IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEAMLESS METAL TUBES AND RODS
Year: 1876

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Eric Hugo Waldenström and William Sumner, both
of Manchester, in the County of Lancaster, Engineers, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF SEAMLESS METAL TUBES AND
RODS."
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Eric Hugo Waldenström
and William Sumner at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents on the
6th December 1876.
"
ERIC HUGO WALDENSTRÖM and WILLIAM SUMNER, both of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineers. IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
SEAMLESS METAL TUBES AND RODS."
This Invention relates to the manufacture of seamless tubes made of copper and.
of the alloys of copper suitable for hot rolling, and it consists in certain improved
processes whereby seamless tubes can be produced with less labour and fewer
operations than was heretofore customary.
In performing this Invention we take a hollow cylindrical ingot of the diameter
and length required, the cylindrical hole in which is made by boring or casting; into
this cylindrical hole is inserted a cylindrical plug or core made of copper, or an alloy
of copper that will roll hot, or of other suitable metal; the said cylindrical plug or
core is coated with clay, wood ashes, graphite, or other suitable material to prevent
adhesion between the parts. The cylinder and its central core are now heated
in a suitable furnace and the two are then rolled together by passing between
suitable grooved rollers until the cylinder and its central core are sufficiently,
elongated; the central core is then withdrawn leaving a tube of the required
diameter and thickness, and the core in the form of a nearly cylindrical rod, suitable,
after being rolled for various purposes. The tubes may afterwards be finished on a
draw bench or otherwise in the ordinary manner.
Our Invention may be modified by operating in the same manner upon square or
polygonal hollow blocks or ingots into which metal cores are inserted. The square
or polygonal tubes thus produced are made cylindrical by drawing on a cylindrical
DG11

page_text: mandril or otherwise, or the section may be gradually changed from the square or
polygonal to the cylindrical during the hot rolling.
The peculiar novelty of our Invention is that by it we manufacture by hot rolling
a tube and a rod simultaneously, and by withdrawing the latter the tube is ready
for use, but should the tube thus produced be required to be cold drawn it can be
at once placed on a cylindrical steel mandril of about the same diameter as the
interior of the tube, and finished by drawing through a die in the customary
manner.
SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Eric Hugo Waldenström and William Sumner in the Great Seal
Patent Office on the 5th June 1877.
ERIC HUGO WALDENSTRÖM and WILLIAM SUMNER, both of Manchester, in the
County of Lancaster, Engineers. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF
METAL TUBES AND RODS."
This Invention relates to the manufacture of seamless tubes made of copper and
of the alloys of copper suitable for hot rolling, and it consists in certain improved
processes whereby seamless tubes and rods can be produced with Jess labour and
fewer operations than was heretofore customary.
And in order that our Invention may be more fully understood and readily.
.carried into operation, we will proceed to describe the accompanying Sheet of
Drawings, in which Fig. 1 represents a hollow cylindrical ingot or tube of the
diameter and length required; the cylindrical hole is made through the ingot by
boring or casting. We prefer to make the ngot slightly taper, as shewn in the
Drawing, that is to say, the hole is cylindrical and the outside is slightly conical, or
the outside may be cylindrical and the hole taper in order to facilitate the drawing
out of the core as will be described hereafter; into this cylindrical or taper hole is
inserted a cylindrical or taper plug or core as shewn in Fig. 2, made of copper or an
alloy of copper that will roll hot or of other suitable metal; the said plug or core is
coated with clay, wood ashes, graphite, lime, or other suitable material to prevent
adhesion between the parts. The ingot or cylinder and its central core, which are
shewn combined in Fig. 3, are now heated in a suitable furnace and the two are
then rolled together by passing between grooved rollers of the ordinary construction
until the cylinder and its central core are sufficiently elongated, as shewn in Fig. 4;
the ends of the core are now of about the same diameter as the tube. One end of the
central core and a small portion of the end of the tube must now be cut off by a saw
or otherwise, and a portion of the tube at the other end of the core is cut off as shewn
in Fig. 5, leaving a groove of sufficient width for the die; the central core is then
ready to be withdrawn in a draw bench of the ordinary description as shewn in
Fig. 6; the die is made in two parts fitting in a recess in the die plate as shewn in
Fig. 7, the two parts of the die being inserted in the groove between the end of the
tube and the portion cut off. When the core is withdrawn it leaves a tube of the
required diameter and thickness as shewn in Fig. 8, and when the head of the core
has been cut off it leaves a rod as shown in Fig. 9, suitable for various purposes.
The tubes may afterwards be finished on a draw bench or otherwise in the ordinary
manner.
Our Invention may be modified by operating in the same manner upon square
or polygonal hollow blocks or ingots into which metal cores are inserted. The
square or polygonal tubes thus produced are made cylindrical by drawing on a
cylindrical inandril or otherwise, or the section may be gradually changed from the
square or polygonal to the cylindrical during the hot rolling.
Instead of manufacturing tubes from a cast ingot as above described we may use
hollow cylinders that have been prepared in any other way.
The peculiar novelty of our Invention is that by it we manufacture by hot rolling
a tube and a rod simultaneously, and By withdrawing the latter the tube is ready
•

page_text: for use, but should the tube thus produced be required to be cold drawn it can be
at once placed on a cylindrical steel mandril of about the same diameter as the
interior of the tube and finished by drawing through a die in the customary
manner.
By our Invention we are also enabled to roll at the same operation two or more
tubes on the central core. This is effected by placing two or more cylinders 'one
inside the other with the core in the centre and passing them through the grooved
rolls. The tubes and core are afterwards separated in a similar manner to that
described.
Having thus stated the nature of our Invention and described the manner of per-
forming the same, we wish it to be understood that we do not intend to limit our-
selves to the details given, and that we claim,-
First. The method of making a seamless tube from copper or alloy of copper by
rolling when heated a hollow ingot or cylinder with a central core and producing
simultaneously a tube and a rod as described.
Secondly. Rolling a copper tube on a yielding core and retaining a cylindrical or
nearly cylindrical form, so that when the core or rod is withdrawn the tube without
requiring any operation whatever is ready to be placed on a cylindrical steel mandril
for cold drawing as described.
In witness whereof, we, the said Eric Hugo Waldenström and William
Sumner, have hereunto set our hands and seals, this Fourth day of
June One thousand eight hundred and seventy-seven.