IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES
Year: 1854

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to James Newman, of Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, Manufacturer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES."
Sealed the 17th August 1854, and dated the 23rd March 1854.
'
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said James Newman at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the 23rd
March 1854.
I, JAMES NEWMAN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufac-
turer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS
IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES " to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in manufacturing metal tubes, whether iron, copper,
brass, or other metal, without the use of mandrils. A billet or short cylinder,
having been cut or otherwise prepared with a bore extending nearly but not
quite its entire length, is charged with fine casting sand or other analogous
material tightly rammed by hydraulic or other severe pressure, after which the
sand is thoroughly dried; a plug is then inserted into the open end of the
billet and soldered in. This billet is then removed, either to grooved rollers or
to a draw plate, through which it is drawn out to the required length, the ends
are cut off, and the sand drilled out, when the tube is complete.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said James Newman in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 23rd
September 1854.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, JAMES
NEWMAN, of Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, Manufacturer, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-third day of March, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four, in the seventeenth year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors; give and grant unto me, the
said James Newman, Her special licence that I, the said James Newman, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said James
Newman, my executors, administrators, and assigns, should at any time agree
with, and no others, from time to time and at all times thereafter during the
term therein expressed, should and lawfully might make, use, exercise, and
vend, within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said James Newman, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,
should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Invention, and
in what manner the same was to be performed, and cause the same to be
filed in the Great Seal Patent Office within six calendar months next and
immediately after the date of the said Letters Patent.
NOW KNOW YE, that I, the said James Newman, do hereby declare the
nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be per-
formed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, that is to say:-
My Invention consists of certain improvements in the manufacture of
metallic tubes, whereby I am enabled to produce a perfect tube in various
descriptions of metal, without either welding or brazing, and the manner in
which my improvements are carried out is as follows: -In making iron tubes,
I first prefer what I term a billet, being a short thick tube or hollow cylinder,
and I prefer making this billet in the following manner :-I take a skelp or
strip of iron of the requisite length, breadth, and thickness, to make the
article required, having either bevilled or straight edges, depending on whether
I desire to make an overlapping joint or a butt joint, and I then turn up or
form,this skelp or, strip of iron into a tube by any of the known means (which
are well understood), as turning over a mandril or beak iron, or rolling the

page_text: same through a pair of rollers, having grooves on the outer circumference of
the rolls of a suitable form and depth, or by drawing the same through pincers
or dies, having bell-mouthed apertures therein, by the aid of a draw bench, put
in motion by a steam engine or other suitable power, and thus I bring the
bevilled or straight edges (as the case may be) closely together. In some
cases I also heat the turned-up skelp to a welding heat in an air furnace or a
reverberatory furnace, and weld the joint by any of the known means, namely,
by peering upon a mandril in swages, or by beating the joint upon a mandril
inserted in the skelp with a hammer on a grooved anvil, or by passing the
turned-up skelp through grooved rollers, or by drawing the same through dies
or pincers, having in them a bell-mouthed aperture, by the aid of a draw
bench moved by suitable power, by either of which means the joint may be
firmly welded, and a tube or hollow cylinder formed. I then cut this tube
into any number of lengths to form what I call billets, each of which is
intended ultimately to form a tube. I afterwards plug up one end of the
billet by the insertion therein of a short piece of iron rod, which I drive
tightly into it, or it may be welded therein (if preferred). I then fill or
charge the billet with sand, sandy, earthy, or ashy material, or any other similar
or suitable material, which I thoroughly ram into the billet by hydraulic
pressure, or by any other severe pressure where great pressure is necessary, or
by hand pressure only where it is not. I then place the billet so charged into
an oven, stove, muffle, or other suitable medium to dry the sand or other
material within the billet, and when the sand is dry I insert a plug within the
other end of the billet, and drive or weld the plug into the billet, as is before
mentioned, in respect of the opposite end. I then place the billet (so charged
and plugged up) within a suitable furnace, which may be a common furnace,
an air furnace, or a reverberatory furnace, and when the billet has obtained a
proper heat, which may be for some purposes a cherry red heat, whilst for
others a welding heat may be required, and whilst at such heat I pass the
charged billet through a pair of grooved rollers, put in motion by
engine or other suitable power, by which means the charged billet is drawn
out or lengthened to a rod or bar of any desired length, the sand or other
material within the billet being drawn out or reduced in diameter at the same
time in the same proportion as the metal, and it will be found (when cold) to.
have become vitreous or stony in texture, according to the material used for
charging the billet, and a cross section of the rod or bar will present the
appearance of a core of stone or glass (as the case may be) coated with iron, the
thickness of the iron coating being determined by the weight or quantity of that
metal used in preparing the billet. In the process of lengthening the charged
a steam

page_text: billet, similar rollers may be used to those now used in the ordinary manufac-
ture of flat or round' iron rods; or, instead of the diagonal, section roughing
rollers now used for the process ordinarily termed "breaking down" the rods
or bars, rollers having circular or elliptical grooves on their external circum-
ference may be used, by which the rod or bar will not be subjected to so
severe a strain as in the first-mentioned rollers. In preparing the billets
according to my process. for larger purposes, such (for instance) as for hollow
columns, beams, and girders, it will be necessary, and I find it desirable, on
account of the heavy nature of the work, to pile the iron in manner similar to
that which is practised for making railway rails, leaving a hollow in the centre
of the pile of a requisite diameter to receive the sand or other material. In
some cases I prefer a different mode of inserting the sand, in which cases I
make a cylinder or case of the requisite length and diameter, of thin sheet
iron, and of sufficient size to contain as much sand or other material as I
desire to employ. I close one end of this case, fill it with sand or other
material, ram in the sand, thoroughly dry it, and loosely close the other end of
the case; this case, which I denominate a core, I then place in the centre of a
pile of iron, and after heating the pile so made, I roll or draw it out as before
mentioned, with respect to smaller purposes. The core may be placed in any
part of the pile (other than the centre) if desired. This mode of filling the
billets would apply chiefly to such descriptions of large tubes as are or may be
made of different qualities of iron. In cases when the quality of iron is the
same throughout, it may be found more suitable to stamp out or otherwise
remove a portion of iron from the centre of a bloom or pile, which may be
done by employing a steam or forge hammer, provided with a suitable punch
fixed on either the hammer or the anvil block, or by any other suitable appa-
ratus for removing such portion of the iron from a bloom or pile. These
operations having been performed, and the billet having been thus drawn out
into a rod or bar or beam of the length required for the tube, I cut off the
plugged ends and proceed to remove the sandy or other core, which I prefer
doing by means of drilling, by any suitable drills, worked horizontally or ver-
tically in a lathe or otherwise, as may be found most convenient; and when
I find the sand of the locality in which the manufacture of these articles
according to my process is carried on to be of a nature to be rendered by
fusion too hard and stony to be afterwards drilled out economically, I use in
its stead for charging the billet, silica or other similar earth incapable of
fusion, which may readily be removed by boring or drilling.
In some
instances I have found it unnecessary to plug or close the billets or cores, the
doing of which depends entirely upon the nature of the tube to be produced.

page_text: In making copper and brass tubes according to my Invention, I either cast or
bore an ingot or billet of the form already described, and after charging the
same with sand, silica, or other material, and plugging up the ends as before
mentioned, I pass the billet in a cold state through dies, pincers, or tongs,
having a suitable aperture therein, by the aid of a draw bench put in motion
by a steam engine or other suitable power, annealing the billet from time to
time as occasion may require. In making tubes of Muntz's metal, I either
cast the ingot or bore the billet, and afterwards roll or draw it in a red-hot
state, to form the rod or bar to be subsequently bored or drilled out. Copper
billets may also be rolled hot if preferred. By these means I am enabled to
produce a tube in iron, copper, brass, or Muntz's metal, parallel on its external
and internal surfaces, or taper from end to end (if desired), by using a billet
tapered internally, without either welding or brazing.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention of Improvements in
the Manufacture of Metallic Tubes, and the manner in which the same is to be
performed, I declare that I do not confine myself to the precise details herein-
before mentioned, so long as the main features and particular nature of my
Invention be retained. But I claim,―
The manufacture of metallic tubes by first producing a bar or rod with a
core or centre of sand, sandy, earthy, ashy, silicious, or other, arenaceous
material, and afterwards boring, drilling out, or otherwise removing the core
or centre, as is herein-before fully set forth and specified.
In witness whereof, I, the said James Newman, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-first day of September, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and fifty-four.
JAMES (L.S.) NEWMAN.