Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Electrically Soldering Cans and other Sheet Metal Ware.
Year: 1891

page_text: Date of Application, 3rd Feb., 1891-Accepted, 7th Mar., 1891
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in Methods of and Apparatus for Electrically
Soldering Cans and other Sheet Metal Ware.
I, MARK WESLEY DEWEY, of 150, North Salina Street, in the City of Syracuse,
in the County of Onondaga, in the State of New York, United States of America,
Electrician, do hereby declare the nature of my invention, and in what manner the
same is to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement :-
My invention relates to those methods or processes, and apparatus for use in
the same, of uniting the parts of sheet metal ware, more particularly cans, which
require the employment of heat to melt or soften the uniting material, and
afterward the withdrawal of the heat, to cool and set said material.
The object of my invention is, to employ electricity as a heating agent for the
soldering or cementing irons so that they may be heated easily to the required
temperature, and all the irons in a machine heated alike or uniformly which
cannot be accomplished by gas or other heating mediums now employed for this
purpose.
The object of my invention also, is to heat electrically or by an electric current
the soldering irons of the capping machines now in use, with as little change as
possible in their general construction as the present construction of the machines
is highly satisfactory and desirable. Said machines contain revolving cylindrical
soldering irons that are vertically movable, and presser irons that are also
vertically movable but independent of the soldering irons so that pressure can
be maintained upon the caps of the cans for a certain length of time after the
soldering irons have been removed to permit the solder to cool and the caps to
be firmly joined to the cans.
The object of my invention further is, though I do not limit myself thereto, to
electrically heat the soldering irons without passing the current through the said
irons themselves, as they are of very low resistance and would require an enormous
amount of current to heat them, and also heavy and expensive conductors to lead
the current to them. The current would have to be specially generated or trans-
formed for the purpose, as ordinary currents employed for lighting and power
purposes would not be sufficient. With my invention, however, I am enabled to
employ almost any strength of current as the heating conductor may be entirely
separated from the soldering iron, and constructed of any suitable material, and
of any desired size or shape to obtain the proper resistance and the best results.
It has heretofore been proposed to soften the solder when soldering lids on
cans by passing a heating electric current through a stationary pressure iron,
and permitting the solder to cool by cutting off the current before the pressure
of the said iron was removed. This plan will not do for capping purposes as it
not only requires a change in the construction of the present capping machines
but is very inefficient as there is no revolving iron provided to distribute and
sweat the solder in the depression at the joint around the cap, and no unheated
pressure iron to maintain pressure upon the cap while the heated iron is removed.
The above plan would also occupy too much time, for the reason that the pressure
iron must remain on the cap after the current through it is cut off, a sufficient
time to lose by conduction a great part of the heat accumulated in it to permit
the solder to cool and set, before the pressure upon the cap is removed, and, if
said iron is cooled to this point it will require a strong current or a long flow
of current and consequently a loss of time and energy to again raise the temperature
of the irons for the next set of cans to be soldered or capped.
In my invention, it will be observed, that no time will be lost in heating and

page_text: cooning the irons, as the somering iron or the heating electric conductor is kept
constantly heated and the work is not cooled by interrupting the current, but by
removing the heated iron from the work as soon as the solder is properly dis-
ributed etc., and the pressure upon the work is maintained after the removal of the
soldering iron a sufficient time to allow the solder to set and the parts to become
united together, by a cool and independent pressure iron.
My invention consists broadly in electrically heating a metal tool, suitably
applying the solder or cement to the junction of the pieces; bringing the tool in
contact with the solder, and then moving the tool along the said junction.
My invention consists also in electrically heating a circular soldering iron,
suitably applying the solder to the junction of the cap and can, bringing the iron
in contact with the solder and junction, rotating the iron until the solder is properly
distributed, then removing the iron from the joint, and maintaining the pressure
upon the parts while they are cooling.
My invention consists further in heating the soldering tool by passing a heating
electric current through a conductor in contact with or in close proximity to the
tool while it is remote from the work, then moving the tool from said conductor
and bringing the tool in contact with the work or the junction of pieces supplied
with solder, moving said tool along the junction, removing the tool from the
junction, and maintaining pressure upon the parts while they are cooling.
And my invention consists in certain other combinations of the steps in the
method, and also in certain apparatus and devices useful in practising the method
hereinafter described and specifically set forth in the claims.
In the accompanying drawings,
Fig. 1 is an elevation of my improved can-capping apparatus as applied to a
single can, and for use in practising my method,
Fig. 2 is a sectional view of the same, and
Fig. 3 is an elevation showing the soldering iron raised,
Fig. 4 is a front view of a machine,
Fig. 5 is a sectional side elevation of the same,
Figs. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 18 are modified forms of electric heaters that may be
employed in accomplishing my invention.
Fig. 12 is a front view of a portion of a machine having a simple and preferred
form of an electric heating conductor,
Fig. 13 is a portion of the same front view with the iron in a raised position,
Fig. 14 is a sectional plan view of Fig. 12,
Figs. 15 and 16 are plan and side views of a set of soldering irons with another
form of heating conductor applied thereto, similar to that shown in Figs. 12, 13
and 14, and
Fig. 17 is a side elevation of a rotary can capping machine for accomplishing my
invention.
Referring specifically to the first five figures of the drawings, A is the frame
work of the machine, which may be of any suitable description.
a a are vertical
posts (shown in Figures 4 and 5) to which are secured the bars or plates B
supporting the shaft bearings CC which fit therein. The bearings C hold the
vertical shafts or tubes D D of the soldering irons E. It will be obvious that the
bearings and their supports may be constructed so that the irons may be separated
more or less as is sometimes done in these machines to admit cans of different
diameter.
The tubes D are provided with pulleys d at their upper ends. Between the
pulleys and the upper parts of the bearings C is a perforated or slotted bar F
which is adapted to be raised. At the lower end of each shaft is a sleeve G having
a flange or collar e. The sleeve G is held to the shaft by means of a set screw h.
The collar is of the same diameter as the interior of the hollow cylindrical
soldering iron and rests therein, the connection between the two parts being effected
by means of the set-screws which pass through slots cut in the body of the
soldering iron.
A presser rod or tube m having a weight m¹ at its upper end,

page_text: K is a
passes through the centre of each shaft D, the lower end of the tube being adapted
to rest upon the top of the can-cap. At the center of the bar F is a link n con-
nected with a lever o having a fulcrum at o¹ which lever when depressed, causes the
entire series of soldering devices to be raised. A line of shafting H is arranged in
suitable relation to the soldering devices, and provided with pulleys and belts for
driving the same. Motion is given to the shafting H by means of a belt leading
from the wheel I which may be rotated by any suitable power or means.
sliding table on which a tray L may be placed. The cans M may be placed on the
tray or directly on the sliding table. The presser iron m'is made in the form of a
tube in some cases, to permit the electric connections to pass through from the
top to the heating conductor e supported in close proximity to the soldering iron on
its interior, and upon the edge or periphery of a disk e' of non conducting material
as asbestos or mica, fixed to the tube m'a distance above the lower end thereof.
The said disk is chamferred or grooved on its edge to receive and support the
heating electric conductor. Any suitable source of electricity can be employed.
gg indicate leads from some source, and is a circuit connected with the said
leads. The circuit contains a current regulator or adjustable resistance J and
extends along the upper part of the frame of the machine. The heating con-
ductors ce are shown connected in the circuit in parallel but it will be obvious that
they may be connected in circuit as desired which depends upon the strength of
the current, the resistance of the heating conductors and the amount of heat
required.
The operation of the machine is as follows:
The soldering irons having been placed the proper distance apart to suit the
diameter of the caus to be capped, the current is passed through the heating
conductors. The soldering irons are then put in motion or caused to revolve. A
series of filled cans bearing loose caps and pieces or rings of solder are then
prepared for the action of the machine, being either placed directly on the sliding
table or in the tray. The lever is then depressed, whereupon the entire
series of soldering devices and pressure rods or tubes are raised sufficiently to allow
the cans to go under. The cans being put in position, the soldering devices and
presser-tubes are allowed to descend, the latter holding the caps steadily in place.
About two or three revolutions of the soldering irons have been found to be
sufficient to complete the operation. The caps having been soldered on, the
soldering devices and presser tubes or rods are again raised and the cans slid
from under and a second series made ready. The operating edge of the soldering
iron is provided with slots p the object being to prevent or obviate the presence of
a completely circular edge, which has been found objectionable. The break in the
edge allowing the solder to flow both inside and outside of the iron a more perfect
joint is effected than if the edge be a continuous circle.
The soldering iron may be made of copper, steel or any other metal best adapted
for the purpose.
It will be obvious that any suitable and well known forms of devices for applying
acid, solder or cement applying devices, or cooling devices may be employed with
my invention and may be connected to and operated with any apparatus designed
for practising my process.
It will be also obvious that any suitable and well known forms of devices for
feeding and withdrawing the articles as the cans and caps to and from the machines
may be employed with my invention.
Instead of forming the heating conductor e in the shape of a ring as indicated in
Figure 2 of the drawing, said conductor may be formed into a coil as shown in
Figure 6. The disk c' is held in its place upon the tube by pins passed through
the tube above and below the said disk. In this figure the soldering iron is shown
in its raised position with its working end opposite or near the heating conductor.
Should a great number of convolutions of the heating conductor be necessary in
order to generate the amount of heat required, the coil or coils of the conductor

page_text: may be enclosed in a suitable case f as shown in Fig. 7. Suitable insulating
material as asbestos or pulverized fire clay may surround the wire in the case.
The said case is ring shaped with a recess in the lower portion of its exterior and is
fixed to a hollow sleeve secured to the shaft by set screws. The soldering iron E
is in this case preferably made with a projection on the lower part of its interior to
come in contact when raised with the projecting part of the case. It is not
absolutely essential, however, that the iron should come in contact with
the case, nor that there should be a recess in the latter and a projection on the
soldering iron, but this is preferred in order to rapidly conduct the heat from the
case to the iron. In Fig. 8 the heating conductor c is shown secured to the under-
side of the disk c and may be provided with another disk of any suitable
material below the same, if desired, as shown in dotted lines. The Figures 9 and 10
show the shapes the heating conductor may be placed in when on the underside of
the disk. The heating conductor may be shaped otherwise however.
The bifurcation is made at the lower extremity of the presser-irons in order that
the vents usually produced in the caps upon which the irons rest may be uncovered
during the process of soldering.
Fig. 1 shows brushes b', the terminals of the circuit bearing upon the
cylindrical rotable vertically reciprocating soldering tools E to conduct the electric
current to and through the iron to heat the same, but although this may be done it
is not preferred as the irons would have to be made much lighter than usual to
obtain the requisite resistance or else the current would have to be of very great
volume. In this case, the iron E would be insulated from the sleeve G to which it
is fastened. Instead of passing the current through the iron itself it would be
better to pass it through a thin band or ring e insulated from, but secured upon the
exterior of the soldering iron E as shown in Fig. 18 as then the resistance of the
heating conductor can be made much higher and a current of smaller volume
employed.
In the apparatus hereinbefore described the heating conductor, although in some
cases secured to the presser-iron is not entirely stationary as the presser-irons are
raised and lowered, but in the apparatus hereinafter described, said heating
conductor is stationary and extremely simple in form and inexpensive.
The heating conductor e shown in Figs. 12, 13 and 14 is secured to and supported
by the frame of the machine at ; and, and if necessary by one or more sup-
plementary supports insulated from the conductor, and between and . The
path of said heating conductor is shown clearly in Figs. 12 and 14 of the drawings,
extending from the binding post 7 on the outside of the frame a through the frame,
along on one side of the row of soldering irons, and bowing half round each one to j¹
where it is secured to a block fastened to the frame a then returning along on the
other or front side of the said irons, bowing as before around each one, and through
the frame again to the binding post . The said conductor is in close proximity to
the irons but does not touch them so that it will not interfere with their movements.
The heating conductor, it will be observed, is placed remote or a considerable
distance froth the cans so that it will not materially heat them or at least will not
melt the solder, tin or cement upon them, but, when the irons are raised as shown
in Fig. 13, the working end of the soldering tool is brought close to the heating
conductor and is heated so that when it descends upon the solder at the joint, it
softens or fuses the solder to unite the cap with the can. The heating conductor is
shown in this case in the secondary circuit of an inductional transformer P. 7. is
the primary circuit which may be connected with a suitable source of irregular or
alternating currents, and is a current regulator or choking coil to regulate the
current in the heating conductor c in the secondary circuit.
The heating conductor shown in Figs. 15 and 16 is similar to that just described,
but is straight along each side of the shafts of the soldering irons and above the
latter, and may be in contact with the said irons when they are raised if desired.
The said irons should be shorter in this case as the working end of the iron is not

page_text: brought so near the conductor when the latter is in this position. When the
heating conductor is on the exterior of the soldering iron, the electric connections
will not pass through the presser-iron, and the latter may then be made solid.
In Fig. 17 I have shown a rotary can-capping machine. This apparatus is con-
structed so that some of the caps are being soldered to the cans while others are
cooling and still others are being prepared for the soldering operation, as for
instance, by placing the cap on the can, and applying the flux and the solder
thereto.
In this machine, also, pressure is maintained upon the cap after the soldering iron
is removed from the joint to permit the solder to cool, after which, the pressure is
automatically removed from the cap and the finished can is taken from the machine
and replaced by an unsoldered can. The heating conductor of this machine is
preferably stationary with the cans, and the same or similar to the conductor shown
in Figs. 12, 13 and 14, but rotates with the rotating part of the apparatus.
said apparatus is rotated by means of a mitred cog-wheel keyed to the vertical
central shaft U below the can table. The cog-wheel is shown in mesh with a
smaller mitred cog-wheel t' on a horizontal shaft " which is driven by any power,
and is mounted in a bearing y bolted to the base of the stationary frame of the
machine.
The
The electric current is conveyed to the heating conductor by means of stationary
brushes secured to binding posts on the top of the frame and connected to the
terminals of the electric circuit. The brushes extend to and bear with their free
ends upon metal rings and insulated from each other and mounted upon the
central shaft to be turned therewith. The terminals of the said heating conductor
are connected as shown by the dotted lines with the said rings. The current flows
continuously through the heating conductor.
The same letters of reference are employed in this figure that were used in the
other figures to denote corresponding parts.
The soldering irons and accompanying devices are arranged in a circle around the
central shaft U. For the sake of simplicity the said irons are shown as rotated by
a single stationary belt or chain secured at w to the frame and passing around all
the pulleys, which, are not in this case, raised and lowered with the soldering irons,
but are simply connected thereto by splines and grooves, so that they will continually
rest upon the disk B carrying the shaft bearings C C. I do not limit myself to this
arrangement, however, as any other suitable and well known means may be employed
to revolve the soldering irons. The soldering irons are not raised by a lever in this
rotary machine, but by a cam shaped stationary strip R supported from the top of
the frame. This cam or cam-shaped strip R has two levels, one somewhat higher
than the other and engages with small disks fixed to the top of the tubes D, succes-
sively, first raising the soldering iron from the can allowing the presser iron to
remain upon the cap
for a short time, and then raising both irons clear from the can
to allow its removal from the machine and the insertion therein of another. The
said cam preferably extends about two-thirds the distance around the apparatus.
The irons are shown down, resting upon the caps and cans at the right hand side of
the figure, which cans are in process of being soldered; at the centre of the figure,
several disks have been lifted by the cam and the soldering irons raised from the
cans while the presser-irons remain on the caps so that the solder at the joint will
cool before pressure is removed.
At the left of the figure the soldering irons are shown raised still higher and the
presser-irons raised more or less, so that the soldered cans may be removed and
unsoldered cans inserted in their place. The soldering irons may not be con-
tinuously revolved, but only when lowered upon the solder or can.
It will be obvious that my method may be also used for soldering together any of
the parts of a can or similar article without departing from my invention.
Further than this I would have it understood that if the can is made to rotate or
revolve under the soldering iron while the latter is held stationary it will be equiva-
ent to rotating the iron while the can is stationary.

page_text: 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 herein described. improvement in soldering or cementing operations in
which heat is employed to heat the soldering or cementing material, consisting in
heating the soldering tool by passing a heating electric current through a conductor
in close proximity or contiguous to the tool while it is remote from the work, and
then moving the tool from said conductor, and bringing the tool in contact with the
work or the junction of pieces supplied with solder.
2. The herein described improvement in soldering or cementing operations in
which heat is employed to heat the soldering or cementing material, consisting in
heating the soldering tool by passing a heating electric current through a conductor
in close proximity or contiguous to the tool while it is remote from the work, then
moving the tool from said conductor, bringing the tool in contact with the work
or the junction of pieces supplied with solder, and moving said tool along the
junction.
3. The herein described improvement in soldering or cementing operations in which
heat is employed to heat the soldering or cementing material, consisting in heating
the soldering tool by passing a heating electric current through a conductor in close
proximity or contiguous to the tool while it is remote from the work, then moving
the tool from said conductor and bringing the tool in contact with the work or the
junction of the pieces supplied with solder, moving said tool along the junction,
removing the tool from the junction, and maintaining pressure upon the parts while
they are cooling.
4. The herein described improvement in soldering or cementing operations in which
heat is employed to soften the soldering or cementing material, consisting in suitably
electrically heating a rotable or revolving soldering tool while it is remote from the
work, then bringing the tool and work in contact with each other, and then
separating the tool and work from each other and permitting the latter to cool.
5. The herein described improvement in soldering or cementing operations in
which heat is employed to soften the soldering or cementing material, consisting
in suitably electrically heating a rotable or revolving soldering tool while it is
remote from the work, applying pressure to the work to press the parts toward
each other, then bringing the tool and work in contact with each other, and then
separating the tool and work from each other and permitting the latter to cool under
pressure.
6. The herein described improvement in soldering or cementing operations in
which heat is employed to soften the soldering or cementing material, consisting in
electrically heating a rotable or revolving soldering tool while it is remote from the
work by passing an electric current through a heating conductor, then bringing
he tool and work in contact with each other, and then separating the tool and work
from each other and permitting the latter to cool.
7. In an electric soldering or cementing apparatus for cans, a movable or rotable
soldering tool and an electric heating conductor in close proximity or contiguous to
the tool.
8. In an electric soldering or cementing apparatus for cans, a series of separate
or independent movable or rotable soldering tools and one or more electric heating
conductors in close proximity or contiguous to the tools.
9. In an electric soldering or cementing apparatus for cans, a movable or rotable
soldering tool, an electric heating conductor in close proximity or contiguous to the
tool, and an independent presser-iron as and for the purpose described.
10. In an electric soldering or cementing apparatus for cans, a movable or rotable
vertically reciprocating soldering tool, an electric heating conductor in close
proximity or contiguous to the tool, and an independent presser-iron as and for the
purpose described.
11. In an electric soldering or cementing apparatus for cans, a series of separate

page_text: or independent rotable vertically reciprocating soldering tools, one or more electric
heating conductors in close proximity or contiguous to the tools, and a series
of independent presser irons, as and for the purpose described.
Dated this Laak 1
MARK WESLEY DEWEY.
Haseltine, Lake & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, Agents for the Applicant.