IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU- FACTURE OF MAN-HOLE AND SLUDGE DOORS
Year: 1878

page_text: LETTERS PATENT to Charles MoNeil, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of
Lanark, North Britain, for the Invention of "IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANU-
FACTURE OF MAN-HOLE AND SLUDGE DOORS."
led the 28th June 1878, and dated the 8th January 1878.
PROVISIONAL SPECIFICATION left by the said Charles McNeal at the Office
of the Commissioners of Patents on the 8th January 1878.
CHARLES M'NEIL, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MAN-HOLE AND SLUDGE DOORS."
This Invention, which relates to improvements in the manufacture of man-hole
and sludge doors for steam boilers and other purposes, has for its object to reduce
labour in making such articles, and further to effect economy in material, and to
render these doors less weighty and difficult to handle than hitherto.
The improvements constituting the Invention consist in the employment of
metallic moulds or dies corresponding to the shape or configuration of door required
to be produced. A flat plate of metal heated to the requisite temperature is placed
between the male and female parts of the die, and thereafter subjected to blows or.
pressure from a steam hammer or hydraulic, or other press, so as to force the plate
into the recesses of the die, and cause it to assume the desired shape.
A light and efficient man-hole or sludge door is thus produced, having an
uniform, or nearly uniform, thickness of metal throughout, such thickness corre-
sponding to that of the plate from which the man-hole or sludge door is manufactured,
as herein-before described.

page_text: SPECIFICATION in pursuance of the conditions of the Letters Patent filed by
the said Charles McNeil in the Great Seal Patent Office on the 5th July
1878.
CHARLES MONEIL, junior, of Glasgow, in the County of Lanark, North Britain.
"IMPROVEMENTS IN THE MANUFACTURE OF MAN-HOLE AND SLUDGE DOORS."
My said Invention, which relates to improvements in the manufacture of man-
hole and sludge doors for steam boilers and for other purposes wherein such doors
are employed, has for its object to reduce labour and to effect economy in material
in making these doors, and to render them less weighty and difficult to handle than
hitherto.
The improvements constituting the Invention consist in the employment of
metallic moulds or dies corresponding to the shape or configuration of door required
to be produced. A flat plate of metal heated to the requisite temperature is placed
between the male and the female parts of the die, and thereafter subjected to blows
from a steam or other hammer, or to continuous or sustained pressure from an
hydraulic, an eccentric, a screw, or other press, by which means the plate is forced
into the recesses of the die, and caused to assume the desired shape.
A light and efficient man-hole or sludge door is thus produced, having an uniform,
or nearly uniform thickness of metal throughout.
And in order that my said Invention may be properly understood I will now
proceed more particularly to describe the same with reference to the annexed Sheet
of Drawings, and to the letters and figures marked thereon.
In manufacturing man-hole or sludge doors according to my said Invention the
two portions of the die may be separate from the mechanism by which the plate is
hammered or pressed into the required shape, and under this arrangement the
upper half of the die is placed by hand upon the heated plate, and the latter is
then subjected to the action of the hammer or press, guiding pins being employed
to maintain the two portions of the die in their proper positions, relatively with each
other.
A more convenient arrangement however, and one which I prefer is to attach
one-half a of the die by a keyed dovetail or other suitable means to the piston rod
or ram c of a steam or other hammer, as shown at Figure 1 of the Drawings, while
the other half, b, of the die. is fixed in a like manner to an anvil d. Instead,
however, of securing the half, a, of the die to the piston rod of a steam hammer it
may be attached to the ram of an hydraulic or steam, press, or to the screw of a
screw press, or it may be operated by the eccentric of an eccentric press, or by other
equivalent form of press, it being obvious that many different constructions may be
employed for the purposes of my said Invention.
And it is further to be understood that I do not confine myself to use any
particular arrangement of such hammers or presses.
When the two halves of the die are secured in or to the pressing apparatus, and
opposite or in line with each other, guiding pins may be dispensed with, and the
manufacture is considerably expedited, as the heated plate can be placed on the
lower half of the die, and the upper half thereof at once made to act upon the plate
by blows or pressure so as to cause it to assume the requisite shape.
Figure 2 of the accompanying Drawings is a plan of a man-hole door constructed
in accordance with my said Invention; Figure 3 is a longitudinal section thereof
on the line A, B, Figure 2; and Figure 4 is a transverse section of the same on the
line C, D, Figure 2.
Figure 5 is a sectional view of the dies employed in the manufacture of the said
door. In the form shewn at Figures 2, 3, and 4, the man-hole or sludge door is
made with a flat flanch d, all round which bears upon a "saddle" or stool bolted or
rivetted to the boiler or other vessel in the usual manner, whilst the part of the
door which does not bear on the "saddle" or stool is curved or buckled so as to

page_text: better withstand the pressure of the steam or other fluid, and also the stress to
which the door is subjected in screwing up the nuts on the holding studs.
Figure 6 illustrates in longitudinal section, Figure 7 in plan, and Figure 8 in
transverse section on the line x, y, Figure 7, another form of man-hole or sludge
door manufactured in accordance with my said Invention. Under this form the
door is made so as to be secured to the shell of the boiler direct, that is to say,
without the intervention of a "saddle" or stool, and it is curved or buckled in the
direction of from h to i, Figures 6 and 7, to a contour corresponding to the cir-
cumference of the boiler or other vessel to which it is to be applied, whilst in the
direction of from k to 1, Figures 7 and 8, it is also curved or buckled as and for the
purposes set forth with reference to the door illustrated at Figures 2, 3, and 4.
Figure 9 is a plan, and Figure 10 is a transverse section of a circular door manu-
factured as herein-before set forth with a series of concentric corrugations a, and with
a flat flanch to rest upon the customary "saddle" or stool. The said door may
however be made with its flanch b corresponding in curviture to the circumference
of the boiler so as to render it capable of being secured to the boiler direct and
under a modification in lieu of having concentric corrugations; it may be made
with corrugations radiating from the centre, as indicated in plan at Figure 11
of the Drawings, or doors of other desired forms may, with equal facility, be
produced.
Having now described my said Invention, and particularly ascertained the
system, mode, or manner in or under which the same is or may be used or carried
practically into effect, I would observe in conclusion that what I consider to be novel
and original, and therefore claim as the Invention secured to me by the herein-before
in part recited Letters Patent is, the man-hole or sludge doors illustrated at Figures
2, 3, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, and 11 of the appended Drawings, or any mere modification
thereof, and the manufacture of the said doors by blows or pressure exerted upon
moulds or dies, substantially as heroin-before described and in part shewn on the
Drawings.
In witness whereof, I, the said Charles M'Neil, junior, have hereunto set my
hand and seal, this Fourth day of July, One thousand eight hundred and
seventy-eight.
CHARLES MONEIL, JUNIOR. (L.S.)