A CERTAIN IMPROVE- MENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES
Year: 1851

page_text: 1 TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, SAMUEL
WALKER, junior, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her present most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Royal Letters Patent under the Great Seal of the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Ireland, bearing date at Westminster, the Twenty-fourth
day of March, in the fourteenth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs
and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Samuel Walker, junior, my
exors, admors, and assigns, Her especial licence, full power, sole privilege and
authority, that I, the said Samuel Walker, junior, my exors, admors, and
assigns, and such others as I, the said Samuel Walker, junior, my exors,
admors, and assigns, should at any time agree with, and no others, from time
to time and at all times 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 "A CERTAIN IMPROVE-
MENT OR CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES;"
in which said Letters Patent is contained a proviso that I, the said Samuel
Walker, junior, shall cause a particular description of the nature of my said
Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, by an instru-
ment in writing 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
Samuel Walker, junior, do hereby declare that the nature of my said Invention,
and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully described and
ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference being had to
the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters marked thereon,
that is to say :-
My Invention consists,-
Firstly, of a method of bending skelps or sheets of metal into a tube-like
form, and bevilling the edges of the same.
Secondly, of a furnace to be used in soldering the edges together of partially
formed tubes.
The first part of my Invention consists of bending skelps or sheets of metal
into a tube-like form, and bevelling the edges of the same by rolling.
Figure 1 represents an elevation of the rolls by which I carry this part of my
Invention into effect. The skelp or sheet of metal is bent into the shape of
the letter U previous to submitting it to the action of the rolls represented.
The said U-shaped sheet of metal is passed between the rolls a, a, and is made
thereby to take the figure represented in section in Figure 2, that is to say,
the edge c overlaps the edge c'. During the passage of the partially-formed
tube between the rolls a, a, it is supported by a mandril or internal support.
The partially-formed tube is then passed between the rolls b, b, Figure 1, a
mandril or internal support being placed in the said partially-formed tube.
By the operation of the rolls b, b, the edges c, c¹, are compressed so as to
assume the form represented in section in Figure 3. Instead of rolling the
partially-formed tube into the form represented in section in Figure 2, I
sometimes effect the same by the well-known process of drawing; the par-
tially-formed tube is then ready for soldering, which may either be effected
in an ordinary furnace, or in a furnace of the kind herein next described.
The second part of my Invention, that is to say, my improved furnace to
be used for soldering together the edges of partially-formed tubes, as repre-
sented in vertical section in Figure 4. d is the fireplace. c, the ashpit.
f is a bridge over which the flame and heated air pass into the chamber g,
and from thence to the chimney h, as indicated by the arrows in the Drawing.
i is the opening at which the fire is fed. j is an opening in the side of the
chamber (corresponding to a similar opening in the opposite side of the said
chamber) through which the tube to be soldered is passed. I pass the tube
to be soldered through an opening made in that part of the furnace indicated
by the dotted circle when I wish to solder tubes by placing the solder in the
interior of the said tube, and causing the flame and heated air to pass under

page_text: the tube at which under side the junction is in that case situated; and instead
of the said circular openings I sometimes make oblong openings, as indicated
at k, so that several tubes may be placed side by side and soldered at the
same time. By this construction of furnace the flame and heated air are
made to pass only on that surface of the tube where the soldering is to be
effected, while the other part of the said tube is not heated to an injurious
degree. I sometimes fill the lower part of the said chamber g with sand or
other imperfect conductor of heat.
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 understood that I do
not limit myself to the precise methods of carrying my Invention into effect
herein described and represented in the accompanying Drawing, as the same
may be varied without departing from the nature of my said Invention. But
I claim as my Invention,―
Firstly, the forming skelps or sheets of metal into a tube-like form, and
bevelling the edges of the same by rolling, as herein described and represented
in the accompanying Drawing.
Secondly, the construction of a furnace herein described and represented
in the accompanying Drawing, whereby the flame and heated air are conducted
over the part of the tube to be soldered.
In witness whereof, I, the said Samuel Walker, junior, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-second day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-one.
SAMUEL (L.s.) WALKER, Jun'.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Twenty-second day of Sep-
tember, in the year of our Lord 1851, the aforesaid Samuel Walker came
before our said Lady the Queen in Her Chancery, and acknowledged the
Specification aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified