Year: 1867

page_text: sheet, or strip of metal into a cylindrical form and to make and finish the
joint are performed automatically. The plate or strip is fed into the machine
at one end by the said mechanism, and is thence passed on by a series of feed,
guide, and bending rolls, which act in such manner as to gradually bend the
plate or sheet around a stationary cylindrical mandrel, so as to bring the 5
opposite edges of the said sheet together, lapping one edge over the other, and
bending the edges thus joined down to the surface of the mandrel, and finally
deliver the sheet at the opposite end of the machine in the form of a finished
tube.
The said improvements consist in the general arrangement of the mechanism 10
for effecting the construction of the tubes, and in the details of the mechanism
by which the successive operations are performed. The bed or frame which
supports the various sets of rolls and other parts of the mechanism is provided
at one end with a table or mouth piece over which the metal blank is introduced
between two horizontal rolls. The table has guide walls at its opposite sides 15
for guiding the metal blank or strip properly between the said rolls, the width
of the table between the walls, being made to correspond with the desired
width of the sheet or strip to be used. The lower of the two rolls is made
slightly dishing or concave and the other roll has a corresponding convexity,
whereby the sheet or strip is slightly bent or curved longitudinally. On the 20
side at which the sheets leave these rolls a throat piece is placed whose sides
are inclined toward each other to increase the bend or curve in the metal
sheet as the same is fed through the said throat piece; this throat piece is so
formed that the metal sheet reaches the end thereof in the form of an angular
gutter. At this point the sheet is seized between two narrow rolls, the lower 2
one of which is grooved, and the other correspondingly rounded on its periphery.
The metal sheet whose sides have been sufficiently inclined by the throat piece
enter between a pair of long rods, whose distance apart at the rear end is equal
to the width of the front end of the throat, but whose front ends are nearly
in contact. The narrow rolls seize the metal sheet and impart to its centre & S
semicircular sectional form. As the metal sheet leaves these rolls it passes
under a horizontal stationary mandrel, beak iron, or triblet which is secured by
a projecting piece to a plate at the top of the frame, and extends horizontally
to the front end of the machine. This projecting piece and triblet are at their
forward the part of the projection nearest the triblet is narrowed down to a
rear ends about the same width as the tube to be formed, but from this point 35
web terminating on one side of the triblet, the latter being arranged centrally
with the machine. The point of this web is just in the rear of a third pair of

page_text: 09.
forming rolls, and the inclined rods extend along its opposite sides and terminate
at about the same point. These rods are supported in the housings of the
second pair of rolls, and their front ends are kept from spreading by projections
near
groove
the end of the mandrel or triblet; the latter is circular in section, but as
the web thereon extends from its centre towards one side one edge of the
sheet or strip as the same is pressed upon the surface of the triblet will be
left projecting beyond the other edge. In this condition the said sheet
reaches the third pair of rolls, the lower one of which has a semicircular
corresponding with the exterior diameter of the tube, while the diameter of the
triblet at this point corresponds to the inner diameter or bore of the said tube.
The upper roll of this pair is also grooved, and its groove is formed with a deep
slit to receive the two edges of the metal strip from the web; the upper roll
forces the metal down to the upper surface of the triblet and brings the two
edge pieces into contact, one edge projecting beyond the other. The tube
passes from these rolls to a pair of vertical rolls which are grooved to fit
around the surface of the said tube, and hold it closely to the surface of the
triblet; each roll of this pair is also formed with a flat surface, which on one
roll is equal in width to the projecting lip on the tube and the same on
the other plus the thickness of the metal. Over one of these rolls a head or
block with rounded edges is placed, which turns the projecting or wide edge
or lip of the tube down over the narrow edge. From these rolls the said
edges pass through a stationary guide with a perpendicular wall, against which
the outside of the wide lip of the tube passes. The said guide also has a roof
inclined downward from the rolls; the lip or projection which has been turned
over the other lip is in the movement of the tube through this guide gradually
turned from its horizontal position towards the two edges in contact, and is
bent over parallel with the same by means of the incline and a vertical slit in
which the same terminates. From this guide the tube passes forward between a
pair of grooved rolls which fit the surface of the tube and hold it against the
surface of the triblet; the upper roll has a vertical slit just wide enough to
receive the lip formed by the edges of the tube and compresses the same
together. From these rolls the tube passes under a series of frustro-conical
rolls, the first of which bends the lip down slightly, the inclination thereof being
increased by the second roll in this series, and still further by the third roll;
; from this series of rolls the tube passes between a pair of finishing rolls each
of which has a semicircular groove, the groove in the upper roll having a
central recess or channel with a cylindrical surface. The circular portions of
these grooves press the tube closely around the surface of the mandrel or

page_text: triblet while the flat or cylindrical surface in the groove of the upper roll
flattens down the lip or flap and compresses it against the outer surface of the
tube; the latter is thus delivered from the machine in a finished condition.
To obviate friction the triblet may be made to correspond in diameter with the
bore of the tube at each pair of rolls, and to taper therefrom to the adjacent
pair. The pairs of rolls are geared together to move at the same surface
velocity, so as to effect the regular progression of the tube through the machine.
Some of these rolls may be dispensed with, but the arrangement described
ensures a more perfect result than when the bending is performed more
abruptly with fewer rolls.
The lap joint of the tube may be made of two lips of equal width laid
together vertically and then doubled over against the outer surface of the tube,
but such a joint is considered inferior to the one first described.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent, filed
by the said William Robert Lake in the Great Seal Patent Office on
the 3rd January 1868.
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, WILLIAM
ROBERT LAKE, of the "International Patent Office," No. 8, Southampton
Buildings, Chancery Lane, in the County of Middlesex, Consulting Engineer,
send greeting.
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her Letters
Patent, bearing date the Fifth day of July, in the year of our Lord
One thousand eight hundred and sixty-seven, in the thirty-first year of Her
reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and grant unto me,
the said William Robert Lake, Her special licence that I, the said William
Robert Lake, my executors, administrators, and assigns, or such others as
I, the said William Robert Lake, 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 for "IMPROVE-
MENTS IN MACHINERY FOR MANUFACTURING METAL TUBES," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said William Robert Lake, 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

page_text: 5
cture of Metal Tubes.
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 William Robert Lake, do hereby
declare the nature of the said Invention, and in what manner the same is to be
5 performed, to be particularly described and ascertained in and by the following
statement, reference being had to the accompanying Drawings forming a part of
)
this Specification
The said improvements relate to mechanism for forming from sheet metal
tubes or pipes with a lap joint, the object being to so construct and arrange the
parts of the machine that the successive operations upon the plate or strip of
metal to shape it into cylindrical form and to make and finish the joint are
performed automatically. The material in the form of a plate or long flat strip
is fed into the machine at one end by the mechanism, and is thence passed on
by a series of feed, guide, and bending rolls, which act in such manner as to
gradually bend the plate around a stationary cylindrical mandrel so as to bring
the opposite edges together, lapping one edge over the other, and bending the
edges thus joined down to the cylindrical surface of the mandrel, the sheet or
strip being finally delivered from the opposite end of the machine in the form
of a finished tube. The said improvements consist in the general arrangement
of mechanism for effecting the construction of the tube, and in the details of
mechanism by which the successive operations are performed.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS.
Figures 1 and 2 are a plan and side elevation of the machine, various
details as will be herein-after referred to being shown in the other views.
A sectional view of a finished tube as formed by this machine is shown at
0, and the shape given to the metal at each progressive stage in its formation
into the tube will be understood from the lines in red in the sectional elevations.
a is a bed or frame which supports the various sets of rolls and other
mechanism. At one end of this bed is a table or mouth piece b, over which
the metal plate or blank is introduced between two horizontal rotating rolls
c, d; this table has guide walls e at its opposite sides, and the strip of metal
cut to a width corresponding to the width of the table between the walls is
guided by them to the action of the rolls c, d; the lower roll d is made slightly
d:
or concave on its acting surface, and the upper roll has a corresponding
5 convexity
dishing
as seen at A, which is a section taken at a¹, b', just in rear of and
looking towards these rolls. The rolls matching together seize the end of the
plate presented to them, and as they feed it between them they bend it slightly

page_text: down in the centre and up at the sides, as seen at a in said section A, the two
sides so bent up being of equal width. As the sheet passes beyond these rolls
it enters a throat piece f which has sides inclined towards each other, as seen
at B, which is a reversed plan of it. The opposite edges of the plate bent as
seen at æ, strike these inclines as the sheet is fed along, and the bend in the 5
plate is increased by contact with the sides of the throat piece until the sheet
reaches the front end of said throat, when its form is that of an angular gutter
and is such that it is seized at the centre by a pair of narrow rolls g, h, seen in
detail at C, which is a view taken at c', d', just in rear of these rolls. The
lower roll is a grooved one and the upper roll convex and corresponding to 1
the groove of the lower one, and as the plate reaches them its sides have been
so inclined by the action of the throat f that they enter between a pair of long
rods i, k, which at the rear end are at a distance apart equal to the width of
the front end of the throat, but at the front end are nearly in contact, as seen
by dotted lines in Figure 1 and at D. The rolls g, h, seize the plate, and 1
feeding it along impart to its centre a semicircular form in section, as seen at x
in section C. As the sheet passes beyond the action of the rolls g, h, it is
fed under and along a long horizontal stationary beak iron or triblet 1, a plan
of which is shown at D; this triblet is fastened at its rear end beneath and to
a plate m (a piece n projecting up to the plate m, as seen at E), and from this 2
point it extends horizontally through to the front end of the machine. This
piece n and the triblet at their rear ends are of about the width of the tube to
be formed, but from this point (which is just in front of the rolls g, h,) to the
front end of the projection n the part of this projection nearest the triblet
narrows down into a web o, (as seen at E, which is a section at e¹, f¹, just 2
in rear of the next pair of forming rolls p, q,) this web not being in a vertical
plane with the axis of the triblet (the triblet being arranged centrally in the
machine), but terminating on one side thereof, as seen at o in section E; the
point of this web is just in rear of the rolls p, q, and the inclined rods i, h,
follow along its opposite sides, as seen in Figure 1 and at D and E, and 3
terminate at about the same point; these rods are hung at their rear ends in the
housings of the rolls g, h, and at their front ends are kept from spreading by
projections r. The triblet is circular in section, and as the plate passes from
the action of the rolls g, h, the parts bent up from the centre pass between
the rods i, k, these rods crowding the plate inwards and over upon the surface S
of the triblet, as seen at E (the plate being denoted in red). Now as the
action of the angle in the rolls c, d, and the action of the rolls g, h, was upon
the centre of the plate, it will be obvious that the opposite sides or edges

page_text: turned up therefrom must be of equal width, as seen at C; but as the web o
on the triblet extends out from the centre of the triblet towards one side
thereof, and the rods i, k, crowd the metal down to the surface of the triblet
and up to this web, it will be also obvious that by this action one edge of the
5 plate will be left projecting up beyond the other as seen at E. In this
condition the plate reaches the grooved rolls p, q; the lower one of these
rolls has a semicircular groove corresponding with the exterior diameter of
the tube, and the roll holds the passing metal up to the surface of the triblet,
which in section at this point corresponds to the inner diameter of the tube.
The groove in the upper roll is similar, but from this groove in the line of the
terminating point of the web o is a deep slits, into which the two edges of
the plate enter from the web. The upper roll forces the metal closely down
to the upper surface of the triblet and brings the two edge pieces into contact
and with one edge projecting up beyond the other. From these rolls the
5 metal in cylindrical form, and with the opposite edges of the plate projecting
up, passes to the action of two horizontally rotating rolls t, u, (see section F
taken at g¹, h¹, just in rear of these rolls). The rolls are grooved to fit around
the surface of the tube and to hold it closely to the surface of the triblet, and
each has also a cylindrical face v, one of which is of a depth equal to the
0 width of the narrow lip turned up from the metal, and the other the same
depth plus the thickness of the metal. Surmounting the roll v is a conical or
quarter-round head w; as the metal passes between these rolls the lips are held
closely together by the faces v, and the head w turns the projecting edge down
over the top of the narrow edge, and at or nearly at a right angle thereto, as
25 seen at F. Passing from these rolls the edges run through a stationary guide
or guide block y (detailed views of which are seen at G), which has a per-
pendicular wall z, against which the outer side of the wide lip passes and an
inclined roof a² inclining down from the rolls t, u, the lip turned over the edge
pieces being in its movement through this guide gradually turned down from
30 its horizontal position towards the two edges in contact, bringing the three
into vertical position together by this incline, and a vertical slit be, into which
the incline leads and terminates. From this guide the tube passes forward
between a pair of grooved rolls c, d, both of which fit to the surface of the
tube to hold it against the surface of the triblet, while the upper one has a
35 vertical slit just wide enough for the lip (made up of the two edges turned up
from the metal and the edge turned down from one and against the other) to pass
through the edges, being firmly compressed together by the movement through
this slit. From these rolls the tube passes under a series of frustro-conical

page_text: rolls e, f, g, the first of which bends the lip down slightly from its vertical
position, this inclination being increased by the second roll f2 (as will be readily
understood from the section H taken on line ', '), and still further by the
third roll g²; a plan of these rolls is seen at I. From these rolls the tube
passes between the finishing rolls h, 2, seen in rear elevation at J, the lower
one of which has a semicircular groove and the upper one a corresponding
groove, with the exception of a recess in the centre in which is a cylindrical
surface; the circular parts of the grooves press the tube closely to and around
the cylindrical surface of the triblet, while the cylindrical face / flattens down
the flap and compresses it against the cylindrical surface of the tube, the
compressed flap fitting into the recess in the groove. The tube is thus fed
from the machine in a finished condition, the cylindrical form of the tube
being effected by the general cylindrical form of the triblet, and being
maintained in such form until the seam is completed. To obviate friction
in the movement of the metal along the triblet said triblet may be shaped to
conform in diameter to the interior of the tube in the plane of action of each
set of rolls, and to taper from each set to the adjacent ones, as seen at D, so
that the metal will only bear against such surface where the rolls act upon it.
The pairs of rolls c d, g h, p q, c² d², h² ², are geared together by a
train of gearing, as seen at Figures 1 and 2, all moving at the same surface
velocity, and effecting the regular progression of the material through the
machine.
It will be obvious that some of the rolls may be dispensed with, the others
being made to perform a greater share of the work, but the arrangement
shown is considered the preferable one, as the gradual bending of the metal
by the successive operations ensures a more perfect result than if the bending
were more abruptly performed by fewer rolls.
The lap joint of the tuhe may be made from two lips of equal width laid
together vertically and then doubled and laid down against the cylindrical
surface of the metal, but such a joint is considered inferior to the one
shown.
Having thus fully described the said improvements as communicated to me
by my foreign correspondent, and shown how the same may be conveniently
and advantageously carried into practice, I claim,-
First, the combination with mechanism for feeding the plate of mechanism
for bending part of the plate into a cylindrical form, and mechanism for
forming the opposite edges of the plate into a lap joint, the whole operation
forming the plate into a tube, substantially as set forth.

page_text: Seconu,
operations
the shaping rolls the stationary mandrel or
triblet upon which the tube is formed, substantially as described.
Third, the general organization of mechanism by which the successive
s are automatically carried out, substantially as set forth.
Fourth, the specific arrangement of each set of rolls and guide mechanism
with reference to its particular work in the operation of forming the tube.
In witness whereof, I, the said William Robert Lake, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Third day of January, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and sixty-eight.
WILLIAM ROBERT LAKE. (L.S.)
Witness,
THOS. N. PALMER,
Clerk to Messrs. Haseltine, Lake, & Co.
8, Southampton Buildings, W.C.