IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON TUBES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES OF OTHER METALS
Year: 1870

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Kesterton, of No. 9, Stratford Road,
Birmingham, in the County of Warwick, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON TUBES, AND IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES OF
OTHER METALS."
Sealed the 22nd December 1870, and dated the 13th July 1870.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Kesterton at the.
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
13th July 1870.
86
I, HENRY KESTERTON, of No. 9, Stratford Road, Birmingham, in the
3 County of Warwick, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON TUBES, AND IN MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES OF OTHER
METALS," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in the manufacture of
iron tubes, and in machinery employed therein, applicable also to the
& manufacture of tubes of other metals..

page_text: In making iron tubes I reduce pig iron to a state of soft malleable
iron by the Bessemer or other similar process, and I cast it into a hollow
cylindrical ingot, either by centrifugal casting, or with the use of a core.
I take this ingot whilst still very highly heated and I pass it through a
series of pairs of grooved rollers set in different planes, say, alternately
vertical and horizontal. The first pair of rolls take the ingot, and
reducing and elongating it pass it to the second pair immediately beyond,
and this pair pass it to a third pair, and so on, until the desired reduction
is obtained. Each successive pair of rolls is driven at a surface speed
greater than that of the rolls immediately in front, so that, allowing for :
the elongation of the tube and the reduction of the section, equal
quantities of metal may pass between all the pairs of rolls gripping the
ingot in equal times. A stationary mandril passes between all the rolls
and carries a bulb at the nip of each pair of rolls. Each pair of rolls
compresses the ingot on to the mandril bulb between them, and this I
regulates the internal diameter at each step of the draft. The bulbs are
made smaller and smaller as the exterior of the tube is reduced. In this
way a finished tube of any desired length is produced without reheating
the metal after it leaves the converter; or the ingots of malleable iron
may be cast and allowed to cool and be reheated for the rolling process, 2
but a great saving of fuel is obtained by passing them whilst still hot
from the converter through the rolls as above described.
Cast steel, copper, or other metal tubes may be produced by means of
the machinaus akioms donasikad
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, 2
filed by the said Henry Kesterton in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 13th January 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
KESTERTON, of No. 9, Stratford Road, Birmingham, in the County of
Warwick, send greeting.
3
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirteenth day of July, in the year of
our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy, in the thirty-fourth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said Henry Kesterton, Her special license that 3

page_text: I, the said Henry Kesterton, my executors, administrators, and assigns;
or such others as I, the said Henry Kesterton, my executors, adminis-
trators, 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
IRON TUBES, AND IN MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN, APPLICABLE ALSO TO THE
MANUFACTURE OF TUBES. OF OTHER METALS," upon the condition (amongst
others) that I, the said Henry Kesterton, my executors 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 Henry Kesterton, 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:―
This Invention has for its object “Improvements in the Manufacture
of Iron Tubes, and in Machinery employed therein, applicable also to
the Manufacture of Tubes of other Metals."
In making iron tubes I reduce pig iron to the state of soft malleable
iron by the Bessemer or other similar process, and I cast it into a
hollow cylindrical ingot. I take this ingot whilst still very highly
heated and I pass it through a series of pairs of grooved rollers set in
different planes, say, alternately vertical and horizontal. The first pair
of rolls take the ingot, and reducing and elongating it pass it to the
second pair immediately beyond, and this pair passes it to a third pair,
and so on, until the desired reduction is obtained. Each successive pair
of rolls is driven at a surface speed greater than that of the rolls imme-
diately in front, so that, allowing for the elongation of the tube and the
reduction of the section, equal quantities of metal may pass between all
the pairs of rolls gripping the ingot, in equal times. A stationary
mandril passes between all the rolls and carries a bulb at the nip of each
pair of rolls. Each pair of rolls compresses the ingot on to the mandril
bulb between them, and this regulates the internal diameter at each step

page_text: of the draft. The bulbs are made smaller and smaller as the exterior
of the tube is reduced. In this way a finished tube of any desired
length is produced without reheating the metal after it leaves the
converter; or the ingots of malleable iron may be cast and allowed to
cool and be reheated for the rolling process, but a great saving of fuel
is obtained by passing them whilst still hot from the converter through
the rolls as above described.

page_text: the ingot after it has been moulded by one bulb to pass easily on to the
next. The rolls of each pair may advantageously be geared together
although they are not so shewn in the Drawings; h is the crank shaft,
of a double cylinder steam engine; it has a pinion h¹ upon it driving
a wheel on an intermediate axis i; 1, 2, are pinions on this axis,.
gearing with and driving the wheels k¹, k³, on the horizontal axes k;
1, 1, are bevilled pinions on the axes k; there is one such pinion to each
pair of rolls c³, c², c³, c¹, and it works with a bevilled wheel on the
axis of the lower roll of the pair. The sizes of these pinions and wheels
are adjusted so that the surface speed of the rolls may be inversely.
proportional to the clear area of the eye or thereabout; k² is a toothed
wheel on the end of one of the axes ; it drives a similar wheel m² on
the axis m which also carries pinions n, n, gearing with bevilled
wheels o, o.
Each pair of vertical rolls e¹, e², e³, has a wheel o on the
axis of one of them, and the wheels o and pinions n are of such sizes
that the surface speeds of the rolls may be inversely proportional to the
sizes of the eyes throughout the whole double series of rolls c¹, e¹, c², e²,
c³, e³, and c³.
Figure 6 is a side view, Figure 7 a plan, and Figure 8 a front view of
the arrangement for holding the mandril without interfering with the
passage of a hollow ingot along it. .
It consists of a trough a with a lever 6 connected with it. This lever
carries two bolts c¹, c³, sliding through holes cut for them in the sides of
the trough, and through corresponding holes in the stem d of the
mandril. When a hollow ingot is to be placed upon the mandril the
lever b is so placed that the bolt c¹ is withdrawn from the interior of
the trough, but the mandril is retained by the bolt c². The ingot is now
placed on the mandril and pushed along the trough until it is stopped
by the bolt c²; this bolt is now withdrawn, and the bolt c¹ inserted; the
ingot does not interfere with this operation, as its length is somewhat
less than the distance between the bolts. As will be seen in the motion
of the lever one bolt gets firm hold of the mandril before the other is
withdrawn. The ingot is now passed forward to the rolls c¹, which
seize it and pass it on to the succeeding rolls. It is nipped by the rolls
simultaneously at a number of points in its length, and it extends
longitudinally as it decreases in section until it issues from the rolls c*
a long and finished tube. The ingot is produced from pig iron treated
by the Bessemer, or similar process, and then at once cast to form, and

page_text: by preference exposed to heavy pressure as the metal sets. As soon as
the ingot has cooled below a white heat it is taken from the mould and
at once passed between the rolls, and so the conversion of the metal and
its manufacture into a finished tube is effected at the same heating. As
before mentioned the ingot may be allowed to cool and be reheated, but
this involves an unnecessary expenditure of fuel. The machinery above
described is also applicable to the manufacture of cast steel, copper, and
other metal tubes.
Having thus described the nature of my said Invention and the
manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that what
I claim as my Invention of improvements in the manufacture of iron
tubes, and in machinery employed therein, applicable also to the
manufacture of tubes of other metals is,—
First. The manufacture of iron tubes by reducing pig iron to the state
of soft malleable iron by the Bessemer or other similar process, then
casting such metal into the form of a hollow ingot, and passing the
ingot whilst still retaining sufficient of its original heat to render it
workable through a series of rolls, some with their axes vertical, and
others horizontal (or otherwise crossing each other at angles), and
acting on the ingot at several points simultaneously, substantially as 2
described.
Second. The arrangement of tube rolling apparatus, consisting of a
combination of grooved rolls with a stationary mandril between them,
such rolls being driven at different surface speeds proportioned the one
to the other, as herein-before explained, and being set some with their
axes vertical and others horizontal (or otherwise crossing each other at
angles), substantially as described.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Kesterton, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Eleventh day of January, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one.