Improvements in Uniting Metal Sheets Edge to Edge, and in the Manufacture of Metallic Pipes or Tubes.TALAC
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 24th Nov., 1891-Accepted, 13th Feb., 1892
COMPLETE DIEUIFICATION
Improvements in Uniting Metal Sheets Edge to Edge, and in the
Manufacture of Metallic Pipes or Tubes.
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 IMPROVE-
MENTS IN UNITING METAL SHEETS EDGE TO EDGE AND IN THE MANUFACTURE
OF METALLIC PIPES OR TUBES, and in what manner the same is to be performed,
to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following statement :-
This invention consists broadly uniting metal sheets edge to edge and in
manufacturing metallic pipes or tubes by spirally or otherwise curving a sheet or
sheets of weldable metal to compose the shell of the pipe or tube, and in welding
thereto a strake of similar, metal which overlaps the contiguous edges which
are to be united, whereby there is formed a welded seam composed of three
members, one of which is furnished by the strake, and the other two, respectively,
by the portions of the metal adjoining the meeting edges which the strake over-
laps and to which it is welded. The seam or joint thus formed is herein designated
a strake weld. The strake weld seam, may extend spirally around the pipe, or
longitudinally from one end of the pipe to the other, or it may be employed to
unite to each other the juxtaposed ends of two cylinders of metal, in which case
the strake will extend circumferentially around the resulting tube.
In carrying out the invention, the sheets of metal which are to be united are
supported edge to edge, and a metallic strake of the desired width is supported in
suitable proximity to them while the surfaces to be welded are heated to a welding
heat by a gas flame which is directed into the space between said surfaces. The
heated surfaces are then welded together by pressing or hammering the strake upon
the metal adjoining the meeting edges of the sheets while the latter are supported
upon a suitable anvil.
The furnace or blow-pipe and the anvil and hammer may be made to travel
progressively along the line of the seam when the work is stationary; or the work
may be made to travel through a stationary furnace over a stationary anvil and
under a hammer vibrating in a fixed path. In either case, the metal is progressively
heated and the strake is progressively welded to the portions of the two sheets of
metal which it overlaps on either side of their meeting edges.
The accompanying drawings symbolically illustrating the invention and apparatus
suitable for carrying it into effect are as follows, to wit:
Figure 1 is an isometrical perspective representing two sheets of metal united
edge to edge by a strake weld.
Figure 2 is a longitudinal section of a strake weld in process of formation,
symbolically representing the apparatus employed for progressively heating the
work and progressively welding the strake upon the metal adjoining the meeting
edges of the two sheets which are to be united.
Figure 3 is an axial section of a pipe composed of two cylinders placed end to
end and united to each other by a circumferentially superimposed strake welded
to the portions of metal adjoining the meeting edges of said two pipes.
Figure 4 is a transverse section of the cylinder represented in Figure 3
symbolically illustrating the apparatus employed for welding a strake to the
exterior thereof.
Figure 5 is an isometrical perspective of a spiral strake welded pipe.
The apparatus employed for carrying the invention into effect, which is symboli-
cally represented in Figure 2, embraces an anvil A for supporting the edges of

page_text: two sheets of metal B and C opposite the place where the welding to them of the
overlapping strake D by the blows of the hammer E is effected. The strake D is
supported at a short distance from the plane of the sheets B C, and by means of a
blow pipe F a gas flame is directed into the space between the strake and the
portions of metal adjoining the meeting edges of the sheets B and C which the
strake, overlaps.
In some cases, especially if the sheets to be united are quite thin, it may be
desirable, .in order to prevent them from losing heat by radiation, to project a gas
flame against the surface of the scam opposite that to which the strake is being
welded and for that purpose a blow pipe G may be employed.
In Figure 2 the sheets B C are represented as being flat and the surfaces of the
anvil and face of the hammer as correspondingly flat. It will of course be under-
stood that if the sheets are curved the bearing surface A' of the anvil and the
face E of the hammer may be correspondingly curved.
Thus in employing a strake weld for uniting two cylinders end to end, as shown
in Figure 3, or welding a strake to the exterior of a cylindrical shell for any
purpose, the apparatus illustrated in Figure 4 may be employed. Such apparatus
embraces an anvil a, the face a¹ of which is convexly curved to correspond to the
curvature of the cylinder b. The hammer e may have its face e! concavely curved
to fit the curve which the exterior of the strake d acquires in the process of
welding.
The cylinder is represented as being supported on feed rollers X X by the
rotation of which the cylinder is gradually turned in the direction indicated by
the curved arrow X'. The strake d is fed in a tangential path toward the cylinder.
The surfaces to be welded are heated to a welding heat by a gas flame projected
from the blow pipe into the space between the exterior of the cylinder and the
opposed surface of the strake which is being fed toward the cylinder.
Figure 4 also illustrates another expedient for preventing the loss of heat by
radiation from the surface of the seam immediately opposite that to which the
strake is being welded. This expedient consists of a convexly curved fire-brick
shield which immediately adjoins the anvil. A fire-brick shield f' may also be
employed for directing and concentrating the gas flame against the part of the
cylinder and strake which are to be heated, and a fire-brick shield d¹ may also be
placed astride the strake d immediately opposite the part which is being heated by
the gas flame.
Instead of feeding the work, as illustrated in Figure 4, it may be convenient
especially if the work is massive, to feed the furnace anvil and hammer along the
seam while the work is stationary. It will be obvious that in either method the
result accomplished is the progressive heating and the progressively welding of
the parts which are to be united.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said
invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, I declare that what I
claim is:
1. The process of uniting sheets of metal to each other, edge to edge, herein
described, which consists in progressively heating the metal adjoining the meeting
edges of said sheets to a welding heat, and in progressively heating and welding
thereto a strake which overlaps the said meeting edges of said sheets.
2. The improvement in the art of uniting, edge to edge, plates or sheets of
weldable metal, which consists in uniting them by means of a strake weld, as herein
described.
3. A spirally welded pipe composed of a spirally wound relatively wide strip of
sheet metal, with a relatively narrow spiral strip or strake of sheet metal super-
imposed upon and welded to the meial adjoining the contiguous edges of the
successive convolutions of said relatively wide strip.
4. The herein described sheet metal pipe, the welded seam of which is composed

page_text: of three members, two of which members consist, respectively, of the portions of
metal adjoining the contiguous edges of the successive convolutions of a spirally
wound relatively wide strip of sheet metal, and the third of a spirally superimposed
relatively narrow strip or strake of sheet metal.
Dated this 24th day of November 1891.
ABEL & IMKAI,
Agents for the Applicant.