AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND WELDING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF METAL PIPE OR TURE
Year: 1881

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND WELDING TOGETHER
LENGTHS OF METAL PIPE OR TURE" A communication from abroad hx7
LETTERS PATENT to Alexander Melville Clark, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the
County of Middlesex, Patent Agent, for an Invention of "AN IMPROVED
METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING AND WELDING TOGETHER
LENGTHS OF METAL PIPE or Ture" A communication from abroad by
Henry von Hartz and Oram Fix, both of Cleveland, in the County of
Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, United States of America.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Alexander Melville Clark
at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the 26th April 1881.
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING
AND WELDING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF METAL PIPE OR TUBE." [A communication
from abroad by Henry von Hartz and Oram Fix; both of Cleveland, in the County
of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, United States of America.]
This Invention relates to a novel method and machine for preparing and welding.
together sections of metal pipe or tubing. It is designed more particularly for
welding short sections on to old boiler tubes, so as to give them sufficient length
to permit them to be again reset in the same tube sheets, the old tubes being too
short to reset without lengthening.
The ordinary method of resetting old tubes is to mill down or hammer one end
of a section of tube to an entering bevel or male end, and expanding by hammering
or milling the end of the other section to a tapering or female end adapted to
receive the male end, after which they are welded together by hand. The difficulty
attending this plan is that much labor is required to prepare the ends, and the
time required to turn and weld the sections on all sides is such that the heat
decreases at the end of the operation so as to fail to secure the most perfect uniting
of the parts, and both skilled workmen and hand labor are required for the work.
This Invention consists, first, in a method of working which permits these
operations to be successfully accomplished by a machine in much less time, with
Dell

page_text: much less labor, and with a much more perfect result. The method consists in
simultaneously cutting off and scarfing or bevelling the male or entering end by
rolling a bevel channel around the tube on a mandrel, and holding down the metal
on each side of the bevel channel to prevent enlargement of the cut ends, then in a
second operation cutting and expanding the female end simultaneously by rolling
a bevel channel around the tube on a mandrel, and allowing the metal on each
side of the bevel cut to spread or move freely to permit the cut ends to be expanded
by the rolling action of the roll to a diameter large enough to receive the male end,
as hereinafter more fully described.
For more clearly describing the method, I will first explain it in connection with
so much of the machine as is necessary to carry out the same.
The only part of a machine which I will at present describe is a fixed mandrel
and two rolls for the two consequetive operations, it being understood that the
rolls are to be carried around the mandrel with a rotary action, and projected with
greater or less force against the pipe on the mandrel. For this purpose the form
of mechanism hereafter described may be used, or any other mechanism which will
give the requisite movements to the rolls and means for regulating them..
In practice also I find it desirable to employ a second roll arranged diametrically
to the first so as to resist strain on the mandrel, such roll having a plain face, or
the same face and same adjustment as the cutting roll.
In carrying out the Invention a section of pipe is taken, from which the splice
section is to be cut and placed over the mandrel, the end of this section being already
bevelled by a previous operation (similar to the one which I am now about to
describe), which latter operation cuts off the splice section and gives a bevel to the
stock end of the pipe. The cutting roll has a conoidal or bevelled face in the
middle and cylindrical ends on each side of the conoidal part parallel with its axis,
and equal in diameter to the smaller end of the conoidal part, such ends being
hereafter referred to as shoulders. After this roll has been brought into forcible
contact with the heated pipe and has traversed the same several times, the bevel
channel around the tube commences to be formed, and before the shoulders of the
roll come in contact with the pipe, the metal having partial clearance on each side
of the cut is thrown up temporarily opposite the shoulders. As the channel around
the tube gets deeper the shoulders come in contact with the raised metal and
force these burrs down, while the cutting edge of the roll passes through the tube
and severs the splice section. This mode of holding the metal down on each side
of the bevel channel while it is being cut preserves the square end of the splice
section of the same diameter as the body portion, so that it will pass through and
fit in the holes of the tube sheet, and also prevents the spreading of the male end,
making the cut an outside bevel cut instead of rolling the tube thin at its ends
and spreading it to a large diameter, as would take place if the metal were not
held down on each side of the cut, as will be hereafter explained. The action of
the roll then is to cut off a splice section and scarf or bevel the end of the stock
for the next cut, preserving the bevel all on the outside, so that it shall form the
smaller male or entering end of the two sections to be joined.
For cutting and expanding the female end a conoidal roll without shoulders is
employed, and as a result the metal is not held down on each side of the bevel cut,
and the end of the tube is expanded. Thus the old boiler tube, whose end has
been mutilated by removal from the tube sheet, is placed over the mandrel, and
the roll is made to traverse around the same. When the operation is completed
the loose fag end of the tube is entirely severed, and the end of the tube is bevelled
and at the same time expanded, the bevel being nearly obliterated by the free
lateral upsetting of the metal, which increases the diameter of the tube and gives
it a flared appearance.
In conducting these two operations it is necessary to success that the cutting
and bevelling of the male end be performed much slower than the cutting and
expanding of the female end. Thus, for instance, in cutting the male section from
six to ten revolutions of the roll are required, while in cutting and expanding the

page_text: female end a heavy pressure on the roll, and but two or three revolutions of the
same are required, and besides a higher degree of heat is employed for this
operation.
After the male and female ends are thus formed, the female end is fitted over
the male end and shrunk on, and after this the joint is heated, placed on the
mandrel, and a plain roll having a periphery parallel to its axis is made to cement
the joint and weld the same into a homogeneous straight wall.
I have so far described the Invention with respect to welding old boiler tubes;
I would have it understood, however, that I do not confine the Invention to this
work, but may use it for welding together any kind of pipe, tubes, &c.
I will now describe the apparatus by which I give the proper movement to the
rolls.
The operative parts are supported upon any suitable frame, and driven by a
shaft mounted at one side thereof. The two rolls revolve upon fixed studs mounted
at opposite sides of the mandrel upon a sleeve revolving upon a stationary tubular
shaft, both rolls being readily removable, the one to permit of either the roll for
cutting the male or female end (as the case may be) to be used, and the other to
permit of a roll of a different size or shape to be substituted if desired. The stud
on which the cutting roll revolves is attached to the end of a rocking lever
fulcrumed upon the rotating sleeve, and the cutting roll is moved towards or from
the mandrel by the following mechanism:-To the tail end of the lever is jointed
a link which is forked, and embraces and is pivoted to a collar revolving in a
groove on a sleeve which is free to slide along the stationary hollow shaft, this
sliding movement of the sleeve being effected by means of a treadle lever acting
through levers and connections with the sliding sleeve. The stud on which the
other roll revolves may be merely fixed to the end of the rotating sleeve, or it
may be mounted on a rocking lever, and have an adjustment, as above described,
for the cutting roll. The rotating sleeve carrying the rolls receives rotary motion
from a pinion on the main shaft gearing with a ring of teeth on the sleeve.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed
by the said Alexander Melville Clark in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 26th October 1881,
ALEXANDER MELVILLE CLARK, of 53, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex,
Patent Agent.
"AN IMPROVED METHOD OF AND APPARATUS FOR PREPARING
AND WELDING TOGETHER LENGTHS OF METAL PIPE OR TUBE." A communication
from abroad by Henry von Hartz and Oram Fix, both of Cleveland, in the County
of Cuyahoga, and State of Ohio, United States of America.
This Invention relates to a novel method and machine for preparing and welding
together sections of metal pipe or tubing. It is designed more particularly for
welding short sections on to old boiler tubes, so as to give them sufficient length
to permit them to be again reset in the same tube sheets, the old tubes being .too
short to be reset without lengthening.
The ordinary method of resetting old tubes is to mill down or hammer one end
of a section of tube to an entering bevel or male end, and expand by hammering
or milling the end of the other section to a tapering or female end adapted to
receive the male end, after which they are welded together by hand. The difficulty
attending this plan is that much labor is required to prepare the ends, and the
time required to turn and weld the sections on all sides is such that the heat
decreases at the end of the operation so as to fail to secure the most perfect
uniting of the parts, and both skilled workmen and hand labor are required for
the work.
This Invention consists, first, in a method of working which permits these
operations to be successfully accomplished by a machine in much less time, with
much less labor, and with a much more perfect result.
The method consists in simultaneously cutting off and scarfing or bevelling the
male or entering end by rolling a bevel channel around the tube on a mandrel, and
holding down the metal on each side of the bevel channel to prevent enlarge-
ment of the cut ends, then in a second operation cutting and expanding the female
end simultaneously by rolling a bevel channel around the tube on a mandrel, and
allowing the metal on each side of the bevel cut to spread or move freely to permit
the cut ends to be expanded by the rolling action of the roll to a diameter large
enough to receive the male end, as hereinafter more fully described.
For more clearly describing the method, I will first explain it in connection with
so much of the machine as is necessary to carry out the same, referring to Sheet 1
of the Drawings, in which Figure 1 represents the cominencement of the operation
of cutting off a splice section from new tubing and scarfing or bevelling the end of
the next piece; Figure 2 shows the operation about half done; Figure 3 shows it
completed, in which the splice section A is cut off ready to be entered into the
female end of the boiler tube as in Figure 4; Figure 4 shows the male and female
ends fitted together ready to be finally rolled and welded; Figure 5 represents the
beginning of the operation of cutting off the fag end of the old boiler tube and
expanding its end to form the female section; Figure 6 represents the operation
about half done, and Figure 7 represents the operation complete, in which the fag
end is cut off and the end B of the old tube enlarged to form the female section
shown in Figure 4.
The only part of a machine which I will at present describe is a fixed mandrel C
and the rolls D and E for the two consecutive operations, it being understood that
the rolls are to be carried around the mandrel with a rotary action, and pressed
with greater or less force against the pipe on the mandrel. For this purpose the
form of mechanism shown in Figures 8 and 9 of Sheet 2 may be used, or any

page_text: other mechanism which will give the requisite movements to the rolls and means
for regulating them.
In practice also I find it desirable to employ another roll arranged diametrically
opposite to the first, so as to resist strain on the mandrel; such roll having a plain
face is shown at G in Figures 4, 8, and 9. This roll may have the same face and
same adjustment as the other roll D or E.
Referring to Figure 1, a section of pipe X is taken from which the splice
section A is to be cut and placed over the mandrel C. As shown, the end of this
section is already bevelled by a previous operation similar to the one which I am
now about to describe, which latter operation cuts off the splice section A and
gives a bevel to the stock end of X.
Now the roll D, as will be seen, has a conoidal or beveled face in the middle and
straight shoulders a, a, on each side parallel with its axis. After this roll has been
brought into forcible contact with the heated pipe and has rolled around the same
several times, as in Figure 2, the bevel channel around the tube commences to be
formed and before the shoulders a, a, come in contact with the pipe the metal
having partial clearance on each side of the cut is thrown up temporarily at b, b.
As the channel around the tube gets deeper, the shoulders a, a, come in contact
with the raised metal at b, b, and force these burrs down while the cutting edge
of the roll passes through the tube and severs the section A. This mode of holding
the metal down on each side of the bevel channel while it is being cut, it will be
seen, preserves the square end of A of the same diameter as the body portion, so
that it will pass through and fit in the holes of the tube sheet, and also prevents the
spreading of the male end making the cut an outside bevel cut instead of rolling
the tube thin at its ends and spreading it to a large diameter, as would take place if
the metal were not held down on each side of the cut, as will be hereafter explained.
The action of the roll D then is to cut off a splice section A and scarf or bevel the end
of the stock for the next cut, preserving the bevel all on the outside, so that it
shall form the smaller male or entering end of the two sections to be joined.
For cutting and expanding the female end B, Figure 4, a roll E, Figures 5, 6,
and 7, is substituted for D, which has not the shoulders a, a, and as a result the
metal is not held down on each side of the bevel cut and the end of the tube is
expanded as at B' in Figure 4. Thus (referring to Figure 5), the old boiler tube B
whose end has been mutilated by removal from the tube sheet is placed over the
mandrel, and the roll E is made to roll around the same. When about half done,
the tube presents the appearance shown in Figure 6, and when completed it
appears as in Figure 7, in which the loose fag end F is entirely severed and the
end of the tube B is bevelled and at the same time expanded, the bevel being
nearly obliterated by the free lateral upsetting of the metal which increases the
diameter of the tube and gives it the flared appearance shown at B¹ in Figure 4.
In conducting these two operations it is necessary to success that the cutting
and bevelling of the male end be performed much slower than the cutting and
expanding of the female end.
Thus, for instance, in cutting the male section, from six to ten revolutions of the
roll are required, while in cutting and expanding the female end a heavy pressure
on the roll and but two or three revolutions of the same are required, and besides
a higher degree of heat is employed for this operation.
After the male and female ends are thus formed, the female end is fitted over
the male end and shrunk on, and after this the joint is heated, placed on the
mandrel, and a plain roll having a periphery parallel to its axis is made to cement
the joint and weld the same into a homogeneous straight wall.
I have so far described the Invention with respect to welding old boiler tubes.
I would have it understood however that I do not confine the Invention to this
work, but may use it for welding together any kind of pipe tubes, &c.
I will now describe the machine by which I give the proper movement to the
rolls D and E.

page_text: Referring to Sheet 2 of the Drawings, Figure 8 is a vertical section of the
machine, and Figure 9 is a view of the same in side elevation.
A represents any suitable frame for supporting the operative parts; B2 is the
main driving shaft located towards one side of the machine, to which power is
communicated through the pulley B'; C is the mandrel, on the end of which the
end of the tube length to be cut is placed. This mandrel is held by a sleeve H
concentrically within a stationary tubular shaft C² fixed by one end to the frame A,
the sleeve H being capable of adjustment longitudinally therein to accomodate the
length of the piece of pipe to be cut off. The cutting roll D is mounted to revolvė
upon a stud fixed to the end of a rocking lever E, fulcrumed at fupon a sleeve D
encircling and fitted to revolve in a groove around the end of the stationary
tubular shaft C2. The other roller G is also mounted to revolve upon a stud fixed
to the same sleeve D. The studs on which the rollers D and E revolve are
respectively attached to lever E and sleeve D in any suitable manner, so as to be
readily removable to permit of roll E being substituted for roll D, or another roll
of a different size or shape being substituted for roll G. The sleeve D² carrying
the rolls is revolved around the mandrel by a pinion p on the main shaft B²,
gearing with a ring of cog teeth r upon the periphery of said sleeve. To throw
the roll D towards or away from the mandrel the lever E' is rocked on its fulcrum f
by the following arrangement of mechanism :-I is another sleeve upon the
stationary hollow shaft C capable of being slid to and fro thereupon. This sleeve I
is encircled by a collar I, which lies in a groove in the sleeve, and is free to revolve
around the same. This collar is connected by a forked link I with the tail end of
lever E¹, the link I being semicircular in form, and embracing and having the
extremities of its two branches pivoted to diametrically opposite points of the
collar I, the middle of the link being pivoted to the lever E¹. The collar I2 is
thus carried round with the sleeve D2 independently of the sleeve I, which is
prevented from rotating, and is made to. slide to and fro along shaft C2, for the
purpose above stated, by means of a lever P³ fulcrumed on a radius link P¹, and
connected at one end to sleeve I, and at the other to a link P2 connected to crank
arm P¹ operated by a treadle lever P.
The principal function of roll G is to neutralize the strain of the roll above, and
for this purpose it may, as before stated, have an adjustment like the one above
described for the cutting roll, which will permit it to be moved towards or away
from the mandrel.
Having described the nature of the said Invention, and the manner of performing
the same, I declare that what I claim as the Invention to be protected by the
herein before in part recited Letters Patent is,-
First. The method of simultaneously cutting off and preparing the male end of
a bevelled pipe or tube joint, which consists in rolling a bevel channel around the
pipe or tube upon a mandrel and holding down the metal on each side of the bevel
cut, as described.
Second. The method of simultaneously cutting off a fag end and expanding the
female end of a pipe or tube joint, which consists in rolling a bevel channel around
the pipe or tube on the mandrel and allowing the metal free movement on each
side of the bevel cut, as described.
Third. The method of preparing and welding the two ends of a pipe or tube,
which consists in rolling a bevel channel around one section of pipe and holding
the metal down, as described, to form the male end, and then rolling- a bevel
channel around the other section of pipe and allowing free movement to the metal
to spread at the edge of the channel to form the female end, then fitting these two
sections and rolling them to a homogeneous weld, substantially as described.
Fourth. The method of preparing and welding the two ends of a pipe or tube,
which consists in rolling a bevel channel around one section of pipe and holding
the metal down beside the channel to form the male end with a relatively slow
movement, and then rolling a bevel channel around the other section and allowing

page_text: a free movement to the metal to spread, which latter operation is performed with
relatively quick movement, and then fitting and welding the ends, substantially as
described.
Fifth. The rollers D, E, and G combined for the successive steps of cutting a
male end, a female end, and rolling the joint to a flat weld, as described.
Sixth. The rollers D, E, and G combined with mechanism substantially as
described, whereby they are made to revolve about the mandrel and be projected
there against, as and for the purpose described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Alexander Melville Clark, have hereunto set
my hand and scal, this Twentieth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and eighty one.
A. M. CLARK. (L.S.)