IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR FOR FIXING OR TIGHTENING THE ENDS OF BOILER AND OTHER TUBES, AND IN CUTTING THE ENDS OR OTHER PARTS OF SUCH TUBES
Year: 1865

page_text: LEITERS PATENT to Ralph Hart Tweddell, of Newcastle-on-Tyne,
Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS OR
FOR FIXING OR TIGHTENING THE ENDS OF BOILER AND OTHER TUBES, AND IN
CUTTING THE ENDS OR OTHER PARTS OF SUCH TUBES."
Sealed the 22nd August 1865, and dated the 9th May 1865.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Ralph Hart Tweddell
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition,
on the 9th May 1865.
I, RALPH HART TWEDDELL, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Engineer, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MEANS
OR APPARATUS FOR FIXING OR TIGHTENING THE ENDS OF BOILER AND OTHER
TUBES, AND IN CUTTING THE ENDS OR OTHER PARTS OF SUCH TUBES," to be as
follows:-
Apparatus according to my improvements for fixing or tightening the ends
of boiler and other tubes is formed with a cylinder to receive a piston er ram,
the piston rod of which passes through the die, which is by pressure thereon:
to effect the desired fixing or tightening of a tube in its plate, and at such
part the piston is formed tapering whilst the die is formed in segments.
Water or other fluid being forced in between the piston or ram and the inner.
end of the cylinder causes the tapered portion of the piston in acting on the

page_text: segments of the die to effect its expansion to an extent dependent on the
pressure exerted. During the pressure exerted the apparatus rests against
the surface of the plate around the whole in which the tube acted upon is being
fitted or tightened. The ram or piston and the piston rod are suitably
packed. The segments of the die are held together on the tapered rod by
spring rings.
By a modification of the improvements I apply the force pump and lever
for working it with a reservoir of the water or other fluid employed as the
hydraulic media, as part of the apparatus.
The apparatus is adapted for fixing the ends of new tubes in boiler or
other plates. or for tightening those which may have become loose. The
size of the dies will vary with the size of the tubes to be acted upon, and
their operating surface will vary in form to the form desired to be produced.
Lever or other force in place of hydraulic may be exerted upon the
tapered rod. Segments similarly acted upon, and caused to expand by a
taper rod, may have cutters applied to them to cut out round the ends or
other parts of such tubes, and which will be found particularly applicable
to cutting out condemned or other tubes inside or outside the plates in
which such tubes are fixed.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Ralph Hart Tweddele in the Great Seal Patent Office on
on the 7th November 1865.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RALPH
HART TWEDDELL, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, Engineer, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent,bearing date the Ninth day of May, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and sixty-five, in the twenty-eighth year of Her reign, did,
for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the said Ralph
Hart Tweddell, Her special licence that I, the said Ralph Hart Tweddell,
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said
Ralph Hart Tweddell, executors, administrators, and assigns, should at
any time agree with, and no others, from time to time and at all times there-
after 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
MEANS OR APPARATUS FOR FIXING OR TIGHTENING THE ENDS OF BOILER AND OTHER
TUBES, AND IN CUTTING THE ENDS OR OTHER PARTS OF SUCH TUBES," upon the

page_text: exe-
condition (amongst others) that I, the said Ralph Hart Tweddell,
cutors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or their,
or one of their hands and seals, 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 Ralph Hart Tweddell, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is
to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the
following statement thereof, that is to say:-
The ends of tubes of multitubular boilers are made fast to the tubes, sheets,
or plates of the boilers by the expansion or enlargement of such ends in
holes provided for them in such tube, sheets, or plates, and the security and
tightness of the tubes are increased by causing the outer ends thereof to some
extent to turn over on to the plate, whilst a sort of abutment or collar is also
formed on the tube inside of the tube, sheets, or plates. According to the
general practice, the expansion and fitting of the ends of such tubes is
effected by hammering, a sort of rivetting process; but the hammering
necessary to fasten a tube in its place by these means is highly objectionable
for the following reasons, that it crystallizes the ends of the tubes operated upon
and makes them more subject to rapid wear, and at the same time
weakens their value as stays very materially, both by the crystallizing and by
the frequent splitting of their ends; in addition to which there are no
means of ascertaining that each tube is equally well done, and when placed
as in marine and other fire boxes they are difficult and in many cases
impossible to be got at by a man to hammer them properly; and, finally, the
operation is expensive, and it requires skilled labor to perform it. Internal
rings or ferrules driven or forced in are also sometimes used to assist in
holding the ends of such tubes in position, but these entail additional
expense, besides which they are generally objectionable by reason of the
increased space they occupy, and cousequent tendency to promote the
choking up of the tubes, and greatly decreasing the area of calorometer,
and even when made of such a form as to expand the end of a tube to
such an extent that inside diameter of ferrules becomes flush with inside
diameter of tube. The strain thus put on the ends of a tube is found as
injurious as that put upon them by undue hammering.
According to my improvements I employ in fixing or tightening the
ends of such tubes dies of a circular form, the external surface of which is

page_text: adapted in figure to the form desired to be produced to the interior of the
ends of the tubes, and to the character of fixing or tightening of them to be
obtained. These dies are formed in several parts, by which the several seg-
ments thereof are capable of being pressed outwards radially when operated
upon for that purpose by inclined or wedge-formed surfaces. These in-
clined or wedge-formed surfaces are produced or attached to the rod of the
piston or ram of an hydraulic press. The cutting of the ends or other parts of
such tubes is effected by the application of cutting edges to the segments.
But that the Invention may be fully understood, I will, by the aid of the
accompanying Drawings, proceed to describe meaus pursued by me.
DESCRIPTION OF THR DRAWINGS.
Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section, and Figure 2 a transverse section
of an arrangement of apparatus according to my Invention.
a, a, represents a portion of a tube, the end a¹ of which is to be fixed into
the opening provided for it in the tube plate b; and c is the die, formed in
sections 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6, in positions in the end of the tube for acting t
expand that tube when these sections are pressed outwards by the action
thereon of the inclines d' formed around the rod d when that rod is drawn
outwards in the direction of the arrow. The rod dis in these Figures shown
applied to the piston rod e and piston or ram f, in order that the pressure of
water or other fluid acting in the cylinder y on the piston f may serve to
draw out the rod d, and expand the parts of the dies c to the extent required.
The cylinder g is packed for the piston rod at g', and the piston or ram fis
packed at f and f" in order that the fluid employed may act on either side of
the piston if desired; the water or other fluid is admitted or exhausted by
apertures, . Whilst the power is exerted on the piston to draw out the
rod d, and thereby press the parts of the die coutwards, the cylinder g takes
its bearing by the projection g² against the plate b. The sections of the dies
are held with a tendency towards each other by means of spring rings h, h, of
steel, india-rubber, or other suitable material, and they are further held in
position in the parts of the cylinder g by the parts c' thereof passing into the
groove 3 formed for them, and the tendency of the cylinder g to be drawn
along the piston rod in direction of arrow when pressure is put on reverse
side of piston is resisted by the projection g' coming in contact with the
parts on the dies, which are ther firmly fixed in tube plate.
Figures 3 and 4 represent two methods by which the ram or piston / may
be conveniently sent back. In Figure 3, instead of the piston or ram being
packed at f, as in the previous Figures, it is left unpacked, and a hammer or
.

page_text: bar of iron being applied with a sharp blow to the part 3 will cause the
piston to move in the direction of the arrow until the dies become loose in
the tube end. The piston, as a matter of convenience, is made of the
same form as that in Figure 1, and there is sufficient length left in the
cylinder y so that a cover g³ may be put thereon as in Figure 1.
Figure 4 represents a screw as being passed through the cover g, and used
to send back the piston f in the direction of the arrow instead of by fluid
pressure, as in Figure 1, or by percussion, as in Figure 3. The apparatus
required for this arrangement is the common screws and a handle or lever s¹,
the cover g, on Figure 1 may be formed suitable for this by tapping the hole g
and putting a tapped plug in, so that it only need be taken out to at once
allow the arrangement in Figure 4 to be used with it.
In many cases the
means adopted in Figures 3 and 4 would be more convenient than those
adopted in Figures 1 and 2. The force exerted by the outward pressure of the
parts of the die c may be employed, as will be evident, either for the purpose
of fixing the ends of new tubes in their plates, or for tightening such as may.
have become loose. Dies formed in parts, and operated as described, are also
applicable to where ferrules are used; in some cases the force pump and
lever for working it with a reservoir of the water or other fluid employed as
the hydraulic media, may form part of the apparatus.
Figure 5 shows by a sectional view similar parts to those described in
respect of Figures 1 and 2, but adapted to cutting off the projecting ends a
of a tube a.
Figure 6 shows another modification in which the part of the die from the
cutting edge to c is of form adapted to act upon the end of the tube to
fix it in the plate b when the end a² has been cut off from it, thus combining
the two operations indicated by Figures 1 and 5 in one.
Figure 7 shows a section of parts with the dies modified by being formed
with cutting edges c³ in position to cut the tubes off from just within the
plate b.
Having thus described my improvements, and means which I adopt in
carrying the same into effect, I would have it understood that I do not
confine myself to the precise details shown and described, as these may be
varied without departing from the peculiar character of my improvements;
but what I do claim is;-
First, the fixing or tightening of the ends of boiler and other tubes by
means of dies formed in sections and acted upon by inclined sides or sur-
faces drawn outwards by hydraulic pressure, in manner substantially as
explained.

page_text: Secondly, I claim the use of cutting surfaces applied to dies acted upon
y inclined surfaces, in manner substantially as explained.
In witness whereof, I, the said Ralph Hart Tweddell, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Twenty-third day of September, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-five.
RALPH HART TWEDDELL. (L.S.)