IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FLANCH- ING, MOULDING, BENDING, OR STRAIGHTENING METAL PLATES, CYLINDERS, RINGS, OR BARS
Year: 1871

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to David Hanson, of Dukinfield, in the County of
Chester, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR FLANCH-
ING, MOULDING, BENDING, OR STRAIGHTENING METAL PLATES, CYLINDERS,
RINGS, OR BARS."
Sealed the 28th July 1871, and dated the 16th February 1871.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said David Hanson at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
16th February 1871.
I, DAVID HANSON, of Dukinfield, in the County of Chester, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FLANCHING, MOULDING, BENDING, OR STRAIGHTENING METAL PLATES, CYLINDERS,
RINGS, OR BARS," to be as follows:-
My Invention relates principally to a former Invention, for which
Letters Patent have been granted to me, bearing date the Fifth of
June, in the year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and
consists, in the first place, of improvements in the portion of the said
former Invention relating to apparatus for flanching wrought-iron rings

page_text: or tubes, and has for its object to make the said apparatus capable
of flanching plates and elliptical as well as circular rings. For this
purpose, in lieu of the rotating face plate, I employ a fixed horizontal
or inclined table or bed, which supports the ring or plate which is to be
flanched, and which ring or plate is nipped by a pair of rolls to which
a revolving motion may be imparted. The said rolls retain the said ring
or plate in a position suitable to be operated upon by the flanching
rollers, and at the same time impart a movement to the said ring or
plate by means of which the whole of the edge being flanched may be
brought under the action of the said flanching rollers. By these means
straight or curved plates or rings of an elliptical form, or of a form other
than circular, may be flanched.
The next portion of my Invention relates to the flanching of circular
or nearly circular plates. For this purpose I employ a revolving table,
as in my said former Invention, and I arrange the said table to work
in a horizontal or inclined position, and I fix or hold the said circular
plate to or on the said table, and I cause a flanching roller to act upon
the edge of the said plate during the revolution of the said table, the
said roller bending the edge of the said plate into a flanch forming a
right angle or any other required angle with the surface of the said
plate. In order to hold the plate down on to the table I prefer to
employ two or more rollers, which are pressed against the said plate by
means of screws or levers and weights, or by other suitable means.
The said rollers hold the plate in position, and also make the surface
of the plate more even. To adjust the plate upon the said table I use
a number of bowls, which may be set at varying distances from the said
table, and at such an elevation as will allow the edge of the plate to be
turned down the required width.
A further portion of my Invention has for its object to form internal
flanches on metal rings or cylinders. For this purpose I fix the ring
or cylinder on a revolving table, as in my said former Invention. A
roller is mounted on an arm carried by a headstock, which is arranged
to slide in a direction parallel with the axis of the said table, and is
mounted on a bed which may be moved to and from the said table.
The said arm is formed in two parts connected by a socket joint, and is
fitted to swivel in the said headstock, so that the said roller may be
moved into the interior of the ring or cylinder to be flanched, and may
be caused to support the said cylinder at a point immediately below the

page_text: part which is to be bent down or turned in to form the flanch. A
flanching roller is arranged to be forced against the edge of the said
ring or cylinder by means of a rack and pinion or of a screw, or by other.
suitable means, the action of the said roller causing the said edge to be
bent down over the edge of the aforesaid inner roller. This portion of
my Invention may be used in connection with the portion first herein
described.
A remaining portion of my Invention consists in mounting the
rollers of the plate bending machine, forming a part of my said former
Invention, in a vertical position instead of in a horizontal position, as
described in the Specification of the said Invention. The said rollers
may be made suitable for straightening or bending plates, or may be
suitably formed to operate upon angle iron, tee iron, or other section
of iron, such as is employed in the construction of boilers, iron buildings,
ships, or for other purposes.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent,
filed by the said David Hanson in the Great Seal Patent Office
on the 14th August 1871.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, DAVID
HANSON, of Dukinfield, in the County of Chester, send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixteenth day of February, in the year
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-one, in the thirty-
fourth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give
and grant unto me, the said David Hanson, Her special license that
I, the said David Hanson, my executors, administrators, and assigns,
or such others as I, the said David Hanson, 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, excrcise, and vend,
within the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, the Channel
Islands, and Isle of Man, an Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS
FOR FLANCHING, MOULDING, BENDING, OR STRAIGHTENING METAL PLATES, CYLINDERS,
RINGS, OF BARS," upon the condition, amongst others, that I, the said
David Hanson, by an instrument in writing under my hand and seal,

page_text: should particularly describe and ascertain the nature of the said Inven-
tion, and in what manner the same is 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 David Hanson, do hereby declare
the nature of my said Invention, and in what manner the same is to
be performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by
the following statement and accompanying Drawings, that is to say :-
My Invention relates principally to a former Invention, for which
Letters Patent have been granted to me, bearing date the Fifth of
June, in the year One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, and
consists, in the first place, of improvements in the portion of the said
former Invention relating to apparatus for flanching wrought-iron rings
or tubes, and has for its object to make the said apparatus capable
of flanching plates and elliptical as well as circular rings. For this
purpose, in lieu of the rotating face plate, I employ a fixed horizontal
or inclined plate or bed, which supports the ring or plate which is to be
flanched, and which ring or plate is nipped by a pair of rolls to which
a revolving motion may be imparted. The said rolls retain the said ring
or plate in a position suitable to be operated upon by the flanching
rollers, and at the same time impart a movement to the said ring or
plate by means of which the whole of the edge being flanched may be
brought under the action of the said flanching rollers.
The next portion of my Invention relates to the flanching of circular
or nearly circular plates. For this purpose I employ a revolving table,
as in my said former Invention, and I arrange the said table to work in
a horizontal or inclined position, and I fix or hold the circular plate
to or on the said table, and I cause a flanching roller to act upon
the edge of the said plate during the revolution of the said table, the
said roller bending the edge of the said plate into a flanch forming a
right angle or any other required angle with the surface of the said
plate.
A further portion of my Invention has for its object to form internal
flanches on metal rings or cylinders. For this purpose I fix the ring
or cylinder on a revolving table, as in my said former Invention. A
roller is mounted on an arm carried by a headstock which is arranged
to slide in a direction parallel with the axis of motion of the said
table and is mounted on a bed which may be moved to and from the said

page_text: table. The said arm is formed in two parts connected by a socket
joint and is fitted to swivel in the said headstock so that the said roller
may be moved into the interior of the ring or cylinder to be flanched
and may be caused to support the said cylinder at a point immediately
below the part which is to be bent down or turned in to form the flanch.
A flanching roller is arranged to be forced against the edge of the said
ring or cylinder by means of a rack and pinion or of a screw or by
other suitable means, the action of the said roller causing the said
edge to be bent down over the edge of the aforesaid inner roller.
Referring in this place to Sheet 1 of the accompanying Drawings,
Fig. 1 is a side elevation; Fig. 2, a front elevation; and Fig. 3, a plan
of a machine adapted to flanch straight plates, elliptical or circular rings,
and flat circular plates.
In the said Figures the standard a is fitted to slide in the foundation
plate b, and the distance of the said standard from the table c is
adjusted by turning the gearing d. A sliding carriage e is fitted to the
said standard and may be raised and lowered thereon by means of the
screw fand in the said carriage is mounted the shaft g on which is fixed
an arm which carries the flanching roller h. A worm quadrant i is
fixed on one end of the shaft g and a worm j gears with the said
quadrant so that by turning the hand wheel the said flanching roller
may be caused to approach or to recede from the abutment roller 1.
A frame is bolted to the foundation plate, and in the said frame is
mounted a shaft on which is fixed or formed the roller n, the said
shaft receiving a revolving motion from the main driving shaft o by
means of the bevel gearing p. A second roller q is so mounted as that
it may be caused to approach or to recede from the roller n by turning
the hand wheel r. The plate or ring to be flanched is placed between
the last-named rollers, and the hand wheel is turned so as to cause the
said plate or ring to be nipped between the two rollers. The upper edge
of the said plate will now rest against the roller 1, the height of the
carriage e having been previously adjusted. The hand wheel is turned
so as to cause the flanching roller to be pressed against the edge of
the plate or ring, and the rollers n being set in motion the plate or
ring is set in motion and the flanching is effected in a similar manner
as in my former herein-before mentioned Invention. By means of the
machine just described straight or curved plates and rings of an irregular
form, or of a form other than circular may be flanched. When flanching

page_text: a circular plate the said plate is placed on the table c concentric with
the centre thereof. To facilitate the adjustment of the plate on the
table the bowls 8, 8, are made capable of being set at a distance from
the centre of the table corresponding to the radius of the said plate.
In the centre of the cross slide t is mounted a nut on which is fixed the
worm wheel u, and in the said nut a screw works, the lower end of the
said screw being formed of a globular shape and being fitted with a
circular plate to which is fitted to revolve on the end of the said screw.
A shaft provided with a worm gearing with the worm wheel u is
mounted in the aforesaid cross slide, which shaft is rotated for the
purpose of lowering and pressing the plate w on the centre of the plate
which is to be flanched, which plate is thereby held in position on the
table. On the aforesaid cross slide is mounted a sliding carriage x which
carries the flanching roller 3, the distance of the said roller from the
centre of the table being adjusted by turning the screw shaft, the
height of the said roller being adjusted by turning the shaft a' on which
is mounted a worm which gears with the wheel b'. The edge of the
plate to be flanched rests on the roller c¹ which is adjusted so that the
portion to be turned down projects beyond the outer edge of the said
roller. The flanching is effected by lowering the flanching roller during
the revolution of the table and plate by turning the shaft. a', the
roller pressing down the edge of the plate and thereby effecting the
flanching. A carriage d' carrying a cutting tool e¹ is shewn as mounted
on the cross slide, the said tool being used to trim the edge of the
plate, but a second flanching roller may be substituted for the said tool,
if preferred.
In Fig. 13, Sheet 2, a modification of this portion of the machine is
represented. In this example the plate is held on the table by the
rollers, which are fitted to revolve in the frames g¹ and are adjusted
in height and position by similar means to those employed for the
flanching roller.
It may be necessary to remove a portion of the apparatus used
in flanching circular plates when flanching rings, and to remove or draw
back the rollers n and q when flanching flat plates, or the two operations
may be performed in separate machines instead of the parts being
combined in one machine as represented.
Fig. 4, Sheet 1, illustrates the method of forming internal flanches on
rings. In the said Fig. ¹ is the roller which is connected by a socket

page_text: joint to the arm ¹, mounted and actuated as herein-before mentioned.
The ring i being placed in position and the shaft carrying the said roller
fixed on the said arm, the said arm is turned so as to cause the said
roller to bear against the inner side of the ring. The flanching roller /¹
is now forced against the edge of the ring and turns down the said edge
over the roller l', as shewn in the Drawing. The said ring, if circular,
may be fixed to the revolving table, but in the case of elliptical rings
the rollers and q are used to give motion to the said ring, in manner
as represented, and as herein-before described.
The operation last described may be performed in the machine
represented in Figs. 1 to 3 by changing the flanching and abutment
rollers.
Figs. 5 and 6, Sheet 2, represent a plato bending machine adapted
more particularly for bending bar iron. In this example the roller j'
is fixed or formed on a vertical shaft revolving in bearings in the
framing and receiving motion through the gearing m¹ from the strap
pulley n. The remaining rollers are mounted on axles fixed to slides,
which can be moved to and fro in the framing.
The rollers o', o³, arc
connected by means
being adjusted by
adjusted by means of the screws p¹, p¹, which are
of the gearing with the hand wheel s¹, the roller
means of the screw u¹, on which is fixed the hand wheel t¹. The
rollers wo¹, wo¹, are adjusted by means of the screws x¹, x¹, on which are
fixed worm wheels with which gear worms fixed on the shaft y¹. By
employing suitable rollers the machine may be adapted for straightening
or bending plates, or tee or angle irons, bars, or bars of other sections,
such as are used in the construction of boilers, iron buildings, and ships,
or for other purposes.
Figs. 7 to 12 illustrate the action of the rollers when moved into
various positions.
Having now described and illustrated the nature of my Invention I
would have it to be understood that I claim,-
First. The apparatus for flanching straight or curved plates, or circular,
elliptical, or irregularly formed rings, acting substantially as herein set
forth.
Secondly. The method of flanching circular plates, substantially as

page_text: Thirdly. The method of forming internal flanches on metal rings,
substantially as herein set forth.
And lastly. The plate or bar bending or straightening machine,
substantially as herein described, and as illustrated in the accompanying
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said David Hanson, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Fourth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
one.