NEW ARRANGEMENTS AND ADAPTATIONS OF MEANS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PIPES OR TUBES
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Edwin Quadling, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of
London, for the Invention of "NEW ARRANGEMENTS AND ADAPTATIONS OF
MEANS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PIPES
OR TUBES,"
Sealed the 7th June 1878, and dated the 6th April 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Edwin Quadling at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 6th April 1878.
EDWIN QUADLING, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London.
"NEW
ARRANGEMENTS AND ADAPTATIONS OF MEANS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PIPES OR TUBES."
The Invention relates to the manufacture of pipes or tubes from sheets or plates
of metal, in which the longitudinal scams or joints are formed by folding and inter-
locking together the edges of the sheets or plates forming the pipes or tubes after
the said sheets or plates have been bent into a circular or nearly circular form.
Pipes or tubes of this kind have hitherto been made for the most part either by hand
or by peculiar machinery, especially such as that described in the Specification of a
Patent granted to myself and to William May, bearing date the Twenty-seventh
day of November, A.D. 1872, Number 3559, in which the sheets or plates of metal
intended to form the pipes or tubes are passed longitudinally through certain guides
and between certain rollers, and over a fixed mandril provided with a projecting
feather and with friction rollers, by which means the sheet or plate is shaped, the
edges bent, folded, and interlocked together, and the joint compressed gradually
and consecutively, beginning at one end of the sheet or plate and ending at the
other end, the whole being effected at one passage through the machine. By
these methods it is possible to employ only sheets or plates of very moderate
thickness.
The arrangements and adaptations of means and apparatus comprising my
present Invention differ entirely from those above referred to, and enable ine to

page_text: employ sheets or plates of metal of very much greater thickness, and to produce
therefrom pipes or tubes (with folded joints) of much larger dimensions than have
been produced heretofore.
The first part of my Invention consists of certain arrangements and adaptations
of means and apparatus, whereby instead of effecting all the operations necessary
to form a pipe or tube during one passage of the sheet or plate through a single
machine, I perform them in several separate operations, and instead of dealing
with the sheet or plate longitudinally for all the operations I employ longitudinal
action for some of the operations and transverse action for others.
My method of proceeding is as follows:-The sheet or plate is prepared by
bending to a suitable angle those edges thereof, which, when folded together, form
the longitudinal joint of the pipe. These edges may be bent as and when the sheets
or plates are rolled, or by passing the sheet or plate between specially grooved rollers,
by pressing or forming them in dies, by hammering or by any suitable or convenient
means whatever, and they may be treated in a hot, warm, or cold state, according to
the thickness, quality, or other conditions of the metal employed. The sheet or plato
with its edges so prepared is then, beginning at one edge, bent round a shaping
roller of suitable dimensions, and of the peculiar herein-after described, whereby
the said sheet or pipe is shaped approximately to the form of the intended
pipe, but without folding together the aforesaid bent edges. The sheet or plate
thus shaped is then drawn off the shaping roller, and the bent edges being inter-
locked into each other, a finishing mandril or die to be herein-after described is
inserted into the pipe or tube, and the latter with the said mandril or die in it is
then passed between finishing rolls or reciprocating dies provided with grooves
corresponding to the size and shape of the fiuished pipe or tube, whereby the said
pipe or tube is finished to shape, and the folded edges of the sheet or plate are com-
pressed and consolidated so as to form a close and firm longitudinal joint.
The joint may also be finished by pressing, stamping, or hammering, or by
passing a single roll over it.
The shaping roller is of a form in section corresponding more or less closely
to the shape of the finished pipe, but is cut away to form a longitudinal tooth
adapted to seize hold of one of the bent up edges of the sheet or plate, or is provided
with a long metal hook or series of hooks which seizes or seize the said bent up
edge of the sheet or plate.
One or more pressing rollers is or are caused to press against the sheet or plate
on the shaping roller as the latter revolves. The revolution of the said shaping
roll causes it to draw the sheet or plate between itself and the pressing roller or
rollers by means of the aforesaid tooth, hook, or hooks acting on the bent up edge
of the sheet or plate, or the shaping roller may remain stationary, thus forming a
mandril, and the pressing roller or rollers caused to revolve round it after the manner
of a "sun-and-planet" arrangement, the effect in either case being to wrap the sheet
or plate round the shaping roller or mandril so as to impart to the said sheet or
plate the approximate form of the finished pipe or tube.
The shaping roller or mandril must be so arranged in connexion with its bearings
and driving mechanism that one or both ends may be disconnected and left free,
when the pipe is shaped so that the latter may be withdrawn endwise from the said
shaping roller or mandril. The finishing mandril or internal die being required
only for the purpose of supplying the necessary resistance to the pressure required
to firmly compress the folded joint, must be of a depth suited to the diameter of the
pipe or tube where the said joint occurs, and may be somewhat narrower than that
diameter of the pipe which is at right angles to the first, in order that it may bo
easily placed in and withdrawn from the pipe or tube. It may be made of any
suitable section; a convenient one will be found to consist of two cylindrical
segments joined together by a web forming a kind of H section.
Instead of a mandril I sometimes employ an internal die with friction rollers to
receive the pressure necessary for compressing the joint.
When it is desired that the thickness of the folded joint shall project inside the

page_text: pipe, a groove is made in the mandril or die roller; but when it is desired that the
said thickness shall project outside the pipe the groove is made in one of the
finishing rolls or other finishing tools, and the mandril or die roller, as the case may
be, is loft plain.
I sometimes insert in the folds of the edges of the sheet or plate after they are
interlocked and before the joint is compressed a wire of soft metal, such as copper
or lead, whereby the tightness and soundness of the joint is increased.
After passing through the finishing rolls or being finished by any of the processes
herein-before named, the mandril or die rollers are withdrawn, the pipe cut to
length, and when necessary the folded joint flushed up with solder or brazed.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the employment of a folded strip of metal,
into which the bent edges of the sheets or plates are interlocked so as to form the
longitudinal folded joint or joints of a pipe or tube, when the folded part of such
joint is compressed into the body of the pipe or tube so as to be flush with cither
the internal or external surface thereof.
The folded strip may be placed inside or outside the pipe or tube at pleasure, the
folds being compressed and consolidated in the same way as that above described
for the ordinary folded joint.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in making pipes or tubes of two or more
segmental sheets or plates joined together by means of folded joints, with or without
the strips covering the said joints, as described in reference to the second part of
iny Invention.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Edwin Quadling in the Great Scal Patent Office on the 5th October
1878.
EDWIN QUADLING, of 139, Cannon Street, in the City of London.
"NEW
ARRANGEMENTS AND ADAPTATIONS OF MEANS AND APPARATUS APPLICABLE TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC PIPES OR TUBES."
The Invention relates to the manufacture of pipes or tubes from sheets or plates
of metal, in which the longitudinal seams or joints are formed by folding and inter-
locking together the edges of the sheets or plates forming the pipes or tubes after
the said sheets or plates have been beut into a circular or nearly circular form.
Pipes or tubes of this kind have hitherto been made for the most part either by
hand or by peculiar machinery, especially such as that described in the Specification
of a Patent granted to myself and to William May, bearing date the Twenty-seventh
day of November, A.D. 1872, Number 3559, in which the sheets or plates of metal
intended to form the pipes or tubes are passed longitudinally through certain guides,
and between certain rollers and over a fixed mandril provided with a projecting
feather and with friction rollers, by which means the sheet or plate is shaped, the
edges bent, folded, and interlocked together, and the joint compressed gradually
and consecutively, beginning at one end of the sheet or plate and ending at the
other end, the whole being effected at one passage through the machine. By these
methods it is possible to employ only sheets or plates of very moderate thickness.
The arrangements and adaptations of means and apparatus comprising my
present Invention differ entirely from those above referred to, and enable me to
employ sheets or plates of metal of very much greater thickness, and to produce
therefrom pipes or tubes (with folded joints) of much larger dimensions than have
been produced heretofore.
The first part of my Invention consists of certain arrangements and adaptations
of means and apparatus, whereby, instead of effecting all the operations necessary to
form a pipe or tube during one passage of the sheet or plate through a single
machine, I perform them in several separate operations, and instead of dealing with
the sheet or plate longitudinally for all the operations I employ longitudinal action
for some of the operations and transverse action for others.
My method of proceeding is as follows:-The sheet or plate is prepared by
bending to a suitable angle those edges thereof, which when folded together form
the longitudinal joint of the pipe. These edges may be bent as and when the
sheets or plates are rolled, or by passing the sheet or plate between specially grooved
rollers, by pressing or forming them in dies, by hammering, or by any suitable or
convenient means whatever, and they may be treated in a hot, warm, or cold
state, according to the thickness, quality, or other conditions of the metal
employed.
Figure 1 is a front elevation; Figure 2, an end clovation, and Figure 3, a plan of
a machine for thus bending and curving the edges of the sheets or plates; and
consists of two pairs of rolls A, A, B, B, operated by gearing C, C, and having
grooves or recesses D, D, of such form as to bend the edges of the plates or sheets
to nearly the required shape during their passage through. This bending may be
done by any convenient number of pairs of rolls, and the grooves or recesses so
formed that the edges of the sheets or plates may be brought to the required shape,
more or less gradually.
Figures 4 and 5 represent end and side elevations of another machine for the
same purpose consisting of a pair of dio rollers A, A., geared together at C. By this
arrangement one edge only of the plates is passed through the rolls at one
operation.
The sheets or plates with their edges partly prepared either as and when they
are rolled, or by passing them through one or more of the machines herein-before

page_text: described, are finished to their true form (shown in Figures 17 and 18) either by
suitable rolls, by dies applied by pressure or percussion, by hammering, or by any
other similar or suitablo means; they are then beginning at one edge, bent round
bending or shaping rolls of suitable dimensions, and of the peculiar character
illustrated in Figures 6, 6ª, 0B, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The object of this machine is to
shape the sheets or plates approximately into the form of the intended pipe, but
without folding together or interlocking the aforesaid bent edges.
This machine consists of a shaping roller E of a form in section corresponding,
inore or less closely to the shape of the finished pipe, but being cut away to form a
longitudinal tooth F (see Figure 10) adapted to seize hold of one of the bent edges
(G, in Figure 17, or H, in Figure 18) of the sheet or plate, and also for the purpose
of protecting the bent edges (I and J, Figures 17 and 18) of the sheets or plates
from the pressure of the pressure rollers K, K, which aro adjustable by means of
the screws L, L, interposing springs M, M, (or weights) and wheels N, N, which
enable the said pressure rollers to be kept in contact with the sheet or plate being
operated upon. These two pressure rollers K, K, or as many as may be desirable
are caused to press against the sheet or plate on the shaping roller E as the latter
revolves. The revolution of the said shaping roller E causes the sheet or plate to
be drawn between itself and the pressure rollers K, K, by means of the aforesaid
tooth F, thus shaping the sheet or plate into a nearly circular form. By these
means the sheet or plate is shaped approximately to the form of the intended pipe,
but without folding together or interlocking the aforesaid bent edges.
It will be readily understood that should it be desired to produce oval or any
irregular shaped tube or pipe the shaping roll E may be made of the oval or other
irregular shape required, provision having been made for the pressing rollers K, K,
to follow such irregular shape of the shaping roll E.
The shaping roller E is made to revolve in bearings formed in the frames O, O,
which latter are adapted to travel backward when required by screws P, P, or any
other convenient means, thus leaving the shaping roller E free of the frames O, Ŏ,
and pressure rollers K, K, and supported only on the bearings Q, Q. The partly
formed pipe may then be readily withdrawn endwise from the shaping roller E, the
frames O, O, be brought back to their normal position and another sheet or plate
put on.
This bending or shaping machine may also be used for the purpose of
straightening and rounding a finished pipe or tube, should such an operation be
required. In this case the pipe or tubo to be straightened or rounded with the
pressure rollers K, K, are placed in the positions shewn by the dotted circles in
Figure 7, and the pipe being thus supported between the three rollers is rotated,
and pressure is applied by the pressure rollers till the pipe is straightened and
rounded.
After removing the partly formed pipe from the shaping roller E, the bent edges
are interlocked, and a finishing mandril or die, to be loreafter described, is inserted
into the pipe or tube, and the latter with the said finishing mandril or die in it is
then passed through finishing rolls, such for example as those illustrated in Figures
11 and 12, or between suitable reciprocating dies (such for example as those used
in Ryder's forging machine) provided with grooves corresponding to the size and
shape of the finished pipe or tube, such rollers or dies being made to act upon and
press the joint of the pipe either longitudinally or transversely.
The joint may also be finished by pressing, stamping, hammering, or by passing
a roll over it. By these means the said pipe or tube is finished to shape, and the
folded edges of the sheet or plate are compressed and consolidated so as to form a
close and firm longitudinal joint.
Figures 11 and 12. illustrate a suitable arrangement of rolls for finishing pipes or
tubes of various sizes, & in dotted lines is shown how rolls for finishing pipes or
tubes of larger diameter can be substituted for those shewn in full lines; R is the
finishing mandril herein-before referred to, & which is by preference of the
section shewn, having one or more longitudinal grooves or recesses S formed in the

page_text: curved face of the flanges to receive the seam or seams of the pipe or tube to bo
operated upon, the width & depth of such grooves or recesses being so arranged
that the metal of the pipe forming the joint shall be tightly compressed and con-
solidated. This finishing mandril may be made of any suitable section or material,
but I prefer to use rolled soft Bessemer steel, and it should by preference extend
the whole length of the pipe or tube; being required only for the purpose of
supplying the necessary resistance to the pressure needed to firmly compress the
folded joint, it must be of a depth suited to the diameter of the pipe or tube where
the said joint occurs, and may be somewhat narrower than that diameter of the
pipe which is at right angles to the first, in order that it may be easily placed in
and withdrawn from the pipe or tube.
Figures 13 and 13 shew an arrangement of internal finishing dies fitted with
double friction rollers T, T, one or both of such rollers being grooved or recessed in
a similar manner and for the same purpose as described in the case of the finishing
mandril, which latter, the internal finishing dio, is intended to take the place of if
proferred.
After passing the pipe or tube through the finishing machine the finishing
mandril or internal die is withdrawn, and the ends of the pipe or tube may then be
squared by an adjustable cutter, such as that shewn at U (Figure 1).
Figures 14, 15, and 16 shew another arrangement of machine for producing the samo
results as that shewn in Figures 6, 6ª, 6b, 7, 8, 9, and 10, but in which the shaping
roller or mandril E is fixed and the pressure roller or rollers K, K, arranged to
revolve around it as shewn after the manner of a sun-and-planet motion, and in tho
case of its boing required to manufacture pipes or tubes of oval or any irregular.
form, the said pressure roller or rollers K, K, must be fitted with springs, et cetera,
as described with reference to Figures 6, 6ª, 6b, 7, 8, 9, and 10. The effect of this,
as also in the case of the shaping rollers herein-before described, being to wrap the
sheet or plate round the shaping roller or mandril so as to impart to the said sheet
or plate the approximate form of the finished pipe or tube.
The shaping roller or mandril E can be easily removed from between the frames
V, V, by disconnecting it by means of the sliding couplings or sleeves W, W, and
the mandril with the partly formed tube or pipe upon it can be lifted out by slings
or in any other convenient way, and the pipe or tube can then be taken off the
mandril endwise, the edges interlocked, and the pipe finished off, as herein-before
described.
This form of machine is specially applicable to the shaping of pipes of large
diameter.
My Invention consists, secondly, in the employment of a folded strip of metal,
into which the bent edges of the sheets or plates are interlocked so as to form the
longitudinal folded joint or joints of a pipe or tube so as to be flush with the external
surface thereof. Figures 18 and 18 shew sections of this joint X, being the strip
of metal, which when compressed and consolidated in the same way as that above
described for the ordinary folded joint, forms a joint flush with the external surface
of the pipe or tube.
I sometimes insert in the interstices of the folds of the edges of the sheets or
plates after they are interlocked, and before the joint is compressed and in the
position shewn at Y, in Figures 18 and 18ª, a wire of soft metal, such as copper or
lead, or a cord of any, suitable material, whereby the tightness and soundness of the
joint is increased.
My Invention consists, thirdly, in making pipes or tubes of two or more
segmental sheets or plates joined together by means of folded joints projecting
internally with or without the strips covering the said joints as described in
reference to the second part of my Invention.
It will be understood that in the manufacture of pipes of this description the
finishing mandril R (Figure 12) must be provided with the requiste number of
resisting surfaces with the necessary recesses or grooves.
After passing the pipes or tubes through the finishing rolls, or they having been

page_text: finished by any of the processes herein-before named, and the mandril or die rollers
having been withdrawn, the pipe cut to length, and when necessary, the folded
joint may be welded or flushed up with solder or brazed.
Having now described the nature of the said Invention and the manner in which
the same is to or may be carried into effect, I would have it understood that I lay
no claim to the use of the folded strip of metal when the same is used in connection
with an external longitudinal joint, but what I do claim is,—
First. The arrangement and combination of means and apparatus for making
pipes with longitudinal folded joints by partially folding, bending, or curving the
edges of the plate or sheet, bending the said sheet round a shaping roll or mandril,
interlocking the said folded, bent, or curved edges, passing the pipe so formed on to
a suitable mandril, and submitting the pipe with the mandril in it to the action of
pressing rolls, dies, or hammers, for the purpose of consolidating the folded joint,
the whole substantially as herein-before described, and illustrated in the Drawings.
Second. Bending or curving, more or less, the interlocking edges of the plates or
sheets of metal intended to be formed into pipes or tubes, either whilst hot or warm
at the time of their manufacture, in the rolling mill.
Third. For the purpose of bending or curving, more or less, the interlocking
edges of plates or sheets intended to be formed into pipes or tubes, the employment
of shaped rollers as herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 1, 2, 3, 4,
and 5 of the Drawings.
Fourth. In the manufacture of plate or sheet metal pipes or tubes with longi-
tudinal folded joints, the construction and use of the bending or shaping machine
provided with a revolving or stationary shaping roll or mandril having ono or
more teeth and recesses for receiving the interlocking edges of the plates or sheets,
and pressing rollers for the purpose of bending the prepared plates or sheets
transversely to the approximate form of the intended pipes or tubes, such machine
being also adapted or not to the purpose of straightening and rounding the pipes or
tubes when finished, the whole arranged, adapted, and appliod, substantially as
herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 6, 6ª, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15, and
16 of the Drawings.
Fifth. In the manufacture of plate or sheet metal pipes or tubes with longitudinal
folded joints, the construction and use of a finishing internal grooved mandril which
remains stationary with regard to the pipe or tube during the finishing operation,
arranged, adapted, and applied, substantially as herein-before described, and
illustrated in Figures 11, 11, 12, 13, and 13ª of the Drawings.
Sixth. In the manufacture of plate or sheet metal pipes or tubes with longitudinal
folded joints, the use of a folded strip of nietal interlocked with the folded edges of
the plate or sheet, when the said folded edges are contained in the pipe or tube,
the joint being furnished or not with the soft metal, wire, or cord inserted in the
interstices of such folds as herein-before described, and illustrated in Figures 18
and 18% of the Drawings.
Seventh. The construction of pipes or tubes in two or more sections with longi-
tudinal folded joints of the kind shewn either in Figures 17, 17ª, or 18, 18ª, and
with or without soft wire or cord in the interstices of the joint, shewn in Figures 18
and 18a as herein-before described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Edwin Quadling, have hereunto set my hand
and seal, this Fifth day of October, in the year of our Lord One thousand
eight hundred and seventy-eight.
EDWIN QUADLING. (L.S.)