IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF METAL TUBING
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alfred Vincent Newton, of the Office for Patents,
66, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical
Draughtsman, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF METAL TUBING."-A communication from abroad by
Elisha Packer Wilbur, of Bethlehem, in the State of Pennsylvania,
United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alfred Vincent Newton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 3rd February 1874.
I, ALFRED VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patents, 66, Chancery
Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, do
hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "Improvements
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METAL TUBING," to be as follows:-
This Invention relates to a process of manufacturing metal tubing,
including tubes of "homogeneous " iron and steel, by which a seamless
tube is produced from a block having a passage formed through it and

page_text: which is afterwards shaped and drawn or reduced by external and
internal pressure obtained in part by the action of rolls.
The process of manufacturing tubes of homogeneous iron and steel is
as follows: First a billet is produced from an ingot which is cast of
larger sectional area than the billet. required, so that there will be
sufficient metal to consolidate the latter by hammering or rolling or
both in bringing it to the desired form. The length and size generally
of the ingot will vary with the dimensions of the billet to be
produced.
In preparing the ingot it is desirable that it should be heated generally
and ultimately to such a degree so that when hammered or rolled to a
billet the latter will be solid and as free as possible from all defects.
The billet is then sawed transversely into sections, cach of the length
required to produce a given length of tubing, which may be ultimately
divided to make one or more tubes of a specified length, and the
same section by edge rolling be used to make tubes of different
sizes.
Each of these sections constitutes a block with oppositely arranged
bosses on two of its sides. Said block when cold is pierced by drilling
with two holes arranged to project partly within the bosses and partly
within the body of the block throughout the depth of the latter. Said
block is then placed in a receiver or jig, and the metal between the holes
is split or opened throughout the length of the block, thus forming a
connecting opening between the holes and dividing the block between
the latter. Said block is next put in a receiver constructed to confine
the block within a given space, when a former or plunger is forced
through the split which connects the holes on opposite sides of the
block, widening the split between the side holes into an enlarged
opening and altering the configuration of the side holes so that the com-
bined apertures form an opening somewhat of the shape of the letter I.
Such perforated block is now put on a spud, the shape of which in its
transverse section corresponds with the opening of the block, but
smaller, so that when the block on the spud is passed between rolls it
will be passed off the spud and the opening through the block will be
partially closed and the bosses changed in shape. The block is then
reheated and a flanged metal core placed within the opening in the
block. Said core at its flanged ends should not be wider than one-third,
or thereabouts, of the thickness of the block at the places of their

page_text: insertion, and the core should be coated with graphite to prevent
welding and be entered cold within the block to insure a smooth interior
surface.
If preferred the core instead of being made in one piece may be
composed of independent core bars with a plate arranged between
them.
Furthermore the block may be cast around the graphite coated metal
core.
The block, as previously described, being now relicated and the core
inserted therein it is passed through rolls of sufficient draught to make
the block close on the core and leave the metal of the block of the same
thickness on either side of the flanges of the core as the width of said
flanges when the casting is used. The block and core within it are then
both heated to an uniform degree and the same flat rolled, having
guiding grooves in the top and bottom of the block. These grooves
scrve to receive a rib arranged on a table or support on which the block
is placed, in order that the block may be uniformly centered and
clamped on the table while the bosses are being either wholly or
partially removed, according to the thickness of metal required in the
tube.
The block with the core in it is next passed between a series of
grooved rolls, the faces of which have a contour or outline corresponding
with the transverse top and bottom outlines of the slabs to be produced.
This reduces the thickness of the block, and by continued rolling a thin
slab is obtained. When near the finish the slab should be passed
between chilled box rolls conforming to the finished cross section of the
slab.
It may be observed, however, that instead of reducing the block, as
described, it is preferred, after the block has been closed on the core and
the whole reheated, to pass the same through a stand of universal rolls
grooved to receive several sized blocks previous to cutting off the bosses,
which latter may be done when the block has been reduced to one-half
its original thickness. The blocks with the cores in them should then
be passed between three high rolls to nearly finish, and afterwards
through a pair of chilled rolls to finish.
The slab is now squared at one end and said end is opened for a few
inches. Such opened end of the slab is then swaged and the same

page_text: fitted over a nipple of an hydraulic machine or pump, and grippers are
screwed down to clamp the swaged open end of the slab and to enter
notches in the flanged portions of said end to keep the slab from being
forced off the nipple when a fluid is forced into the slab to open it
throughout its length, or nearly so, the opposite end of the slab being
closed and secured by a clamp.
The injection of the fluid under pressure expands the main body of
the slab to an oval form, after which the expanded slab is disengaged
from the pump and clamps; the ends of the slab are then opened to
correspond with its new sectional form preparatory to completing the
opening and shaping of the slab into a round tube. To do this the
oval hollow slab is heated and passed between two pairs of disc rolls and
over a mandrel having two bulbs, the bulb between the first pair of rolls
serving to prevent the metal from buckling, and the bulb between the
second pair of rolls answering to give form to the interior of the tube,
and in conjunction with said rolls to shape the tubes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said Alfred Vincent Newton in the Great Seal Patent
Office on the 1st August 1874.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, ALFRED
VINCENT NEWTON, of the Office for Patent, 66, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Mechanical Draughtsman, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Third day of February, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in
the thirty-seventh year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and
successors, give and grant unto me, the said Alfred Vincent Newton,
Her special licence that I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Alfred Vincent Newton, my 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, usc, 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 METAL

page_text: TUBING," being a communication to me from abroad by Elisha Packer
Wilbur, of Bethlehem, in the State of Pennsylvania, United States of
America, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Alfred
Vincent Newton, my executors or administrators, by an instrument
in writing under my, or their, or one of their hands and seals, should
particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention,
and in what 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 I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained
in and by the following statement, reference being had to the Drawings
hereunto annexed and to the letters and figures marked thereon (that is
to say) :-
This Invention relates to a process of manufacturing metal tubing,
including tubes of "homogenous" iron and steel, by which a seamless
tube is produced from a block having a passage formed through it, and
which is afterwards shaped and drawn or reduced by external and
internal pressure obtained in part by the action of rolls.
The Invention may be briefly and generally described as consisting,
firstly, in a metal block or casting formed with ribs on opposite sides to
provide for the formation of holes through the sides of the block, such
holes being arranged preferably or primarily to project partly within
the ribs and partly within the body of the block, and which opposite
holes are connected by an opening made between them. The ribs and
holes are provided for the subsequent opening of the block without risk
of bursting or breakage by leaving loops on opposite sides of the block
as the latter is rolled into a slab. A flanged core is inserted within the
block to give shape to the open or looped slab as it is rolled from the
block and to provide for a proper pro-rata reduction of the metal in all
directions. The opening of the tube is afterwards effected by fluid,
vapour, or gas, under pressure introduced within it, and the tube sub-
sequently passes between rolls operating in connection with a suitably
shaped mandrel. Seamless metal tubes may thus be made perfectly
sound and without liability to burst; and blocks of a given size may be

page_text: two core rods and a connecting plate between them inserted therein in
place of the flanged core previously referred to.
Figs. 13 and 14 shew longitudinal views of said
detached.
corc rods
Fig. 15 represents a block or casting of metal with a metallic core,
which is inserted in the mould previously to pouring the metal round it
to form the block.
Fig. 16 is a similar view to Fig. 7, but with a diminished reduction of
the ribs, leaving one-half more margin between the core and the exterior
of the block on the ribbed sides.
Fig. 17, a view of such block and core in it after the reduction has
been made of the ribs, and after the block, as in Fig. 8, has been rolled
to give to its top and bottom surfaces an outline corresponding with that
of the slab to be produced.
Fig. 18, an end view of the slab produced from said block.
Fig. 19 represents an end view of the block and core, shown in Fig.
16, after edge rolling to one-third the width and correspondingly
reducing the margin between the core and the ribbed sides of the
block.
Fig. 20, a cross section or end view of the slab produced from the
block, shown in Fig. 19.
Fig. 21 represents a partly broken side view of the slab, shown in
Fig. 9.
Fig. 22, a side view of such slab opened a few inches from the end, as
shewn in Fig. 10.
Fig. 23, a like view of the same when swaged to form, as shewn in
Fig. 11, and with a recess in its flange for a purpose herein-after
explained.
Fig. 24, a further like view of the same attached at its swaged end to
an hydraulic pump or connection thereof, also closed by a clamp at its
opposite end, and as partially spread between two points by the fluid
injected by the pump.
Fig. 25 illustrates an end view of a nipple forming part of the
hydraulic pump connection which enters the swaged end of the slab.

page_text: Fig. 26 is a longitudinal sectional view representing the tube in its
preliminarily oval and subsequent rounded form as passing over a
mandrel having two bulbs and between two pairs of disc rolls.
Fig. 27 is an end view of the oval-shaped tube as it enters the rolls.
Fig. 28, a similar view of the tube as it leaves the rolls.
Fig. 29, a cross section of the one bulb of the mandril between the
first pair of rolls, used to prevent the metal from buckling.
And Fig. 30, a similar view of the other bulb between the second
pair of rolls, used to give form to the interior of the tube.
The process of manufacture applicable to tubes of homogenous iron 1
and steel is as follows:-First a billet is produced from an ingot which
is cast of larger sectional area than the billet required, so that there will
be sufficient metal to consolidate the latter by hammering or rolling or
both, in bringing it to the desired form. The length and size generally
of the ingot will vary with the dimensions of the billet to be 1
produced.
In preparing the ingot, it is desirable that it should be heated
generally and ultimately to such a degree, so that when hammered or
rolled to a billet the latter will be solid and as free as possible from all
defects. The billet is then sawn transversely into sections, each of the 2
length required to produce a given length of tubing, which sections may
be ultimately divided to make one or more tubes of a specified length,
and these sections may by edge rolling be used to make tubes of
different sizes.
Each of these sections constitutes a block A. (Fig. 1) with oppositely
arranged ribs a, a, on two of its sides. Said block when cold is pierced,
by drilling, with two holes b, b, arranged to project partly within the
ribs and partly within the body of the block, throughout the depth of
the latter. Said block is then placed in a receiver or jig, and the metal
between the holes b, b, is split or opened throughout the length of the a
block, thus forming a connecting opening between the holes and
dividing the block between the latter. Said block is next put in a
receiver B (Fig. 2) constructed to confine the block within a given space
when a former or plunger is forced through the split which connects the
holes on opposite sides of the block to give the latter a form substantially
as represented in Figures 2 and 3, widening the split between the side

page_text: loles into an enlarged opening c and allowing the configuration of the
side holes, as shewn in Figures 2 and 3, so that the combined apertures
form an opening somewhat of the shape of the letter I. Such perforated
block is now put on a spud, the shape of which in its transverse section
corresponds with the opening of the block, but smaller, so that when
the block on the spud is passed between rolls it will be passed off the
spud and the opening through the block will be partially closed and the
ribs a, a, changed in shape, as represented in Figure 4. The block is then
rcheated and a flanged metal core C placed within the opening in the
block. Said core at its flanged ends should not be wider than one-
third, or thereabouts, of the thickness of the block at the places of
their insertion, and the core should be coated with graphite to prevent
welding and be entered cold withing the block to insure a smooth
interior surface.
If preferred the core instead of being made in one piece may be
composed of independent core bars d, d, Figures 12, 13, and 14, with a
plate e arranged between them.
Furthermore, the block instead of being produced, as described with
reference to Figures 1, 2, and 3, may be cast around the graphite coated
metal core C, as represented in Fig. 15, with the ribs shaped to cor-
respond with the form shewn in Fig. 4.
The block, as previously described with reference to Fig. 4, being now
reheated and the core inserted therein it is passed between rolls of
sufficient draught to make the block close on the core and leave the
metal of the block of the same thickness on either side of the flanges of
the core as the width of said flanges, as shewn in Fig. 6 and in Fig. 16,
when the casting shown in Fig. 15 is used. The block and core within
it are then both heated to an uniform degree and the same flat rolled,
having guiding grooves f, f, Fig. 7 (or Fig. 16), in the top and bottom of
the block. These grooves serve to receive a rib arranged on a table or
support on which the block is placed, in order that the block may be
uniformly centered and clamped on the table while the ribs are being
either wholly sawn off, as in Fig. 7, or partially removed, as in Fig. 16,
according to the thickness of metal required in the tube.
The block with the core in it is next passed between a series of grooved
rolls, the faces of which have a contour or outline corresponding with
the transverse top and bottom outlines of the slabs to be produced. This

page_text: brings the block and core in it to the condition represented in Fig. 8
(or 17), till by continued rolling the slab D, shown in Figure 9 (or 18)
and 21, is produced. When near the finish the slab should be passed
between chilled box rolls conforming to the finished cross section of the
slab.
It may be observed, however, that instead of reducing the block, as
described, it is preferred after the block has been closed on the core and
the whole reheated to pass the same through a stand of universal rolls
grooved to receive several sized blocks previous to cutting off the ribs,
which operation may be performed when the block has been reduced to
one-half its original thickness. The blocks with the core in them should
then be passed between three high rolls to nearly finish, and afterwards
through a pair of chilled rolls to finish.
The slab D is now squared at one end, and said end is opened for a few
inches in the length of the slab, as shewn in Figures 10 and 22. Such
opened end of the slab is then swaged as represented in Figures 11 and 23,
and the same fitted over a nipple of an hydraulic machine or pump, and
grippers are screwed down to clamp the swaged open end of the slab and
to enter notches g in the flanged portions of said end to keep the slab
from being forced off the nipple, when a fluid is forced into the slab to 2
open it throughout its length, or nearly so, the opposite end of the slab
being closed and secured by a clamp, all as represented in Fig. 24.
The injection of the fluid under pressure expands the main body of
the slab to an oval form, after which the expanded slab is disengaged
from the pump and clamps. The ends of the slab are then opened to 2
correspond with its new sectional form preparatory to completing the
opening and shaping of the slab into a round tube. To do this the oval
hollow slab, shown at Fig. 27, is heated and passed between two pairs of
disc rolls G, H, and over a mandrel having two bulbs I, J, the bulb I
between the first pair of rolls serving to prevent the metal from buckling, a
and the bulb J between the second pair of rolls answering to give form
to the interior of the tube, and in conjunction with said rolls to shape
the tube as represented at Fig. 28.
It should be remarked that the flanged or I shaped core, as seen in
Figures 4 and 5, or the bars d, d, of the similarly shaped, but sectionally a
constructed core, seen in Fig. 12, should be made of the same metal as
the block or casting, or of metal that will roll pro rata with the block or
gesting

page_text: The cutting or sawing of the ribs a, a, regulates the thickness of the
tube. When the ribs instead of being cut off flush with the sides of the
block, as represented in Fig. 7, are sawn off outside of such faces or
sides, as shewn in Fig. 16, the block previous to such cutting should be
edge-rolled so that it will enter the groove in the rolls intended for it.
The subsequent rolling will crowd the metal above and below such cut
portions laterally and fill the space in the groove of the rolls.
The cutting or sawing of the ribs a, a, regulates the thickness of the
tube. When the ribs instead of being cut off flush with the sides of the
block, as represented in Fig. 7, are sawn off outside of such faces or
sides, as shewn in Fig. 16, the block previous to such cutting should be
edge-rolled so that it will enter the groove in the rolls intended for it.
The subsequent rolling will crowd the metal above and below such cut
portions laterally and fill the space in the groove of the rolls.
If extra thick tubes are wanted the opposite side holes in the blocks
must be arranged nearer to each other, that is, further from the exterior
of the ribs, thus leaving the metal of the ribs thicker outside of the
holes.
Castings with an ordinary sand core or blocks having the core bars and
connecting metal plate inserted within them, also castings with flanged
cores are treated in the same manner as the split blocks.
Various sized tubes may be made from the same block by edge rolling
previous to sawing off the ribs, or even afterwards, provided the ribs are
removed, so that the pro rata rolling will leave the metal at the margin,
that is the metal between the core and the exterior of the thickness
required for the tubes in making the holes b, b, Fig. 1, in the block. The
centres of said holes should cach be within their respective sides of the
block to an extent equal to the thickness of the tube required provided
the ribs are to be sawn off flush with the sides of the block, as in Fig. 7.
Thus if the tube is to be an eighth of an inch thick the centres of the
holes b, b, must be one-eighth of an inch within their respective sides of
the block.
If the tube is to be three-sixteenths of an inch thick the ribs should
be sawn off one-sixteenth beyond the sides of the block, and so on
according to the thickness of the tubo required.
The tubes after being finally and fully opened may be sized by well
known methods to put, them in merchantable order.
When it is desired to give them a high or extra finish they may be
annealed and "pickled "and passed through dies over mandrils..
"
Having now set forth the nature of the Invention of "Improvements
in the Manufacture of Metal Tubing as communicated to me by my
foreign correspondent, and explained the manner of carrying the same into

page_text: effect, I wish it to be understood that under the above in part recited
Letters Patent I claim,―
First. The method of constructing or producing the block preparatory
to its final conversion into a tube by forming ribs a, a, at its opposite
ends and holes b, b, entering said ribs and the body of the block, and
dividing the metal between the said holes, substantially as hercin shown
and described.
Second. The flanged or I shaped core constructed whole or in sections
for use within a block or body of metal, of or from which the tubing is
made, substantially as described.
Third. The process herein described of manufacturing metal tubes
from a block or casting having side ribs and an opening through it
arranged in relation with the ribs as specified and fitted with a metal
core by flat and edge rolling, the block severing the ribs from the latter,
spreading or opening the looped hollow slab so produced by the internal
application of a fluid or gaseous pressure, and afterwards further opening
and shaping the tube by means of rolls and a mandril, as herein set
forth.
•
In witness whereof, I, the said Alfred Vincent Newton, have
hereunto set my hand and seal, the Thirtieth day of July, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
four.