CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES, APPLICABLE TO GAS AND OTHER PURPOSES; ALSO IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN ENGINEERING MACHINERY AND APPARATUS, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE WHOLE OR PART OF THE SAME TO, AND OTHER MEANS TO BE USED OR EMPLOYED IN, THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES; ALSO IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN ARTICLES CONNECTED WITH OR NECESSARY TO THE COMPLETION OF SUCH OR OTHER TUBES
Year: 1854

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by Alexander Southwood Stocker at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on the
25th October 1854.
I, ALEXANDER SOUTHWOOD STOCKER, of Number 11, the Poultry, Cheapside, in
the City of London, Manufacturer, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "CERTAIN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF TUBES, APPLICABLE
TO GAS AND OTHER PURPOSES; ALSO IN THE CONSTRUCTION OF CERTAIN ENGINEERING
MACHINERY AND APPARATUS, AND THE APPLICATION OF THE WHOLE OR PART OF THE
SAME TO, AND OTHER MEANS TO BE USED OR EMPLOYED IN, THE MANUFACTURE OF
TUBES; ALSO IN THE MODE OF MANUFACTURING AND THE APPLICATION OF CERTAIN
ARTICLES CONNECTED WITH OR NECESSARY TO THE COMPLETION OF SUCH OR OTHER
TUBES," to be as follows, that is to say:-
My improvements consist in manufacturing tubes in their circular form of
such diameter that one shall fit one within the other, like telescope fittings, and
when two or more are placed one within another, I submit them to a bath of
soldering or other material, when all the interstices will be filled up, and the
whole, when taken from the bath and allowed to cool, will become, as it were,
one solid tube of immense strength. This tube may or may not be mounted
with a coil of wire in its outer diameter from end to end, "excepting leaving
sufficient space at each end for length of screws, for the purpose of connecting

page_text: one tube on to another," and in close contact with one another, in order that
each coil shall, as well as the tubes, be cemented or soldered together in one
solid mass. The sheets of metal, as also the wire, may or may not be coated
with the soldering material previous to the manipulation of the tube having
commenced. This tube would be stronger with the coil of wire round it, but
it would be steam-tight in the absence of it. They may be made either way.
I purpose accomplishing another of my improvements as follows:-I take
one single tube, and upon it I mount a continuous coil of wire, precisely in the
same manner as that just described; before, however, I commence coiling
the wire round this tube, I place on its outer diameter, "covering the seam
from end to end," a thin strip of sheet metal, say, thirty wire guage, and three-
quarter inch wide, of the desired curve, in accordance with the round of the
tube; the addition of this piece of metal will by no means render the tube
unsightly when finished, for it-is-so-thin that the unevenness or slightly uncir-
cular form of the coil through its introduction will scarcely be perceptible. It
must be understood that all these tubes up to a certain stage of manufacture
have an open seam, for each tube is merely a piece of sheet metal bent round
into a circular form, the edges of which are not united prior to its being sub-
mitted to the bath. This being the case, I place the strip of metal "covering
the scam," for the purpose of an all-over resting place or foundation for the
solder, so that the liquid metal shall have a tendency to run in through the
seam of the tube and all about the strip of metal, soldering it and the tube
and its edges together, and I procure by this means an additional security; for,
provided the introduction of the strip of metal was disregarded, and the winding
of the coil of wire in any particular part or parts of the tube was at all imper-
fect, or too wide from each other, such interstice or interstices would not by
the solder become filled up, and the steam-tightness of the tube would be
dependent only then upon its two edges becoming completely soldered, and in
case any fault should arise here, the tube would be a waster, whereas the strip
of metal acts as a check, and prevents all uncertainties; for it will be evident
that the liquid metal will have a tendency to run in and all about the outer
surface of the tube and the inner surface of the strip of metal, as also in and
all about the outer surface of the strip of metal and its extreme edges, joining
together in close affinity the coil'd wire, and by this means produce a
very strong, effectual, and economical tube. I avail myself nevertheless to
make this tube dispensing with the strip of metal which I term or designate
a check piece or safety segment. I also avail myself of making the tubes
without an open seam, which may be done in the ordinary manner.
I construct my machinery to fabricate tubes so made in the following

page_text: manner: We will suppose I am going to make a four-foot long gas tube,
three-quarter inch in diameter: I take a sheet of metal, say, twenty wire guage,
cut mathematically true to the desired length and width required for such
purpose; I place the same in a half circle rounding tool which has setting
edges for the sheet to drop in, care being taken that it shall be true, and not
crosswind with the die; a top corresponding shaping tool now presses upon
the sheet, forcing it down into the female die; on the male die retiring when it
has done its work, the partly formed tube will be left in the bottom tool, when
a round mandril of the proper diameter is placed within it; a pair of rollers,
"one placed on either side in a straight line with the mandril," are now caused
to move upwards; one of these acting before the other takes up one side of the
tube and completing its course, returns to its former position, when the other
roller will finish the tube. cylindrical; the mandril may then be, withdrawn,
and so on, the operation repeated. In order to coil the wire round the tube, I
produce a machine with a head stock to it, with a mandril. The tube is placed
in this machine and caused to revolve, and a self-acting screw, placed under-
neath and in connection with the machine of the same pitch as the diameter of
the wire to be used, is also caused to revolve, carrying the wire with it in a
tool or holder sliding on a planed bar. The speed of the tube and that of the
self-acting screw will be identical, by the use of two toothed wheels of equal
diameter and number of teeth, one placed on the end of the mandril and the
other on the end of the self-acting screw. The wire is placed in a hole in
the tube for the first catch. The machine, which is perfectly self-acting, is
then put in motion, and when the tube has received its coating of wire, it is
fastened off and cut, and so on, the operation repeated. These or any other
means for producing rotary motion, and the using of holders for wire, to the
coiling of the same round tubes applicable to gas and other purposes, is new to
me. Sheet metal strips may be used in place of wire, if necessary. I manu-
facture the screws, which are to be placed at the end of each tube, in order to
connect one with the other," in a perfectly novel manner. I take a sheet of
metal and cut from it a round circular blank, and pass the same through a
series of dies or tools fixed in a fly press; each pair of tools drawing up the
edge into a cap or capsule, until it has attained the desired diameter and depth
required, say, three-quarters diameter within the capsule, and one inch in
depth; I then fill it with lead or other suitable material or materials, after
which I place it into a die fitting the outer diameter of the capsule, which die
has a screw cut in it of the desired pitch and size intended for the tube on
which it is to be fixed; a striking pin is then placed in the die, the end of
which rests on the lead. A stamp or hydraulic press striking the other end or

page_text: head of the pin will cause the lead to force the capsule all round its periphery
into the screw part of the die, and thereby cause it to take the contour or con-
figuration of it; hence a perfect screw will be produced at a blow, producing at
the same time at the bottom of the capsule and round its extreme edge the words
"Stocker's patent tube." The die, which is in two halves, will now release the
screwed capsule, when the lead may be melted out, and so on, the operation
repeated. The bottom of the capsule must now be punched out, leaving just
the full thickness of the tube on which it is to be placed, retaining, of course,
the lettered part. It is now fixed upon the tube by the process of soldering;
at the same time the whole together is submitted to the bath for the purpose
of being firmly united together. On looking into the tube the ends of it will
have a very beautiful finish by this mode of proceeding, and every screw must
be mathematically true and to size. The manufacture of this screw and its
application to tubes is new to me; the manufacture of the capsule in blank, as
described, is not new; but I claim the application of it to tubes, and cut or
screw them either before or afterwards. The ends of the tubes may be
screwed, if necessary, in several other ways, in which there is no novelty. Any
of these tubes may be bent in the manner well known in the trade by the
terms either of butt, solid, or lap-over joints.