Year: 1887

page_text: Date of Application, 25th Oct., 1887
Complete Specification Left, 17th Aug., 1888
Complete Specification Accepted, 12th Oct., 1888
I, MANASSAH GLEDHILL, Director of Sir Joseph Whitworth & Co., Limited, of
Openshaw, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, do hereby declare
the nature of this invention to be as follows:-
The said invention relates to the construction of steam-boilers and affords the means
whereby the cylindrical portion of the boiler-shell can be made of a single weldless
tube, ring or section or of two or more weldless tubes, rings or sections. The said
invention also provides novel means for uniting one ring or section to another so
that a steam-boiler may have its shell constructed of any desired number of rings or
sections without either welding or rivetting; and can also have its flue tube or tubes
made of the required length without rivetting or welding.
In manufacturing the cylindrical portion of the shell of a steam-boiler or a flue-tube
according to my invention, I take a hollow steel or iron ingot and subject the same
(with a mandrel extending through it) to the action of rolls arranged to bear upon
the surface of the metal and, by their movement and pressure, while the ingot passes
between them, to increase the diameter of the same.
Instead of using rolls as above described for commencing the development of the
tube or shell from the ingot, I sometimes perform this preliminary operation by
hydraulic pressure applied without rolling upon the outside of the ingot while the
same is supported upon a mandrel or bar capable of adjustment so as to permit all
parts of the tube to be subjected to the action of the press.
By the preliminary rolling or pressing operation, I enlarge the ingot so as to form
thereof a cylinder or tube of convenient size to be subjected to the action of finishing
rolls so arranged that, when in operation, one roll will act on the interior and the
other on the exterior surface of the tube or shell, which will thus be rotated between the
rolls while subjected to hydraulic or other pressure which can be regulated as required.
By the action of these rolls, the metal of the tube or shell being squeezed while rotating
under very heavy pressure, and being thereby reduced in thickness is spread or
extended circumferentially until the required dimensions of the tube are attained.

page_text: Meanwhile great care is taken to ensure uniformity of thickness of the metal, and
means are provided for ascertaining at any moment the actual condition of the
cylinder or tube in respect of its increase in diameter and uniformity of diameter in all
parts of its length. It is not practicable while the cylinder or tube is passing between
the rolls to ascertain these particulars by direct diametrical measurements, I therefore
use a circumferentor or apparatus for measuring and indicating the length of the
circumference of the said cylinder or tube at any time during the operation of
rolling.
For heating the cylinder or tube during this operation, I burn gas or oil below
the same.
In some instances I complete the shaping of the cylinder or tube to its required
finished dimensions by means of the above described apparatus, but, if this should not
be practical or convenient in any case, I take the said tube from the rolls to a suitable
expanding apparatus whereby I complete the shaping of the same.
I then thicken the metal at the ends of the tube or shell by hydraulic pressure or
other suitable means.
As hereinabove specified my said invention consists partly in a novel method of
making the joint for uniting and securing together the tubes or sections used to make
up the shell of a boiler to any required length. For this purpose I form around the
ends of each tube or section a shallow flange and I finish this flange and face the
end surface of the tube preferably by turning it in a lathe.
When the faced ends of the two tubes or sections to be united are brought accurately
together, the two flanges will be flush with each other on their outer periphery and
will form a collar or projection extending around the shell. Over this collar I apply
a hoop or ring having turned or rolled in it a channel or cavity corresponding
accurately in shape with the aforesaid collar or projection, so that, when the hoop is
shrunk in its place upon the tubes, the said collar projects into and accurately fits the
said cavity, and thus a sound, secure, and steam-tight joint will be formed.
The said hoop or ring not only serves for uniting the tubes or sections, but also as
a strengthening band for the boiler.
In some instances, instead of having plain flanges or collars on the ends of the
tubes, I turn a series of annular grooves and projections in and around the thickened
ends of the tubes and within the hoop or ring in such a manner that, when the hoop
or ring is shrunk upon the tubes, the grooves of the one will fit over the projections
of the other and thus form a strong and secure joint.
.
It will be seen that I am enabled to construct a boiler shell or flue consisting of
any desired number of tubes or sections without the use of rivetted joints, although I
wish it understood that, if desired, rivets can be used in combination with the afore-
said hoop or ring in my improved joints without weakening the same.
When these hoops or rings are applied to the flue-tubes, I in some instances
construct the hoop or ring with its channelled portion elastic so that it serves as an
expansion ring.
Dated this 25th day of October 1887
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.

page_text: Improvements in the Manufacture of Steam-boilers.
I, MANASSAH GLEDHILL, Director of Sir Joseph Whitworth & Co., Limited, of
Openshaw, Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, 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 :-
The said invention relates to the construction of steam-boilers and affords means
whereby the cylindrical portion of the boiler-shell can be made of a single weldless
cylinder, tube, ring or section, or of two or more of the same.
The said invention also provides novel means for uniting one cylinder, tube or
section to another so that a steam-boiler may have its shell constructed of any desired
number of them without either rivetting or welding, and can also have its flues or
flue-tubes made of the required length without rivetting or welding,
In manufacturing the cylindrical portion of the shell of a steam-boiler, or a flue or
flue-tube according to my invention, I cast an ingot of fluid compressed steel or I
take any other suitable steel or iron ingot or block and bore or punch the same
centrally to make it hollow. I subject this hollow ingot, with a mandrel extending
through it, to the action of rollers or rolls arranged to bear upon the surface of the
metal as described in the Specification of my Letters Patent No. 14,515, A.D. 1887,
which rollers by their movement and pressure, while the ingot passes between them,
squeeze and compress the metal and increase the diameter of the ingot. Instead of
using rolls as above described for commencing the development of the tube or shell
from the hollow ingot, 1 sometimes perform this preliminary operation by hydraulic
pressure applied upon the outside of the ingot while the same is supported upon a
mandrel or bar capable of adjustment so as to permit all parts of the tube to be equally
subjected to the action of the press.
By the preliminary rolling or pressing operation, I enlarge the ingot so as to form
thereof a cylinder or tube of convenient size to be subjected to the action of rolls so
arranged that, when in operation, one roll will act on the interior and the other on
the exterior surface of the tube or shell as in the machines described in the Speci-
fication of my Letters Patent No. 14,532, A.D. 1887. The said tube or shell will
thus rotate between the rolls while subjected to hydraulic or other pressure, which
can be regulated as required. The metal of the tube or shell being squeezed, while
rotating, under very heavy pressure and being thereby reduced in thickness and
spread or extended circumferentially until the required dimensions of the tube are
attained.
Meanwhile great care is taken to ensure uniformity of thickness of the tube, and
means are provided for ascertaining at any moment the actual condition of the
cylinder or tube in respect of its increase in diameter and uniformity of diameter in
all parts of its length. It is not practicable, while the cylinder or tube is passing
between the rolls, to ascertain these particulars by direct diametrical measurements,
1 therefore use a circumferentor or apparatus for measuring and indicating the length
of the circumference of any part of the said cylinder, tube or ring at any time during
the operation of rolling. For heating the cylinder or tube during this operation, I burn
gas or oil below the same preferably as described in the said Specification No. 14,532.

page_text: In some instances, I complete the shaping of the cylinder or tube to its required
finished dimensions by means of the above described apparatus, but, if this should
not be practicable or convenient in any case, I take the said tube from the rolls to a
suitable expanding apparatus whereby I complete the shaping of the same.
I then thicken the metal at the ends of the tube or shell by hydraulic pressure or
other suitable means, and finish these thickened ends for the purpose of making the
joints for uniting and securing together the tubes or sections used to make up the
shell or the flue or flue-tube of a boiler to any desired length as I will now proceed
to describe.
As hereinabove specified, my said invention consists partly in a novel method of
making these joints, various forms or modifications of which I have shown in Figures 1
to 7 of the accompanying drawings. And I wish it understood that this part of
my invention is applicable to cylinders or tubes other than those manufactured
according to the first part of this invention.
In Figures 1 to 6, a, a are portions of two adjacent cylinders or tubes of a boiler-
shell, shown in longitudinal section.
In Figure 1, each tube has formed around its end, by thickening the metal as
aforesaid, a shallow flange a¹, and I finish this flange and face the end surface of the
tube preferably by turning it in a lathe.
When the faced ends of the two tubes or sections to be united are brought
accurately together, the two flanges a¹ will be flush with each other on their outer
periphery and will together form a collar or annular projection extending around the
shell. Over this collar I apply a hoop or ring & having turned or rolled in it a channel
or cavity corresponding accurately in shape with the aforesaid collar or projection, so
that, when the hoop is shrunk in its place upon the tube-ends, the said collar projects
into and accurately fits the said cavity, and thus a sound, secure and steam-tight joint
will be formed. The said hoop or ring 6 not only serves for uniting the tubes or
sections, but also as a strengthening band for the boiler.
b
In Figure 2, I have shown this joint rivetted through the flanges a¹ and hoop b.
The said hoop can, in this case, be made in halves or parts, which are placed over
the projections or flanges and are then rivetted thereto.
If desired I provide one of the tubes a with an annular projection or tongue a²,
Figure 3, adapted to enter a corresponding groove in the adjacent tube, as shown.
In the modified form of joint shown in Figure 4, 1 insert between the ends of the
tubes, a ring c which is made in two or more parts and is driven into its place from
the inside of the boiler after the hoop has been put on. The said hoop b, if made in
two or more parts, can be advantageously put on cold, the parts when in place being
rivetted or otherwise united. I sometimes undercut the flanges a¹ as shown in this
figure, and make the channel in the hoop 6 of corresponding form in transverse
section, and, after the parts or sections of the hoop 6 are applied, I drive the ring c
between the tubes a and thus force the undercut edges of the said flanges into the
opposite edges of the said channel.
In some instances, instead of having plain flanges or collars on the ends of the
tubes, I cut screw-threads on the said ends or flanges, and similar threads upon the
inner surface of the hoop b, and I screw the said hoop upon the flanges a¹ as shown in
Figure 5. Or I turn a series of annular grooves d'and projections d¹ in and around
the thickened ends of the tubes, and corresponding projections and grooves within the
hoop or ring b, as shown in Figure 6, in such a manner that, when the hoop or ring
is shrunk upon the tubes, the grooves will fit the projections and thus form a strong
and secure joint.
In Figure 7, I have illustrated the adaptation of my invention for uniting a
cylinder or tube a of a boiler-shell to the end-section or end-plate a*, a projection or
flange a¹, similar to that formed on the cylinder, being formed on the said end-section
or end-plate.
It will, therefore, be seen that I can construct or build up the entire shell of a
boiler without rivetting or welding.
It will be seen, moreover, that although I am enabled and prefer to construct a

page_text: boiler-shell or a flue or flue-tube consisting of any desired number of tubes or sections
without the use of rivetted joints, yet, if desired, rivets can be used in combination
with the aforesaid hoop or ring in my improved joints, as shown in Figure 2 or
otherwise.
When these hoops or rings are applied to the flues or flue-tubes of a boiler, I, in
some instances, construct the hoop or ring 6 with its channelled portion of such a
form in transverse section as to render it elastic, so that it will serve as an expansion
ring.
It is obvious that these improved joints can be applied to corrugated as well as to
plain or straight-sided flues or flue-tubes.
I wish it understood that I am aware that the manufacture of seamless or weldless
cylinders, tubes, or rings for boiler-shells or flues has been heretofore described or
suggested in the Specifications of Letters Patent; but I am not aware that this method
of manufacturing boiler-shells or flues or flue-tubes or any method of forging such
objects without hammering has been successively carried into practice, nor am I aware
that it has been heretofore even suggested that a boiler-shell could be constructed entirely
of a seamless or weldless iron or steel tube or tubes without rivets. I also wish it
understood that I am aware that weldless tires for railway-wheels have been manu-
factured from hollow blooms or ingots by working them between rollers; but I do not
consider a narrow ring or hoop such as a railway-wheel tire to be the equivalent of a
cylinder or tube such as I produce by my improved method of manufacture. I
further wish it understood that I do not limit myself to the use of any particular kind
of iron or steel for the manufacture of my tubes, although I consider the best results
are obtainable with ingots of the metal known as Whitworth's' fluid compressed
steel.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of my said inven-
tion and in what manner the same is to be performed I wish it understood that
I claim :-
First. The method of forging a seamless or weldless steel or iron cylinder or tube
by first working or developing a hollow ingot or block by means of rollers, or by a
press, acting only upon the exterior thereof, and then continuing the working or
development of the cylinder or tube thus produced, by means of rolls which act upon
the exterior and interior thereof, substantially as hereinbefore described.
Second. A steel or iron cylinder or tube having its ends formed with flanges, screw-
threads, grooves, or the like, substantially as, and for the purpose, specified.
Third. A joint made or secured between two cylinders, tubes or the like, by
combining with flanged, screw-threaded, grooved or otherwise formed portions of the
same, a ring or band fitted and applied thereto (with or without rivets) substantially
as, and for the purpose, specified.
Fourth. A boiler-shell the entire length of which is formed of a seamless or weldless
steel or iron cylinder or tube, or of two or more of such cylinders or tubes united
without rivetting or welding, whether having the end-plates secured thereto in the
ordinary manner or by my improved joint as herein described.
Fifth. A flue or flue-tube formed of two or more weldless or seamless tubes united
without rivetting or welding, substantially as described.
Dated this 16th day of August 1888.
HASELTINE, LAKE & Co.,
45, Southampton Buildings, London, W.C.,
Agents for the Applicant.