IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF STEAM BOILERS
Year: 1872

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Gustave Piedboeuf, of Jupille, near the City of
Liege, in the Kingdom of Belgium, and of 1, Seymour Chambers,
Adelphi, W.C., London, Engineer, for the Invention of "IMPROVE-
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Gustave Piedbœuf at
the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his Petition, on
the 31st January 1872.
I, GUSTAVE PIEDBŒUF, of Jupille, near the City of Liege, in the
Kingdom of Belgium, and of 1, Seymour Chambers, Adelphi, W.C.,
London, Engineer, do hereby declare the nature of the said Invention
for "IMPROVEMENTS IN APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF STEAM BOILERS," to
be as follows:-
This Invention relates more especially to improvements on the
apparatus described in the Letters Patent granted on the 7th of Feb

page_text: ruary, A.D. 1870, to Hermann Wedekind as a communication from
myself to the said Hermann Wedekind. It embodies a method I have
discovered whereby while bending round the outer edges of any boiler
plate in the apparatus as described in the said Specification I am
enabled to give the body of the plate any required shape, such shape
being in addition to and independent of the bending of such outer edges
as aforesaid. At the same time I am also thereby enabled to accomplish
much of this class of work without re-heating, and in a considerably
shorter time, while entirely avoiding any possibility of irregular rents or
bends forming themselves in the plate operated upon.
The matrix for flanging the outside of the plate or sheet to be operated
upon is tubular with an independent moveable bottom. It gradually
bends round the edges by forcing them up against the die fixed to the
upper framing of the machine. The moveable bottom of the matrix is
employed to shape any portion of the body of the plate, and also to hold
it up against the upper die during the flanging operation. The said
moveable bottom is propelled upwards by means of four, more or less,
smaller auxiliary hydraulic plungers or rams independent of the main
press plunger or ram, and working parallel thereto.
The cylinders for the smaller auxiliary plungers are preferably fitted
to the framing carrying the main press plunger, and the smaller plungers
protude through the head plate of the said main plunger.
The plate or sheet to be shaped is first placed on the top of the tubular
matrix, and is then lifted off it and moved towards the upper die by
propelling up the moveable bottom of the tubular matrix by means of
the auxiliary plungers. The body of the plate being thus shaped or
3 otherwise treated as required it is flanged or finished at its edges by
moving up the tubular matrix by means of the main plunger. The
plate is thus securely held over its whole surface by the auxiliary
plungers pressing it up against the surface of the fixed
!
upper
die.

page_text: SPECIFICATION filed in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters,
"Patent, and of an Order of the Lord Chancellor, by the said Gustave.
Piedboeuf in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 17th August 1872.
F
'
TO ALL TO WHOM THESE PRESENTS SHALL COME, I, GUSTAVE'
PIEDBOEUF, of Jupille, near the City of Liege, in the Kingdom of
Belgium, and of 1, Seymour Chambers, Adelphi, W.C., London,"
Engineer, send greeting.
:
WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Thirty-first day of January, in the year.
of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two, in the thirty-.
fifth year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give.
and grant unto me, the said Gustave Piedboeuf, Her special licence.
that I, the said Gustave Piedboeuf, my executors, administrators, and
assigns, or such others as I, the said Gustave Piedboeuf, 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 "IMPROVEMENTS IN
APPARATUS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF STEAM BOILERS," upon the condition
(amongst others) that I, the said Gustave Piedboeuf, my executors."
or administrators, by an instrument in writing under 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 the same to be filed in the Great Seal Patent Office:
on or before the Seventeenth day of August One thousand eight hundred
and seventy-two.

page_text: covered whereby while bending round the outer edges of any boiler
plate in the apparatus as described in the said Specification, I am
enabled to give the body of the plate any required shape, such shape'
being in addition to and independent of the bending of such outer
edges as aforesaid. At the same time I am also thereby enabled to
accomplish much of this class of work without reheating and in a con-
siderably shorter time, while entirely avoiding any possibility of irregular
rents or bends forming themselves in the plate operated upon.
The matrix for flanging the outside of the plate or sheet to be operated
upon is tubular, with an independent moveable bottom. It gradually
bends round the edges by forcing them up against the die fixed to the
upper framing of the machine. The moveable bottom of the matrix is
employed to shape any portion of the body of the plate, and also to hold
it up against the upper die during the flanging operation. The said
moveable bottom is propelled upwards by means of four, more or less,
smaller auxiliary hydraulic plungers or rams independent of the main
préss plunger or ram, and working parallel thereto. The cylinders for
the smaller auxiliary plungers are preferably fitted to the framing carry-
ing the main press punger, and the smaller plungers protrude through
the head plate of the said main plunger. The plate or sheet to be
shaped is first placed on the top of the tubular matrix, and is then lifted
off it and moved towards the upper die by propelling up the moveable
bottom of the tubular matrix by means of the auxiliary plungers. The
body of the plate being thus shaped or otherwise treated as required, it
is flanged or finished at its edges by moving up the tubular matrix
by means of the main plunger. The plate is thus securely held over
its whole surface by the auxiliary plungers pressing it up against the
surface of the fixed upper die.
I shall now proceed to describe more particularly with the aid of
Drawings the means I employ for carrying out my Invention.
Fig. 1 is a front elevation, Fig. 2 is a side elevation, and Fig. 3 a plan
of the apparatus, the letters referring to the same parts in each.
In Fig. 1 the sheet to be operated upon, indicated by a red line, is
shewn resting on the tubular matrix m; in Fig. 2 the same sheet is
being held up by the independent moveable bottom K of the said
tubular matrix by means of four small auxiliary plungers or rams.
The main bydraulic press cylinders within which the large plunger b is
impelled, is indicated by a, its head C being guided on the rods e by

page_text: means of the sockets d. f is the fixed head plate, adjusted by the
nuts g on the screwed ends of the rods e; 1, l, are supports or stays
carrying the matrix m; O is the die, fitted to the fixed head plate f;
i, i, i, i, are the four small auxiliary plungers, the cylinders of which
are attached to the main press cylinder. On letting on the hydraulic
pressure through the pipe h', the said plungers, as shewn in Fig. 2,
protrude upwards and force the moveable bottom. K or a die plate as
required with the sheet n, forcing it against the fixed die O, thereby
either shaping in any required way, the body of the plate or merely
holding it while the outer edges are being flanged by means of the
matrix m as it is impelled upwards by the main plunger C on the water
hoing lat on through the nine h
In witness whereof, I, the said Gustave Piedboeuf, have hereunto
set my hand and seal, this Seventeenth day of August, in the
year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-two.
GUSTAVE PIEDBŒUF. (L.S.)