Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Covers and Dishes used for Annealing Metal Sheets, Pots for Melting Metals, and similar Box-like Articles of Metal.
Year: 1899

page_text: Complete Specification Left, 30th Apr., 1900-Accepted, 28th Sept., 1900
TRUVIDIONAL DITUITICATION.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Covers and Dishes used
for Annealing Metal Sheets, Pots for Melting Metals, and similar
Box-like Articles of Metal.
I, JAMES THOMPSON, of Ettingshall Boiler Works, Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates, more especially, to covers and dishes used for an-
nealing sheet metal, but is applicable also in connection with galvanizing
pots and others pots used in melting metals, and other articles of a box-like
character which are made of strong metal.
Annealing covers and melting pots have heretofore, or usually, been made
of very thick wrought iron or steel plate, welded or riveted at the joints; and
annealing dishes are sometimes made in this manner also. The method of
manufacture is, however, expensive, and the welded or riveted joints constitute
an element of weakness.
Now this invention has for its object to form each article in a single plate
of ductile metal, such as wrought iron or steel, by raising the metal in suit-
able tools operated by an hydraulic or other press, thus avoiding the need for
welded or riveted joints between the top or bottom and the walls or wall, or
between different portions of the walls or wall, and also cheapening the process
of manufacture.
The above object is accomplished, according to this invention, by pressing tho
plate to form the article between tools which are so shaped that the metal forming
the walls or wall of the article takes a crimped, wrinkled, or corrugated form,
which in the case of a rectangular-shaped article, may be at the corners only,
or along the sides only, or both at the corners and along the sides. The crimps
wrinkles, or corrugations, are of a maximum dimension at the edge of the metal
and, running inwards from such edge, gradually reduce in size towards their
inner ends. This peculiar crimped, wrinked or corrugated formation, avoids,
or almost entirely so, the drawing of the metal which would be necessary if the
metal were to be raised in a manner to leave the walls or wall plain throughout
and which, with the great thickness of metal used for such articles as annealing
covers and dishes and melting pots, would be quite impracticable.
Articles made of strong metal, in the manner of this invention, are more
cheaply produced than in the ordinary method of manufacture, and are rendered
more reliable and durable by the avoidance of the welded or riveted joints which
have heretofore been found to give trouble.
The top or bottom of the article may be corrugated to strengthen it, by corru-
gations crossing one another in the middle, or otherwise arranged as desired,

page_text: and these corrugations may be produced by the tools which are used to raise the
metal into box-like form.
Dated this 27th day of July 1899.
STEPHEN WATKINS & GROVES,
Wolverhampton,
Agents for the Applicant.
Improvements in and in the Manufacture of Covers and Dishes used
for Annealing Metal Sheets, Pots for Melting Metals, and similar
Box-like Articles of Metal.
I, JAMES THOMPSON, of Ettingshall Boiler Works, Wolverhampton, in the
County of Stafford, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
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, more especially, to covers and dishes used for an-
nealing sheet metal, but is applicable also in connection with galvanizing
pots and others pots used in melting metals, and other articles of a box-like
character which are made of strong metal.
Annealing covers and melting pots have heretofore, or usually, been made
of very thick wrought iron or steel plate, welded or riveted at the joints; and
annealing dishes are sometimes made in this manner also. The method of
manufacture is, however, expensive, and the welded or riveted joints constitute
an element of weakness.
Now this invention has for its object to form each article in a single plate
of ductile metal, such as wrought iron or steet, by raising the metal in suit-
able tools operated by an hydraulic or other press, thus avoiding the need for
welded or riveted joints between the top or bottom and the walls or wall, or
between different portions of the walls or wall, and also cheapening the process
of manufacture.
The above object is accomplished, according to this invention, by pressing
the plate to form the article between tools which are so shaped that the metal
forming the walls or wall of the article takes a crimped, waved, wrinkled, or
corrugated form. The crimps, wares wrinkles, or corrugations, are of a maximum
dimension at the edge of the metal, and, running inwards from such edge,
gradually reduce in size towards their inner ends. This peculiar crimped, waved
wrinkled or corrugated formation, avoids, or largely so, the drawing or thicken-
ing of the metal which would be necessary if the metal were to be raised in a
manner to leave the walls or wall plain throughout, and which, with the great
thickness of metal used for such articles as annealing covers and dishes and
melting pots, would be commercially impracticable.
In order that the invention may be clearly understood, I will proceed to
describe practical applications of the same, by way of example, by reference to
the drawings herewith, of which Figure 1 is a plan view of the plate or blank
from which a rectangular annealing .cover is to be produced. Figure 2 is a
transverse section through one half of a pair of tools by means of which the
blank is first operated upon, to form it into a shallow dished shape. Figure 3
is a plan view of the blank after the same has been operated upon by the
tools shewn by Figure 2. Figure 4 is a plan view shewing one quarter of each
of the lower tools of four sets of tools by which the dished blank shewn by

page_text: Figure 3 is brought to the shape of the desired cover, and shewing also, in
sectional plan, the corresponding quarters of the operative portions of the upper
tools of these sets. Figure 5 is a transverse section of one half of one of the
lower tools shewn by Figure 4, and of the corresponding half of the
lower portion of the upper tool. Figure 6 is a longitudinal section through the
cover formed by the operations of these tools; and Figure 7 is a plan view
thereof.
Figures 8, 10, 12 and 14 shew, respectively, the halves of pairs of tools which,
according to a modified form of the process, operate in succession upon the
blank shewn by Figure 3 to form it into the desired cover in lieu of the same
being operated upon the tools shewn by Figures 4 and 5, each pair of tools
increasing the depth of the blank and bringing the walls thereof nearer to a
vertical position; and Figures 9, 11, 13 and 15, shew half plans of the metal
after it has been operated upon by the pairs of tools, shewn respectively, by
Figures 8, 10, 12 and 14.
The problem which has had to be solved in producing annealing covers and
other articles in thick metal, by means of tools between which the metal is
shaped, has been to dispose the metal of the walls thereof in a manner which
takes account of the fact that though the walls are the same, or nearly the
same, width or length throughout the whole of their depth, the width or length
of the metal which has to be used up in forming the walls increases considerably
as its distance increases from the portion of the metal which is to form the top
or crown. This problem is solved, according to this invention, by making the
lower edge of the cover or article of a waved, corrugated, wrinkled, or crimped
formation, of which the total measurement, following the waves, corrugations or
the like, corresponds, approximately, to the total length of the edge of the
original blank, the waves, corrugations, or the like, running out gradually into
the plain surface of the metal as they approach the juncture between the sides
and top or crown of the cover or article. The waves, corrugations, or the like,
are shallower at each stage of the process of formation counting backwards from
that by which the finished article is produced.
The blank A shewn by Figure 1, for the production of a rectangular annealing
cover, is formed with curved side edges and rounded corners, as shewn, so that
the metal as it is gathered in along the sides towards the middle tends to assume
an equal depth throughout. This blank, when operated upon by the tools shewn '
by Figure 2, has the crown a of the cover formed to shape, and these tools also
produce an initial formation of the upper corner of the cover and leave the
margin of the plate therefrom to the edges considerably inclined, as shewn.
The inclined portions of the plate are formed by the tools shewn by Figure 2
with shallow waves, corrugations or the like, which are deepest at the edges and
die out into the surface of the plate as they approach the crown; and it will be
seen that the formation of these corrugations, or the like, tends to shorten the
margins by bringing the metal thereof towards the middle of each side. The
plate shewn by Figure 3 is next forced, by the upper tool B, through the
corrugated tool C, of which the corrugations are formed of a curved shape as seen
in vertical section, to give a lead to the plate; and after this, the plate is simi-
larly passed through the corrugated tools 1), E and F, coming out from the
last mentioned tools as a properly shaped cover shewn by Figures 6 and 7.
The metal will have a tendency to remain upon an upper tool after it has been
carried through a lower tool, and in such case may be forced therefrom by
wedges such as 6, Figure 5, driven between the upper edges of the metal and
the upper sides of openings formed in the sides of the tool.
The plate shewn by Figure 3 may, in lieu of being operated upon by the
tools shewn by Figures 4 and 5, to form it into a complete cover, be operated
upon by the corrugated tools shewn by Figures 8, 10, 12 and 14, these tools
operating to successively bring the walls of the cover nearer to a vertical posi-
tion, and each successive pair of tools increasing the depth of the corrugations

page_text: at the edges of the metal and proportionately so up to the point at which they
die out into the plain surface of the plate.
The tools are carried in an hydraulic or other suitable press, as will be well
understood; and the metal is operated upon in a heated state.
Covers, or like articles, made in thick metal, of other shapes besides rectan-
gular, such for instance as circular or oval, may obviously be made in the same
manner as a rectangular cover or like article, the tools being, of course, shaped
to suit the shape of the article required, as will be obvious.
The top or bottom of the cover may be corrugated to strengthen it by corruga-
tions crossing one another at the middle, or otherwise arranged as desired, and
these corrugations may be produced by the first pair of tools. Articles made of
strong metal, in the manner of this invention. are more cheaply produced than
in the ordinary method of manufacture, and are rendered more reliable and
durable by the avoidance of the welded or riveted joints which have heretofore.
been found to give trouble.
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. Covers and dishes used for annealing metal sheets, pots for melting metals,
and similar box-like articles, made each from a single blank of strong or plate
metal of a ductile character, such as wrought iron or steel, without any joint
between the top or bottom and the walls or wall, or between different portions
of the walls or wall, the metal being simply pressed into the shape required,
and the walls or wall formed with corrugations, waves, or the like, along the
edges which gradually reducing throughout their length die out into the plain
surface of the metal, substantially as described.
2. Producing covers and dishes used for annealing metal sheets, pots for melt-
ing metals, and similar box-like articles, each from a single blank of strong or
plate metal of a ductile character, such as wrought iron or steel, by pressing the
metal into the required shape with corrugations waves or the like, along the
edge thereof which gradually reducing throughout their length die out into the
plain surface of the metal, substantially as described.
Dated this 28th day of April 1900. ·
STEPHEN WATKINS & GROVES,
Chartered Patent Agents, Wolverhampton,
Agents for the Applicant.