IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WELDED TUBES
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Gardiner, Manager of the Govan Tube Works,
in the County of Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS
IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WELDED TUBES."
Sealed the 14th October 1876, and dated the 20th April 1876.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Gardiner at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 20th April 1876.
DAVID GARDINER, Manager of the Govan Tube Works, in the County of Lanark,
North Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WELDED TUBES."
This Invention has for its object to dispense with the extra trouble, delay, and
expence required in the ordinary operation of making welded tubes, in order to
remove the fins formed in rolling the tubes on their being welded. The tube in
the condition in which it is known as the skelp, and having the joint edges over-
lapped is ordinarily passed in a suitably heated state between a pair of semi-
circularly grooved rollers for the welding operation, and it is at the meeting corners
of the semicircular grooves that the fins are ordinarily formed.
By the present Invention the grooves in the rollers are not made as complete
semicircles, but bevilled surfaces are formed on them in place of the ordinary
corners, such bevilled surfaces being at their outermost parts of slightly.less
diameter than the outer cylindrical parts of the rollers, so as to form a slight
shoulder or check. And instead of the ordinary pair of guide plates, forming what
is known as the mouth-piece and terminating in points on the entering side of the
rollers, continuous guide plates are used, being formed with parts which extend
through the rollers and are shaped to fit the triangular spaces between the bevilled
surfaces of the rollers. The parts of the improved guide plates thus passing
between the rollers complete the circular contour of the tube, and prevent the
formation of the fins.
A

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor by the said David Gardiner in the
Great Seal Patent Office on the 4th November 1876.
DAVID GARDINER, Manager of the Govan Tube Works, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain. "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MAKING WELDED
TUBES."
My said Invention has for its object to dispense with the extra trouble, delay,
and expence required in the ordinary operation of making welded tubes in order
to remove the fins formed in rolling the tubes on their being welded. The tube
in the condition in which it is known as the skelp, and having the joint edges
overlapped, is ordinarily passed in a suitably heated state between a pair of
semicircularly grooved rollers for the welding operation, and it is at the meeting
corners of the semicircular grooves that the fins are ordinarily formed.
By my present Invention the grooves in the rollers are not made as complete
semicircles but bevilled surfaces are formed on them in place of the ordinary
corners, such bevilled surfaces being made so as to form a slight shoulder or check
at their outermost parts. And instead of the ordinary pair of plates, forming
the mouth-piece and terminating on the entering side of the rollers, continuous
guide plates are used, being formed with parts which extend through the rollers,
and are shaped to fit the triangular spaces between the bevilled surfaces of the
rollers.
And in order that my "said Invention and the manner of performing the same
may be properly understood, I hereunto append a Sheet of explanatory Drawings
to be herein-after referred to and representing modifications of my improvements
in machinery for making welded tubes. In these Drawings the same reference
numerals are used to mark the same or like parts wherever they are repeated.
.
Figure 1 of the Drawings is a longitudinal vertical section, and Figure 2 is a
corresponding transverse vertical section of my improved arrangements as applied
to a machine for making welded tubes. The improved machine comprises a pair
of rollers 1, 2, supported in contact one above the other in bearings 3, in side
frames or standards 4, and these rollers 1, 2, are made with grooves 5, which are
not completely semicircular as in rollers already in use for similar purposes, but
have bevilled surfaces 6 formed on them in place of the ordinary corners, such
bevilled surfaces 6 being at their outermost parts of slightly less diameter than the
outer cylindrical parts of the rollers, so as to form a slight shoulder or check.
And instead of the ordinary pair of guide plates, forming what is known as the
mouth-piece and terminating in points on the entering side of the rollers, guide
plates 7 are used, which have fixed to them by bolts pieces 8 extending through
the rollers 1, 2, and forming a continuous guide for the skelps or tubes.
Figure 3 is an end elevation; Figure 4, a side elevation; and Figure 5, a hori-
zontal section of my improved guide plates.. The outer parts 7 are fixed by bolts 9
to brackets 10 attached to the framing 4 of the machine, and are hollowed or cut
away to admit of the ready insertion between them of the skelps or tubes. Set
pins 11 screwed through the bracket 10, and bearing on the end of the guide
plates 7, are provided for the adjustment of the plates between the rollers 1, 2.
The inner parts 8 are shaped (as shown in cross section at A, Figure 4) to fit the
triangular spaces between the bevilled surfaces 6 of the rollers 1, 2, and passing
between the rollers complete the circular contour of the tube and prevent the
formation of the fins. The shoulder or check formed at the outermost parts of
the bevilled surfaces 6 prevent the parts 8 of, the guide plates being forced out-
wards, and acting as wedges between the rollers 1, 2, during the passage of the
tubes.
Having thus particularly described my said Invention and the manner of per-
forming the same, I have to state that I do not restrict myself to the precise details
herein described or delineated, but that what I believe to be novel and original,

page_text: and claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before in part recited
Letters Patent is, the bevilling of the rollers (1, 2,) and the constructing of the
guide plates (8), so as to extend through the rollers and occupy the triangular
spaces formed by the bevilling of the rollers, substantially as and for the purposes
herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Gardiner, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Thirtieth day of October, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and seventy-six.
Witness,
EDMUND HUNT,
Patent Agent,
Glasgow.
DAVID GARDINER. (L.S.)