IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES OR CYLINDERS, AND IN THE MACHINERY EMPLOYED THEREIN."
Year: 1880

page_text: PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by John Atkinson at the Office of the
Commissioners of Patents on the 28th January 1880.
JOHN ATKINSON, of Leeds, in the County of York. "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE
MANUFACTURE OF METALLIC TUBES OR CYLINDERS, AND IN THE MACHINERY
EMPLOYED THEREIN."
This Invention relates to machinery to be employed for making a tube or
cylinder from a ring or bloom of hot metal, and my improvements consist
principally in the employment of a pair of rotary rollers placed one above the
other, and mounted in suitable bearings.
On the top roller is placed a ring or bloom of hot metal, which is required to be
elongated and made into a tube or cylinder of a given length and diameter. At
each side of these rollers is placed a grooved guide plate for purposes bereinafter
explained. In order to elongate or lengthen the ring placed on the upper roller a
bar (in cross section half round) is passed between the ring and bottom roller,
being guided through by the grooved guide plate aforesaid, whilst the pressure put
upon the rollers is such as to cause an indent or groove to be formed in the ring or
bloom, after which another or the same half round bar is passed through in like
manner, and so on, one after another, until all the grooves in the guide plate have
been used, the effect of such operations being to make the ring or bloom grooved
or wavy all along its length, and thereby the ring is forced out lengthwise; the
grooved guide plates are then moved forward or backward by a rack and pinion or
other means, being placed in such a position that the grooves in the said guide
plate are opposite the projecting parts in the ring or bloom, when a flat bar or the
half round bar is again passed between the ring and bottom roller, and the operation
of elongating or lengthening by this means is repeated until the desired length is
obtained.
The finishing or uneven ridges of the ring or tube are afterwards rolled off by
rollers hereinafter explained.
In order to more effectually accomplish the lengthening of the ring or bloom,
and to prevent its increasing in diameter, three or other number of rollers are
placed to bear against or upon the ring or bloom, in addition to the one underneath,
which said rollers are capable of being moved near to or further from each other
by means of screws, and these latter named rollers are also used to "finish" or

page_text: remove the ridges formed on the ring or tube by the half round bar during the
operation of lengthening.
The bottom roller is raised up and down either by screws, bydraulics, or
otherwise, and its position in regard to the ring is regulated to the greatest
nicety by means of a screw operated by a worm and wheel. The three rollers and
their attachments can be lifted up quite clear of the two bottom rollers, when the
latter can be used for rolling plain boiler and other plates, and by changing rolls
can be used for corrugating plates.
Instead of the half round bar and grooved plates being employed to elongate
the ring or bloom a roller having right and left hand screw threads thereon may be
employed.