IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING OR MANUFACTURING WELDED IRON TUBES
Year: 1836

page_text: TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, THOMAS
HENRY RUSSELL, of Handsworth, near Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
formerly of Tooks Court, in the City of London, Tool Maker, send greeting.
WHEREAS His present most Excellent Majesty King William the Fourth,
by Iis Letters Patent under the Great Seal of Great Britain, bearing date at
Westminster, the Third day of May, in the sixth year of His reign, did, for
Himself, His heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Thomas
Henry Russell, His especial license, full power, sole privilege and authority,
that I, the said Thomas Henry Russell, my exors, admors, and assigns, or
such others as I, the said Thomas Henry Russell, my 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, my Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MAKING OR
MANUFACTURING WELDED IRON TUBES;" in which said Letters Patent is con-
tained a proviso, that I, the said Thomas Henry Russell, shall cause a
particular description of the nature of my 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, I, the said
Thomas Henry Russell, do hereby declare the nature of my Invention, and in

page_text: what manner the same is to be performed, are fully described and ascertaine
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 t
say):
According to the ordinary means of making or manufacturing welded iron
tubes, as commonly practised, the long skelps, or plates of iron, of which such
tubes are made, are first prepared by bending or, as it is technically called
"turned over," in such manner that the edges touch, or nearly so, as is shewn
in Figure 1, which represents a prepared tube suitable for being welded,
according to a process described in the Specification of a Patent granted to
Cornelius Whitehouse, of Wednesbury, in the County of Stafford, bearing
date at Westminster, the Twenty-sixth day of February, in the sixth year of
the reign of His late Majesty King George the Fourth, which Invention
consisted in drawing or passing such prepared tubes when at a welding heat
(that is, nearly at the point of fusion), between dies or through holes, and
without internal support, whereby the joints became firmly welded, such
prepared tubes being produced formerly by hand by hammering, but in more
modern times the turning over and bringing the edges of the skelp to meet
or nearly so, from end to end, has been performed by means of a machine,
a section of a portion of which is shown at Figure 2, a being a fixed bed of
iron having two grooves a and b formed therein, the groove a being that over
which the flat skelp is first placed, and by the convex surface c, formed on
the plate d, being pressed into the groove a; so much of the skelp as is sup-
ported by the bed, Figure 2, is sunk into and takes the figure of the groove a,
and as the machine now used by us is five feet in length, five feet of the skelp
is thus bent at each time and at one heating of the skelp. That portion of
the skelp so bent in the groove a is laid in the groove b, but at right angles
to the position in which it was placed in the groove a, by which last process
in the groove the edges of the skelp are brought together, touching or
nearly touching for five feet of the length of the skelp; the other end of the
skelp is then prepared in the groove a, and then in the groove 6, in like
manner to that first prepared, and thus the whole length from end to end of
the skelp is brought to touch or nearly so at the edges, the plate d of such
bending machine being affixed to a lever moving on an axis, the lever being
worked by a cam on a revolving shaft, the workman introducing the skelp
when the plate d is lifted from the bed, Figure 2.
Another method for preparing iron plates or skelps tapering from end to
end for gun and pistol barrels, by bending them over and causing the edges
to meet, was some years ago proposed by one George Heywood, and for which

page_text: he obtained Letters Patent in One thousand eight hundred and fourteen, such
method consisting of a pair of rollers, one being grooved and the other having
convex projecting rings or surfaces, as is described in the Specification to his
said Patent, by which means the skelp is proposed to be partly bent from end
to end; such skelp was then further turned over, and the edges from end to
end brought to touch or nearly so.. In all such cases the skelp so prepared
was then in a proper state of preparation to be heated to a welding heat in
order to the joints being welded.
Now, my Invention consists in making or manufacturing welded iron tubes
for gas and other purposes by drawing or passing the plate iron or skep
between dies or through holes without having previously turned up the skelps
or plates from end to end, but on the contrary such turning up of the skelp
in order to the edges being brought together for welding shall be proceeding
at the time that the welding is being performed.
And in order that my Invention may be most fully understood and readily
carried into effect, I will describe the particular construction of instru-
ments used by me, and the process pursued in order to accomplish my
Invention. Figure 3 represents a pair of rollers having grooves formed
therein; these rollers move freely on axes turning in suitable bearings. The
roller e, with its axes being carried by the frame f, which frame f is capable
of movement on the guides g, as will be readily understood by an examination
of the Drawing; h is a projecting arm affixed to the frame f, and passing
through the main framing of these rollers, and it is by means of this arm h,
being acted on by a lever or any other suitable means, that the roller e
is caused to approach to the other roller or recede therefrom, as will be
described hereafter; i is a circular plate or disk revolving on an axis carried
by the frame j, this circular plate i coming between the rollers e, e¹, is for the
purpose of preventing the edges of the skelp meeting in passing through the
rollers e, e'; by this means the direction of the joint is kept true, which I
prefer to letting the edges touch through these rollers; for although they are
capable of welding even at this process, as well as turning up and bringing
the edges together, yet I find that there is considerable difficulty in causing
the iron to pass between the rollers in a suitable direction to insure the
making of good and marketable tubes, and as the tubes have to pass through
other dies or holes to shape and elongate them, I prefer the welding to be
performed after the tube leaves the rollers e and e. These rollers are to
be affixed at about a foot in front of the mouth of the furnace on a draw
bench, such as is described in the Specification of the said Cornelius White-
house, there being a suitable stop within a few inches of the rollers, against

page_text: which the workman may place a pair of pincers having a bell-mouthed hole
or die for welding and shaping the tube; such instrument I conceive to be the
best means of preducing the necessary external pressure to the tube; but I do
not confine myself to such instruments, as the screw dies, also described in the
said Specification of Cornelius Whitehouse, may be used, or even grooved
rollers may be employed, but not so advantageously as the bell-mouthed dies,
whether acted on by screws or in the form of pincers. The skelp when
worked according to my Invention is curved for a short distance, say about
two feet as shewn at Figure 4, by placing it when heated in a machine such
as is shewn at Figure 2, at a and b, the skelp requiring no other preparation
nor to a greater length. The roller e is to be drawn back and the flat end
of the skelp introduced into a suitable furnace in such manner that that
end as well as some portion of the curved end may be raised to a welding
heat, that is, nearly to the point of fusion, the other part of the curved end
passing beyond the rollers c, e, sufficiently for the end to be taken hold of
and the tube drawn by the chain from the furnace, and through or between
the dies. On motion being communicated to the tube the workman is to cause
the rollers e, e¹, to approach to each other, by which means the two edges of
the heated iron will also approach each other, but will be prevented actually
touching by the circular disc i, and the rollers e, e', are kept in contact with
each other so long as the skelp is being drawn through them, and a workman,
50 soon as there is a sufficient portion of the prepared skelp passed between the
rollers c, d, grasp the same with a pair of pincers or dies, and the continued
drawing by means of the chain causes the turning up and binding of the
edges of the skelp together or nearly so, and the welding process to be going
on at the same moment, by which much time and labour will be saved; and
in order most intimately to weld the edges of such tube and thus make them
capable of bearing great pressure, I prefer the same should be successively
drawn through two or more pairs of pincers or dies, each of less dimensions
than the preceding one, in like manner to the mode now pursued by us in
working the said Cornelius Whitehouse's Invention, in place of only passing
the tubes once through a pair of pincers or dies as was the early practice
under that Patent; and our present course of working in making tubes of an
inch internal diameter is to use about four inches and a half skelp; the first
dies being about one inch and a half at its smallest diameter, the second being
one inch and seven-sixteenths, and third being rather more than one inch and
a quarter. The bell mouth proceeding rather more than half through the
remainder of the hole having parallel sides, the pincers being two inches thick
and the skelps about one-eighth of an inch thick.

page_text: Having thus described the nature of my Invention and the manner in
which the same is to be performed, I would remark that I do not claim any
of the instruments or machinery herein described in their separate condition,
nor do I confine myself to the precise arrangement of the same, nor to the
form or construction of the instruments used, and it should be stated that in
order to keep the rollers e, e', at as low temperature as possible a jet of water
is to be permitted to flow against them occasionally, and in order to support
the tube or skelp as it is coming through the rollers e, e¹; there is a horizontal
friction roller on each side of the rollers e, e¹, which are not shown in the
Drawing in order to prevent confusion; but what I do claim as the Invention
secured under the present Letters Patent is the making or manufacturing
welded iron tubes for gas and other purposes by passing or drawing the plates
of iron or skelp between dies or through holes, without having previously
turned up the skelps or plates from end to end, but on the contrary such
turning up the skelp in order to the edges being brought together for welding
shall be proceeding at the time that the welding is being performed.
In witness whereof, I, the said Thomas Henry Russell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Second day of November, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and thirty-six.
AND BE IT REMEMBERED, that on the Second day of November, in the
year of our Lord 1836, the aforesaid Thomas Henry Russell came before our
said Lord the King in His Chancery, and acknowledged the Specification
aforesaid, and all and every thing therein contained and specified, in form
above written. And also the Specification aforesaid was stamped according
to the tenor of the Statute made for that purpose.
T led the Third day of November in the year of our Lord One thousand.