IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS OF STEAM BOILERS SUCH PARTSUCH PARTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE. TO OTHER SIMILAR STRUCTURES
Year: 1883

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Joseph Tordoff of the Leeds Forge Company, Limited,
Leeds, in the County of York, Manager for an Invention of IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS OF STEAM BOILERS SUCH PARTS
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Joseph Tordoff at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 2nd October 1883.
JOSEPH TORDOFF of the Leeds Forge Company, Limited, Leeds in the County
of York, Manager, "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS
OF STEAM BOILERS, SUCH PARTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE. TO OTHER SIMILAR
STRUCTURES,
My Invention for "Improvements in the manufacture of certain parts of steam
boilers, such parts being also applicable to other similar structures, relates to the
formation of such parts known as manholes, unions or connecting parts of boilers
and their separate steam chambers, mountings for the reception of safety, stop or
other valves, covers for openings in boilers and other vessels, connecting pipes
between series of tanks or cisterns and other similar structures.
Articles such as above referred to have hitherto been made either of cast iron, or
by bending to form and welding a ductile metallic material such as wrought iron
or steel. The former of these as made by casting are not always trustworthy
against the pressure to which they are sometimes subjected, and besides are liable
to fracture on being attached to a boiler or other vessel by rivetting and the latter
kind are very costly by reason of the skilled labour required to produce them.
In order to reduce the cost in the manufacture of such parts as above referred
to, according to my invention I take a plate of metal of suitable quality, size and
form for the production of the article required which I place in a heated state
upon a suitably formed female die, the internal configuration of which corresponds
with the externally required shape of the body of said part, and by means of a
suitably formed punch or male die and pressure applied thereto cause so much of
the metallic plate required to form the body and one flange, to be pressed into said

page_text: female die, leaving so much of the metallic plate on the entering side of such die
as to form another flange, I next remove the partially formed article from the
female die, and whilst still in a heated state, or when reheated, after perforating a
small hole in or about the centre of the partially formed article, I surround that
part constituting said body, by another die in parts, in suchwise that a certain
portion of the now formed body projects beyond the last named die, this part I
turn over in an outward direction and so complete the second flanging operation.
When such articles are required to form covers or caps for openings in the shell
of a boiler or other vessel I leave the metallic plates of which they are to be
made, without a hole as previously referred to, and proceed as above described, to
press and stamp into the required form, such articles having only one flange.
After the pressing or stamping processes, I trim the edge or edges of the flange
or flanges ready for use.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Joseph Tordoff in the Patent Office on the 28th March 1884.
JOSEPH TORDOFF, of the Leeds Forge Company, Limited, Leeds, in the County
of York, Manager,. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF CERTAIN PARTS
OF STEAM BOILERS, SUCH PARTS BEING ALSO APPLICABLE TO OTHER SIMILAR
STRUCTURES
"
My Invention for "Improvements in the manufacture of certain parts of steam
boilers, such parts being also applicable to other similar structures," relates to the
formation of such parts known as manholes, unions or connecting parts of boilers
and their separate steam chambers, mountings for the reception of safety, stop or
other valves, covers for openings in boilers and other vessels, connecting pipes
between series of tanks or cisterns and other similar structures.
Articles such as above referred to have hitherto been made either of cast iron, or
by bending to form (such as a hoop) and welding a ductile metallic material such
as iron or steel. The former of these, as made by casting are not always trustworthy
against the pressure to which they are sometimes subjected, and besides are liable
to fracture on being attached to a boiler or other vessel by rivetting, and the
latter kind are very costly by reason of the skilled labour required to produce
them.
Now in order to reduce the cost of manufacture of such parts as above referred
to, as for instance, a manhole having two flanges, while at the same time producing
a superior article, According to my invention, a plate of metal of appropriate
quality, size and form for the production thereof as hereinafter explained, is heated
and then whilst in the heated condition is placed upon a female die, the interior
configuration of which corresponds with the external shape required to be given to
the body portion of the article, then by pressure or percussion applied through the
medium of a punch or male die, so much of the metallic plate is forced into the
said female die as is required to form the body and one flange (à surplus portion
3

page_text: which is afterwards removed) being at the same time pressed into said female die,
leaving so much of the metallic plate on the entering side of the said female die,
as will form another or the first flange, I next remove the partially formed article
from the female die and whilst still hot, or after being re-heated, press it into the
same female die, but on the contrary side thereof, or into a similar die or dies, by
suitably shaped punches, until it has assumed the desired shape and the first flange
has been formed. Then after perforating the partially formed article in or about
its centre, or removing a sufficient quantity of the superfluous material pressed
into the female die in the first operation, I re-heat the partially formed article, and
surround that part constituting the body, by a compound die made in parts in
such wise, that whilst the first formed flange bears against one side of this die, a
portion of the now formed body projects beyond the other side, this I turn over in
an outward direction either by hand or by a conically formed punch or male die,
which is afterwards pressed to form by a suitably shaped tool or die, thus
completing so far as stamping is concerned, the formation of the second flange
herein before first referred to.
+
After the pressing or stamping process I trim the edge or edges of the flange
or flanges ready for use.-When covers or caps are required for openings in the
shell of a boiler or other vessel, I leave the metallic plates of which they are made,
without a hole as previously referred to, and proceed as above described to press
and stamp into the required form, such articles having only one flange.
Referring to the accompanying drawings, Figs 1. and 2, illustrate a metallio
plate a, that has undergone the first operation of being cut to form ready for
manufacture into a manhole fixing according to my invention. Figs 3. and 4,
illustrate in plan and sectional elevation the second operation, namely;-the first
cupping process, a, being as before, the metallic plate, b, the female die, and c, the
punch or male die.-Figs. 5, and 6, illustrate the third operation, wherein the
plate a, as shewn, has been subjected to the second cupping process, whereby the
radius of the angle between the body and the flange is somewhat reduced, the same
female die b, as used in the first cupping process, being used in an inverted
position, the male die d, having its angle d1, to a less radius than the male die c,
in the previous operation. Figs 7, and 8, illustrate the fourth operation, that is to
say; the final cupping and first flanging process, e, is the female die, having its
angle el, to the required finished radius between the body and the flange, the same
male die d, being used as in the previous operation, the flattening of the flange
being effected either by the head of the press or hammer (used in this operation)
projecting beyond the punch or male die d, or by a projection on the said punch or
male die d. Figs. 9, and 10 shew in plan and sectional elevation the partially
formed object after it has undergone the fifth operation, that is, of being perforated
or having the superfluous part g, removed by any convenient means. Figs 11. and
12. illustrate the sixth operation, or the turning over outwardly of the part j, which
projects above the compound female die h. This die is in halves, i is the counter
or conical punch or male die for turning over the part j, when not done by hand.
Figs. 13, and 14, illustrate in plan and sectional elevation, the seventh operation,
that is, the completion of the stamping process of the second flange. This must
have the same crosswise configuration as that of the boiler or object to which it has
to be attached. h, is the same compound female die as used in the sixth
operation. k, the finishing flanging tool. Figs. 15, 16, and 17, shew in plan and
elevations the finished manhole after the eighth operation, namely, that of trimming
or turning the edges of the flanges to a regular form ready for use. Unions,
mountings and covers for openings previously referred to are formed in a similar
manner to the manhole just described; but I would observe, that the operations
required to produce such objects, may in some cases be more or less in number
than those above described.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention and the manner of
carrying the same into practical effect, I would have it understood that what I

page_text: onsider to be novel and original and therefore claim as secured to me by the
ereinbefore first in part recited Letters Patent is
In the manufacture of certain parts of steam boilers or other vessels as above
specified, stamping, striking or pressing a heated metallic plate of appropriate
shape by means of a succession of male and female dies of varying form, until
said plate attains the desired configuration, and one flange is formed thereon
substantially as described and illustrated.
The improved method or process of manufacturing certain parts of steam boilers
or other vessels such as above specified, which consists in (a) pressing or
stamping the central part of a heated plate of appropriate shape into a series
of dies in succession. (b) perforating it or removing a surplus part of it,
(c) partly forming a second flange whilst the body of the article is held in a
compound female die. (d) completing the said second flange in the same
compound female die, all substantially as above described.
Witness whereof, I, the said Joseph Tordoff, have hereunto set my hand
and seal this twenty sixth day of March in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and eighty four.
tness to the signature of the
said Joseph Tordoff
THOMAS E. CRAVEN, C.E.
Fellow, Inst. of Patent Agents
24 Victoria Chambers
Leeds.
JOSEPH TORDOFF (L.B.)