IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COPPER TUBES
Year: 1853

page_text: k
AN
LETTERS PATENT to, William Russell, of Birmingham,,in the
County of Warwick, Tube Drawer,. for the. Invention of
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COPPER
TUBES."
1.

page_text: extending and expanding the copper to the desired lengths, diameters,
and thicknesses of metal most suitable for making a tube of the sizes
required. Thus, suppose I want to make one 54 feet long, 14 inches
interior diameter, and 14 inches outside diameter, weighing about
4 lbs., I take a piece of copper rather more than the weight to allow
of waste in scrap, and raw ends to be cut off, necessarily made during
the process; or I take one of double, treble, or of any other propor-
tionate weight sufficient to make two or three tubes of this size or
more when cut to 5 feet long. I continue to lengthen and expand it
until I have reduced it to about 1 inch thickness of metal, or to some
other thickness which experience points out to be the most suitable
thickness for the intended tube. I then put it into a draw bench, with
or without a mandril in the inside, and draw it through a draw bur or
draw burs of smaller diameters, as occasion requires, until I have reduced
the tube to 1 inches outside diameter, and lengthened it as far as I
can consistently with keeping the metal of the tube of the required
thickness, namely inch. I then, if sufficiently long for that purpose,
cut the tube into two, three, or more lengths of 54 feet each, or, if only
sufficient to make one tube of that length, cut off it as much as occa-
sion requires; and I make tubes of other sorts and sizes in the same
way; but I frequently have not occasion to make the tube thinner
first and to thicken it afterwards, as it can be often drawn to the
required dimensions without undergoing this process. I also performi
the same process in iron rollers properly grooved for the purpose in
the usual way; and I specifically claim the exclusive privilege of
making copper tubes by first thinning and then thickening the metal
in the way above described.
.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said William Russell in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 17th March 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I,
WILLIAM RUSSELL, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Tube
Drawer, send greeting.

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Twentieth day of October, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the
seventeenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, IIer heirs and succes-
sors, give and grant unto me, the said William Russell, Her special
licence that I, the said William Russell, my executors, administrators,.
and assigns, or such others as I, the said William Russell, my
executors; administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree with,"
and no others; from time to time and at all times thereafter during
the term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use,
exercise, and vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and
Ireland, the Channel Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "AN
IMPROVEMENT OR IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF COPPER TUBES,"
upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said William Russell,
by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what
manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be filed
in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said William Russell, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement thereof (that is to say):
My said Invention consists in making copper tubes (as herein-after
particularly described) by the process of drawing, the said process
being so conducted that the tube, at one stage of its manufacture, is
thinner in substance than it is when completed; that is to say, in com-
pleting the said tube while its diameter is diminished the thickness of
its substance is increased also in expanding; that is to say, increasing
the diameter of copper tubes where the same is desirable.
In carrying
my Invention into effect I proceed as follows:-I take a bar, bolt,
ingot, or other piece of copper, or a copper roll, of tough and good
copper; I prefer that the piece of copper be of a cylindrical figure. I
make a cylindrical hole in the said piece of copper (if it has not one
already), the said hole being made in the direction and about the axis
of the cylindrical or other copper piece. The size of the said hole.

page_text: depends upon the size of the tube to be made, but the size of the said
hole is not material. I place the said piece of copper in an ordinary-
draw:bench with a mandril in its interior, and draw it through a draw
bur in the usual way; and I change the said mandril and draw
bur: from: time to time for others of more suitable dimensions, for
extending and expanding the copper to the desired lengths, diameters,
and thicknesses of metal most suitable for making a tube of the
dimensions required. Thus, if. I wish to make a tube nine feet long.
and having, an external diameter of half an inch, and an internal
diameter of one quarter of an inch, and weighing about six pounds,
Itake a piece of copper, somewhat heavier than the tube to be pro-
duced (to allow of waste in scrap and raw ends to be cut off); or I
take a piece of copper of double or treble or any other multiple of the
above weight, so as to produce two, three, or more tubes of nine feet
long. I lengthen the tube by drawing, without, however, much dimi
nishing its, diameter, until I have reduced the thickness of the metal to
about one eighth of an inch, or such other thickness as experience
points out to be most suitable for the intended tube. I then put it
into a draw bench, either with or without a mandril in its interior, and
draw it through a draw bur or draw burs of diminishing diameters, as
occasion requires, until I have reduced the tube to one half an inch
diameter outside, and lengthened it as far as I can consistently with
keeping the metal of the tube of the required thickness, namely, one
eighth of an inch, the said metal having been increased in thickness
during the last stages of the drawing process. I then, if sufficiently
long for that purpose, cut the tube into two, three, or more lengths of
nine feet each; or, if only sufficiently long to make one tube of that
length, cut off as much as occasion requires. I frequently have not
occasion to make the tube thinner first and thicken it afterwards, as it
can be often drawn to the required dimensions without undergoing this
process.
When I wish to expand, that is.to, say, increase the dianieter of
copper tubes, I proceed as follows: I take. a conical collar of some-
what larger diameter at its larger end than the tube, and introduce the
sniall end of the said collar into the tube, and I draw the said collar
through the said tube by means of a rod connected with the said collar,

page_text: the tube being held at rest. As the larger end of the conical collar
enters and passes along the tube it expands the said tube. Instead of
making the the said collar conical, I sometimes make a series of facets
or planes on the large end of the said collar (the parts between the
said facets having the curved face of the cone).. In drawing such a
collar through a tube the said tube is drawn somewhat into a poly-
gonal figure, and somewhat expanded; by afterwards drawing a conical
collar through the tube, the said tube is restored to a cylindrical figure,
and still further expanded. By the last-described method of treat-
ment the cracking of the metal, which is otherwise sometimes induced,
is avoided.
Instead of drawing the tube by means of a draw bench and burs, I
sometimes use rollers properly grooved for this purpose. Tubes made
according to my Invention are sounder, denser, and stronger, in conse-
quence of the last thickening process, than copper tubes made according
to the ordinary method.
Having now described the nature of my said Invention, and the
manner in which the same is to be performed, I wish it to be under-
stood that I claim as my Invention,-Firstly, the making of copper
tubes either by drawing or rolling; the said drawing or rolling process
being so conducted that the metal of the said tubes shall be first thinned
and afterwards thickened, as herein-before described; Secondly, the
method of expanding or increasing the diameter of copper tubes, as
herein described.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Russell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-seventh day of February,
in the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-
four.
WILLIAM RUSSELL. (L.S.)
Witness, GEORGE SHAW.