Improvements in the Art of Uniting Iron or Steel Plates or Sheets by Welded Joints.
Year: 1890

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Nov., 1890-Accepted, 27th Dec., 1890
UUMI LEIN DI DUITIATION.
Improvements in the Art of Uniting Iron or Steel Plates or Sheets
by Welded Joints.
I JAMES COPPER BAYLES, of East Orange, State of New Jersey, U.S.A., Mechanical
Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of my invention for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE ART
OF UNITING IRON OR STEEL PLATES OR SHEETS BY WELDED JOINTS, and in what manner
the same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
This invention relates to uniting to each other by welded seams iron or steel sheets
or plates by the direct application to the meeting faces only of the members of the
seam, of a heat sufficient to raise to a welding temperature so much of the metal
composing such sheets or plates as is to be forced into union, without reference to the
temperature of the metal elsewhere, and by means of suitably delivered pressure or
hammering, forcing the highly heated meeting faces of the members of the seam into
contact, welding them to each other and forging the seam into its finished shape.
In the ordinary processes of welding sheets or plates, as for example in the so-called
cross-welding, by which long bands of steel are provided for the manufacture of
spirally welded tubes, the cross seams have been made by lapping the edges of the
strips, then heating them through and through and welding them under a hammer.
In lap welding the sheets are usually held in a horizontal position with the edge of
one overlapping the edge of the other, and heat is applied above and below the lapped
portions. Under these conditions the surfaces which are to be united are in close
contact with each other, and so shielded from the flame that they are heated by
conduction only; hence it is difficult to bring them to a welding temperature without
over-heating the metal on either side of the seam.
It frequently occurs that the surfaces exposed to the flame or to the hot fuel, as the
case may be, acquire a condition of semi-fusion before the faces in contact become hot
enough to weld together. There results a scaling and warping of the metal on each
side of the weld, causing it to present a rough appearance and to exhibit corrugations
and inequalities which have to be subsequently smoothed out by rolling or
hammering.
Butt-welding cannot be practically applied to thin sheets of metal because there is
not stock enough in the abutting edges to make a weld, and because the unequal
expansion of the thin sheets under the influence of heat, render it nearly impossible to
bring the two edges into continuous contact along a line of greater length than two or
three inches.
If pressed together edge to edge by mechanical means the soft metal on either side
of the weld is upset or buckled, as the case may be.
These difficulties are avoided and the described distortion of the metal prevented in
the present process by the mode of presenting to the source of heat the surfaces which
are ultimately to be brought into contact with each other and welded together.
The sheets or plates are prepared for the heating operation by bending or curving
the edges which are to be united and then clamping the sheets or plates in suitable
juxtaposition, so that their bends will occupy relatively convergent positions.
In practice during the welding operation the work will usually be supported upon
the top of an anvil with the two bends extending convergently upward like anticlinal
strata. It will of course, however, be understood that the two sheets may be placed in
reverse positions with their bends extending downward like synclinal strata, and also
that the sheets may occupy vertical or other planes, and that in all positions the
welding operation can be performed by delivering the pressure or the blows of the
hammer against the meeting edges of the bends and toward the face of an anvil which
appropriately supports the work, or by compressing the work between two rolls bearing
transversely across the seam on opposite sides thereof.

page_text: In view of these considerations the term “clinal welding" has been adopted as the
designation of the herein described mode of welding, and the term "clinal weld" as
the designation of the result produced thereby.
It is immaterial whether the furnace and the anvil are moved along the seam, or
whether the work is moved over the furnace across the face of the anvil. It is also
immaterial whether the hammer employed be wielded by hand or whether it be
actuated by mechanism. In any case the effect of the welding and forging operation,
whether performed by hammering or rolling, is to force the bends or clinal members
of the seam toward the plane of the sheets or plates.
In following a circumferential seam uniting two cylinders end to end the furnace
and the welding appliances may be made to travel in a circle around the seam, or they
may remain stationary while the cylinders are made to revolve in such a way as to
bring all parts of the seain successively, first, into the required proximity with the
source of heat, and then within the range of action of the welding appliances.
This result is itself new and possesses distinguishing characteristics by which it
can be recognized. One of these characteristics which is manifest upon inspection is a
more or less shallow but peculiarly shaped groove along the line of the seam on the side
of the work opposite that from which the bends originally projected. The peculiarity
in the shape of the groove is that its side walls are convex but meet each other at a
sharp angle. Another characteristic the possession of which greatly contributes to the
superiority of the finished work, is discoverable when a polished cross section of the
weld is etched with acid. When so examined the clinal weld presents an appearance
different from that of any of the welds heretofore employed for uniting sheets or plates.
Thus, a lap weld or a scarf weld when its cross section is polished and etched with
acids exhibits a well defined and nearly straight line extending more or less diagonally
across the work, which shows the plane of union of the two pieces.
Similarly, in a butt-weld thus treated and examined, a line extending at a right angle
across the work indicates the plane of union.
On the contrary, in the clinal weld, owing to the forging which, after the union of
the metal is primarily effected, completes and finishes the seam, there is a considerable
flow of metal which appears to diffuse and break up the line of the weld, and an entire
absence of a straight and unbroken line.
In
To such an extent is this the case that it is difficult in examining the etched cross
section of a clinal weld to distinguish between the weld and laminae of the metal.
the clinal weld nothing resembling a line of weld is distinguishable, whereas the line
of the weld is always distinguishable in seams made by lap, scarf or butt welding.
Under the microscope the etched cross section of the clinal weld exhibits such an
interlocking of the lamina and union of metal with metal as to clearly indicate the
superiority of a clinal weld as a means of uniting sheets or plates of metal to each
other. In short the clinal weld produced by the present process is essentially different
from that produced by any other process capable of application to iron or steel plates
or sheets and the difference can be detected by mere inspection by reason of the
presence of the peculiar groove which has been described and it can be established by a
miscroscopic examination of an etched cross section of the clinal weld which inevitably
presents a different appearance from that shown by the etched cross section of any
previously known form of weld applicable to the union of plates or sheets.
The accompanying illustrative drawings are as follows:
Figure 1 is an isometrical perspective of two iron or steel plates or sheets having
the required bends upon their adjacent edges, and symbolically representing a furnace
and two-clamps for clamping the sheets in the required juxtaposition over the furnace
chamber.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal vertical section of the two sheets symbolically representing
the furnace and clamps, and showing the manner of directing the hot blast into the
space between the bends.
Figure 3 is a section similar o Figure 2, illustrating the manner in which
comparatively thick plates are prepared for clinal welding, by having their edges
scarfed and bent.

page_text: Figure 4 is a section illustrating the first effect of hammering, in causing the welding
together of the bends at their extreme edges.
Figure 5 is a section similar to Figure 4, illustrating a later stage in the operation
of welding and forging.
Figure 6 is a similar section showing the finished shape of the welded seam.
The drawings represent two metallic sheets, a and b, as being clamped down by the
clamps, and d, upon the horizontal beds, e and f, on either side of the furnace
chamber, g. The curved edges or bends, a' and ', of each sheet extend upwardly and
toward each other, so that the opening between the bends is narrow at the top and
relatively wide at the bottom.
The flame or hot blast, h, is directed upward through the space between the bends,
and it hence follows that the bends acquire a welding heat upon their adjacent
surfaces, without any exposure of their other surfaces to the direct action of the flame
or hot blast.
As soon as a welding heat has been acquired by the two surfaces of metal upon the
opposed. sides of the bends, the sheets are moved forward out of the furnace, and on
to an anvil, or the furnace is moved backward and the anvil moved under the bends,,
as the case may be, and by the blows of a hammer or downward pressure of a roller,
the heated bends are forced into contact with each other and hammered or pressed
down flat upon the anvil beneath them.
The width of the bends or curved edges of the sheet and the radius upon which the
bends are curved are matters for the exercise of the judgment and experience of the
welder and are influenced to some extent by the thickness of the stock to be welded.
When brought into position for welding, the extreme edges of the bends are near
together but preferably not in actual contact with each other.
In welding comparatively thick stock, say one quarter inch or upward in thickness,
it may be found advantageous to scarf or gradually reduce the thickness of the edges
which are to be united preparatory to forming the bends a¹ and b', as represented in..
Figure 3.
For heating the work it is convenient to use a blow pipe of gas and air so arranged
that its flame is delivered into the wider part of the space between the two bends.
The furnace and flame may be made to travel along the seam, or the furnace and
flame may be stationary and the clamped sheets may be made to move across the
furnace.
As the furnace recedes or as the sheets emerge from the furnace the seam is closed
by being supported upon an anvil and subjected to the blows of a hanımer or to the
pressure of a die, or to the action of compressing rolls.
A blow or pressure upon the apex of the ridge of hot metal, or what may be called
the clinal seam, forces the highly heated faces of the bends together, and repeated.
blows or pressure welds them and practically obliterates any appearance of a seam.
by the resulting perfect union of the two bends and the forging of the bends into the
plane of the sheets.
If it be desired that the welded seam shall be of prescribed thickness, as for example
of the same thickness as the adjacent parts of the plates, care will be exercised
to so proportion the width of the bends and the distance from each other at which the
sheets are clamped that the bends when pressed or hammered down flat and welded
together will make the seam of the desired thickness.
A ridge or thickness at the weld does not impair the strength of the seam and need
be avoided only when for any special reason it is desired to make the seam perfectly
flush, and of the same thickness as that of the adjoining sheets.
It will be perceived that the convergence of the bends has the effect of concentrating
the heat of the flame upon the faces which are ultimately to be brought into contact
with each other after they have acquired a welding heat. At the same time all other
portions of the sheets, a and b,. are shielded from direct contact with the flame. Thus,
two relatively thin strata of metal upon what are ultimately to become the meeting faces
of the bends may be brought to a welding heat while the adjoining strata on the outer
faces of the bends, respectively, remain at a temperature below a welding heat. Under

page_text: these conditions the welding operation is not interfered with by the variable expansion
or buckling which results from the application of great heat to a light stock, and it
will consequently be found that this method affords a means of making a smooth and
perfectly welded seam along the abutting edges of two sheets of steel so light that
their inevitable warping and distortion when heated otherwise than as herein described
renders it impracticable to weld them by the ordinary method.
It will also be perceived that the danger of what blacksmiths call "burning" the
metal is avoided. This danger exists only when it is found necessary to make one
part of the metal too hot, in order that another part may be made hot enough for
welding. By the method described the hot surfaces are welded as soon as they are hot
enough for the purpose, and there is no danger of injury to the metal unless through
negligence it is over heated, in which case the meeting faces of the seam will be made
much hotter than is needed to enable them to be welded.
This invention is applicable to welding seams in all constructions of sheet or plate
iron or steel and may be economically and usefully employed in welding the seams of
boiler shells, large tubes, cylindrical tanks or any other objects composed of sheets of
steel or iron requiring to be joined together edgewise or end to end.
It is to be remarked that although the heating for the purpose of welding is done
by the flame which is forced between the convergent under sides or meeting faces of
the bends, it may under some circumstances be desirable to also apply heat from
above. Thus, in working thick stock it may be necessary to apply heat from above in
order to hasten the heating of the metal exterior to the seam, which must yield and
change shape under the hammer or roll in order that the wolding faces may be brought
together when the forcible compression of the clinal axis of the seam necessitates a
redisposition of the metal in the bends constituting the members of the seam.
applied to the exterior of the seam has no function in promoting welding, but as iron
or steel works more easily under the hammer when hot than when cold, it is
advantageous to heat both sides of thick stock when flush welds are desired.
Heat
It will be found upon trial that a welded seam made in the manner described will
have the same coefficient of strength as the stock outside the seam, even if the seam
be hammered down so that it is no thicker than the original stock.
It will also be found that the stock on either side of the weld will not be impaired
in strength as it generally is when two sheets are united by the ordinary process of
lap welding, because in the present process it is unnecessary to raise any part of the
metal under manipulation above the temperature needed for welding, at which
temperature the metal is not impaired.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is :
1. The process of welding seams in iron or steel plates or sheet, herein described,
which consists in bringing to the welding heat the opposed faces of the two converging
bends formed upon the juxtaposed edges of the sheets which are to be united, without
reference to the temperature of the metal elsewhere than at the said faces; and in
uniting the plates or sheets thus locally heated by hammer blows, or pressure applied
along the clinal axis of the seam.
2. The herein described process of welding seams of iron or steel plates or sheets,
which consists in arranging the members of the seam in oppositely inclined positions,
with their extreme edges near together; in then directing a hot blast or flame into
and through the space between the oppositely inclined members of the seam, and
thereby heating to a welding heat the surfaces to be forced into union, without
reference to the temperature of any other portions of the sheets or plates, and in then
immediately forcing the said highly heated surfaces into contact and welding them
together by suitably administered compressing or hammering as set forth.
3. The herein described process of uniting sheets of iron or steel to each other by
welded seams, which consists in curving or bending the edges of two plates into
diagonal bends of suitable width to form the members of the seam, then clamping the

page_text: two sheets in the same plane in such relation that their bends converge toward and
nearly meet each other, then directing a hot blast or flame transversely into the wider
part of the space between the bends until the metal upon the opposed surfaces of the
bends, respectively, has acquired a welding heat, and in then compressing or hammering
the bends and thereby forcing the highly heated surfaces of the bends into contact
with each other and welding them together and forging the clinal seam thus formed
into its finished shape.
4. The improvement in the art of uniting the meeting edges of iron or steel plates
or sheets, which consists in uniting them by means of the clinal weld herein
described.
ABEL & IMRAY,
Agents for the Applicant.