IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR APPARATUS FOR CORRUGATING OR SHAPING METAL SHEETS
Year: 1882

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by George Middleton Edwards at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 5th June 1882.
GEORGE MIDDLETON EDWARDS of No 54 Gresham Street, London. "E.C. in the
County of Middlesex, Public Accountant, "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY OR
APPARATUS FOR CORRUGATING OR SHAPING METAL SHEETS."
The usual method of corrugating metal sheet having hitherto chiefly been. by
means of rollers, and the corrugations ordinarily formed by such means having been
of a fluted or curved character, the object of my invention is to give increased
facilities for varying the form of corrugations by means of machinery or apparatus
adapted for that purpose.
According to my invention therefore the corrugations or channels to be formed
in Iron and other metal sheets, when such sheets are thin or moderately thick, can
be made in the shape of three inner sides of a square or parallelogram or of a
dovetail, the open end of which shall be less in extent than the base, thus forming
channels capable of retaining in their grip, materials which may be inserted in a
plastic or fluid condition but will afterwards set or harden, or such corrugated
metal may be made in other forms and be used for other purposes.
According to my invention the mechanical means for advantageously obtaining
the above named results are as follows.
.
In a suitable framework, Metal Plates, of the same thickness as the openings of
the required corrugations, are placed in slides, fitted to each side of the frame work
in such a manner as that a space shall be left between each plate sufficient to
permit a plate similar in size and thickness, or as may be necessary, to pass between
them These plates shall be so arranged as to form two sets, and their motion shall
be from each end of the frame in which they shall slide, and alternately from each
end, singly, they shall work as plungers and their ends, to the required extent,
shall meet and overlap in the centre of the frame. Each of these plates shall have
an open space or slot cut out therefrom a short distance from the inner extremity
of the plate, leaving sufficient metal at the actual extremity to fill the width and
depth of the corrugation proposed to be made, in its entire length. In acting as
plungers this bar or die of metal, formed by cutting out a slot, will be the portion
of the plates which will overlap in the centre of the frame.

page_text: A Sheet of metal having been properly fixed in a clip or otherwise, in an upright
position in the centre of the bed or lower part of the frame and between the two
sets of plungers, the action necessary for corrugating it is, according to my invention,
as follows. A plunger is started from one end of the frame in a horizontal direction
and breaks down the free end of the metal sheet at right angles to its fixed base
and remains upon it, to the extent of the metal bar or die. A forked plunger, not
slotted, is then brought up through and from the bottom of the frame, in which the
first described sets of plungers work, so as to pass one of its forks into and through
the open space or slot in the plunger that has already operated, whilst the other.
fork, being on the other side of the bar or die of the same plunger, presses upwards
and restores the free portion of the metal sheet to a perpendicular position and itself
remains in position on nearly the same plane as that on which the first plunger on
the other side of the frame moves.
The second plunger, starting from the opposite end of the frame to that from
which the first plunger started, then breaks down the free end of the metal sheet
at right angles over the edge of the fork of the plunger on that side and by this
motion completes a corrugation formed of three sides of a square or parallelogram.
A third plunger then starts from the same end of the frame as that from which the
first started and its movement is followed by a further upward movement, similar
to the first described, of the forked plunger from below and so on alternately act
any number of plungers properly arranged at each end of the frame.
The Metal sheet having been thus corrugated in its entire length the lower or
forked plunger is drawn downwards to its original position thus releasing the
upper plungers on each side of it, which by its action had previously been locked
together.
The upper plungers are then drawn on each side and the corrugated metal is
released.
If a dovetailed corrugation be required to be made, in one operation, the upper
plungers must be shaped at their die end like a dove-tail but slotted as hereinbefore
described. Their sliding action however will be inclined downwards at the same
angle as the side of the dovetail is to a line drawn at right angles to its base.
In order. however to release the metal sheet after being corrugated as immediately
before described, it must be drawn out sideways, or one or both sets of plungers
may be made to remove sideways and so release the corrugated sheet from the grip
caused by a dovetailed corrugation.
My invention however has for its object the forming of dovetailed corrugations
by a further process after the herein before named square corrugations have been
made, which may be carried out as follows.
The metal sheet, square corrugated, is placed on a suitable frame and in the open
spaces of the corrugations are placed metal or wooden stops of the width only of
the proposed mouths of the dovetailed corrugations. These stops are placed in the
open corrugations both above and below the metal sheet as it lies flat and are
threaded at their ends on strong wire shafts in such a manner as that their top and
bottom surfaces shall be nearly level with the upper and under faces respectively
of the corrugated sheet as it lies on the frame
Pressure is then exerted on either or both ends of the corrugated sheet metal by
a thruster or thrusters shaped like one side of the dovetail required to be formed,
the metal sheet being firmly held between top and bottom plates under graduated
screw or other pressure whilst the lateral squeezing motion is carried out. The
stops running free on the shafting and, by means of notches or slots for the passage
of the wire, being made to run evenly on the same plane, are squeezed together
with the metal until the metal sheet closes upon them at its open corrugations and
the top and bottom plates preventing the metal from buckling a dovetailed.
corrugation will be produced. The upper stops are then easily raised simultaneously
.and the corrugated metal is released. The stops are replaced by proper sliding gear
in position for renewing the operation.
When I use rollers for corrugating strong Metal Sheets, the sides of the metal

page_text: forming the mouth of the corrugations will slope at an angle of about 60° and the
last described process is equally applicable for converting the channel corrugation
into a dovetail, by graduating the pressure and, if necessary, using a first series of
square stops.
According to another of my improvements this dovetailed corrugated iron or
other metal sheet is made by means of two jaws of suitable shape and of rather
greater width than the iron or metal sheets to be corrugated.
These jaws will be worked by an arrangement of levers and links which will
cause them to close on the metal at a distance apart equal to the depth of a side of
a corrugation, and by twisting round through a suitable angle as they are pressed
together will complete one side of a corrugation. When a sheet of metal is passed
through these jaws it is moved a suitable distance after each bend before receiving
the next, all the left or all the right hand sides of the corrugations are formed
in passing through the first time and afterwards, by turning the plate or sheet over
and passing it through the jaws again the other sides are formed, so completing the
corrugation.
When this Machinery is worked by hand, in order to regulate the width of the
corrugations I use a bar parallel with the jaws, the first time the sheet is passed
through, against which each bend is held, so that the jaws may close on the metal
at the proper distance to form the next, and when passing the metal through the
second time a table is used, against the edge of which the corrugations previously
formed are held, for the same purpose. When steam or other motive power is used,
however I prefer to have a pair of machines, one to be fitted with rollers for pushing
the flat sheet iron or metal in, and the other with a reciprocating table and hooks
for shifting the partly corrugated metal turned out by the first machine, the feeding
in each machine being done automatically.
The motive power and mechanical contrivances required for the herein described
operations may be of ordinary and varied character so long as the main principles
of the invention are not interfered with, by which varying forms of corrugation
can be given with great facility, especially that of the dovetail.
In some cases, metal may be required to be curved in the direction in which the
dovetailed or other shaped corrugations run. This I propose to do by means of three
rollers having grooves formed in them of a size corresponding with the corrugations.
The corrugated sheets after being formed, by the processes and Machinery already
described herein, will be heated in an ordinary plate furnace and passed through
these rollers, the upper roller being screwed down a suitable amount each time the
sheet is passed through until the necessary curve is given to the sheet, the grooves
in the rollers preventing the corrugations being thrown out of shape during the
process.