IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS AND PIPES OR TUBES AND OTHER ARTICLES OF LEAD AND OTHER METAL
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, we, THOMAS
ELLIS, of Stamford Hill, in the County of Middlesex, Esquire, and THOMAS
BURR, of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Plumber, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by His Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Twenty-fourth day of November, in the seventh year of His
reign, did, for Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto us, the
said Thomas Ellis and Thomas Burr, His especial licence, full power, sole
privilege and authority, that we, the said Thomas Ellis and Thomas Burr, our
exors, adiñors, and assigns, or such others as we, the said Thomas Ellis and
Thomas Burr, our exors, admors, or assigns, should at any time agree with,
and no others, from time to time and at all times during the term of years
therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and vend,
within England, Wales, and the Town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, our Invention
of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SHEETS AND PIPES OR TUBES
AND OTHER ARTICLES OF LEAD AND OTHER METAL;" in which said Letters
Patent is contained a proviso that we, the said Thomas Ellis and Thomas
Burr, or one of us, shall cause a particular description of the nature of our
said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be performed, to be inrolled
in His said Majesty's High Court of Chancery within six calendar months
next and immediately after the date of the said in part recited Letters
Patent, as in and by the same, reference being thereunto had, will more
fully and at large appear.
NOW KNOW YE, that in compliance with the said proviso, we, the
said Thomas Ellis and Thomas Burr, do hereby declare the nature of our

page_text: Invention, and the manner in which the same is to be performed, are fully
described and ascertained in and by the following statement thereof, reference
being had to the Drawing hereunto annexed, and to the figures and letters
marked thereon, that is to say:-
Our Invention consists of improvements in that mode of manufacturing
tubes for which a Patent was formerly obtained by the said Thomas Burr,
bearing date at Westminster, the Eleventh day of April, One thousand eight
hundred and twenty, according to which Invention lead was pressed out of a
cylinder through dies (called washers or thimbles), having an internal die
or core, as was set forth in the said Specification. Now the object of the
present improvements consists,
First, in applying a certain elongation to such cylinder from which the lead
is forced, whereby we are, by the aid of wedges, enabled more securely to hold
and adjust the dies used in making the pipes or tubes, and which, for per-
forming one part of our Invention, are cut open longitudinally in the act of
making, and thus produce sheets of lead.
Secondly, our Invention consists of a mode of applying a coating or covering
of tin, or a compound of tin, to the internal and external surfaces of a lead
tube or pipe, or other articles produced by forcing lead through dies, simul-
taneously with the formation of the pipe or tube itself, or of the making
of the other articles, depending on the shape or form of the dies put into
the machine.
And,
Thirdly, in the application of a conical or inclined surface and a suitable
cutting instrument to the apparatus for making pipes or tubes, in order (in
the act of forming the same) that they may be laid out and flattened into
sheets, as hereafter described.
And in order to our Invention being most fully and readily understood, we
will proceed to describe the Drawing hereunto annexed, and the mode of using
the same.
a, a, is a
Figure 1 is a section of the machinery used for making lead into pipes
or tubes, whether it be laid open into sheets or otherwise, or to be coated
internally or externally, or both, with tin or a compound of tin.
strong hollow cylinder of cast iron, which is similar to the cylinder formerly
used under the Patent of the said Thomas Burr; but in the present cylinder
the upper part b, b, is added, there being suitable openings formed therein in
order to have the wedges c, c, passed through, they having inclined surfaces at
their inner ends resting on the upper part of the die d, (the construction of
which is clearly shewn in the Drawing), by which means the die d is securely
held in its place; in addition to which the die can be most accurately

page_text: adjusted by driving the wedges with care, first one and then the other. e is a
smooth steel or other suitable rod affixed to the piston f, the rod e serving as
the internal core for forming the inner surface of the pipe or tube as the
metal is forced out through the die d. The piston f is fitted to slide freely yet
closely in the cylinder a, a, and is affixed to the upper end of the plunger or
piston of an hydraulic press, as is clearly shewn in the Drawing. g is a hole
drilled or formed in the side of the cylinder a, in which lead is kept, and h is
another hole drilled or formed in the cylinder a, a, in which tin or a compound
of tin are placed, and the cylinder a, a, is kept heated, by a flue or jacket
passing round it, to such a degree as will keep the tin well melted, whilst,
should the lead in the other hole melt the workman must damp off or lower
the heat. The Drawing represents the machinery arranged for making lead
pipes or tubes of an inch diameter (and the machinery is to a scale of about
one fourth of the real size,) which in the act of making are coated inter-
nally and externally with tin or a compound thereof. The workman first
pours melted lead into the cylinder a, a, through the die d, or through a hole
made in the upper end of the cylinder, which hole is afterwards stopped by a
plug or screw, the piston being at the lower end of that cylinder to admit
thereof, and the same is permitted to set before the pump of the hydraulic
press is put to work. A quantity of tin is placed on the die d, and as the
cylinder a and the die d are kept to a sufficient degree of temperature at all
times the tin will remain in a fluid state. On the pump of the hydraulic press
being worked the piston of the press will slowly rise in the cylinder a, a,
pressing out the lead therefrom in the form of a tube or pipe, which, coming
in contact with the fluid tin, will be coated on the inside and outside, the
workman supplying a quantity of tin on the inside of the tube or pipe as soon
as it rises a few inches above the die d. It will be evident from the above"
description that in case lead pipes uncombined with tin are desired, the tin or
coating compound of tin is to be omitted.
And in case it is desired to make sheets by laying open the pipe or tube
produced as above, an apparatus, Figure 2, is to be used, it being intended to
open the pipe to such an extent as will allow of the same being readily rolled
up as if it were a flat sheet. g is a cone securely fixed over the die d as to
allow of the core coming up to it at the completion of its movement in the
rising of the piston in the cylinder a, a. On the cone g, or at other conve-
nient position, is affixed a cutting edge, against which the pipe or tube coming
as it is forced onwards in the act of forming it is cut, and by the cone is laid
open to such an extent as to be sufficient for the purpose of being rolled up as
if it were a flat sheet.

page_text: The other Figures of the Drawing shews another die, which may be used
for producing other articles to be coated with tin in the act of making.
Having thus described the nature of our Invention, we would have it
understood that we lay no claim to those parts which were formerly used and
described in the said Thomas Burr's said Specification to his former Patent;
but what we do claim is,-
First, the application of elongation 6 of the cylinder a, a, for receiving the
wedges c, c, for fixing sheets and pipes or tubes and other articles of lead
and other metal, as above described.
Secondly, we claim the mode of coating the inner and outer surfaces of
lead pipes or tubes and other articles with tin or compounds thereof, when in
the act of making such tubes or pipes and other articles, by the description of
machinery herein described; but we do claim coating of lead pipes or other
articles with tin by a subsequent process, that having been before accomplished
by other means. And,
Thirdly, we claim the application to such description of machinery suitable
surfaces and cutting instruments for laying the pipes or tubes longitudinally, and
for making sheet lead therefrom in the act of making tubes or pipes; but we do
not claim generally the using or cutting edge to such machinery, we having
before used a cutting edge in combination with such machinery for marking the
tubes longitudinally in order to their being subsequently cut open for open pipes.
In witness thereof, I, the said Thomas Burr, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Eleventh day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.
Inrolled the Twenty-fourth day of May, in the year of our Lord One
thousand eight hundred and thirty-seven.