IMPROVEMENTS IN THE PROAL
Year: 1853

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Thomas Potts, Tube Manufacturer, and James
Septimus Cockings, Civil Engineer, both of Birmingham, in the.
County of Warwick, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Thomas Potts and..
James Septimus Cockings .at the Office of the Commissioners of,
Patents, with their Petition, on the 17th January 1853.
We, THOMAS POTTS and JAMES SEPTIMUS COCKINGS, do hereby declare.
the nature of our Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
TUBES, AND IN THE APPLICATION OF TUBES TO CERTAIN PURPOSES," to be as
follows, that is, to say: That our improvements consist―
Firstly, in making tubes for locomotive boilers and other purposes.
by casting tubes in short, of suitable metal, in the form of an equilateral.
triangle, with the.corners rounded, which being heated and put on a
mandril is drawn down to the required length and thickness by a series
of suitable rollers, and in some instances they are finished at the draw
bench in the usual way.

page_text: Secondly, in making tubes by bending up a piece of copper of
sufficient thickness and size, and then either drawing or rolling it into
a cylindrical form; we then plane the two edges, and insert a strip of
metal which will project on the inside, and unite the edges by soldering.
The purpose of this arrangement is to render such tubes applicable as
rollers for calico & other printing. The use of the before-mentioned
projecting strip of metal on the inside is to fit into a slot on the spindle
of such roller, saving a great amount of labour.
Thirdly, in the application of small copper tubing as a substitute for
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Thomas Potts and James Septimus Cockings in
the Great Seal Patent Office, on the 16th July 1853.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we,
THOMAS POTTS and JAMES SEPTIMUS COCKINGS, both of Birmingham, in
the County of Warwick, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by
Her Letters Patent, bearing date the Seventeenth day of January,
A.D. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three, in the seventeenth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto us, the said Thomas Potts and James Septimus Cockings,
Her special licence that we, the said Thomas Potts and James Sep-
timus Cockings, our exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such
others as we, the said Thomas Potts and James Septimus Cockings,
our 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
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES, AND IN THE APPLICATION.
OF TUBES TO CERTAIN PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst other)
that we, the said Thomas Potts and James Septimus Cockings, by an
instrument in writing under our hand and seal, should particularly
describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and in what

page_text: 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 we, the said Thomas Potts and James Sep-
timus Cockings, do hereby declare the nature of our said Invention,
and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be particularly
described and ascertained in and by the following statement (that is
to say):
Our Invention consists, firstly, in the mode of making tubes for loco-
motive boilers and other purposes, whereby we apply the power neces-
sary in reducing the thickness of metal and lengthening the tube in the
course of making in a direct manner, and that the mandril necessary
for supporting the internal pressure may be easily withdrawn. But as
the description will be better understood by referring to the Drawings
hereunto annexed, we will procced to describe the Invention as there
represented. Figure 1, is a section shewing the form we cast the
billets, that being the trade term for them. Those billets may be cast
4 or 5 feet long, and of such a size and thickness of metal required to
give sufficient length and strength to the finished tube represented at
Figure 2. The manner we proceed to effect this change we will now
describe. Being provided with two sets of rolls, such as shewn at
A, B, B, Figure 3, and C, D, D, Figure 4, one set being represented
mounted in a suitable iron frame or stand, and gearing for giving motion
to the rolls, and the other detached, as the same means are required to
work each set; and Figure 5, is a side view of Figure 3. The top rolls
A, and C, are also required to be fitted with a screw, as shewn at E, E,
in front and side view. As the rolls are required further apart at the
first application than at the second or succeeding ones. The rollers
being set for the first operation, we heat the billet, Figure 1, in a suitable
furnace, and when sufficiently hot we put the billet on a mandril, and in
this condition put it through the rolls A, B, B, which will reduce it-to
the condition shewn in section, with the mandril at Figure 6. The next
operation is to pass it through the rolls Figure 4, while it is in the
heated state, after which process it will assume the shape of the section,
Figure 7. This last operation will have more the effect of increasing
its circumference than its length, allowing the mandril to be removed

page_text: "
:
with ease, a desideratum much required, as in most other plans of
'making solid tubes the withdrawal of the mandril has presented the
greatest difficulties. The next operation, the result of which is repre-
sented at Figures 8, and 9, is entirely similar to the last, and so on if
'required, until tlie metal is reduced to the desired thickness, and the tube
the required length. The top rolls being screwed down closer at each
operation, and the metal heated. Our last operation is to reduce the
tube from the form shown in the last Figure to that of Figure 10,
which we do at க் common draw bench, with the metal in a cool state,
thus leaving the finished tube, as shewn at Fig. 2.
The second part of our Invention relates to the making of tubes in
such a manner that they may be applicable to the printing of calico,
or 'what is usually called calico printing rolls; and as these description
of tubes or rolls are made with a set off or projecting piece on the
inside, which on the old process has been made by very tedious and slow
"means, which we entirely avoid. Figure 11, represents in section a
'tube or roll made on our plan, which may be described thus:-We
take a piece of copper, and reduce it to the thickness and length required,
as also the width according to the requirement as to the circumference
of the finished roll. We then plane the edges in the form shewn, which
we think will do best, but we do not confine ourselves to the exact
shape, provided that the part F, be drawn or otherwise made to cor-
respond with the shape of the edges. The manner of reducing the flat
piece of copper G, G, to the circular form is, first, by a suitable hammer
and swages; and next by drawing or rolling until the two edges come
together, so as to hold the part F, very securely, but which is further
secured by being soldered, the solder being laid along on the angles of
the inside projection, not being required to run through to the outside;
and as it is desirable to make the joints as close and invisible as possible,
we draw the tube through a suitable collar after the joints are soldered,
which completes the roll.
The third part of our Invention relates to the application of hollow or
tubular copper wire for telegraphic communication, and needs no further
description, as we employ the same means commonly in use, but as we
also use tubing for joining such telegraphic wires together (an important
feature in telegraphic communication), we will describe the mode by

page_text: which we effect this union. We take a short piece of tube, say about
2 inches long; the inside of this should fit the outside of the long lengths,
the two lengths being put together, and the outer tube put over the joint,
lapping equal on each side; in this state, and by means of suitable pliers
we squeeze or press the wire and jointing tube together, and by working
around with the pliers, or by turning the tubes around, we are enabled
to form a neck, and by repeating this three or four times each side of
the inner joint, we form a perfectly strong and firm connection. We
effect, by this substitution of hollow instead of solid wire, a great saving
of raw material.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, and the manner
in which the same may be carried into effect, we wish it to be under-
stood that what we claim as our Invention is,―
First, the making of solid or seamless tubes, as described in the first
part of this our Specification, by which means we are enabled to make
tubes of a very superior quality, and at the same time use a very inex-
pensive mixture of metal.
Secondly, we claim the making of tubes or printing rolls, as herein
described, without any regard to the exact proportion as exhibited in
the Drawings.
And, lastly, we claim the application for telegraphic communication
of hollow wire herein described, as also the means of jointing the same,
without any reference to any particular description of telegraph, as
it is equally applicable to common bells, as to electric or any other
telegraphs.
In witness whereof, we, the said Thomas Potts and James Septimus
Cockings, have heretofore set our hands and seal, this Fifteenth
day of July, A.D. One thousand eight hundred and fifty-three.
THOMAS POTTS.
(L.S.)
JAMES SEPTIMUS COCKINGS. (L.S.)