IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LAP-WELDED IRON TUBES AND OTHER TUBES, AND OF SKELPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON TUBES AND OTHER TUBES
Year: 1874

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to George Henri Marc Muntz, of Church Hill
House, Handsworth, in the County of Stafford, for the Invention of
"IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LAP-WELDED IRON
TUBES AND OTHER TUBES, AND OF SKELPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON
TUBES AND OTHER TUBES."
Sealed the 5th December 1874, and dated the 6th October 1874.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said George Henri Marc
Muntz at the Office of the Commissioners of Patents, with his
Petition, on the 6th October 1874.
I, GEORGE HENRI MARC MUNTZ, of Church Hill House, Handsworth,
in the County of Stafford, do hereby declare the nature of the said
Invention for "IMPROVEMENTS IN MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LAP-
WELDED IRON TUBES AND OTHER TUBES, AND OF SKELPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF
IRON TUBES AND OTHER TUBES," to be as follows:-
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for the
manufacture of lap-welded iron tubes and other tubes, and of skelps
the manufacture of iron tubes and other tubes.

page_text: For the manufacture of lap-welded iron tubes I take a strip of iron at
a welding heat as it is withdrawn from a heating furnace, and introduce
it through a guide (which may, if desired, be furnished with friction
rollers) between a pair of rolls, either parallel, or convex and concave,
and suitably formed on their peripheries to deliver the strip as it is
passed between them, with a chamfer or bevil on one or both of its
edges. The chamfered or bevilled strip as it passes from between these
rollers enters another guide, which is so formed as to cause it to bend
over the strip until the edges overlap one another, thus forming the
skelp or unwelded tube with a lap or scarf prepared ready for welding.
To effect the welding of the skelp the skelp as it passes from the guide
enters between a pair of welding rolls having suitably formed grooves
around their peripheries. Between the rollers I introduce a mandril as
usual, and as the skelp passes over it welding hot it is delivered from the
welding rolls a lap-welded tube.
If it is desired to produce a skelp lapped but not welded, all that is
necessary is that the strip should not be passed through the machine at a
welding heat, but simply hot enough for the operation of skelping or
turning up to be properly performed.
The whole of the guides and rolls above described are in one line, and
so connected that the unchamfered or unbevilled strip is passed into the
first guide, and through the whole of the remaining rolls and guide in
one continuous and unbroken course of operation, and is delivered out
of the second pair of rolls a lap-welded tube or unwelded, bevilled, and
chamfered skelp, in accordance with the heat employed at the will or
choice of the operator.
One or more pairs of rolls may be set up after and behind the welding
rolls, for the purpose of reducing the welded tube or unwelded skelp to
Any
given sizo

page_text: WHEREAS Her most Excellent Majesty Queen Victoria, by Her
Letters Patent, bearing date the Sixth day of October, in the year of our
Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-four, in the thirty-eighth
year of Her reign, did, for Herself, Her heirs and successors, give and
grant unto me, the said George Henri Marc Muntz, Her special licence
that I, the said George Henri Marc Muntz, my executors, admini-
strators, and assigns, or such others as I, the said George Henri Marc
Muntz, 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 MACHINERY FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF LAP-WELDED IRON
TUBES AND OTHER TUBES, AND OF SKELPS FOR THE MANUFACTURE OF IRON TUBES
AND OTHER TUBES," upon the condition (amongst others) that I, the
said George Henri Marc Muntz, 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 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 George Henri Marc Muntz, 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, that is to say:
This Invention has for its object improvements in machinery for the
manufacture of lap-welded iron tubes and other tubes, and of skelps for
the manufacture of iron tubes and other tubes.
For the manufacture of lap-welded iron tubes I take a strip of iron at
a welding heat as it is withdrawn from a heating furnace, and introduce
it through a guide (which may, if desired, be furnished with friction
rollers) between a pair of rolls, either parallel, or convex and concave,
and suitably formed on their pheripheries to deliver the strip as it is
passed between them, with a chamfer or bevil on one or both of its
edges. The chamferred or bevilled strip as it passes from between these
rollers enters another guide, which is so formed as to cause it to bend

page_text: over the strip until the edges overlap one another, thus forming the
skelp or unwelded tube with a lap or scarf prepared ready for welding.
To effect the welding of the skelp the skelp as it passes from the guide
enters between a pair of welding rolls having suitably formed grooves
around their peripheries. Between the rollers I introduce a mandril as
usual, and as the skelp passes over it welding hot it is delivered from the
welding rolls a lap-welded tube.
If it is desired to produce a skelp lapped but not welded, all that is
necessary is that the strip should not be passed through the machine at a
welding heat, but simply hot enough for the operation of skelping or
turning up to be properly performed.
The whole of the guides and rolls above described are in one line, and
so connected that the unchamferred or unbevilled strip is passed into the
first guide, and through the whole of the remaining rolls and guide in
one continuous and unbroken course of operation, and is delivered out
of the second pair of rolls a lap-welded tube, or unwelded, bevilled, and
chamferred skelp, in accordance with the heat employed at the will or
choice of the operator.
One or more pairs of rolls may be set up after and behind the welding
rolls, for the purpose of reducing the welded tube or unwelded skelp to
any given size.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, I will proceed to
describe more fully the manner of performing the same.
My said Invention has for its object the cheapening and improving of
the manufacture of lap-welded iron tubes and other tubes, as also the
quicker and cheaper production of skelps for the manufacture of lap-
welded iron tubes and other tubes, the same machine being used without
change in any of its parts, whether for the production of a welded tube
or other tube, or simply a scarfed or bevilled and lapped skelp ready for
welding in the ordinary way in the manufacture of lap-welded iron or
other tubes, the simple difference being this, that if I desire a lap-welded
iron tube or other tube I pass the strip of iron into the machine at a
welding heat, but if I desire to produce an unwelded skelp I then pass
the strip of iron into the same machine at a red heat only, and not at a
welding heat, and thus I produce at my will either an unwelded skelp
or welded tube, for the strip of iron enters at one end of the machine a
plain strip of iron, and comes out at the other end of the machine a

page_text: scarfed or bevilled unwelded skelp ready for welding in the ordinary
way, or a lap-welded tube, and in one continuous, and unbroken, and
automatic operation, according to the degree of heat employed at my
will.
In the Sheets of Drawings hereunto annexed I have shown various
views of a machine constructed according to my Invention.
Figure 1 is a side elevation, Figure 2 is a front elevation, Figure 3
back elevation looking at the welding rolls; Figure 4 is a plan view of
the machine; Figure 5, strip from concave and convex rolls; Figure 6,
strip from straight rolls; Figure 7, open end of guide M; Figure 8,
closed end of guide M; Figure 9, cross section midway of guide M;
Figure 10, cross bar with adjusting screw; Figure 11, cross bar without
screw; Figure 12, T headed rod with mandril; Figure 13, long stem bar
and trough.
I will now proceed to describe the machine shown in the before-
mentioned Figures, premising that the letters used refer to all similar
parts in common throughout the Drawings.
A is a strong cast-iron foundation plate, on which is erected the two
standards B, B, which receive the brass bearings that carry the roll
spindles C, C, 0, 0:
In the front of the machine, Figure 2, I fix a cast-iron guide plate D,
one side raised at right angles to its base, but raised on one side only;
the raised side of this guide faces the workman when he is entering the
strip into the rolls G, G. This guide plate may be fitted with friction
rolls, so as to diminish the contact and friction of the hot strip E while
passing over it.
The guide plate D may be made for working on either side of the
machine, so as to suit a right handed or left handed workman, as the
case may be.
H, H, are supports for the side guides J, one of which guides is
placed on the side of standard B nearest to the workman. The ends of
the guides D and J nearest the rolls G, G, are to be shaped to fit the
curvature of the rolls G, G, accurately.
The first pair of rolls G, G, are the bevilling or scarfing rolls. These
rolls are fitted on wrought-iron spindles; or the roll and spindle may be

page_text: cast in one piece. Each spindle has a toothed wheel K, K, fitted on to it
of such a diameter as will gear into one another and drive the pair of
rolls. Each spindle has a square part formed on one end of it, for the
purpose of receiving the moveable coupling boxes connected with the
motive power employed for driving the machine.
E
The peripheries of the rolls G, G, are by preference, made slightly
concave and convex respectively, or they may be made quite straight,.
but in either case they are so turned as to produce bevilled edges on the
strip E as it passes through them and a section of the strip E taken
on its passage through the machine immediately after having passed 1
through the rolls G, G, would be formed, as shown by Figures 5 and 6
respectively, according to the form of roll used, viz., either concave
and convex or straight.
In the space between the standards B, B, that is, between the
bevilling and the welding rolls N, N, I fix a sole plate L to carry the 1
guide M; one end of this guide M is placed close up to the rolls G, G,
and the other end is nearly close to the welding rolls N, N. This
guide M is made in two halves in the direction of its length and is
fixed to the sole plate L by bolts and nuts, that end of the guide nearest
the rolls G, G, must have its open end wide enough to admit the strip E 2
as it leaves the rolls G, G. The end of this guide nearest to the welding
rolls N, N, must not be open, but the top edges of it must meet close
together for part of its length, and this guide must be so formed that
the inside of it presents the two sides with an overhanging curvilinear
form to each side, gradually approaching a nearly circular form at the end 2
nearest the rolls N, N, but the curved shape of one side of this guide
must be gradually depressed about one and a half times the thickness
of the strip E that has to pass through it, so as to allow that part of
the strip which is not so much depressed to lap over as it passes through
the end of the guide nearest to the rolls N, N, thus forming the skelp a
or unwelded tube with a bevilled or scarfed joint ready for the welding
rolls N, N, placed immediately before it, and ready to receive it on its
onward progress through the machine. See Figure 7 for open end of
the guide; Figure 8, for closed end; Figure 9, for cross section taken
at half the length of the guide.
The second pair of rolls are the welding rolls N, N, and these rolls

page_text: spindle for connection with the motive power, as previously described,
and these spindles are provided with toothed wheels similar to K, K;
these welding rolls N, N, are provided with suitably formed grooves for
the respective diameter of the tube to be made either welded, or as an
unwelded skelp ready for welding in the ordinary way..
In the space between the standards B, B, that is to say, between the
bevilling and welding rolls I place a bar O transversely carrying an
eye bolt open on one side to receive a T headed ended mandril rod, this
eye bolt is to be screwed and furnished with nuts to raise or lower it as
required, see Figure 10; or the cross bar may be made with a simple
slot to receive the T headed ended mandril rod, as shown in Figure 11,
This cross bar is supported on uprights fitted to the sole plate L.
The headed ended rod, Figure 12, is made to carry the mandril used
in the manufacture of lap-welded iron tubes, and other tubes, and when
made and used, as shown at Figure 11, it is inserted from the elevation,
Figure 3, and so dispensing with the long stem bar for the most part
now in use, but this stem bar with its accompanying trough, see Figure
13, can be used at the will of the user.
In practice I find it advisable to use rolls of about two feet in
diameter, but I do not confine myself to any particular diameter of roll
either above or below two feet in diameter.
In fixing the speed of the rolls G, G, it is necessary that the
rolls N, N, should be driven faster than the rolls G, G, so that the
elongation of the iron caused by the action of the welding rolls may be
passed through the welding rolls at a speed slightly in excess of the
respective degree of elongation allowed for the diameter of the respective
mandrils used in the welding rolls. The end of the strip E which first
enters the rolls G, G, should have the corners cut off as at F.
Having thus described the nature of my Invention, and the manner
of performing the same, I would state that I do not bind or confine
myself to the precise details and arrangements I have here described,
as variations in detail may be made without departing from the main
features of my Invention; but what I claim is,-
First. The combined arrangement of machinery, substantially as
herein described, by which either a lap-welded iron tube or a scarfed

page_text: skelp ready for welding may be produced at will, according to the degree
of heat employed, and without change of any of its parts.
Second. The combination of guides D, J, bevilling and scarfing
rolls G, G, bending guide M, and rolls N, driven at a quicker surface
speed than the rolls G, and with a mandril between them, substantially
as herein described.
Third. Driving the rolls N at a quicker surface speed than the
rolls G.
Fourth. The combined arrangements for carrying the mandril, sub-
stantially as herein described, by which great facility is given for
adjusting its position, and for removing or putting it into place.
In witness whereof, I, the said George Henri Marc Muntz have
hereunto set my hand and seal, this Third day of April, in
the year of our Lord One thousand eight hundred and seventy-
five.
GEORGE HENRI MARC MUNTZ. (L.S.)