst the said strip is prevented from spreading laterally by the
rolls confining the metal of the ends of the same.
After the proper thickness of the walls of the proposed tube has been obtained,
viz., a thickness double that of the actual thickness to be produced, then the
said strip is opened out into the form of a tube, by first mouthing or flaring
one end, and then running the same over the bulb of a mandril, or over a mandril
without a bulb.
When a tube has been opened out, the same has or is provided with, two
opposite ribs, formed from the marginal edges of the rolled-down blank which
was left thicker relative to the other parts by the rolling. Both of the said
ribs may be retained, or one of them may be removed by a subsequent rolling,

page_text: drawing or clipping process, or by rotating cutters, but I propose to retain the
said ribs, when the same are required for either imparting strength to a very
thin tube, or to form ribs for the attachment of articles or parts thereto. The
said ribs may be shaped by subsequent rollings, drawings or shapings, as may be
desired.
:
When the tube is required to be transformed into a cycle wheel rim, with the
thickened metal part, viz., the rib, fin or web, to be upon the inside periphery,
for receiving the spokes or the spoke ends, or for taking laced spokes, when
the said fin has been cross pierced, we draw or pass the tube over a mandril
of the exact shape that the inside of the rim is to acquire, but with the
thickened marginal edges of the rolled out tubing coming at an intermediate
position.
Or the complete rib tube may be formed, and then subsequently formed to.
the section of the rim or other article as required, with fins, ribs or thickened
longitudinal parts upon one side, or upon both sides.
In rims that do not require webs at the middle parts, we utilize the
thickened marginal parts to thicken the points of the crescent-shaped cross
section rim.
We may roll the flattened tube down with longitudinal ribs in any number
around its surface, so that the walls, when thin, are supported by four, five or
other number of ribs, which may, if necessary, be directed spirally, or inter-
mediately, with one rib breaking joint with another. Or the ribs may be,
continuous.
In wheel rims, the points of the crescent section may be made or formed from
the thickened marginal edges of the rolled-flat tube, and supplementary ribs may
be formed upon the middles of the two opposite sides.
The rolled-out-flat tubes may be opened out by the mandril bulb or other-
wise, passing through them, instead of the rolled-out-flat tubes passing over the
mandril.
When the thickened parts require to come in the interiors of the tubes, I cast
or form the original tubes. before flattening, with ribs, fins, ridges or thickened
parts upon their insides, and preferably in shape alike unto a flattened-out S,
so that the said thickened or swelled parts of one side, fall within the reduced
or less thickened parts on the other side, so that on a tube being flattened, and
the opposed inside faces of the walls coming together, the seam is alike unto a
flattened S.
Other sectioned figures may be arranged so as to produce inside ribs or
thickenings, which are proportionately reduced down by the rolling.
The inside thickenings may be produced from the first-named method by
cutting away the mandril at opposite points which come at the inside parts of
the marginal edges.
In such a case, the outside diameter may be preserved by a further draw or
pass through rolls.
In carrying out a further form of our invention with inside and longitudinally
disposed ribs, we take a thick and short plate or billet, and saw-pierce, punch,
or otherwise operate upon the same about its middle in manner that if the billet
was opened out, it would form a thick and short tube with inside ribs, but
instead of opening out the said billet, we operate upon the same by rolls, which
cog the same down into a long strip of metal, subdivided about its middle, and
which, when opened out by a mandril or a bulb of a mandril passing through
the same, a tube having thin gauge walls with inside ribs is thereby produced.
The ribs are formed by the saw piercing or middle separation of the metal
being performed first straight and then semi-circular and so on.
As a still further form of our invention, we cast the short hollow billet
cylinder with its inside walls corrugated, so that when the same is smashed down
into, as it were, a plate, and then rolled out, the tube produced has longitudinal
and inside corrugations.

page_text: The same construction of tubing may be made from a pierced slab of metal,
and either rolled down hot or cold, according to the metal employed.
In making the tubes of large diameter, we cross roll the said prepared billet
plates, smashed-down tubes or the like, and then when sufficiently cross rolled,
we open the same out into a tube of large diameter, or a drawn, rolled or
produced tube with thick walls and of the desired length is taken and then
cross rolled when flattened or smashed down, and when the metal has been
sufficiently thinned, or the necessary gauge given to the walls, the same is then
opened out, hence a tube, cylinder or drum of larger diameter.
The said tube may be ribless, or may have ribs upon the inside or outside.
In carrying out the manufacture of a taper tube, we proceed as follows:-
We take a length of tubing having thick walls or sides, and then cross roll one
end of the same, leaving the metal at the other end intact, or unoperated upon.
Then by a subsequent operation, the unoperated-upon end is then subjected to
plain rolling, and by a further plain rolling, the whole is then longitudinally
operated upon, and if necessary, the fins or webs at the opposite border edges
of the same removed by clipping, shearing, cutting or other tools.
In a still further form of the production of tubes of large diameter having
tubes of either parallel or taper sides we fold the operated-upon smashed down
tube upon itself twice or three times, and then roll the same either straight or
cross or both, and when of the length and diameter required, the same is first
folded out, and then opened out into a tube, and the ribs or fins either retained
for the purpose of strengthening, or removed by means as aforesaid.
In making gun barrels with an outside rib, we proceed in manner similar to
the process already described, other than leaving more or less metal to form
the rib.
In forming gan, rifle or other barrels with ribs upon the inside to form
riflings, we roll the same down from billets, or smashed or collapsed hollow.
tubings, having helical inside ribs directed down the same, which are, by the
process of straight rolling, straightened out and elongated with the walls of the
article, which, when the operated upon blank has been opened out, forms a tube
or barrel, with inside helical ribs running through its whole length, and if
necessary, with an outside rib running throughout the whole or part of its length.
In carrying out a further form of our invention, we make the primary billets
from folded-up slabs of metal, with their meeting edges electrically welded.
Thus, we take either a plain or an inside or outside ribbed slab of metal,
and form the same upon itself, forming, as it were, an open jointed tube with
thick walls. Then by electrical welding, the meeting edges are united, and if
necessary, the rib thrown up by the welding process, utilized as a thickening
part upon or within the article produced by straight or cross rolling or both
combined, as aforesaid, and then opening out.
In carrying out a still further form, we unite the meeting edges of a slab or
plate, turned up into a tubular figure as aforesaid, by ordinary welding, then
smashing down or collapsing the same into a thickened plate, which is subse-
quently either plain or cross rolled or both, and a plain or ribbed tube thereby
produced.
As a still further form, the edges of the preparatory billet, when made from a
turned up plate or billet, are brazed or hard soldered, and the same rolled down
flat as before, either by plain or cross rolling or both.
It is understood that where the said articles are made from plates or slabs
turned up and the edges welded or brazed that the said plates may be plain, or
may have inside or outside ribs, or both inside and outside ribs.
BENJAMIN SHORTHOUSE,
GEORGE SHORTHOUSE,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.
שבת חBOX C

page_text: COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Metallic Tubes,
Cylinders, Hollow Wheel-rims, Gun Barrels, and other Hollow
Articles of a like Manufacture.
We, BENJAMIN SHORTHOUSE and GEORGE SHORTHOUSE, trading as B. and
G. Shorthouse of Spring Hill, in the City of Birmingham, Tube Manufacturers, 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:-
Our invention relates to improvements in, and in the manufacture of, tubular
metallic articles, such for example as tubes, pipes, cylinders, cycle wheel
hollow rims, gun barrels and other hollow articles of a kindred character and
manufacture.
Our said improvements relate to the production of both seamless and seamed
articles, known in commerce as solid drawn, welded and brazed.
Our
process of manufacture is eminently adapted for the production of
extremely thin tubes in steel, copper, brass and other metals, and which tubes
may be employed for a variety of purposes such as for cycle framings, rims of cycle
wheels, condensor tubes and other articles where lightness combined with strength
is required.
Part of our said improvements are also applicable to the manufacture of gun
barrels, with the rib made integral with it, and further, one part of our said
improvements are applicable to the production of taper tubes, either seamless or
seamed.
By a further part of our invention, both seamless and seam tubular articles are
produced having great lightness combined with strength, and when applied to the
construction of hollow rims for cycle wheels, ribs, fins or feathers are directed along
the middles or other parts of the inside or outside walls of the said tubes, and into
which thickened parts, the spokes or the like may take.
Thus, the middles of the inner peripheries of the rims have thickened parts
running in the directions of the lengths of the same, and into which thickened
parts, the spokes of the wheels take.
In carrying out the manufacture of a seamless metallic parallel-sided tube
provided with longitudinal ribs upon the outside, we proceed as follows:-We
take a thick tube or hollow billet, preferably of steel, and when in a heated and
soft state, we flatten or smash the same down into a strip or plate, and with the
walls or sides of the said tube being collapsed or coming together. Then by sub-
jecting the same to two, three or other number of passes through flattening
rolls, the said strip or plate is thinned and elongated longitudinally, leaving
the marginal edges of about the same thickness from the outside to the inside
Beam.
Thus, the flattened or collapsed tube has its top and bottom sides or walls
reduced in thickness, with the thickness of the marginal edges of the inside seam
still preserved whilst the said strip is prevented from spreading laterally by the
rolls confining the metal of the ends of the same.
After the proper thickness of the walls of the proposed tube has been obtained,
viz., a thickness double that of the actual thickness to be produced, then the said
strip is opened out into the form of a tube, by first mouthing or flaring one
end, and then running the same over the bulb of a mandril, or over a mandril
without a bulb.
When a tube has been opened out, the same has, or is provided with, two opposite
ribs, formed from the marginal edges of the rolled-down blank, which was left

page_text: thicker relative to the other parts by the rolling. Both of the said ribs may be
retained, or one of them may be removed by a subsequent rolling, drawing or
clipping process, or by rotatory cutters, but I propose to retain the said ribs when
the same are required for either imparting strength to a very thin tube, or to form
ribs for the attachment of articles or parts thereto. The said ribs may be shaped
by subsequent rollings, drawings or shapings, as may be desired.
When the tube is required to be transformed into a cycle wheel rim, with the
thickened metal part, viz., the rib, fin or web, to be upon the inside periphery, for
receiving the spokes or the spoke ends, or for taking laced spokes when the said fiu
has been cross pierced, we draw or pass the tube over a mandril of the exact shape
that the inside of the rim is to acquire, but with the thickened marginal edges of
the rolled out tubing coming at an intermediate position.
Or the complete rib tube may be formed, and then subsequently formed to the
section of the rim or other article as required, with fins, ribs or thickened longitudinal
parts upon one side or upon both sides.
In rims that do not require webs at the middle parts, we utilize the thickened
marginal parts to thicken the points of the crescent shaped cross section rim.
We may roll the flattened tube down with longitudinal ribs in any number
around its surface, so that the walls, when thin, are supported by four, five
or other number of ribs, which may, if necessary, be directed spirally, or
intermediately, with one rib breaking joint with another. Or the ribs may be
continuous.
In wheel rims, the points of the crescent section may be made or formed from the
thickened marginal edges of the rolled-flat tube, and supplementary ribs may be
formed upon the middles of the two opposite sides.
The rolled-out flat tubes may be opened out by the mandril (bulb or otherwise)
passing through them, instead of the rolled-out-flat tubes passing over the mandril.
When the thickened parts require to come in the interiors of the tubes, I
cast or form the original tubes, before flattening, with ribs, fins, ridges or thickened
parts upon their insides, and preferably in shape alike unto a flattened-out S,
so that the said thickened or swelled parts of one side, fall within the reduced
or less thickened parts on the other side, so that on a tube being flattened, and
the opposed inside faces of the walls coming together, the seam is alike unto a
flattened S.
Other sectioned figures may be arranged so as to produce inside ribs or thickenings,
which are proportionately reduced down by the rolling.
The inside thickenings may be produced from the first named method by cutting
away the mandril at opposite points which come at the inside parts of the
marginal edges.
In such a case, the outside diameter may be preserved by a further draw or pass
through rolls.
In carrying out a further form of our invention with inside and longitudinally
disposed ribs, we take a thick and short plate or billet, and saw-pierce, punch, or
otherwise operate upon the same about its middle in manner that if the billet was
opened out, it would form a thick and short tube with inside ribs, but instead of
opening out the said billet we operate upon the saine by rolls, which cog the same
down into a long strip of metal, subdivided about its middle, and which, when
opened out by a mandril or a bulb of a mandril passing through the same, a tube
having thin gauge walls with inside ribs is thereby produced.
The ribs are formed by the saw piercing or middle separation of the metal being
performed first straight and then semi-circular and so on.
As a still further form of our invention, we cast the short hollow billet cylinder
with its inside walls corrugated, and the opening in its middle may extend to a
short distance from the ends leaving a thickness only of about the thickness of the
walls of a finished tube to be produced so that when the same is smashed down into,
as it were, a plate, and then rolled out, the tube produced has longitudinal and
inside corrugations.

page_text: The same construction of tubing may be made from a pierced slab of metal, and
either rolled down hot or cold, according to the metal employed.
In making tubes of large diameter, we cross roll the said prepared billet plates,
smashed-down tubes or the like, and then when sufficiently cross rolled, we open
the same out into a tube of large diameter, or a drawn, rolled or produced tube
with thick walls and of the desired length is taken, and then cross rolled when
flattened or smashed down, and when the metal has been sufficiently thinned; or
the necessary gauge given to the walls, the same is then opened out, hence a tube,
cylinder or drum of larger diameter.
-We
In carrying out the manufacture of a taper tube, we proceed as follows:-
take a length of tubing having thick walls or sides, and then cross roll one end of
the same, leaving the metal at the other end intact, or unoperated upon. Then by
a subsequent operation, the unoperated-upon end is then subjected to plain rolling,
and by a further plain rolling, the whole is then longitudinally operated upon, and
if necessary, the fins or webs at the opposite border edges of the same removed by
clipping, shearing, cutting or other tools.
In making gun barrels with an outside rib, we proceed in manner similar to the
process already described, other than leaving more or less metal to form the rib.
Thus, we take either a plain or an inside or outside ribbed slab of metal, and
fold the same upon itself, forming as it were, an open jointed tube with thick walls.
Then by electrical welding, the meeting edges are united.
In carrying out a still further form, we unite the meeting edges of a slab or
plate, turned up into a tubular figure as aforesaid, by ordinary welding, then
smashing-down or collapsing the same into a thickened plate, which is sub-
sequently either plain or cross rolled or both, and a plain or ribbed tube thereby
produced.
Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings represents in perspective an outside
ribbed and seamless tube made according to one form of our invention.
In making a length of parallel-sided tubing with longitudinal ribs running upon
the two opposite outsides of the same, we take a tube or hollow billet having thick
walls as represented in Figure 2, and preferably when in a heated or soft state, we
flatten or smash the same down into a flat plate or slab a, Figure 3, with the sides
or walls a², of the same folded upon each other or collapsed.
It will be seen that the walls are separated from each other by a slit or division a³,
and with the ends at, of a thickness in common with the other parts.
This plate or slab is then elongated longitudinally by passing the same through
flattening rolls and is thereby thinned down as well as lengthened as represented in
Figure 5, leaving a thickness a, at the marginal edges a¹, about equal to or a little
greater than the thickness of the walls of the original billet. That is, the distance
between the ends a, and the marginal edges a', is a little greater than the thickness
of the walls of the original billet consequent upon the flattening and spreading
out laterally of the metal during the process of elongation, and it is from the
thickened parts at, that the outside ribs aº, of the tube a', Figure 1, are formed.
Figure 4 represents the strip Figure 5 with an end gapped, so as to form gripping
ends for the tube to be laid hold of by during the process of opening out as herein-
after described.
We
e may observe that if necessary the tube strip Figure 5 may be increased in
breadth by cross rolling.
After the proper thickness of the walls of the proposed tube has been obtained,
then the said strip Figure 4 is opened out by drawing the same over a nosed or
pointed bulb mandril, or over a pointed mandril, of an outside diameter equal to
the inside diameter as, of the tube a', Figure 1, thereby producing a parallel sided
tube having longitudinal ribs a, upon the two opposite outsides of the same.
Both of the said ribs may be retained, or if only one is required, then one of
them may be removed by a shearing or clipping process.
The ribbed tubes may be finished by passing the same through rolls or through
draw plates or the like.

page_text: Figure 6 represents a seamless tube made according to our invention having thin
walls a', and comparatively thick ribs a.
Figure 7 represents a further form of our invention with the ribs a', of Figure 6,.
turned down or flattened upon two opposite outer walls a' of the tube into ribs a³,
then by a drawing process, the seamless tube Figure 7 is converted into a ribbed,
seamless and hollow cycle wheel rim Figure 8, in which a is the rim, with outside
walls a', inside walls a², and inside and outside ribs aº. Or instead of having two
ribs we may have only one.
Figure 9 represents a seamless tube with inside ribs made solid with it according
to a further form of our invention.
Figure 10 represents a cross section of Figure 9 upon a reduced scale.
Thus, we take a billet as in Figure 1, smash the same down as represented in
Figure 2, roll the same out, into a length Figure 5, and gradually open the same.
out; then draw or force the same through a draw-plate or pass the same through
rolls whose pass is of the outside diameter of the tube to be produced, whilst
within the said pass is a mandril plug or their equivalent (Figure 10) having
grooves or channels within it corresponding to the inside ribs to be produced, so
that when the tube is being opened out from the flat over the mandril, the thick
metal at the marginal edges is displaced or forced inwards into the channels in the
said mandril, so that the superfluous metal of the marginal edges is transposed to
the inside by compelling the tube to gradually drawn over the pointed mandril or
plug, and through a space between the said mandril and peripheries of plate or rolls.
of the cross section of the tube required.
When rolls are employed instead of a plate, then the tube is forced over the
mandril, and the outer circumference is shaped to the pass of the rolls.
It is understood that the metal, when under operation, is preferably in a soft or
highly malleable state.
In Figure 9, a is a tube with inside ribs a, displaced inwards from the positions
represented in dotted lines marked a, whilst in Figures 9 and 10, b is a draw
plate, having a hole b', through it, of the outside diameter and shape of a tube
required, which may if necessary, be elliptical or other figure, whilst e is a
mandril whose outside diameter and shape is equal to the inside size and shape
of the tube to be produced, and which has channels or grooves c', made upon the
two opposite sides of it, and of a depth and breadth equal to the cross section of
the inside ribs to be formed.
Figure 11 represents a modification of Figure 9. In this tube, which is made.
from a less ductile metal than Figure 9, or which is produced cold, a strip as in
Figure 5 is first opened out upon a pointed bulb or other mandril, and the marginal
edges a, are forced inwards and the adjacent metal of the tube is folded upon them,.
and by passing the same through a plate or between rolls and over a mandril c, c',
as in Figures 9 and 10, the inside ribs a', are made solid with the walls a', of the
tube and with seams a", coming between the folded over parts of the metal. The
dotted lines represent the positions which the marginal edges take before the same.
are forced inwards.
Figure 12 represents another form of our invention for the production of a.
seamless tube having four outside ribs, and this we do by rolling two additional
ribs along the middle of the tube strip during the elongation of the slab.
a is the strip, a³ the slit or separated middle, a the thickened ends of the
margins a¹, and a" are outside ribs. By opening out this strip by means as
referred to in the production of the tube Figure 1, a tube having four ribs at
equi-distant points upon its outside (as represented in Figure 13) is thereby
produced.
It is obvious that if a larger number of ribs are required, then the same will be
left upon the sides of the strip during the process of rolling.
Figure 14 represents a tube with thickened inside parts or ribs produced
according to another form of our invention. The said tube is made from a billet
alike unto Figure 2 but with inside corrugations or ribs as represented in Figure 15.

page_text: Then by smashing the said billet down into the slab Figure 15 and rolling the same
out longitudinally and if necessary laterally, a thin strip Figure 16 is then produced
with an undulating or wave-like divided middle part, and when the said strip is
opened out, the said tube Figure 14 is produced.
Now the divided middle of the billet or slab, which is marked a² (in Figure 15)
and the division a³, may extend only to a¹, in which case the tube will have
opposite outside ribs, unless the metal composing the marginal part a', is displaced
inwards, as in Figures 9 and 11.
To overcome the difficulty of dealing with outside ribs, or dealing with a super-
abundance of metal at the marginal edges of a rolled-down strip, we extend the slit
or sub-division into supplementary divisions a14, and with the terminations of them
coming so near to the marginal edges, that the metal a, left is of the breadth or
about of the breadth of the unthickened parts of the walls of a finished tube. The
division or slit a³, or a³ and a¹, may be formed during the process of casting the
billet, or the billet may be cast solid, and then saw-pierced or tool-cut.
When
saw pierced a hole a¹, may be drilled for the purpose of introducing the cutting
instrument.
Figure 18 represents a seamless tube made according to a further form of our
invention, and which may be with or without ribs or feathers, and Figure 17
represents the billet from which the same is formed.
When outside ribs are required as well as inside ones, then the billet Figure 17
is crushed down into a slab alike as previous described, and then elongated and
subsequently opened out in the ways and by the means previously described.
Assuming that only inside ribs are desired, then the billet is slit or gapped upon
the two opposite sides at a", leaving a depth of metal als about equal to the
thickness of the thinnest part of the walls of the tube.
.
Figure 19 represents a further form of cycle wheel rim constructed according to
our invention, having outside ribs with solids a, at the points of the crescents.
Such a rim is produced from such a strip as Figure 12, and in the making of the
rim we prefer that the same should be shaped and opened out only equal to the
cross section of the hollow interior.
Figure 20 shows another form of cycle wheel rim with inside ribs and thickened
points to the crescent, produced from a tube having inside ribs or from a tube strip
with inside ribs or thickened parts.
In case the tubes are required to be produced with ribs that will not fall properly
together when smashed down, then we insert false ribs or parts which are removed
prior to or at the time of the opening out of the tubes.
Thus in the hollow rim Figure 20, the inside ribs in the billet would come
together with hollow spaces upon the opposite sides, which, if left unsupported,
would crush in, so that by introducing section strips or pieces and rolling the same
down with the tube strips, ribs which fall together or come opposite to each other
may be thereby produced.
In the production of ribbed and taper tubes according to our invention, we take
a hollow billet Figure 21, smash the same down into the slab Figure 22, and shown
in edge view in Figure 23. The said slab is then tapered or fan-tailed out by cross
rolling, or by passing the said slab laterally through skew-rolls, or between rolls
with their faces placed at an angle, so as to taper the said slab longitudinally, and
spread out one end to a greater breadth than, the other, see the edge view Figure 24,
and plan Figure 25.
This taper slab Figure 25, which may be produced if necessary by casting, and
with the middle division slit tool-cut or left evenly within the middle of it, as in
Figure 22, is then straight rolled into a taper strip length Figure 26 of which an
edge view is shown in Figure 27, and then by opening the same out as previously
described, an outside ribbed tube Figure 28 is thereby produced, of which Figure 29
is a cross section upon the dotted lines A B, whilst Figure 30 represents a cross
section on the dotted lines CD Figure 26.
In producing welded tubes alike unto the seamed tubes as described, we take a

page_text: slab or plate of thick metal, and weld or shut together the opposite edges of the
same, and then operate upon the same in the manner as described.
In case one or more ribs are to be omitted, then the billet before rolling down, is
slitted to as near the marginal edge as necessary in the place where the rib would
come if the metal remained un-slitted.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim, is:
First. In the production of weldless and welded outside-ribbed metallic tubes or
tubing, making the same from a hollow billet flattened into a slab, or from a middle
slit or divided slab, flat rolled, or flat and cross rolled, into a tube strip, which is
then opened out into a solid ribbed tube (such as Figures 1 and 6) substantially as
described and set forth in Figures 2 to 5.
Secondly. In the production of weldless and welded outside-ribbed metallic tubes
or tubing, forming the said ribs by the process or combination of processes
described in the preceding claim, and then flattening or folding the said ribs down
upon the outside walls of the tube, substantially as described and set forth in
Figure 7.
Thirdly. In a weldless metallic cycle or like wheel rim, making the same with
an outside rib or outside ribs solid with the walls of the metal of the same, substan-
tially as described and set forth in Figure 8.
Fourthly. In metallic cycle and like wheel rims having outside ribs as set forth
in Figure 8, making the same from a straight rolled and smashed-down billet by
the process or combination of processes referred to in Claims 1 and 2.
Fifthly. The improvements in and in the production of inside ribbed seamless
and seamed tubes by operating upon and flat rolling or flat and cross rolling a
smashed-down hollow billet, or a billet having a middle divided part or slit, by the
process or processes and the means substantially as described and set forth in
Figures 9, 10 and 11.
Sixthly. The improvements in and in the production of seamless and seamed
outside-ribbed tubings having more than two ribs, which said tubes are produced by
the means and in the ways, or by the process or processes, substantially as described
and set forth in Figures 12 and 13.
Seventhly. The improvements in, and in the production of seamless and seamed
inside-ribbed tubes having any number of ribs, which said tubes are produced by
the means and in the ways, or by the process or combination of processes, substan-
tially as described and set forth in Figures 14 to 18.
Eighthly. In the production of inside ribbed tubes, extending the divided or
slit middle part to within a short distance of the marginal edges, so as to leave
only a thickness of metal a1, at that part equal to the thickness of the walls of
a finished tube to be produced, substantially as described and set forth in
Figures 15 and 17.
Ninthly. The production of tubes by a flat-rolling process from billets or slabs
having extended divided middle parts, whereby the production of superfluous
outside ribs or webs is obviated or remedied, hence the production of tubes by flat
rolling without clipping, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 15, 16,
17 and 18.
Tenthly. In the production of weldless or welded cycle and like wheel rims,
forming the same with an inside rib or inside ribs, or with inside or outside ribs,
or with both inside and outside ribs, and with or without thickened metal at the
points of the crescent section, substantially as described and set forth in Figures 19
and 20.
Eleventhly. The improvements in and in the manufacture of weldless and welded
cycle wheel rims in the ways or by the process or processes substantially as
described and set forth

page_text: Twelfthly. The improvements in the production of ribbed and ribless taper
metallic tubes by the means and in the ways substantially as described and set forth
in Figures 21 to 30.
Thirteenthly. The improvements in the manufacture or production of tubes and
tubular shaped articles of the kinds as herein specified, by the process or processes
of flat rolling and opening out conducted in the ways and for the purpose substan-
tially as described and set forth in the several figures of the drawings.
Dated this 5th day of December 1893.
BENJAMIN SHORTHOUSE,
GEORGE SHORTHOUSE,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants.