IMPROVEMENTS IN WELDING
Year: 1860

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Henry Gilbee, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in
the County of Middlesex, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN
WELDING." A communication from abroad by Michel Helson, of Paris,
in the Empire of France.
Sealed the 30th April 1861, and dated the 29th November 1860.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Henry Gilbee at the
Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
29th November 1860.
I, HENRY GILBEE, of No. 4, South Street, Finsbury, in the County of
Middlesex, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention of "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN WELDING," to be as follows, that is to say:-
The Invention consists in the manufacture and employment of bars of
wrought or forged iron or steel with longitudinal projections to facilitate and
ensure the welding of different bars of a series or parcel together. These
projections which are called half sides may be made of various thicknesses,
forms, and dimensions according to the piece to be forged. These projections
have for object the welding longitudinally of several bars of iron placed sidè
by side, and one above the other. They are placed above and underneath
the series of wrought or forged iron or steel bars, or a series of bars of both.
metals prior to being welded.

page_text: These covering bars are formed by being passed thro a rolling machine
with cylinders formed with grooves corresponding in form with that of the
projections required.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said Henry Gilbee, in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 28th
May 1861.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, HENRY
GILBEE, of No. 4. South Street, Finsbury, in the County of Middlesex, send
greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Twenty-ninth day of November, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty, in the twenty-fourth year of Her
reign, did for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me, the
said Henry Gilbee, Her special licence that I, the said Henry Gilbee, my
executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said Henry
Gilbee, 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 of "IMPROVEMENTS IN WELDING,"
communicated to me from abroad by Michel Helson, of Paris, in the Empire
of France, upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the said Henry Gilbee,
my executors or administrators, by an instrument in writing under my, or
their, or one of their hands and seals, should particularly describe and ascer-
tain 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 Gilbee, 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, reference being had to the Drawing hereto annexed, and to the letters
and figures marked thereon, that is to say :-
The Invention communicated to me consists in manufacturing and eniploying
bars of wrought or forged iron, and welding steel, with longitudinal projections
for ensuring and producing a more perfect welding together of a series or pile

page_text: of iron bars than hitherto obtained. These projections, ribs, or mouldings may
be of a curved, semicircular, corrugated, or other suitable form, and of various
sizes according to the dimensions of the piece to be forged. The bars thus
formed, and which I term "welding bars" or " covering irons" are placed on
the top and underneath a series or pile of wrought or forged iron, or welding
steel, or piles composed of either one or more of these metals. The piles
when thus combined together are placed under the action of the rolling mill
at a welding heat, and the pressure of the grooved rollers upon the said projec-
tions or mouldings causes the metal to spread and enter between the bars in a
longitudinal direction, and thus produce a perfect welding of the pieces.
"
The "covering irons' are formed in the rolling mill by passing the iron
bars between rollers with grooves corresponding to the form of the required
projections, ribs, or mouldings.
Having thus described the nature of the said Invention, I will now refer to
the annexed Sheet of Drawings, in which the same letters indicate similar
parts.
A, Figure 1; represents an end view of a covering iron or welding bar
'formed with a half rib projection or moulding a. B, Figure 2, is a bar having
two projections b, b. Figure 3 is a view of a pile of wrought iron or steel
bars C, C, arranged side by side, and one upon the other. On the top and
underneath are placed the aforesaid welding bars or covering irons A & B.
Figures 4 to 13 inclusive are views of various forms of projections or
mouldings, and shewing their application to the welding together of piles of
iron; Figure 14 is a modification in which the bars c, c, are placed directly
between the corrugated rollers D, D, Figure 15, which shows parts of the
rollers in section.
To obtain a good welding of a pack or pile of iron bars for the manufac-
ture of rails, sheet iron, and other like articles, I form a pack or pile of iron
bars, and cover them with welding bars of iron from 2 to 2 inches in breadth,
and I then effect the longitudinal welding of the joints of the iron bars placed
on the surface, and also of those in the interior of the pack by passing tho
pack heated to welding heat thro' a train of rollers of an ordinary rolling mill,
having a groove of the size of the pack. The upper and lower part of this
groove is formed with spaces and projections corresponding to those of the
pack. After having passed the latter once or twice in the first groove, the
joints are brought closer together, and the projections are better formed, and
in the succeeding groove which is smooth, the projections are forced into the
joints, by which the perfect welding of the pack is effected.
In some cases, for instance, where the welded iron is not intended to be

page_text: .
exposed to great heat or hard work, I act directly on a pack composed of ordi-
nary flat iron bars from 2 to 2 inches in breadth as .shewn at Figure 14.
I heat the pack to a welding heat, and pass it. through the first groove of a
pair of rollers, with spaces and projecting parts e, e, which produce on the
pack itself corresponding projections or ribs. The pack being then passed in
the succeeding groove which is smooth, effects a complete welding of the
longitudinal joints. It is evident that by this last process of manufacture. I
can obtain all widths of forged or sheet iron.
The welding of large iron pieces and the strongest sheet iron generally, can
be effected in two heats, and at a reduced cost.
Wide flat sheet. iron of ordinary dimensions can generally be produced at
one heat, thereby considerably reducing its cost, at the same time forming iron
of good quality.
Figure 11. shows a corrugated iron upper covering piece; and Figure 12 n
corrugated under covering piece; Figure 13 shows their application to a pack
10 inches in width, and six inches in thickness. One of the iron welding
bars d may be placed across at the top and bottom of the pack..
Having now described the nature of the Invention communicated to me,
and the manner of performing the same, I would have it understood that I
do not confine myself to the precise shape or mode of constructing the welding
bars, reserving to myself the right of modifying the same; what I claim, is—
1st., the construction and employment of covering irons or welding bars
with projections or ribs for welding together packs or piles of iron, or weldable
steel bars as herein-before described and referred to in Figures 1 to 13 of the
accompanying Drawing.
2ndly, the welding together of packs or piles of iron or weldable steel by
means of projections or ribs formed on the packs directly by the rollers of a
rolling machine suitably formed, as herein-before described and referred to in
Figures 14 and 15 of the accompanying Drawing.
In witness whereof, I, the said Henry Gilbee, have hereto set my
hand and seal, this Twenty-eighth day of May, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-one.
H. GILBEE. (L.S.)