TMARTRACTURE OF STRIP OR SHEET IRON FOR CERTAIN
Year: 1867

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Richard Hobbs Taunton, of the Firm of Richard
H. Taunton and Heyward, of the Star Tube Works, Birmingham, in the
County of Warwick, Iron Tube Manufacturers, for the Invention of
TMARTRACTURE OF STRIP OR SHEET IRON FOR CERTAIN
Sealed the 31st March 1868, and dated the 2nd October 1867.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Richard Hobbs Taunton
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
2nd October 1867. *
I, RICHARD HOBBS TAUNTON, of the Firm of Richard H. Taunton and
Heyward, of the Star Tube Works, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick,
Iron Tube Manufacturers, do hereby declare the nature of my said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF STRIP OR SHEET IRON FOR CERTAIN
PURPOSES," to be as follows (that is to say):-
My improvements entirely apply to the making of strip or sheet iron
for the manufacture of tubes for locomotive, marine, or other tubular
boilers.
Hitherto a difficulty has existed even with the greatest of care in the
quality of the iron to spread the same outward and flange it over, an
operation essentially important in securing iron tubes to such boilers, both
where the tubes are connected with the fire-box end of the boiler, as well as

page_text: the smoke box end, arising from the expansion necessary for this operation,
while the fibrous course of the iron is entirely in its lengthway direction.
This defect I overcome by so arranging and building up the pile of iron from
which I purpose rolling out my finished strip, that instead of the grain at
each end of my finished tube being in its lengthway course, it is so arranged
that a sufficient portion of the grain is in a transverse direction, thereby per-
mitting the tube to be enlarged and spread over into a flange without splitting
or cracking in its lengthway direction.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Richard Hobbs Taunton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 2nd April 1868.
TO, ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, RICHARD
HOBBS TAUNTON, of the Firm of Richard Hobbs Taunton and Hayward, of
the Star Tube Works, Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Second day of October, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Richard Hobbs Taunton, Her special licence that I, the said Richard
Hobbs Taunton, my exccutors, administrators, and assigns, or such others
as I, the said Richard Hobbs Taunton, 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 MANUFACTURE OF STRIP OR SHEET IRON
FOR CERTAIN PURPOSES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said Richard Hobbs Taunton, 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 Richard Hobbs Taunton, do hereby
declare the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is

page_text: to be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement (that is to say) :-
My improvements entirely apply to the making of strip or sheet iron for
the manufacture of tabes for locomotive, marine, or other tubular boilers or
tubes required to be flanged or expanded.
Hitherto a difficulty has existed in the manufacture of tubes for the pur-
poses named even when extra quality of iron is used to permit the operator
without fracture to spread the ends outward so as to form flanges; an
operation essentially important for securing iron, tubes to such boilers; and
this bitherto difficulty or defect has arisen from the fibrous course of the iron
on the outsides of the sheets or strips being entirely in its lengthway direction.
And the object of. my Invention is to overcome this defect, which I effect by
so arranging and building up the pile of iron from which I purpose rolling
out. my finished strip or sheet, that instead of the grain of my finished tube
being in its lengthway course it is so arranged that a sufficient portion of the
grain is distributed by preference on both sides in a transverse direction, or
more or less oblique, thereby permitting the tube to be hammered, beat,
enlarged; and spread over into a flange without splitting or cracking in its
lengthway or other direction under this operation, which as before stated has
heretofore been the obstacle to the general use of iron for tubular flueways of
boilers or tubes requiring to be swaged, expanded, or flanged.
..In carrying this luvention into effect the pile may be made more or less
compound both in its composition and direction, such pile being varied and
arranged with a view that a strip or sheet rolled from it should be of the
desired length and breadth; but as this will be well understood by operators
accustomed to the rolling of iron I will simply confine my description
to a pile of iron to be worked and finished into a strip, and believe that for
all general purposes the following mode may be adopted :—
I take a piece of suitable quality of iron, the length and width of the pile
required to be made, say as shown in the accompanying Drawings in section
at Fig. 1 marked A, and on that, by preference at right angles, I place strips
top and bottom (as here shown), such strips being square on the edges as at a,
or more or less bevilled as at b and c, or lapped as at d; or they may under-
lap in an angular or curved manner as at e and f, which perhaps may be
found preferable, as they tie and bind the parts together before welding by
the operation of rolling.
.
Fig. 2 is simply a lap view of Figure 1 representing the joints a, b, and c.
Fig. 3 represents a side view of a pile with a double layer of transverse strips
above and below the main body B, the outer piece being laid over the joints

page_text: of the inner layers, and the whole resting on a strip of wood marked C for more
conveniently placing the pile into the furnace for heating preparatory to rolling,
the wood being consumed in the furnace.
The edges of the outer or transverse strips are represented as being rolled
at or about the same angle as at c, Figure 1, but they may be either of the
other sections, as shown in that Figure, or otherwise varied as preferred or
requisite; and these double layers may be placed directly at right angles with
the main body B, or more or less oblique, reversing the obliquity of the outer
row to that of the inner ones, as exhibited partly in dotted lines in a top view
at Fig. 4.
A strip rolled from a pile thus arranged and composed admits of being
reheated and welded in the ordinary way in which welded wrought-iron tubes
are made, and subsequently enlarged or flanged, as exhibited at Fig. 5, with-
out breaking or destroying the fibrous compactness of the iron at that part.
Having now described the nature and purpose of my Invention, I wish
it understood that I do not purpose confining myself to any particular
thickness of the strips used for the outside cross piling in proportion to the
longitudinal body or inner part, nor to the figure or form of the edges of such
cross pile strips, as the same may be varied as preferred, and extended in
length and proportion according to the size of the strip or sheet desired to be
rolled, but if rolled in sheets the said sheet must be sheared or slit up into
strips according to requirements; but what I claim as of my Invention, and
wish protected by these my in part recited Letters Patent is, the manufacture
of sheet or strip iron, substantially as herein described for the manufacture of
tubes required for the flue ways of steam boilers, or tubes required to be flanged
or expanded.
In witness whereof, I, the said Richard Hobbs Taunton, have hereunto
set my band and seal, this Thirty-first day of March, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
RICHARD HOBBS TAUNTON. (L.S.)
Witness,
HERBERT HESKEY,
Clerk to James S. Cockings,
Patent Agent,
Birmingham.