Improvements in the Manufacture of Axle Boxes and other like Tubular Articles.
Year: 1893

page_text: Date of Application, 31st July, 1893
Complete Specification Left, 30th Apr., 1894-Accepted, 9th June, 1894
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Axle Boxes and other like
Tubular Articles.
We, SYDNEY LAWSON, of the Firm of Sydney Lawson and Company, of
Wainwright Street, Aston, near the City of Birmingham, Manufacturer, and
THOMAS SMITH, of the Firm of Thomas Smith and Company, of Wharf Street,
Aston aforesaid, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of this invention
to be as follows:-
This invention relates to the manufacture or production of axle-boxes and other
like tubular articles, and has for its object, primarily, the making of the said
articles from homogeneous and weldless steel or iron tubes, or making the parts of
the same integral or in one piece, and by, and under the action of, dies or tools, as
hereinafter described.
We will first describe our invention in connection with an axle-box, with its head
or flange or collar and lugs integral or in one piece with the barrel body part of
the said axle box, from hollow steel ingots or from hollow iron ingots, or from
lengths of steel or iron tubing, with an end heated, and when in a soft state,
fabricated under the action of specially constructed tools, and by the means as
hereinafter set forth.
In another form of our invention, the said homogeneous or uncompounded axle
box is made from a solid billet of steel or iron, or from a solid bar of steel or iron,
with the same fabricated or transformed into an axle box, by means and in the way
as hereinafter specified.
In carrying out the first form of our invention, we employ two or more sets of
dies or tools, each consisting of a lower female die, and an upper male tool.
Thus, in the first set of dies, we take a lower female die, and an upper male tool,
the former embodying a block or hub of metal, preferably having a vertical hole
through its middle of the outside diameter of the barrel part of the axle box to be
formed, and of a depth less than the length of the axle box, so that a portion of the
billet under operation shall extend above the face of the said lower die, and that
said portion shall be operated upon to form the head or flange, or to form both the
head or flange and lugs, if necessary.
Now the upper die consists of a head or plunger, conoidally sunken upon the
middle of its underside, and with a peg or stalk centrically directed from its
middle and passing down the mouth of the said billet and taking into the bore of
the same.
The root of the stalk or peg is of larger diameter than the tip or nose end,
so that while the part of smaller diameter forms an internal support, the other
part of larger diameter displaces the metal outwardly, and forms the lead to the
mouth.
The coned and annular recess surrounding the peg or stalk fabricates a coned
end to the billet under treatment, and which coned end is subsequently brought
under the action of a second pair of tools, which operates upon the coned end, and
shapes the same into the head or flange with an inside stepped mouth.
The cone which is formed by this initial process tapers from the mouth outwardly
to a short distance from the end, and to a diameter or to about the inner part of the
head or flange to be subsequently produced.
Thus, the lower portion of the fashioned head or flange is made first from the
lower and enlarged portion of the cone, whilst the upper and contracted part. of

page_text: the cone is upset and fashioned into the outer portions of
flange.
The second pair of dies or tools consists also of a lower female die and an upper
male die, the lower die consisting of a hub or bed, having a vertical hole through
it of an inside bore equal to the outside diameter of the barrel part of the axle box
to be made, and with the upper end sunken or circumferentially recessed, corre-
sponding to the head or flange and the lugs to be formed on the sides of the head
or flange or on the sides of the barrel.
The upper die or tool consists of a ram or head body part, with a collar of the
inside diameter and depth of the mouth sinking, and with a step stalk or peg of
two diameters, the upper and enlarged part corresponding in size to the bore of
the mouth, and the other part corresponding in size to the inside bore of the
barrel.
The facing of the die above the collar conducts the final upsetting of the metal
under operation, whilst the stalk or peg of two diameters precedes the collar, and
forms an internal support for the metal and also displaces the metal coming near
the mouth entrance outwardly, and by the impingement of the die, the collar raises.
the walls of the head or flange upwardly, until the metal fills up the interstices left:
to receive it.
Thus, in conducting the manufacture of an axle box according to this said first
form of our invention, we take a hollow steel billet of an outside diameter equal to.
the barrel of the axle box to be produced, and of an inside diameter equal to its
extended bore, and in length containing sufficient metal to produce both the barrel
body part, the head or flange and the lugs or other adjuncts solid or all in one
piece.
This said billet is heated at the end which is to form the head or flange, and
then placed within the lower die of the first pair of tools, and the upper and
conically sunken tool brought down, upon the said end, which stands above the
face of the lower die, thereby mouthing or opening out the entrance to the bore of
the billet, and at the same time-upsetting the said metal, which is thickened from
the shoulder of the cone to the apex or to the mouth.
The peg or stalk of smaller diameter internally supports the walls of the bore
below the mouthed or increased bore and the part or root of larger diameter
radially stretches the metal outwardly, producing the mouth, which is at the same
time jumped and thickened under the action of the descending tool, hence a hollow
billet, mouthed and coned at one end.
By now rebeating the said operated upon end, and placing it within the lower
die of the second set of tools, a final process of further upsetting the walls of the
conoidal end, enlarges the mouth entrance to the depth or about the depth of the
head or flange, and produces the axle collar sinking at the entrance to the bore by
the descent of the upper too! of the said second pair of tools as before described.
By turning tools, the said axle box is finished, and the annular oil chamber
between the axle collar sinking and the entrance to the bore of the same formed.
In forming the lugs on the barrel adjacent to the head, we leave longitudinal
recesses within the lower die of the second pair of tools, wherein the metal is forced
by the upsetting process.
Instead of employing a hollow billet, we may employ a solid bar of steel or a
solid bar of iron or other metal, or we form the said axle box from welded tubing.
In carrying out our invention of the second part, we take a solid billet, rod or
length of metal, preferably steel, and upset one end of the same to form the head or
as those already
flange, and by means of sets of tools, in principle the same
described, the said end, when in a heated and soft state is upset, mouthed and the
metal made to rise into the interstices of the dies, and also the beginning or a
portion of the bore formed by the displacement of the metal caused by the forcing
home of tools as before described.
The axial hole is then continued through the middle from end to end through
the axle sinking and the whole of the axle box finished by drilling or punching.

page_text: The application of our invention to the making of other tubular articles, having
heads flanges or sockets, differs in no essential respect from its application to the
manufacture of an axle box as herein described.
Dated this wash of I.... 1902
SYDNEY
THOMAS SMITH,
LAWSON,
By Henry Skerrett,
Agent for Applicants.
COMPLETE SPECIFICATION.
Improvements in the Manufacture of Axle Boxes and other like.
Tubular Articles.
We, SYDNEY Lawson, of the Firm of Sydney Lawson and Company, of
Wainwright Street, Aston, near the City of Birmingham, Manufacturer, and
THOMAS SMITH of the Firm of Thomas Smith and Company, of Wharf Street,
Aston aforesaid, Manufacturer 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 to the manufacture or production of axle-boxes and other
like tubular articles and has for its object primarily the making of the said articles
from homogeneous and weldless steel or iron tubes or making the parts of the same
integral or in one piece, and by, and under the action of, dies or tools, as hereinafter
described.
We will first describe our invention in connection with the manufacture of an
axle-box, with its head, flange or collar and lugs integral, or in one piece, with the
barrel or body part from a hollow steel ingot or from a hollow iron ingot, or from a
length of steel or iron tubing, whose end, when in a heated and soft state, is
fabricated under the action of specially constructed tools, and by the means as
hereinafter set forth.
In another form of our invention, the said homogeneous or uncompounded axle-
box is made from a solid billet of steel or iron, or from a solid bar of steel or iron,
with the same fabricated or transformed into an axle box, by means and in the way
as hereinafter specified.
In carrying out the first form of our invention, we employ two or more sets of
dies or tools, each consisting of a lower female die, and an upper male tool.
Thus, in the first set of dies we take a lower female die, and an upper male tool,
the former embodying a block or hub of metal preferably having a vertical hole
through its middle of the outside diameter of the barrel part of the axle box to be
formed, and of a depth less than the length of the axle box, so that a portion of the
billet under operation shall extend above the face of the said lower die, and that
said portion shall be operated upon to form the head or flange, or to form both the
head or flange and lugs, if necessary.
Now the upper, die consists of a head or plunger, conoidally sunken upon the
middle of its underside, and with a peg or stalk centrically directed from its middle
and passing down the mouth of the said billet and. taking into the bore of the same.
The root of the stalk or peg is of larger diameter than the tip or nose end, so
that while the part of smaller diameter forms an internal support, the other part of
larger diameter displaces the metal outwardly, and forms the lead to the mouth.
The coned and annular recess surrounding the peg or stalk fabricates a coned end
to the billet under treatment, and which coned end is subsequently brought under
the action of a second pair of tools, which operates upon the coned end and shapes
the same into the head or flange with an inside stepped mouth.
The cone which is formed by this initial process tapers from the mouth outwardly

page_text: to a short distance from the end, and to a diameter or to about the inner part of the
head or flange to be subsequently produced.
Thus, the lower portion of the fashioned head or flange is made first from the
lower and enlarged portion of the cone, whilst the upper and contracted part of
the cone is upset and fashioned into the outer portions of the walls of the head or
flange.
The second pair of dies or tools consists also of a lower female die and an upper
male die, the lower die consisting of a hub or bed, having a vertical hole through it
of an inside bore equal to the outside diameter of the barrel part of the axle box
to be made, and with the upper end sunken or circumferentially recessed,
corresponding to the head or flange and the lugs to be formed on the sides of the
head or flange or on the sides of the barrel.
The upper die or tool consists of a ram or head body part, with a collar of the
inside diameter and depth of the mouth sinking, and with a step stalk or peg of two
diameters the upper and enlarged part corresponding in size to the bore of the
mouth, and the other part corresponding in size to the inside bore of the barrel.
The facing of the die above the collar conducts the final upsetting of the metal
under operation, whilst the stalk or peg of two diameters precedes the collar, and
forms an internal support for the metal and also displaces the metal coming near
the mouth entrance outwardly, and by the impingement of the die, the collar raises
the walls of the head or flange upwardly, until the metal fills up the interstices left
to receive it.
Thus, in conducting the manufacture of an axle box according to this said first
form of our invention, we take a hollow steel billet, of an outside diameter equal to
the barrel of the axle box to be produced, and of an inside diameter equal to its
extended hore, and in length containing sufficient metal to produce both the barrel
body part, the head or flange and the lugs or other adjuncts solid or all in one piece.
This said billet is heated at the end which is to form the head or flange, and then
placed within the lower die of the first pair of tools, and the upper and conically
sunken tool brought down upon the said end, which stands above the face of the
lower die, thereby mouthing or opening out the entrance to the bore of the billet,
and at the same time upsetting the said metal, which is thickened from the shoulder
of the cone to the apex or to the mouth.
The peg or stalk of smaller diameter internally supports the walls of the bore
below the mouthed or increased bore and the part or root of larger diameter
radially stretches the metal outwardly, producing the mouth, which is at the same
time jumped and thickened under the action of the descending tool, hence a
hollow billet, mouthed and coned at one end.
By now reheating the said operated upon end, and placing it within the lower
die of the second set of tools, a final process of further upsetting the walls of the
conoidal end, enlarges the mouth entrance to the depth or about the depth of the
head or flange and produces the axle collar sinking at the entrance to the bore by
the descent of the upper tool of the said second pair of tools as before described.
By turning tools, the said axle box is finished, and the aunular oil chamber
between the axle collar sinking and the entrance to the bore of the same formed.
In forming the lugs on the barrel adjacent to the head we leave longitudinal
recesses within the lower die of the second pair of tools, wherein the metal is forced
by the upsetting process.
Instead of employing a bollow billet, we may employ a solid bar of steel or a
solid bar of iron or other metal or we form the said axle box from welded tubing.
In carrying out our invention of the second part, we take a solid billet, rod or length
of metal, preferably steel and upset one end of the same to form the head or flange,
and by means of sets of tools, in principle the same as those already described, the
said end, when in a heated and soft state is upset, mouthed and the metal made to
rise into the interstices of the dies, and also the beginning or a portion of the bore
formed by the displacement of the metal caused by the forcing home of tools as
before described.

page_text: .
In carrying out a further form of our invention, we take a solid billet, Figure 9,
-(of which Figure 10 is a cross section upon the dotted lines CD) and then place
the same between a pair of tools g, i, (Figure 11) when its upper end is in a heated
or soft state. The upper and male tool i, has upon the middle of its acting face, a
conoidal shaped inverted sinking ', with a conoid shaped peg ?, directed from the
middle of the crown of the said sinking, whilst the lower tool 9,
circumferential inner barrel g³, with the mouth g², provided with lug sinkings g¹.
Now by the descent of the upper tool i, the sail upper end of the billet is
smashed out or upset and the conoidal head h³, with a conoidal middle sinking *, is
thereby formed.
has a
Figure 12 represents a cross section upon the dotted lines E F Figure 11, whilst
Figure 13 represents the said partially-fashioned axle box Figure 11 under the
operation of a second set of tools.
Thus, the conoidal beaded solid billet is placed under the operation of a second
pair of tools h, j, and by the descent of the upper tool k, a step or collar sinking,
with a conoidal mouth sinking, is thereby formed. Then by a boring operation,
the inside middle is removed up to the dotted lines in Figure 13, thus forming a
homogeneous and wrought metal axle box, which is finished, after the formation of
the oil chamber by a cutting-out tool.
In carrying out a still further form of our invention, we take a solid billet
Figure 14, (of which Figure 15 is a cross section upon the dotted lines 1-2) and,
when in a heated and soft state, we place the same into a lower die 9, having an
inside bore y, equal to the outside diameter of the head part of the axle box to be
formed, and of a depth greater than the depth of the billet. This said billet is
then operated upon and a hollow ingot or tube produced as in Figure 17, by acting
upon the same by the punch die i, through the punch 2, which punches an axial
bole through the said billet, and at the same time elongates the walls of the same,
as marked m, in Figure 16, but with the bottom m', left, and which is subsequently
knocked-out.
This hollow ingot or thick-walled tube is then placed upon a mandril, as in
Figure 17, and the body part m², is then swaged between a pair of dies j, k, when
the walls of the said body part m³, are reduced in thickness and elongated, but the
metal at the end m³, is left intact, thereby forming the head as represented in
Figure 18.
The partially formed axle box, after swaging, may be operated upon by a pair of
tools, such as in Figure 8, and the axle box Figure 1 produced, after the oil
chamber has been cut-out.
:
To form lugs upon the body part adjacent to the head, a collar m', (shown in
dotted lines in Figure 18) is left under the said head, from which collar the lugs
are formed by a pair of tools similar to those shown in Figure 8, as described.
In this last form of our invention, instead of forming the axle box from a
solid ingot, we may make the same from a hollow ingot, operated upon in a like
fashion as described.
Having now particularly described and ascertained the nature of our said inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is to be performed, we declare that what we
claim is
First. In the manufacture of homogeneous wrought-metal axle boxes, forming
the heads of the same (whether made from thick-walled tubing or from a hollow
ingot) by first upsetting an end of the said hollow ingot or tube (when in a heated
and soft state) into a conoidal figure (preferably having an expanded mouth), and
then subsequently fashioning the said conoidal head into a collar-sunken head,
substantially as described. and set forth in Figures 1 to 8.
Secondly. In homogeneous wrought-metal axle boxes, making the same (with or
without the lugs or fins) by the tools and by the process or ineans substantially as
described and set forth in Figures 1 to 8.
Thirdly. In the manufacture of homogeneous wrought-metal axles boxes, making

page_text: the same from solid wrought metal billets, by first upsetting or fashioning one end
of the same into a conoidal head with a middle sinking, and then subsequently
forming the body bore by a boring or cutting out operation, substantially as.
described and set forth in Figures 9 to 13.
Fourthly. In homogeneous wrought-metal axle-boxes, making the same by the-
tools and by the process or means substantially as described and set forth in
Figures 9 to 13.
Fifthly. In the manufacture of homogeneous wrought metal-axle boxes, making
the same from a solid billet, by first punching out and fashioning the same into a
hollow billet, of the outside diameter of the head to be formed, and then reducing
the diameter of the body part, up to the head, by a swaging or like process,.
substantially as described and set forth in Figures 14 to 18.
Sixthly. In homogeneous wrought-metal axle boxes, making the same from a
hollow or solid billet by the tools and by the process or means substantially as
described and set forth in Figures 14 to 18.
Seventhly. In homogeneous wrought-metal axle boxes, forming the lugs or fins.
from a collar left under the head and formed either by a swaging or upsetting.
process and subsequently operated upon by swaging and metal-displacing tools such.
as described and set forth in Figure 84.
Dated this 20th day of xp 105.
SYDNEY LAWSON,
THOMAS SMITH,
By Henry Skerrett,
6, Livery Street, Birmingham, Agent for Applicants..