IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCO- MOTIVE, MARINE, STEAM, GAS, AND OTHER TUBES
Year: 1845

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GEORGE
ROYLE, of Church Hill, Wednesdury, in the County of Stafford, Whitesmith,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Fifteenth day of April, in the eighth year of Her reign,
did, for Herself, Her heirs, and successors, give and grant unto me, the said
George Royle, my exors, admors, or assigns, Her especial licence, full power,
sole privilege and authority, that I, the said George Royle, my exors, admors,
or assigns, or such others as I, the said George Royle, my exors, admors,
or assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and
at all times thereafter during the term of years therein expressed, should and
lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend, within England, Wales, and the
Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN LOCO-
MOTIVE, MARINE, STEAM, GAS, AND OTHER TUBES;" in which said Letters Patent
there is contained a proviso, that I, the said George Royle, shall cause a par-
ticular description of the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, under my hand and seal to be enrolled in Her
said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters Patent, as in and
by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more fully and at large
appear.

page_text: NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, I, the said
George Royle, hereby declare that the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascer-
tained in and by the present Specification thereof, reference being had to the
Sheet of Drawings hereunto annexed, that is to say:-
Whereas by one mode of manufacturing locomotive, marine, steam, gas,
and other tubes now in use and well known, the piece of iron, commonly
called a skelp, out of which the tube is made is first heated to a welding state
throughout one half of its length, and then drawn through pincers by an end-
less chain, in order to weld the edges together and round and smooth the outer
surface of the pipe, after which the other half is heated in the same manner,
by which mode of operation a considerable waste of time and labour is caused,
and perfect uniformity in the tube is rendered difficult of attainment.
And whereas by another mode of manufacturing such tubes which is in use,
the whole of the skelp is heated at once and welded by passing it between
four grooved rollers, the groove of each roller forming one quarter of a circle,
and the four grooves forming by their union an entire circle, which gives to
the welded skelp its proper circular form. And whereas this process is also
objectionable on account of part of the iron of the skelp being pressed out
between the rollers, and remaining on the outside in the form of ribs, which
must be afterwards removed at great trouble and expense by chisel, file, or
grindstone. Now, the nature of my said improvements consists in heating
the whole of the skelp from end to end at once, and converting it into a per-
fect tube by welding, rounding, smoothing, and finishing before allowing 'the
metal to cool, whereby I accomplish, before allowing the metal to cool, that
which requires, by the mode first before described, two distinct heating pro-
cesses, and I avoid altogether the chipping, filing, or grinding attending the
second mode. And the manner in which the said Invention is performed is as
follows: First, an air furnace is built, of sufficient length to contain the
entire skelp or tube. The skelp is then bent by the ordinary bending machinery,
so that the edges either touch or lap over cach other, according to the strength
of, the tube required. The skelp so bent is next placed in the air furnace and
allowed to remain there until it is heated to a welding heat. It is then taken
out and passed through a pair of rollers, grooved so as to form a series of six
circles at the point of union, as shewn in Figure 1 of the Drawings hereunto
annexed, the grooves of each pair being less than those of the pair imme-
diately preceding it (reckoning from right to left). If the tube is not suffi-
ciently welded at the first drawing, it is returned to the air furnace, having
been necessarily somewhat cooled in passing through the rollers, and when it

page_text: is again up to the welding heat the process of passing through the rollers is
repeated, and so for a third time, if it should be necessary. The tube may
have a mandril inserted inside or not. After the tube has been passed through
the rollers the last time, it is drawn through a moveable scraper, of the clamp-
like construction represented in Figures 2 and 3, Figure 2 representing it
open, and Figure 3 representing it closed. A is the stock of the scraper, and
B, a cotter for holding it down; C is the working beam, which turns on a
hinge attached to one end of the stock. a, al; are semicircular grooves cut
out of the upper face of the stock, and a³, a³, corresponding grooves cut out of
the under face of the beam, so that on the two sets of grooves being brought
together they form two circular holes for the tube to pass through, one being
of larger diameter than the other. The tube is, first drawn through the larger
hole, and then through the smaller, and by the two operations is effectually
scraped and smoothed. The method by which the tube is drawn through
the scraper is by gripping it in an instrument, called in the trade a draught
or pincers, which holds the end of the tube fast. The instrument so holding
the tube is then fixed to the link of an endless chain by a bolt, and this chain
revolves round a spiked roller, driven by a steam engine or other power at the
one side and by a plain roller at the other. The chain in its passage draws
the pipe through the scraper; and when the draught or pincers reaches the
turn of the chain, the bolt is drawn and the draught released from the chain.
The chain and draught are represented in Figure 4 of the Drawings hereunto
annexed. A is the endless chain; B, the tube to be scraped; C, the draught
or pincers; D, the spiked wheel; E, the spindle, connected with the steam
engine or other moving power; F, the scraper. When, as sometimes happens,
the quality of the iron is such that it is liable to blister, a solid die, with a
round hole in it, may be used instead of the moveable scraper.
And having now described the nature of my said Invention, and in what
manner the same is to be performed, I declare that I do not claim as new any
part of the machinery herein-before mentioned or described as being in and
by itself new; but what I claim is, the welding, rounding, scraping, smoothing,
and finishing of locomotive, marine, steam, gas, and other tubes in entire
lengths from end to end at one time, and before the metal after having been
once raised to a welding heat is allowed to cool, and the effecting the same by
the combination of means or machinery, herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and seal, this Fifteenth
day of October. One tliousand eiglit hundred and forty-five.
GEORGE (L.S.) ROYLE.

page_text: AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Fifteenth day of October, in the
year of our Lord 1845, the aforesaid George Royle came before our said Lady
the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification aforesaid, and
all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form above written.
And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according to the tenor of the
1 Statute made for that purpose.
Enrolled the Fifteenth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and forty-five.